Strong spherical maximal function conjecture

Let n≥2n\geq 2. For a tuple of dilation parameters r=(r1,…,rn)∈(0,∞)n\mathbf{r}=(r_1,\dots,r_n)\in(0,\infty)^n, define

δr(x1,…,xn)=(r1x1,…,rnxn).\boldsymbol{\delta}_{\mathbf{r}}(x_1,\dots,x_n)=(r_1x_1,\dots,r_nx_n).

Let σ\sigma be normalized surface measure on the unit sphere Sn−1S^{n-1}, and define its dilation σr\sigma_{\mathbf{r}} by

⟨σr,f⟩=⟨σ,f∘δr⟩.\langle\sigma_{\mathbf{r}},f\rangle=\langle\sigma,f\circ\boldsymbol{\delta}_{\mathbf{r}}\rangle.

The strong spherical maximal function is

Mstf(x)=sup⁡r∈(0,∞)n∣f∗σr(x)∣.\mathcal{M}_{\mathrm{st}}f(x)=\sup_{\mathbf{r}\in(0,\infty)^n}|f*\sigma_{\mathbf{r}}(x)|.

Strong spherical maximal function conjecture. For all n≥2n\geq 2 and p>n+1n−1p>\frac{n+1}{n-1}, there exists a constant Cn,p>0C_{n,p}>0 such that

∥Mstf∥Lp(Rn)≤Cn,p∥f∥Lp(Rn)\|\mathcal{M}_{\mathrm{st}}f\|_{L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)}\leq C_{n,p}\|f\|_{L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)}

for all f∈Cc(Rn)f\in C_c(\mathbb{R}^n). This would give the conjecturally sharp LpL^p range for the strong spherical maximal operator; the paper proves the estimate for all n≥3n\geq3 and p>2p>2, which is sharp when n=3n=3, while the conjectured range remains open in higher dimensions.

References

Primary source

Jonathan Hickman and Joshua Zahl, “Improved L^p bounds for the strong spherical maximal operator”, arXiv:2502.02795 (2025).

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