Small cap decouplings

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new toolbox for proving small cap decouplings, successfully applying it to the parabola, moment curve, and cone, with implications for exponential sums and the Riemann zeta-function.

Contribution

It develops novel techniques for small cap decoupling and solves three previously unresolved problems in harmonic analysis.

Findings

Verified small cap decoupling for the parabola.

Obtained sharp estimates for exponential sums on the moment curve.

Proved small cap decoupling for the two-dimensional cone.

Abstract

We develop a toolbox for proving decouplings into boxes with diameter smaller than the canonical scale. As an application of this new technique, we solve three problems for which earlier methods have failed. We start by verifying the small cap decoupling for the parabola. Then we find sharp estimates for exponential sums with small frequency separation on the moment curve in $\mathbb{R}^3$. This part of the work relies on recent improved Kakeya-type estimates for planar tubes, as well as on new multilinear incidence bounds for plates and planks. We also combine our method with the recent advance on the reverse square function estimate, in order to prove small cap decoupling into square-like caps for the two dimensional cone. The Appendix by Roger Heath-Brown contains an application of the new exponential sum estimates for the moment curve, to the Riemann zeta-function.