Dimension-free estimates for the full discrete Euclidean ball maximal function

Abstract

Let $M_t$ denote the normalized average over the lattice points in the Euclidean ball of radius $t$ in $\mathbb{Z}^d$. We prove that the full maximal operator $f\mapsto\sup_{t\geq0}\lvert M_t f\rvert$ is bounded on $\ell^p(\mathbb{Z}^d)$, for every $1<p\leq\infty$, with a constant independent of the dimension. In particular, this resolves a question of E.M. Stein from the mid 1990s. The principal ingredient in our proof is that, when $t\lesssim d$ with $t$ sufficiently large, the associated multiplier $\mathfrak{m}_{\sqrt{\lfloor t^2\rfloor}}(\xi)$ admits an asymptotic expansion of arbitrary prescribed order, uniform in $\xi$, whose resulting maximal operators can be controlled by the discrete normalized Gaussian maximal function studied by Mirek--Szarek--Wr\'obel \cite{MSW25}.