Distinct distances on regular varieties over finite fields

Abstract: In this paper we study some generalized versions of a recent result due to Covert, Koh, and Pi (2015). More precisely, we prove that if a subset $\mathcal{E}$ in a regular variety satisfies $|\mathcal{E}|\gg q^{\frac{d-1}{2}+\frac{1}{k-1}}$, then $\Delta_{k, F}(\mathcal{E})\supseteq \mathbb{F}_q\setminus {0}$ for some certain families of polynomials $F(\mathbf{x})\in \mathbb{F}_q[x_1, \ldots, x_d]$.