On inverted Kloosterman sums over finite fields

Abstract: The classical $n$-variable Kloosterman sums over finite fields are well understood by Deligne's theorem from complex point of view and by Sperber's theorem from $p$-adic point of view. In this paper, we study the complex and $p$-adic estimates of inverted $n$-variable Kloosterman sums, addressing a question of N. Katz (1995). We shall give two complex estimates. The first one is elementary based on Gauss sums. The second estimate is deeper, depending on the cohomological results of Adolphson-Sperber, Denef-Loeser and Fu for twisted toric exponential sums. This deeper result assumes that the characteristic $p$ does not divide $n+1$. Combining with Dwork's $p$-adic theory, we also determine the exact $p$-adic valuations for zeros and poles of the L-function associated to inverted $n$-variable Kloosterman sums in the case $p \equiv 1 \mod (n+1)$. As we shall see, the inverted $n$-variable Kloosterman sum is more complicated than the classical $n$-variable Kloosterman sum in all aspects in the sense that our understanding is less complete, partly because the Hodge numbers are now mostly $2$ instead of $1$.