A finite version of the Kakeya problem

Let L be a set of lines of an affine space over a field and let S be a set of points with the property that every line of L is incident with at least N points of S. Let D be the set of directions of the lines of L considered as points of the projective space at infinity. We give a geometric construc...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Ball, Simeon Michael|||0000-0003-4845-2084, Blokhuis, Aart, Domenzain, Diego
Format: article
Publication Date:2016
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repository:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/108967
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/108967
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Combinatorial analysis
Kakeya problem
Combinacions (Matemàtica)
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Matemàtiques i estadística::Matemàtica discreta::Combinatòria
Description
Summary:Let L be a set of lines of an affine space over a field and let S be a set of points with the property that every line of L is incident with at least N points of S. Let D be the set of directions of the lines of L considered as points of the projective space at infinity. We give a geometric construction of a set of lines L, where D contains an Nn−1 grid and where S has size 2( 1 2N) n plus smaller order terms, given a starting configuration in the plane. We provide examples of such starting configurations for the reals and for finite fields. Following Dvir’s proof of the finite field Kakeya conjecture and the idea of using multiplicities of Dvir, Kopparty, Saraf and Sudan, we prove a lower bound on the size of S dependent on the ideal generated by the homogeneous polynomials vanishing on D. This bound is maximised as ( 1 2N) n plus smaller order terms, for n > 4, when D contains the points of a Nn−1 grid.