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Full-Text Articles in Number Theory
Supercharacters, Exponential Sums, And The Uncertainty Principle, J.L. Brumbaugh '13, Madeleine Bulkow '14, Patrick S. Fleming, Luis Alberto Garcia '14, Stephan Ramon Garcia, Gizem Karaali, Matt Michal '15, Andrew P. Turner '14
Supercharacters, Exponential Sums, And The Uncertainty Principle, J.L. Brumbaugh '13, Madeleine Bulkow '14, Patrick S. Fleming, Luis Alberto Garcia '14, Stephan Ramon Garcia, Gizem Karaali, Matt Michal '15, Andrew P. Turner '14
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
The theory of supercharacters, which generalizes classical character theory, was recently introduced by P. Diaconis and I.M. Isaacs, building upon earlier work of C. Andre. We study supercharacter theories on $(Z/nZ)^d$ induced by the actions of certain matrix groups, demonstrating that a variety of exponential sums of interest in number theory (e.g., Gauss, Ramanujan, and Kloosterman sums) arise in this manner. We develop a generalization of the discrete Fourier transform, in which supercharacters play the role of the Fourier exponential basis. We provide a corresponding uncertainty principle and compute the associated constants in several cases.
Ramanujan Sums As Supercharacters, Christopher F. Fowler '12, Stephan Ramon Garcia, Gizem Karaali
Ramanujan Sums As Supercharacters, Christopher F. Fowler '12, Stephan Ramon Garcia, Gizem Karaali
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
The theory of supercharacters, recently developed by Diaconis-Isaacs and Andre, can be used to derive the fundamental algebraic properties of Ramanujan sums. This machinery frequently yields one-line proofs of difficult identities and provides many novel formulas. In addition to exhibiting a new application of supercharacter theory, this article also serves as a blueprint for future work since some of the abstract results we develop are applicable in much greater generality.