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Lillian B. Pierce

Publications and source records attributed to Lillian B. Pierce.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

On Matrix Rearrangement Inequalities

Given two symmetric and positive semidefinite square matrices $A, B$, is it true that any matrix given as the product of $m$ copies of $A$ and $n$ copies of $B$ in a particular sequence must be dominated in the spectral norm by the ordered matrix product $A^m B^n$? For example, is $$ \| AABAABABB \| \leq \| AAAAABBBB \|\ ? $$ Drury has characterized precisely which disordered words have the property that an inequality of this type holds for all matrices $A,B$. However, the $1$-parameter family of counterexamples Drury constructs for these characterizations is comprised of $3 \times 3$ matrices, and thus as stated the characterization applies only for $N \times N$ matrices with $N \geq 3$. In contrast, we prove that for $2 \times 2$ matrices, the general rearrangement inequality holds for all disordered words. We also show that for larger $N \times N$ matrices, the general rearrangement inequality holds for all disordered words, for most $A,B$ (in a sense of full measure) that are sufficiently small perturbations of the identity.

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arXiv2020

An effective Chebotarev density theorem for families of number fields, with an application to $\ell$-torsion in class groups

We prove a new effective Chebotarev density theorem for Galois extensions $L/\mathbb{Q}$ that allows one to count small primes (even as small as an arbitrarily small power of the discriminant of $L$); this theorem holds for the Galois closures of "almost all" number fields that lie in an appropriate family of field extensions. Previously, applying Chebotarev in such small ranges required assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis. The error term in this new Chebotarev density theorem also avoids the effect of an exceptional zero of the Dedekind zeta function of $L$, without assuming GRH. We give many different "appropriate families," including families of arbitrarily large degree. To do this, we first prove a new effective Chebotarev density theorem that requires a zero-free region of the Dedekind zeta function. Then we prove that almost all number fields in our families yield such a zero-free region. The innovation that allows us to achieve this is a delicate new method for controlling zeroes of certain families of non-cuspidal $L$-functions. This builds on, and greatly generalizes the applicability of, work of Kowalski and Michel on the average density of zeroes of a family of cuspidal $L$-functions. A surprising feature of this new method, which we expect will have independent interest, is that we control the number of zeroes in the family of $L$-functions by bounding the number of certain associated fields with fixed discriminant. As an application of the new Chebotarev density theorem, we prove the first nontrivial upper bounds for $\ell$-torsion in class groups, for all integers $\ell \geq 1$, applicable to infinite families of fields of arbitrarily large degree.

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arXiv2019

Burgess bounds for short character sums evaluated at forms

In this work we establish a Burgess bound for short multiplicative character sums in arbitrary dimensions, in which the character is evaluated at a homogeneous form that belongs to a very general class of "admissible" forms. This $n$-dimensional Burgess bound is nontrivial for sums over boxes of sidelength at least $q^β$, with $β> 1/2 - 1/(2(n+1))$. This is the first Burgess bound that applies in all dimensions to generic forms of arbitrary degree. Our approach capitalizes on a recent stratification result for complete multiplicative character sums evaluated at rational functions, due to the second author.

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arXiv2019

Reversing a philosophy: from counting to square functions and decoupling

Breakthrough work of Bourgain, Demeter, and Guth recently established that decoupling inequalities can prove powerful results on counting integral solutions to systems of Diophantine equations. In this note we demonstrate that in appropriate situations this implication can also be reversed. As a first example, we observe that a count for the number of integral solutions to a system of Diophantine equations implies a discrete decoupling inequality. Second, in our main result we prove an $L^{2n}$ square function estimate (which implies a corresponding decoupling estimate) for the extension operator associated to a non-degenerate curve in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The proof is via a combinatorial argument that builds on the idea that if $γ$ is a non-degenerate curve in $\mathbb{R}^n$, then as long as $x_1,\ldots, x_{2n}$ are chosen from a sufficiently well-separated set, then $ γ(x_1)+\cdots+γ(x_n) = γ(x_{n+1}) + \cdots + γ(x_{2n}) $ essentially only admits solutions in which $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ is a permutation of $x_{n+1},\ldots, x_{2n}$.

