Some applications of representation theory to the sum-product phenomenon

A method of estimating sums of multiplicative functions braided with Dirichlet characters is demonstrated, leading to a taxonomy of the characters for which such sums are large.

For every positive integer h, the representation function of order h associated to a subset A of the integers or, more generally, of any group or semigroup X, counts the number of ways an element of X can be written as the sum (or product, if X is nonabelian) of h not necessarily distinct elements of X. The direct problem for representation functions in additive number theory begins with a subset A of X and seeks to understand its representation functions. The inverse problem...

In additive combinatorics, Erd\"{o}s-Szemer\'{e}di Conjecture is an important conjecture. It can be applied to many fields, such as number theory, harmonic analysis, incidence geometry, and so on. Additionally, its statement is quite easy to understand, while it is still an open problem. In this dissertation, we investigate the Erd\"{o}s-Szemer\'{e}di Conjecture and its relationship with several well-known results in incidence geometry, such as the Szemer\'{e}di-Trotter Incid...

We attempt to survey the field of combinatorial representation theory, describe the main results and main questions and give an update of its current status. We give a personal viewpoint on the field, while remaining aware that there is much important and beautiful work that we have not been able to mention.

The authors review results implicit in their recent paper [2] on the product/quotient representation of rationals by rationals of the type $( an + b )/ ( An+ B )$ and give a detailed account of a particular related non-intuitive simultaneous ( i.e. two dimensional ) representation of pairs of rationals.

This text is an extended version of the lecture notes for a course on representation theory of finite groups that was given by the authors during several years for graduate and postgraduate students of Novosibirsk State University and Sobolev Institute of Mathematics.

We provide estimates for sums of the form \[\left|\sum_{a\in A}\sum_{b\in B}\sum_{c\in C}\chi(a+b+c)\right|\] and \[\left|\sum_{a\in A}\sum_{b\in B}\sum_{c\in C}\sum_{d\in D}\chi(a+b+cd)\right|\] when $A,B,C,D\subset \mathbb F_p$, the field with $p$ elements and $\chi$ is a non-trivial multiplicative character modulo $p$.

In 1918 Polya and Vinogradov gave an upper bound for the maximal size of character sums which still remains the best known general estimate. One of the main results of this paper provides a substantial improvement of the Polya-Vinogradov bound for characters of odd, bounded order. In 1977 Montgomery and Vaughan showed how the Polya-Vinogradov inequality may be sharpened assuming the GRH. We give a simple proof of their estimate, and provide an improvement for characters of od...

In this paper we obtain a series of asymptotic formulae in the sum--product phenomena over the prime field $\mathbf{F}_p$. In the proofs we use usual incidence theorems in $\mathbf{F}_p$, as well as the growth result in ${\rm SL}_2 (\mathbf{F}_p)$ due to Helfgott. Here some of our applications: $\bullet~$ a new bound for the number of the solutions to the equation $(a_1-a_2) (a_3-a_4) = (a'_1-a'_2) (a'_3-a'_4)$, $\,a_i, a'_i\in A$, $A$ is an arbitrary subset of $\mathbf{F}_...

We give a short introduction to the subject of representation growth and representation zeta functions of groups, omitting all proofs. Our focus is on results which are relevant to the study of arithmetic groups in semisimple algebraic groups, such as the special linear group of degree n over the ring of integers. In the last two sections we state several results which were recently obtained in joint work with N. Avni, U. Onn and C. Voll.