Non-classical polynomials and the inverse theorem

Abstract In this paper we characterize when non-classical polynomials are necessary in the inverse theorem for the Gowers $U^k$ -norm. We give a brief deduction of the fact that a bounded function on $\mathbb F_p^n$ with large $U^k$ -norm must correlate with a classical polynomial when $k\le p+1$ . To the best of our knowledge, this result is new for $k=p+1$ (when $p>2$ ). We then prove that non-classical polynomials are necessary in the inverse theorem for the Gowers $U^k$ -norm over $\mathbb F_p^n$ for all $k\ge p+2$ , completely characterising when classical polynomials suffice.