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Krystal Taylor

Publications and source records attributed to Krystal Taylor.

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Transversal families of nonlinear projections and generalizations of Favard length

Projections detect information about the size, geometric arrangement, and dimension of sets. To approach this, one can study the energies of measures supported on a set and the energies for the corresponding pushforward measures on the projection side. For orthogonal projections, quantitative estimates rely on a separation condition: most points are well-differentiated by most projections. It turns out that this idea also applies to a broad class of nonlinear projection-type operators satisfying a \textit{transversality condition}. In this work, we establish that several important classes of nonlinear projections are transversal. This leads to quantitative lower bounds for decay rates for nonlinear variants of Favard length, including Favard curve length (as well as a new generalization to higher dimensions, called Favard surface length) and visibility measurements associated to radial projections. As one application, we provide a simplified proof for the decay rate of the Favard curve length of generations of the four corner Cantor set, first established by Cladek, Davey, and Taylor.

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On $k$-point configuration sets with nonempty interior

We give conditions for $k$-point configuration sets of thin sets to have nonempty interior, applicable to a wide variety of configurations. This is a continuation of our earlier work \cite{GIT19} on 2-point configurations, extending a theorem of Mattila and Sjölin \cite{MS99} for distance sets in Euclidean spaces. We show that for a general class of $k$-point configurations, the configuration set of a $k$-tuple of sets, $E_1,\,\dots,\, E_k$, has nonempty interior provided that the sum of their Hausdorff dimensions satisfies a lower bound, dictated by optimizing $L^2$-Sobolev estimates of associated generalized Radon transforms over all nontrivial partitions of the $k$ points into two subsets. We illustrate the general theorems with numerous specific examples. Applications to 3-point configurations include areas of triangles in $\mathbb R^2$ or the radii of their circumscribing circles; volumes of pinned parallelepipeds in $\mathbb R^3$; and ratios of pinned distances in $\mathbb R^2$ and $\mathbb R^3$. Results for 4-point configurations include cross-ratios on $\mathbb R$, triangle area pairs determined by quadrilaterals in $\mathbb R^2$, and dot products of differences in $\mathbb R^d$.

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A Quantification of a Besicovitch Nonlinear Projection Theorem via Multiscale Analysis

The Besicovitch projection theorem states that if a subset $E$ of the plane has finite length in the sense of Hausdorff measure and is purely unrectifiable (so its intersection with any Lipschitz graph has zero length), then almost every orthogonal projection of $E$ to a line will have zero measure. In other words, the Favard length of a purely unrectifiable $1$-set vanishes. In this article, we show that when linear projections are replaced by certain nonlinear projections called curve projections, this result remains true. In fact, we go further and use multiscale analysis to prove a quantitative version of this Besicovitch nonlinear projection theorem. Roughly speaking, we show that if a subset of the plane has finite length in the sense of Hausdorff and is nearly purely unrectifiable, then its Favard curve length is very small. Our techniques build on those of Tao, who in [Tao09] proves a quantification of the original Besicovitch projection theorem.

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Upper and lower bounds on the rate of decay of the Favard curve length for the four-corner Cantor set

The Favard length of a subset of the plane is defined as the average of its orthogonal projections. This quantity is related to the probabilistic Buffon needle problem; that is, the Favard length of a set is proportional to the probability that a needle or a line that is dropped at random onto the set will intersect the set. If instead of dropping lines onto a set, we drop fixed curves, then the associated Buffon curve probability is proportional to the so-called Favard curve length. As we show in our companion paper, a Besicovitch generalized projection theorem still holds in the setting where lines are replaced by curves. Consequently, the Favard curve length of any purely unrectifiable set is zero. Since the four-corner Cantor set is a compact, purely unrectifiable $1$-set with bounded, non-zero Hausdorff measure, then its Favard curve length equals zero. In this article, we estimate upper and lower bounds for the rate of decay of the Favard curve length of the four-corner Cantor set. Our techniques build on the ideas that have been previously used for the classical Favard length.

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Measure and Dimension of Sums and Products

We investigate the Lebesgue measure, Hausdorff dimension, and Fourier dimension of sets of the form $RY + Z, $ where $R \subseteq (0,\infty)$ and $Y, Z \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$. We prove a theorem on the Lebesgue measure and Hausdorff dimension of $RY+Z$; The theorem is a generalized variant of some theorems of Wolff and Oberlin in which $Y$ is the unit sphere, but its proof is much simpler. We also prove a deeper existence theorem: For each $α\in [0,1]$ and for each non-empty compact set $R \subseteq (0,\infty)$, there exists a compact set $Y \subseteq [1,2]$ such that $\dim_F(Y) = \dim_H(Y) = \overline{\dim_M}(Y) = α$ and $\dim_F(RY) \geq \min\{ 1, \dim_F(R) + \dim_F(Y)\}$. This theorem verifies a weak form of a more general conjecture, and it can be used to produce new Salem sets from old ones.

