A new perspective on the distance problem over prime fields

Let $mathbb{F}_p$ be a prime field, and ${mathcal E}$ a set in $mathbb{F}_p^2$. Let $Delta({mathcal E})={||x-y||: x,y in {mathcal E} }$, the distance set of ${mathcal E}$. In this paper, we provide a quantitative connection between the distance set $Delta({mathcal E})$ and the set of rectangles determined by points in ${mathcal E}$. As a consequence, we obtain a new lower bound on the size of $Delta({mathcal E})$ when ${mathcal E}$ is not too large, improving a previous estimate due to Lund and Petridis and establishing an approach that should lead to significant further improvements.