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arXiv2017

On $\ell$-torsion in class groups of number fields

For each integer $\ell \geq 1$, we prove an unconditional upper bound on the size of the $\ell$-torsion subgroup of the class group, which holds for all but a zero-density set of field extensions of $\mathbb{Q}$ of degree $d$, for any fixed $d \in \{2,3,4,5\}$ (with the additional restriction in the case $d=4$ that the field be non-$D_4$). For sufficiently large $\ell$ (specified explicitly), these results are as strong as a previously known bound that is conditional on GRH. As part of our argument, we develop a probabilistic "Chebyshev sieve," and give uniform, power-saving error terms for the asymptotics of quartic (non-$D_4$) and quintic fields with chosen splitting types at a finite set of primes.

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arXiv2017

Endpoint Sobolev and BV continuity for maximal operators

In this paper we investigate some questions related to the continuity of maximal operators in $W^{1,1}$ and $BV$ spaces, complementing some well-known boundedness results. Letting $\widetilde M$ be the one-dimensional uncentered Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator, we prove that the map $f \mapsto \big(\widetilde Mf\big)'$ is continuous from $W^{1,1}(\mathbb{R})$ to $L^1(\mathbb{R})$. In the discrete setting, we prove that $\widetilde M: BV(\mathbb{Z}) \to BV(\mathbb{Z})$ is also continuous. For the one-dimensional fractional Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator, we prove by means of counterexamples that the corresponding continuity statements do not hold, both in the continuous and discrete settings, and for the centered and uncentered versions.

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arXiv2017

Representations of integers by systems of three quadratic forms

It is classically known that the circle method produces an asymptotic for the number of representations of a tuple of integers $(n_1,\ldots,n_R)$ by a system of quadratic forms $Q_1,\ldots, Q_R$ in $k$ variables, as long as $k$ is sufficiently large; reducing the required number of variables remains a significant open problem. In this work, we consider the case of 3 forms and improve on the classical result by reducing the number of required variables to $k \geq 10$ for "almost all" tuples, under appropriate nonsingularity assumptions on the forms $Q_1,Q_2,Q_3$. To accomplish this, we develop a three-dimensional analogue of Kloosterman's circle method, in particular capitalizing on geometric properties of appropriate systems of three quadratic forms.

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arXiv2016

Polynomial Carleson operators along monomial curves in the plane

We prove $L^p$ bounds for partial polynomial Carleson operators along monomial curves $(t,t^m)$ in the plane $\mathbb{R}^2$ with a phase polynomial consisting of a single monomial. These operators are "partial" in the sense that we consider linearizing stopping-time functions that depend on only one of the two ambient variables. A motivation for studying these partial operators is the curious feature that, despite their apparent limitations, for certain combinations of curve and phase, $L^2$ bounds for partial operators along curves imply the full strength of the $L^2$ bound for a one-dimensional Carleson operator, and for a quadratic Carleson operator. Our methods, which can at present only treat certain combinations of curves and phases, in some cases adapt a $TT^*$ method to treat phases involving fractional monomials, and in other cases use a known vector-valued variant of the Carleson-Hunt theorem.