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Finite Point Configurations and the Regular Value Theorem in a Fractal setting

In this article, we study two problems concerning the size of the set of finite point configurations generated by a compact set $E\subset \mathbb{R}^d$. The first problem concerns how the Lebesgue measure or the Hausdorff dimension of the finite point configuration set depends on that of $E$. In particular, we show that if a planar set has dimension exceeding $\frac{5}{4}$, then there exists a point $x\in E$ so that for each integer $k\geq2$, the set of "$k$-chains" with initial point at $x$ has positive Lebesgue measure. The second problem is a continuous analogue of the Erdős unit distance problem, which aims to determine the maximum number of times a point configuration with prescribed gaps can appear in $E$. For instance, given a triangle with prescribed sides and given a sufficiently regular planar set $E$ with Hausdorff dimension no less than $\frac{7}{4}$, we show that the dimension of the set of vertices in $E$ forming said triangle does not exceed $3\,\dim_{\mathcal{H}} (E)-3$. In addition to the Euclidean norm, we consider more general distances given by functions satisfying the so-called Phong-Stein rotational curvature condition. We also explore a number of examples to demonstrate the extent to which our results are sharp.

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Configuration sets with nonempty interior

A theorem of Steinhaus states that if $E\subset \mathbb R^d$ has positive Lebesgue measure, then the difference set $E-E$ contains a neighborhood of $0$. Similarly, if $E$ merely has Hausdorff dimension $\dim_{\mathcal H}(E)>(d+1)/2$, a result of Mattila and Sjölin states that the distance set $Δ(E)\subset\mathbb R$ contains an open interval. In this work, we study such results from a general viewpoint, replacing $E-E$ or $Δ(E)$ with more general $Φ\,$-configurations for a class of $Φ:\mathbb R^d\times\mathbb R^d\to\mathbb R^k$, and showing that, under suitable lower bounds on $\dim_{\mathcal H}(E)$ and a regularity assumption on the family of generalized Radon transforms associated with $Φ$, it follows that the set $Δ_Φ(E)$ of $Φ$-configurations in $E$ has nonempty interior in $\mathbb R^k$. Further extensions hold for $Φ\,$-configurations generated by two sets, $E$ and $F$, in spaces of possibly different dimensions and with suitable lower bounds on $\dim_{\mathcal H}(E)+\dim_{\mathcal H}(F)$.

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Finite trees inside thin subsets of ${\Bbb R}^d$

Bennett, Iosevich and Taylor proved that compact subsets of ${\Bbb R}^d$, $d \ge 2$, of Hausdorff dimensions greater than $\frac{d+1}{2}$ contain chains of arbitrary length with gaps in a non-trivial interval. In this paper we generalize this result to arbitrary tree configurations.

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Interior of sums of planar sets and curves

Recently, considerable attention has been given to the study of the arithmetic sum of two planar sets. We focus on understanding the interior $\left(A+Γ\right)^{\circ}$, when $Γ$ is a piecewise $\mathcal{C}^2$ curve and $A\subset \mathbb{R}^2.$ To begin, we give an example of a very large (full-measure, dense, $G_δ$) set $A$ such that $\left(A+S^1\right)^{\circ}=\emptyset$, where $S^1$ denotes the unit circle. This suggests that merely the size of $A$ does not guarantee that $(A+S^1)^{\circ }\ne\emptyset$. If, however, we assume that $A$ is a kind of generalized product of two reasonably large sets, then $\left(A+Γ\right)^{\circ}\ne\emptyset$ whenever $Γ$ has non-vanishing curvature. As a byproduct of our method, we prove that the pinned distance set of $C:=C_γ\times C_γ$, $γ\geq \frac{1}{3}$, pinned at any point of $C$ has non-empty interior, where $C_γ$ (see (1.1)) is the middle $1-2γ$ Cantor set (including the usual middle-third Cantor set, $C_{1/3}$). Our proof for the middle-third Cantor set requires a separate method. We also prove that $C+S^1$ has non-empty interior.

