A K^n_2-set is a set of zero Lebesgue measure containing a translate of every plane in an (n-2)-dimensional manifold in Gr(n,2), where the manifold fulfills a curvature condition. We show that this is a natural class of sets with respect to the Kakeya problem and prove that dim_H(E)\ge 7/2 for all K^4_2-sets E. When the underlying field is replaced by the complex numbers C, we get dim_H(E)\ge 7 for all K^4_2-sets over C, and we construct an example to show that this is sharp. Thus K^4_2-sets over C do not necessarily have full Hausdorff dimension.
In a prior work [Hilbert transform along smooth families of lines math.CA/0310345] the authors introduced a variant of the Kakeya maximal function associated with Lipschitz maps from the plane into the unit circle. In this paper, we improve the known estimates for this maximal operator--and raise the conjecture that the bounds established are optimal.
We discuss a planar variant of the Kakeya maximal function in the setting of a vector space over a finite field. Using methods from incidence combinatorics, we demonstrate that the operator is bounded from $L^p$ to $L^q$ when $1 \leq p \leq \frac{kn+k+1}{k(k+1)}$ and $1 \leq q \leq (n-k)p'$.
The purpose of this article is to survey the developments on the Kakeya problem in recent years, concentrating on the period after the excellent 1999 survey of Wolff, and including some recent work by the authors. We will focus on the standard Kakeya problem for line segments and not discuss other important variants (such as Kakeya estimates for circles, light rays, or $k$-planes).
We develop a notion of finite order lacunarity for direction sets in $\mathbb R^{d+1}$. Given a direction set $Ω$ that is sublacunary according to this definition, we construct random examples of Euclidean sets that contain unit line segments with directions from $Ω$ and enjoy analytical features similar to those of traditional Kakeya sets of infinitesimal Lebesgue measure. This generalizes to higher dimensions a planar result due to Bateman. Combined with earlier work of Alfonseca, Bateman, Parcet and Rogers, this notion of lacunarity and Kakeya-type sets also yields a characterization in all…
Given a Cantor-type subset $Ω$ of a smooth curve in $\mathbb R^{d+1}$, we construct examples of sets that contain unit line segments with directions from $Ω$ and exhibit analytical features similar to those of classical Kakeya sets of arbitrarily small $(d+1)$-dimensional Lebesgue measure. The construction is based on probabilistic methods relying on the tree structure of $Ω$, and extends to higher dimensions an analogous planar result of Bateman and Katz. In particular, the existence of such sets implies that the directional maximal operator associated with the direction set $Ω$ is unbounded …
Given a family G of rectangles, to which one associates a tree [G], one defines a natural number $λ$ [G] called its analytic split and satisfying, for all 1 < p < $\infty$ log($λ$ [G]) p MG p p where MG is the Hardy-Littlewood type maximal operator associated to the family G. As an application, we completely characterize the boundeness of planar rarefied directional maximal operators on L p for 1 < p < $\infty$. Precisely, if $Ω$ is an arbitrary set of angles in [0, $π$ 4), we prove that any rarefied basis B of the directional basis R $Ω$ yields an operator MB that has the same L p-behavior th…
We say that a planar set $A$ has the Kakeya property if there exist two different positions of $A$ such that $A$ can be continuously moved from the first position to the second within a set of arbitrarily small area. We prove that if $A$ is closed and has the Kakeya property, then the union of the nontrivial connected components of $A$ can be covered by a null set which is either the union of parallel lines or the union of concentric circles. In particular, if $A$ is closed, connected and has the Kakeya property, then $A$ can be covered by a line or a circle.
We completely characterize the boundedness of planar directional maximal operators on L^p. More precisely, if Omega is a set of directions, we show that M_Omega, the maximal operator associated to line segments in the directions Omega, is unbounded on L^p, for all p < infinity, precisely when Omega admits Kakeya-type sets. In fact, we show that if Omega does not admit Kakeya sets, then Omega is a generalized lacunary set, and hence M_Omega is bounded on L^p, for p>1.
We show that for a real polynomial of degree $n$ in two variables $x$ and $y$, any local "sharp turn" must have its "size" $\gtrsim e^{-Cn^{2}}$. We also show that there is indeed an example that has a sharp turn of size $\lesssim e^{-Cn}$. This gives a quite satisfactory answer to a problem raised by Guth. The problem was inspired by applications of the polynomial method in the study of Kakeya conjecture.
A planar set that contains a unit segment in every direction is called a Kakeya set. We relate these sets to a game of pursuit on a cycle $\Z_n$. A hunter and a rabbit move on the nodes of $\Z_n$ without seeing each other. At each step, the hunter moves to a neighbouring vertex or stays in place, while the rabbit is free to jump to any node. Adler et al (2003) provide strategies for hunter and rabbit that are optimal up to constant factors and achieve probability of capture in the first $n$ steps of order $1/\log n$. We show these strategies yield a Kakeya set consisting of $4n$ triangles with…
This thesis investigates two problems that are discrete analogues of two harmonic analytic problems which lie in the heart of research in the field. More specifically, we consider discrete analogues of the maximal Kakeya operator conjecture and of the recently solved endpoint multilinear Kakeya problem, by effectively shrinking the tubes involved in these problems to lines, thus giving rise to the problems of counting joints and multijoints with multiplicities. In fact, we effectively show that, in $\mathbb{R}^3$, what we expect to hold due to the maximal Kakeya operator conjecture, as well as…
We extend a result of the second author \cite[Theorem 1.1]{soggekaknik} to dimensions $d \geq 3$ which relates the size of $L^p$-norms of eigenfunctions for $2<p<\frac{2(d+1)}{d-1}$ to the amount of $L^2$-mass in shrinking tubes about unit-length geodesics. The proof uses bilinear oscillatory integral estimates of Lee \cite{leebilinear} and a variable coefficient variant of an "$\veps$ removal lemma" of Tao and Vargas \cite{tv1}. We also use Hörmander's \cite{HorOsc} $L^2$ oscillatory integral theorem and the Cartan-Hadamard theorem to show that, under the assumption of nonpositive curvature, …
In this survey we collect and discuss some recent results on the so called "Furstenberg set problem", which in its classical form concerns the estimates of the Hausdorff dimension of planar sets containing, for any direction, a subset of an interval poitning in that direction of some prescribed dimension. This problem is closely related to the "Kakeya needle problem". In this work we approach this problem from a more general point of view, in terms of generalized Hausdorff measures associated to dimension functions. We generalize the known results in terms of "logarithmic gaps" and obtain anal…
Let $\mathfrak{L}_1$, $\mathfrak{L}_2$, $\mathfrak{L}_3$ be finite collections of $L_1$, $L_2$, $L_3$, respectively, lines in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and $J(\mathfrak{L}_1, \mathfrak{L}_2,\mathfrak{L}_3)$ the set of multijoints formed by them, i.e. the set of points $x \in \mathbb{R}^3$, each of which lies in at least one line $l_i \in \mathfrak{L}_i$, for all $i=1,2,3$, such that the directions of $l_1$, $l_2$ and $l_3$ span $\mathbb{R}^3$. We prove here that $|J(\mathfrak{L}_1, \mathfrak{L}_2,\mathfrak{L}_3)|\lesssim (L_1L_2L_3)^{1/2}$, and we extend our results to multijoints formed by real algebra…
We prove the following variant of the Falconer conjecture in the plane. If the dimension of a compact planar set is greater than one, then the distance set with respect to almost every ellipse has positive Lebesgue measure.
