In this paper we study the generalized Erdos-Falconer distance problems in
the finite field setting. The generalized distances are defined in terms of
polynomials, and various formulas for sizes of distance sets are obtained. In
particular, we develop a simple formula for estimating the cardinality of
distance sets determined by diagonal polynomials. As a result, we generalize
the spherical distance problems due to Iosevich and Rudnev and the cubic
distance problems due to Iosevich and Koh. Moreover, our results are of higher
dimensional version for Vu's work on two dimension.
In this paper we study $L^p-L^r$ estimates of both extension operators and
averaging operators associated with the algebraic variety $S=\{x\in {\mathbb
F}_q^d: Q(x)=0\}$ where $Q(x)$ is a nondegenerate quadratic form over the
finite field ${\mathbb F}_q.$ In the case when $d\geq 3$ is odd and the surface
$S$ contains a $(d-1)/2$-dimensional subspace, we obtain the exponent $r$ where
the $L^2-L^r$ extension estimate is sharp. In particular, we give the complete
solution to the extension problems related to specific surfaces $S$ in three
dimension.