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Alex Iosevich

Publications and source records attributed to Alex Iosevich.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Areas of triangles and Beck's theorem in planes over finite fields

It is shown that any subset $E$ of a plane over a finite field $\F_q$, of cardinality $|E|>q$ determines not less than $\frac{q-1}{2}$ distinct areas of triangles, moreover once can find such triangles sharing a common base. It is also shown that if $|E|\geq 64q\log_2 q$, then there are more than $\frac{q}{2}$ distinct areas of triangles sharing a common vertex. The result follows from a finite field version of the Beck theorem for large subsets of $\F_q^2$ that we prove. If $|E|\geq 64q\log_2 q$, there exists a point $z\in E$, such that there are at least $\frac{q}{4}$ straight lines incident to $z$, each supporting the number of points of $E$ other than $z$ in the interval between $\frac{|E|}{2q}$ and $\frac{2|E|}{q}.$ This is proved by combining combinatorial and Fourier analytic techniques. We also discuss higher-dimensional implications of these results in light of recent developments.

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Periodicity of the spectrum in dimension one

A bounded measurable set $Ω$, of Lebesgue measure 1, in the real line is called spectral if there is a set $Λ$ of real numbers ("frequencies") such that the exponential functions $e_λ(x) = \exp(2πi λx)$, $λ\inΛ$, form a complete orthonormal system of $L^2(Ω)$. Such a set $Λ$ is called a {\em spectrum} of $Ω$. In this note we prove that any spectrum $Λ$ of a bounded measurable set $Ω\subseteq\RR$ must be periodic.

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Three-point configurations determined by subsets of $\mathbb{F}_q^2$ via the Elekes-Sharir paradigm

We prove that if $E \subset {\mathbb F}_q^2$, $q \equiv 3 \mod 4$, has size greater than $Cq^{7/4}$, then $E$ determines a positive proportion of all congruence classes of triangles in ${\mathbb F}_q^2$. The approach in this paper is based on the approach to the Erd\H os distance problem in the plane due to Elekes and Sharir, followed by an incidence bound for points and lines in ${\mathbb F}_q^3$. We also establish a weak lower bound for a related problem in the sense that any subset $E$ of ${\mathbb F}_q^2$ of size less than $cq^{4/3}$ definitely does not contain a positive proportion of {\bf translation} classes of triangles in the plane. This result is a special case of a result established for $n$-simplices in ${\mathbb F}_q^d$. Finally, a necessary and sufficient condition on the lengths of a triangle for it to exist in $\mathbb{F}^2$ for any field $\mathbb F$ of characteristic not equal to 2 is established as a special case of a result for $d$-simplices in ${\mathbb F}^d$.

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Size of orthogonal sets of exponentials for the disk

Suppose $Λ\subseteq \RR^2$ has the property that any two exponentials with frequency from $Λ$ are orthogonal in the space $L^2(D)$, where $D \subseteq \RR^2$ is the unit disk. Such sets $Λ$ are known to be finite but it is not known if their size is uniformly bounded. We show that if there are two elements of $Λ$ which are distance $t$ apart then the size of $Λ$ is $O(t)$. As a consequence we improve a result of Iosevich and Jaming and show that $Λ$ has at most $O(R^{2/3})$ elements in any disk of radius $R$.

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On three point configurations determined by subsets of the Euclidean plane, the associated bilinear operator and applications to discrete geometry

We prove that if the Hausdorff dimension of a compact set $E \subset {\Bbb R}^2$ is greater than 7/4, then the set of {\ag three-point configurations determined by $E$ has positive three-dimensional measure}. We establish this by showing that {\ag a} natural measure on the set of {\ag such configurations} has {\ag Radon-Nikodym derivative} in $L^{\infty}$ if $\dH(E)> 7/4$, and the index 7/4 in this last result cannot, in general, be improved. This problem naturally leads to the study of a bilinear convolution operator, $$ B(f,g)(x)=\int \int f(x-u) g(x-v)\, dK(u,v),$$ where $K$ is surface measure on the set $ \{(u, v) \in\R^2 \times \R^2: |u|=|v|=|u-v|=1\}$, and we prove a scale of estimates that includes $B:L^2_{-1/2}({\Bbb R}^2) \times L^2({\Bbb R}^2) \to L^1({\Bbb R}^2)$ on positive functions. As an application of our main result, it follows that {\ag for finite sets of cardinality $n$ and belonging to a natural class of discrete sets in the plane}, the maximum number of times a given three-point configuration arises is $O(n^{9/7+ε})$ (up to congruence), improving upon the known bound of $O(n^{4/3})$ in this context.

