An $L^{4/3}$ $SL_2$ Kakeya maximal inequality

Abstract

It is shown that $SL_2$ Besicovitch sets of measure zero exist in $\mathbb{R}^3$. The proof is constructive and uses point-line duality analogously to Kahane's construction of measure zero Besicovitch sets in the plane. A corollary is that the $SL_2$ Kakeya maximal inequality cannot hold with uniform constant. A counterexample is given to show that the $SL_2$ Kakeya maximal inequality cannot hold for $p> 3/2$; even in the model case where the $\delta$-tubes have $\delta$-separated directions and the cardinality of the tube family is $\sim \delta^{-2}$. It is then shown that, with $C_{\epsilon} \delta^{-\epsilon}$ loss, the $SL_2$ Kakeya maximal inequality does hold if $p \leq 4/3$, whenever the tubes satisfy a 2-dimensional ball condition (equivalent to the Wolff axioms in the $SL_2$ case). The proof is via an $L^{4/3}$ inequality for restricted families of projections onto planes. For both inequalities, the range $4/3 < p \leq 3/2$ remains an open problem. A related $L^{6/5}$ inequality is derived for restricted projections onto lines. Finally, an application is given to generic intersections of sets in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with "light rays" and "light planes".