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Pinned geometric configurations in Euclidean space and Riemannian manifolds

Let $M$ be a compact $d$-dimensional Riemannian manifold without a boundary. Given $E \subset M$, let $Δ_ρ(E)=\{ρ(x,y): x,y \in E \}$, where $ρ$ is the Riemannian metric on $M$. Let $Δ_ρ^x$ denote the pinned distance set, namely, $\{ρ(x,y): y \in E \}$ with $x \in E$. We prove that if the Hausdorff dimension of $E$ is greater than $\frac{d+1}{2}$, then there exist many $x \in E$ such that the Lebesgue measure of $Δ^x_ρ(E)$ is positive. This result was previously established by Peres and Schlag in the Euclidean setting. The main result is deduced from a variable coefficient Euclidean formulation, which can be used to study a variety of geometric problems. We extend our result to the setting of chains studied in \cite{BIT15} and obtain a pinned estimate in this context. Moreover, we point out that our scheme is quite universal in nature and this idea will be exploited in variety of settings in the sequel.

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Intersections of sets, diophantine equations and Fourier analysis

A classical theorem due to Mattila (see \cite{Mat84}; see also \cite{M95}, Chapter 13) says that if $A,B \subset {\Bbb R}^d$ of Hausdorff dimension $s_A, s_B$, respectively, with $s_A+s_B \ge d$, $s_B>\frac{d+1}{2}$ and $dim_{\mathcal H}(A \times B)=s_A+s_B\ge d$, then $$ dim_{\mathcal H}(A \cap (z+B)) \leq s_A+s_B-d$$ for almost every $z \in {\Bbb R}^d$, in the sense of Lebesgue measure. In this paper, we replace the Hausdorff dimension on the left hand side of the first inequality above by the upper Minkowski dimension, replace the Lebesgue measure of the set of translates by a Hausdorff measure on a set of sufficiently large dimension and replace the translation and rotation group by a more general variable coefficient family of transformations. Interesting arithmetic issues arise in the consideration of sharpness examples. These results are partly motivated by those in \cite{EIT11} and \cite{IJL10} where in the former the classical regular value theorem from differential geometry was investigated in a fractal setting and in the latter discrete incidence theory is explored from an analytic standpoint. Fourier Integral Operator bounds and other techniques of harmonic analysis play a crucial role in our investigation. We also consider, in the spirit of the Furstenberg conjecture, inverse problems for intersections by asking how small a dimension of a set can be given that the dimension of its intersections with a suitably well-curved family of manifolds is bounded from below by a given threshold. Finally, we shall discuss applications of our estimates to the problem of estimating the number of solutions of systems of diophantine equations over integers.

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Measures of polynomial growth and classical convolution inequalities

We study $L^p(μ) \to L^q(ν)$ mapping properties of the convolution operator $ T_λf(x)=λ*(fμ)(x)$ and of the corresponding maximal operator $ {\mathcal T}_λf(x)=\sup_{t>0} |λ_t*(fμ)(x)|$, where $λ$ is a tempered distribution, and $μ$ and $ν$ are compactly supported measures satisfying the polynomial growth bounds $μ(B(x,r)) \leq Cr^{s_μ}$ and $ν(B(x,r)) \leq Cr^{s_ν}$. As a result, we prove variants of the classical $L^p$-improving (Littman; Strichartz) and maximal (Stein) inequalities in a setting where the Plancherel formula is not available. Connections with the David-Semmes conjecture are also discussed.

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Finite Chains inside Thin Subsets of ${\Bbb R}^d$

In a recent paper, Chan, Łaba, and Pramanik investigated geometric configurations inside thin subsets of the Euclidean set possessing measures with Fourier decay properties. In this paper we ask which configurations can be found inside thin sets of a given Hausdorff dimension without any additional assumptions on the structure. We prove that if the Hausdorff dimension of $E \subset {\Bbb R}^d$, $d \ge 2$, is greater than $\frac{d+1}{2}$, then there exists a non-empty interval $I$ such that given any sequence $\{t_1, t_2, \dots, t_k; t_j \in I\}$, there exists a sequence ${\{x^j\}}_{j=1}^{k+1}$, such that $x^j \in E$ and $|x^{i+1}-x^i|=t_j$, $1 \leq i \leq k$. In other words, $E$ contains vertices of a chain of arbitrary length with prescribed gaps.

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The lattice point counting problem on the Heisenberg groups

We consider the radial and Heisenberg-homogeneous norms on the Heisenberg groups given by $N_{α,A}((z,t)) = \left(|z|^α+ A |t|^{α/2}\right)^{1/α}$, for $α\ge 2$ and $A>0$. This natural family includes the canonical Cygan-Korányi norm, corresponding to $α=4$. We study the lattice points counting problem on the Heisenberg groups, namely establish an error estimate for the number of points that the lattice of integral points has in a ball of large radius $R$. The exponent we establish for the error in the case $α=2$ is the best possible, in all 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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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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