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On volumes determined by subsets of Euclidean space

Given $E \subset {\Bbb R}^d$, define the \emph{volume set} of $E$, ${\mathcal V}(E)= \{det(x^1, x^2, ... x^d): x^j \in E\}$. In $\R^3$, we prove that ${\mathcal V}(E)$ has positive Lebesgue measure if either the Hausdorff dimension of $E\subset \Bbb R^3$ is greater than 13/5, or $E$ is a product set of the form $E=B_1\times B_2\times B_3$ with $B_j\subset\R,\, dim_{\mathcal H}(B_j)>2/3,\, j=1,2,3$. We show that the same conclusion holds for $\V(E)$ of Salem subsets $E\subset\R^d$ with $\hde>d-1$, and give applications to discrete combinatorial geometry.

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On angles determined by fractal subsets of the Euclidean space via Sobolev bounds for bi-linear operators

We prove that if the Hausdorff dimension of a compact subset of ${\mathbb R}^d$ is greater than $\frac{d+1}{2}$, then the set of angles determined by triples of points from this set has positive Lebesgue measure. Sobolev bounds for bi-linear analogs of generalized Radon transforms and the method of stationary phase play a key role. These results complement those of V. Harangi, T. Keleti, G. Kiss, P. Maga, P. Mattila and B. Stenner in (\cite{HKKMMS10}). We also obtain new upper bounds for the number of times an angle can occur among $N$ points in ${\mathbb R}^d$, $d \ge 4$, motivated by the results of Apfelbaum and Sharir (\cite{AS05}) and Pach and Sharir (\cite{PS92}). We then use this result to establish sharpness results in the continuous setting. Another sharpness result relies on the distribution of lattice points on large spheres in higher dimensions.

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On the Mattila-Sjolin theorem for distance sets

We extend a result, due to Mattila and Sjolin, which says that if the Hausdorff dimension of a compact set $E \subset {\Bbb R}^d$, $d \ge 2$, is greater than $\frac{d+1}{2}$, then the distance set $Δ(E)=\{|x-y|: x,y \in E \}$ contains an interval. We prove this result for distance sets $Δ_B(E)=\{{||x-y||}_B: x,y \in E \}$, where ${|| \cdot ||}_B$ is the metric induced by the norm defined by a symmetric bounded convex body $B$ with a smooth boundary and everywhere non-vanishing Gaussian curvature. We also obtain some detailed estimates pertaining to the Radon-Nikodym derivative of the distance measure.

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Fourier integral operators, fractal sets and the regular value theorem

We prove that if ${\mathcal E} \subset {\Bbb R}^{2d}$, $d \ge 2$, is an Ahlfors-David regular product set of sufficiently large Hausdorff dimension, denoted by $dim_{\mathcal H}({\mathcal E})$, and $ϕ$ is a sufficiently regular function, then the upper Minkowski dimension of the set $$ \{w \in {\mathcal E}: ϕ_l(w)=t_l; 1 \leq l \leq m \}$$ does not exceed $dim_{\mathcal H}({\mathcal E})-m$, in line with the regular value theorem from the elementary differential geometry. Our arguments are based on the mapping properties of the underlying Fourier Integral Operators and are intimately connected with the Falconer distance conjecture in geometric measure theory. We shall see that our results are in general sharp in the sense that if the Hausdorff dimension is smaller than a certain threshold, then the dimensional inequality fails in a quantifiable way. The constructions used to demonstrate this are based on the distribution of lattice points on convex surfaces and have connections with combinatorial geometry.

