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Explicit van der Corput's $d$-th derivative estimate

Number Theory 2024-07-03 v1

Abstract

We give an explicit version for van der Corput's dd-th derivative estimate of exponential sums. Theorem. \textbf{Theorem.} Let XX, and YRY\in\mathbb{R} be such that Y>d\lfloor Y\rfloor>d where d3d\ge3 is a natural number. Let f ⁣:(X,X+Y]Rf\colon(X,X+Y]\to\mathbb{R} be a real function with continuous derivatives up to the order dd. Assume that 0<λf(d)(x)Λ0<\lambda\le f^{(d)}(x)\le\Lambda for X<xX+YX<x\le X+Y. Denote by D=2dD=2^d. Then \begin{equation}\Bigl|\frac{1}{Y}\sum_{X<n\le X+Y}e(f(n))\Bigr|\le\max\Bigl\{A_d\Bigl(\frac{\Lambda}{\lambda Y}\Bigr)^{2/D}, B_d\Bigl(\frac{\Lambda^2}{\lambda}\Bigr)^{1/(D-2)},C_d(\lambda Y^d)^{-2/D}\Bigr\},\end{equation} where AdA_d, BdB_d, and CdC_d are explicit constants. They depend on dd but for d2d\ge2 for example Ad<7.5A_d< 7.5, Bd<5.8B_d<5.8 and Cd<10.9C_d<10.9. We follow the reasoning of van der Corput in three papers published in 1937, that contained an error. I correct this error and try to get the smallest possible constants. We apply this theorem to zeta sums, giving the best choice of dd in each case. Also, we prove that our Theorem implies Titchmarsh's Theorem 5.13.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.02094,
  title  = {Explicit van der Corput's $d$-th derivative estimate},
  author = {Juan Arias de Reyna},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.02094},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

21 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:26:13.979Z