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arXiv2015

Lower bounds for the truncated Hilbert transform

Given two intervals $I, J \subset \mathbb{R}$, we ask whether it is possible to reconstruct a real-valued function $f \in L^2(I)$ from knowing its Hilbert transform $Hf$ on $J$. When neither interval is fully contained in the other, this problem has a unique answer (the nullspace is trivial) but is severely ill-posed. We isolate the difficulty and show that by restricting $f$ to functions with controlled total variation, reconstruction becomes stable. In particular, for functions $f \in H^1(I)$, we show that $$ \|Hf\|_{L^2(J)} \geq c_1 \exp{\left(-c_2 \frac{\|f_x\|_{L^2(I)}}{\|f\|_{L^2(I)}}\right)} \| f \|_{L^2(I)} ,$$ for some constants $c_1, c_2 > 0$ depending only on $I, J$. This inequality is sharp, but we conjecture that $\|f_x\|_{L^2(I)}$ can be replaced by $\|f_x\|_{L^1(I)}$.

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arXiv2014

On a discrete version of Tanaka's theorem for maximal functions

In this paper we prove a discrete version of Tanaka's Theorem \cite{Ta} for the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator in dimension $n=1$, both in the non-centered and centered cases. For the discrete non-centered maximal operator $\widetilde{M} $ we prove that, given a function $f: \mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{R}$ of bounded variation, $$\textrm{Var}(\widetilde{M} f) \leq \textrm{Var}(f),$$ where $\textrm{Var}(f)$ represents the total variation of $f$. For the discrete centered maximal operator $M$ we prove that, given a function $f: \mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{R}$ such that $f \in \ell^1(\mathbb{Z})$, $$\textrm{Var}(Mf) \leq C \|f\|_{\ell^1(\mathbb{Z})}.$$ This provides a positive solution to a question of Hajłasz and Onninen \cite{HO} in the discrete one-dimensional case.

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arXiv2012

Discrete fractional Radon transforms and quadratic forms

We consider discrete analogues of fractional Radon transforms involving integration over paraboloids defined by positive definite quadratic forms. We prove that such discrete operators extend to bounded operators from $\ell^p$ to $\ell^q$ for a certain family of kernels. The method involves an intricate spectral decomposition according to major and minor arcs, motivated by ideas from the circle method of Hardy and Littlewood. Techniques from harmonic analysis, in particular Fourier transform methods and oscillatory integrals, as well as the number theoretic structure of quadratic forms, exponential sums, and theta functions, play key roles in the proof.

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arXiv2011

Counting rational points on smooth cyclic covers

A conjecture of Serre concerns the number of rational points of bounded height on a finite cover of projective space P^{n-1}. In this paper, we achieve Serre's conjecture in the special case of smooth cyclic covers of any degree when n is at least 10, and surpass it for covers of degree 3 or higher when n > 10. This is achieved by a new bound for the number of perfect r-th power values of a polynomial with nonsingular leading form, obtained via a combination of an r-th power sieve and the q-analogue of van der Corput's method.

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arXiv2010

A note on twisted discrete singular Radon transforms

In this paper we consider three types of discrete operators stemming from singular Radon transforms. We first extend an $\ell^p$ result for translation invariant discrete singular Radon transforms to a class of twisted operators including an additional oscillatory component, via a simple method of descent argument. Second, we note an $\ell^2$ bound for quasi-translation invariant discrete twisted Radon transforms. Finally, we extend an existing $\ell^2$ bound for a closely related non-translation invariant discrete oscillatory integral operator with singular kernel to an $\ell^p$ bound for all $1< p< \infty$. This requires an intricate induction argument involving layers of decompositions of the operator according to the Diophantine properties of the coefficients of its polynomial phase function.

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arXiv2010

On discrete fractional integral operators and mean values of Weyl Sums

In this paper we prove new $(\ell^p, \ell^q)$ bounds for a discrete fractional integral operator by applying techniques motivated by the circle method of Hardy and Littlewood to the Fourier multiplier of the operator. From a different perspective, we describe explicit interactions between the Fourier multiplier and mean values of Weyl sums. These mean values express the average behaviour of the number $r_{s,k}(l)$ of representations of a positive integer $l$ as a sum of $s$ positive $k$-th powers. Recent deep results within the context of Waring's problem and Weyl sums enable us to prove a further range of complementary results for the discrete operator under consideration.

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