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On sets of directions determined by subsets of ${\Bbb R}^d$

Given $E \subset \mathbb{R}^d$, $d \ge 2$, define ${\mathcal D}(E) \equiv {(x-y)/|x-y|: x,y \in E} \subset S^{d-1},$ the set of directions determined by $E$. We prove that if the Hausdorff dimension of $E$ is greater than $d-1$, then $σ({\mathcal D}(E))>0$, where $σ$ denotes the surface measure on $S^{d-1}$. This result is sharp since the conclusion fails to hold if $E$ is a $(d-1)$-dimensional hyper-plane. This result can be viewed as a continuous analog of a recent result of Pach, Pinchasi, and Sharir (\cite{PPS04}, \cite{PPS07}) on angles determined by finite subsets of $\mathbb{R}^d$. Also define ${\mathcal A}(E)=\{θ(x,y,z): x,y,z \in E\},$ where $θ(x,y,z)$ is the angle between $x-y$ and $y-z$. We use the techniques developed to handle the problem of directions and results on distance sets previously obtained by Wolff and Erdogan to prove that if the Hasudorff dimension of $E$ is greater than $(d-1)/2+1/3$, then the Lebesgue measure of ${\mathcal A}(E)$ is positive. This result can be viewed as a continuous analog of a recent result of Apfelbaum and Sharir (\cite{AS05}). At the end of this paper we show that our continuous results can be used to recover and in some case improve the exponents for the corresponding results in the discrete setting for large classes of finite point sets. In particular, we prove that a finite point set $P \subset {\Bbb R}^d$, $d \ge 3$, satisfying a certain discrete energy condition (Definition \ref{adaptablemama}), determines $\gtrapprox # P$ distinct directions and $\gtrapprox {(# P)}^{6/(3d-1)}$ distinct angles. In two dimensions, the lower bound on the number of angles is $\gtrapprox # P$.

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Lattice points close to families of surfaces, non-isotropic dilations and regularity of generalized Radon transforms

We prove that if $ϕ: {\Bbb R}^d \times {\Bbb R}^d \to {\Bbb R}$, $d \ge 2$, is a homogeneous function, smooth away from the origin and having non-zero Monge-Ampere determinant away from the origin, then $$ R^{-d} # \{(n,m) \in {\Bbb Z}^d \times {\Bbb Z}^d: |n|, |m| \leq CR; R \leq ϕ(n,m) \leq R+δ\} \lesssim \max \{R^{d-2+\frac{2}{d+1}}, R^{d-1} δ\}.$$ This is a variable coefficient version of a result proved by Lettington in \cite{L10}, extending a previous result by Andrews in \cite{A63}, showing that if $B \subset {\Bbb R}^d$, $d \ge 2$, is a symmetric convex body with a sufficiently smooth boundary and non-vanishing Gaussian curvature, then $$ # \{k \in {\mathbb Z}^d: dist(k, R \partial B) \leq δ\} \lesssim \max \{R^{d-2+\frac{2}{d+1}}, R^{d-1} δ\}. (*)$$ Furthermore, we shall see that the same argument yields a non-isotropic analog of $(*)$, one for which the exponent on the right hand side is, in general, sharp, even in the infinitely smooth case. This sheds some light on the nature of the exponents and their connection with the conjecture due to Wolfgang Schmidt on the distribution of lattice points on dilates of smooth convex surfaces in ${\Bbb R}^d$.

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Sharpness of Falconer's estimate in continuous and arithmetic settings, geometric incidence theorems and distribution of lattice points in convex domains

In this paper we prove, for all $d \ge 2$, that for no $s<\frac{d+1}{2}$ does $I_s(μ)<\infty$ imply the canonical Falconer distance problem incidence bound, or the analogous estimate where the Euclidean norm is replaced by the norm generated by a particular convex body $B$ with a smooth boundary and everywhere non-vanishing curvature. Our construction, based on a combinatorial construction due to Pavel Valtr naturally leads us to some interesting connections between the problem under consideration, geometric incidence theorem in the discrete setting and distribution of lattice points in convex domains. We also prove that an example by Mattila can be discretized to produce a set of points and annuli for which the number of incidences is much greater than in the case of the lattice. In particular, we use the known results on the Gauss Circle Problem and a discretized version of Mattila's example to produce a non-lattice set of points and annuli where the number of incidences is much greater than in the case of the standard lattice. Finally, we extend Valtr's example into the setting of vector spaces over finite fields and show that a finite field analog of the key incidence bound is also sharp.

