On the maximal directional Hilbert transform in three dimensions

We establish the sharp growth rate, in terms of cardinality, of the $L^p$ norms of the maximal Hilbert transform $H_Omega$ along finite subsets of a finite order lacunary set of directions $Omega subset mathbb R^3$, answering a question of Parcet and Rogers in dimension $n=3$. Our result is the first sharp estimate for maximal directional singular integrals in dimensions greater than 2. The proof relies on a representation of the maximal directional Hilbert transform in terms of a model maximal operator associated to compositions of two-dimensional angular multipliers, as well as on the usage of weighted norm inequalities, and their extrapolation, in the directional setting.