Restricted Variable Chevalley-Warning Theorems

Abstract

We pursue various restricted variable generalizations of the Chevalley-Warning theorem for low degree polynomial systems over a finite field. Our first such result involves variables restricted to Cartesian products of the Vandermonde subsets of $\F_q$ defined by G\'acs-Weiner and Sziklai-Tak\'ats. We then define an invariant $\uomega(X)$ of a nonempty subset of $\F_q^n$. Our second result involves $X$-restricted variables when the degrees of the polynomials are small compared to $\uomega(X)$. We end by exploring various classes of subsets for which $\uomega(X)$ can be bounded from below.