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Pinned distance sets, k-simplices, Wolff's exponent in finite fields and sum-product estimates

An analog of the Falconer distance problem in vector spaces over finite fields asks for the threshold $α>0$ such that $|Δ(E)| \gtrsim q$ whenever $|E| \gtrsim q^α$, where $E \subset {\Bbb F}_q^d$, the $d$-dimensional vector space over a finite field with $q$ elements (not necessarily prime). Here $Δ(E)=\{{(x_1-y_1)}^2+...+{(x_d-y_d)}^2: x,y \in E\}$. In two dimensions we improve the known exponent to $\tfrac{4}{3}$, consistent with the corresponding exponent in Euclidean space obtained by Wolff. The pinned distance set $Δ_y(E)=\{{(x_1-y_1)}^2+...+{(x_d-y_d)}^2: x\in E\}$ for a pin $y\in E$ has been studied in the Euclidean setting. Peres and Schlag showed that if the Hausdorff dimension of a set $E$ is greater than $\tfrac{d+1}{2}$ then the Lebesgue measure of $Δ_y(E)$ is positive for almost every pin $y$. In this paper we obtain the analogous result in the finite field setting. In addition, the same result is shown to be true for the pinned dot product set $Π_y(E)=\{x\cdot y: x\in E\}$. Under the additional assumption that the set $E$ has cartesian product structure we improve the pinned threshold for both distances and dot products to $\frac{d^2}{2d-1}$. A generalization of the Falconer distance problem is determine the minimal $α>0$ such that $E$ contains a congruent copy of every $k$ dimensional simplex whenever $|E| \gtrsim q^α$. Here the authors improve on known results (for $k>3$) using Fourier analytic methods, showing that $α$ may be taken to be $\frac{d+k}{2}$.

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The discrepancy of a needle on a checkerboard, II

Consider the plane as a checkerboard, with each unit square colored black or white in an arbitrary manner. In a previous paper we showed that for any such coloring there are straight line segments, of arbitrarily large length, such that the difference of their white length minus their black length, in absolute value, is at least the square root of their length, up to a multiplicative constant. For the corresponding "finite" problem ($N \times N$ checkerboard) we had proved that we can color it in such a way that the above quantity is at most $C \sqrt{N \log N}$, for any placement of the line segment. In this followup we show that it is possible to color the infinite checkerboard with two colors so that for any line segment $I$ the excess of one color over another is bounded above by $C_ε\Abs{I}^{\frac12+ε}$, for any $ε>0$. We also prove lower bounds for the discrepancy of circular arcs. Finally, we make some observations regarding the $L^p$ discrepancies for segments and arcs, $p<2$, for which our $L^2$-based methods fail to give any reasonable estimates.

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Extension Theorems for Paraboloids in the Finite Field Setting

In this paper we study the $L^p-L^r$ boundedness of the extension operators associated with paraboloids in vector spaces over finite fields.In higher even dimensions, we estimate the number of additive quadruples in the subset $E$ of the paraboloids, that is the number of quadruples $(x,y,z,w) \in E^4$ with $x+y=z+w.$ As a result, in higher even dimensions, we improve upon the standard Tomas-Stein exponents which Mockenhaupt and Tao obtained for the boundedness of extension operators for paraboloids by estimating the decay of the Fourier transform of measures on paraboloids. In particular, we obtain the sharp $L^p-L^4$ bound up to endpoints in higher even dimensions. Moreover, we also study the $L^2-L^r$ estimates.In the case when -1 is not a square number in the underlying finite field, we also study the $L^p-L^r$ bound in higher odd dimensions.The discrete Fourier analytic machinery and Gauss sum estimates make an important role in the proof.

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