arXiv subjects

Frank de Zeeuw

Publications and source records attributed to Frank de Zeeuw.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Bisector energy and few distinct distances

We introduce the bisector energy of an $n$-point set $P$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$, defined as the number of quadruples $(a,b,c,d)$ from $P$ such that $a$ and $b$ determine the same perpendicular bisector as $c$ and $d$. If no line or circle contains $M(n)$ points of $P$, then we prove that the bisector energy is $O(M(n)^{\frac{2}{5}}n^{\frac{12}{5}+ε} + M(n)n^2).$. We also prove the lower bound $Ω(M(n)n^2)$, which matches our upper bound when $M(n)$ is large. We use our upper bound on the bisector energy to obtain two rather different results: (i) If $P$ determines $O(n/\sqrt{\log n})$ distinct distances, then for any $0<α\le 1/4$, either there exists a line or circle that contains $n^α$ points of $P$, or there exist $Ω(n^{8/5-12α/5-ε})$ distinct lines that contain $Ω(\sqrt{\log n})$ points of $P$. This result provides new information on a conjecture of Erdős regarding the structure of point sets with few distinct distances. (ii) If no line or circle contains $M(n)$ points of $P$, then the number of distinct perpendicular bisectors determined by $P$ is $Ω(\min\{M(n)^{-2/5}n^{8/5-ε}, M(n)^{-1} n^2\})$. This appears to be the first higher-dimensional example in a framework for studying the expansion properties of polynomials and rational functions over $\mathbb{R}$, initiated by Elekes and Rónyai.

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arXiv2013

Few distinct distances implies no heavy lines or circles

We study the structure of planar point sets that determine a small number of distinct distances. Specifically, we show that if a set P of n points determines o(n) distinct distances, then no line contains Ω(n^{7/8}) points of P and no circle contains Ω(n^{5/6}) points of P. We rely on the bipartite and partial variant of the Elekes-Sharir framework that was presented by Sharir, Sheffer, and Solymosi in \cite{SSS13}. For the case of lines we combine this framework with a theorem from additive combinatorics, and for the case of circles we combine it with some basic algebraic geometry and a recent incidence bound for plane algebraic curves by Wang, Yang, and Zhang \cite{WYZ13}. A significant difference between our approach and that of \cite{SSS13} (and other recent extensions) is that, instead of dealing with distances between two point sets that are restricted to one-dimensional curves, we consider distances between one set that is restricted to a curve and one set with no restrictions on it.

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arXiv2012

Extensions of a result of Elekes and Rónyai

Many problems in combinatorial geometry can be formulated in terms of curves or surfaces containing many points of a cartesian product. In 2000, Elekes and Rónyai proved that if the graph of a polynomial contains $cn^2$ points of an $n\times n\times n$ cartesian product in $\mathbb{R}^3$, then the polynomial has the form $f(x,y)=g(k(x)+l(y))$ or $f(x,y)=g(k(x)l(y))$. They used this to prove a conjecture of Purdy which states that given two lines in $\mathbb{R}^2$ and $n$ points on each line, if the number of distinct distances between pairs of points, one on each line, is at most $cn$, then the lines are parallel or orthogonal. We extend the Elekes-Rónyai Theorem to a less symmetric cartesian product. We also extend the Elekes-Rónyai Theorem to one dimension higher on an $n\times n\times n\times n$ cartesian product and an asymmetric cartesian product. We give a proof of a variation of Purdy's conjecture with fewer points on one of the lines. We finish with a lower bound for our main result in one dimension higher with asymmetric cartesian product, showing that it is near-optimal.

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arXiv2011

Rational Distances with Rational Angles

In 1946 Erd\H os asked for the maximum number of unit distances, $u(n)$, among $n$ points in the plane. He showed that $u(n)> n^{1+c/\log\log n}$ and conjectured that this was the true magnitude. The best known upper bound is $u(n)<cn^{4/3}$, due to Spencer, Szemerédi and Trotter. We show that the upper bound $n^{1+6/\sqrt{\log n}}$ holds if we only consider unit distances with rational angle, by which we mean that the line through the pair of points makes a rational angle in degrees with the x-axis. Using an algebraic theorem of Mann we get a uniform bound on the number of paths between two fixed vertices in the unit distance graph, giving a contradiction if there are too many unit distances with rational angle. This bound holds if we consider rational distances instead of unit distances as long as there are no three points on a line. A superlinear lower bound is given, due to Erd\H os and Purdy. If we have at most $n^α$ points on a line then we get the bound $O(n^{1+α})$ or $n^{1+α+6/\sqrt{\log n}}$ for the number of rational distances with rational angle depending on whether $α\ge 1/2$ or $α< 1/2$ respectively.

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arXiv2009

Simultaneous Arithmetic Progressions on Algebraic Curves

A simultaneous arithmetic progression (s.a.p.) of length k consists of k points (x_i, y_σ(i)), where x_i and y_i are arithmetic progressions and σis a permutation. Garcia-Selfa and Tornero asked whether there is a bound on the length of an s.a.p. on an elliptic curve in Weierstrass form over Q. We show that 4319 is such a bound for curves over R. This is done by considering translates of the curve in a grid as a graph. A simple upper bound is found for the number of crossings and the 'crossing inequality' gives a lower bound. Together these bound the length of an s.a.p. on the curve. We then use a similar method to extend the result to arbitrary real algebraic curves. Instead of considering s.a.p.'s we consider k^2/3 points in a grid. The number of crossings is bounded by Bezout's Theorem. We then give another proof using a result of Jarnik bounding the number of grid points on a convex curve. This result applies as any real algebraic curve can be broken up into convex and concave parts, the number of which depend on the degree. Lastly, these results are extended to complex algebraic curves.

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arXiv2009

On a question of Erdos and Ulam

Ulam asked in 1945 if there is an everywhere dense \emph{rational set}, i.e. a point set in the plane with all its pairwise distances rational. Erd\H os conjectured that if a set $S$ has a dense rational subset, then $S$ should be very special. The only known types of examples of sets with dense (or even just infinite) rational subsets are lines and circles. In this paper we prove Erd\H os's conjecture for algebraic curves, by showing that no irreducible algebraic curve other than a line or a circle contains an infinite rational set.

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