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If S is a smooth compact surface in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ with strictly positive second fundamental form, and $E_S$ is the corresponding extension operator, then we prove that for all $p > 3$, $\left\|E_S f\right\|_{L^p\left(\mathbb{R}^3\right)}…

Around the early 2000-s, Bourgain, Katz and Tao introduced an arithmetic approach to study Kakeya-type problems. They showed that the Euclidean Kakeya conjecture follows from a natural problem in additive combinatorics, now referred to as…

Kakeya sets are compact subsets of $\mathbb{R}^n$ that contain a unit line segment pointing in every direction. The Kakeya conjecture states that such sets must have Hausdorff dimension $n$. The property of stickiness was first discovered…

This paper explores the relationship between convexity and sum sets. In particular, we show that elementary number theoretical methods, principally the application of a squeezing principle, can be augmented with the Elekes-Szab\'{o} Theorem…

Let $A, B$, be finite subsets of an abelian group, and let $G \subset A \times B$ be such that $# A, # B, # \{a+b: (a,b) \in G \} \leq N$. We consider the question of estimating the quantity $# \{a-b: (a,b) \in G \}$. Recently Bourgain…

A Besicovitch set is a subset of $\R^d$ that contains a unit line segment in every direction and the famous Kakeya conjecture states that Besicovitch sets should have full dimension. We provide a number of results in support of this…

In a recent breakthrough, Dvir showed that every Kakeya set in $\F^n$ must be of cardinality at least $c_n |\F|^n$ where $c_n \approx 1/n!$. We improve this lower bound to $\beta^n |\F|^n$ for a constant $\beta > 0$. This pins down the…

It is shown that $SL_2$ Besicovitch sets of measure zero exist in $\mathbb{R}^3$. The proof is constructive and uses point-line duality analogously to Kahane's construction of measure zero Besicovitch sets in the plane. A corollary is that…

We prove that a Kakeya set in a vector space over a finite field of size $q$ always supports a probability measure whose Fourier transform is bounded by $q^{-1}$ for all non-zero frequencies. We show that this bound is sharp in all…

We give improved lower bounds on the size of Kakeya and Nikodym sets over $\mathbb{F}_q^3$. We also propose a natural conjecture on the minimum number of points in the union of a not-too-flat set of lines in $\mathbb{F}_q^3$, and show that…

We extend the "method of multiplicities" to get the following results, of interest in combinatorics and randomness extraction. (A) We show that every Kakeya set (a set of points that contains a line in every direction) in $\F_q^n$ must be…

First, we study constructible subsets of $\A^n_k$ which contain a line in any direction. We classify the smallest such subsets in $\A^3$ of the type $R\cup\{g\neq 0\},$ where $g\in k[x_1,...,x_n]$ is irreducible of degree $d$, and $R\subset…

A Kakeya set is a compact subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$ that contains a unit line segment pointing in every direction. The Kakeya conjecture asserts that such sets must have Hausdorff and Minkowski dimension $n$. There is a special class of…

We give new lower bounds for the Hausdorff dimension of Kakeya sets built from various families of curves in $\mathbb R^3$, going beyond what the polynomial partitioning method has so-far achieved. We do this by combining Wolff's classical…

For a finite vector space $V$ and a non-negative integer $r\le\dim V$ we estimate the smallest possible size of a subset of $V$, containing a translate of every $r$-dimensional subspace. In particular, we show that if $K\subset V$ is the…

We construct a union of N parallelograms of dimensions approximately 1/N x 1 in the plane, with the slope of their long sides in the standard Cantor set. The union has area 1/log N but the union of the doubles has area log log N/ log N. In…

We establish new estimates on the Minkowski and Hausdorff dimensions of Besicovitch sets and obtain new bounds on the Kakeya maximal operator.

Let $k$ be a perfect field of positive characteristic and let $X$ be a smooth irreducible quasi-compact scheme over $k$. The Drinfeld-Kedlaya theorem states that for an irreducible $F$-isocrystal on $X$, the gap between consecutive generic…

Katz and Zahl used a planebrush argument to prove that Kakeya sets in $\mathbb{R}^4$ have Hausdorff dimension at least 3.059. In the special case when the Kakeya set is plany, their argument gives a better lower bound of 10/3. We give a…

Combining $2$-descent techniques with Riemann-Roch and B\'ezout's theorems, we give an upper bound on the number of rational points of bounded height on elliptic and hyperelliptic curves over function fields of characteristic $\neq 2$. We…