A quasipolynomial inverse theorem for the $\mathsf{U}^k(\mathbb{F}_p^n)$ norm in the high characteristic

Abstract

We prove an inverse theorem for the Gowers uniformity norm $\mathsf{U}^k(\mathbb{F}_p^n)$ with quasipolynomial bounds in the case when $p \geq k$. The inverse theorem follows from a quasipolynomial structure theorem for Freiman multihomomorphisms, which are a natural generalization of Freiman homomorphisms to maps of several variables. The proof of the structure theorem for Freiman multihomomorphisms is the central result of the paper and rests on three main ingredients: algebraic regularity method, abstract Balog-Szemerédi-Gowers theorem and the theory of multilinear maps defined on multilinear varieties. The last ingredient originates from an earlier work of Gowers and the author, and is significantly expanded in this paper. In particular, once the theory of such maps is in place, the proof of the structure theorem for Freiman multihomomorphisms is relatively short, especially compared to the previous quantitative results in the inverse theory of Gowers norms.