Charles Wolf (Rutgers)

The Polynomial Method and the Finite-Field Kakeya Problem

Abstract for the Combinatorics Seminar
2017 March 21

A finite-field Kakeya set is a subset of (Fq)n (the n-dimensional vector space over a finite field of order q) which contains a line in each direction. I will first show how to use polynomials to obtain bounds on the size of a Kakeya set in finite vector spaces. Then I will show how to modify this polynomial technique to obtain better bounds on the size of these Kakeya sets. Time permitting, I will discuss bounds on related incidence problems.


To the Combinatorics Seminar Web page.