English

Results on the Erd\H os-Falconer distance problem in $\mathbb{Z}_q^d$ for odd $q$

Number Theory 2014-03-05 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

The Erd\H os-Falconer distance problem in Zqd\mathbb{Z}_q^d asks one to show that if EZqdE \subset \mathbb{Z}_q^d is of sufficiently large cardinality, then Δ(E):={(x1y1)2++(xdyd)2:x,yE}\Delta(E) := \{(x_1 - y_1)^2 + \dots + (x_d - y_d)^2 : x, y \in E\} satisfies Δ(E)=Zq\Delta(E) = \mathbb{Z}_q. Here, Zq\mathbb{Z}_q is the set of integers modulo qq, and Zqd\mathbb{Z}_q^d is the free module of rank dd over Zq\mathbb{Z}_q. We extend known results in two directions. Previous results were known only in the setting q=pq = p^{\ell}, where pp is an odd prime, and as such only showed that all units were obtained in the distance set. We remove the constriction that qq is a power of a prime, and despite this, shows that the distance set of EE contains \emph{all} of Zq\mathbb{Z}_q whenever EE is sufficiently large.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1309.1495,
  title  = {Results on the Erd\H os-Falconer distance problem in $\mathbb{Z}_q^d$ for odd $q$},
  author = {David Covert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.1495},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

9 pages, typos fixed, general condition for main theorem has been corrected/simplified