Sommes de G\'al et applications

We evaluate the asymptotic size of various sums of G\'al type, in particular $$S( \mathcal{M}):=\sum_{m,n\in\mathcal{M}} \sqrt{(m,n) \over [m,n]},$$ where $\mathcal{M}$ is a finite set of integers. Elaborating on methods recently developed by Bondarenko and Seip, we obtain an asymptotic formula for $$\log\Big( \sup_{|\mathcal{M}|= N}{S( \mathcal{M})/N}\Big)$$ and derive new lower bounds for localized extreme values of the Riemann zeta-function, for extremal values of some Dirichlet $L$-functions at $s=1/2$, and for large character sums.