Boolean Functions with Small Approximate Spectral Norm
Discrete analysis (2024)
The sum of the absolute values of the Fourier coefficients of a function $f:\mathbb{F}_2^n \to \mathbb{R}$ is called the spectral norm of $f$. Green and Sanders' quantitative version of Cohen's idempotent theorem states that if the spectral norm of $f:\mathbb{F}_2^n \to \{0,1\}$ is at most $M$, then the support of $f$ belongs to the ring of sets generated by at most $\ell(M)$ cosets, where $\ell(M)$ is a constant that only depends on $M$.
We prove that the above statement can be generalized to \emph{approximate} spectral norms if and only if the support of $f$ and its complement satisfy a certain arithmetic connectivity condition. In particular, our theorem provides a new proof of the quantitative Cohen's theorem for $\mathbb{F}_2^n$.
@article{DAS_2024_a15,
author = {Tsun-Ming Cheung and Hamed Hatami and Rosie Zhao and Itai Zilberstein},
title = {Boolean {Functions} with {Small} {Approximate} {Spectral} {Norm}},
journal = {Discrete analysis},
year = {2024},
language = {en},
url = {http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/DAS_2024_a15/}
}
Tsun-Ming Cheung; Hamed Hatami; Rosie Zhao; Itai Zilberstein. Boolean Functions with Small Approximate Spectral Norm. Discrete analysis (2024). http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/DAS_2024_a15/