TITLE: Proving an estimate of Weyl
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: I'm working through some problems of Fourier Analysis by Stein, Shakarchi and I got stuck trying to solve the following problem:

Let $S_N = \sum_{n=1}^N e^{2\pi i f(n)}$. Show that for $H\le N$, one has
$$|S_N|^2 \le c \frac NH \sum_{h=0}^H\,  \left|\,\sum_{n=1}^{N-h} e^{2\pi i(f(n+h)- f(n))} \right|$$
  for some constant $c>0$ independent of $N$, $H$, and $f$.

There is even a hint: Let $a_n = e^{2\pi if(n)}$ if $1\le n\le N$ and $0$ otherwise. Then write $H\;\sum_n a_n = \sum_{h=1}^H \sum_n a_{n+h}$ and apply the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
Well, I'm realy horrible at this stuff, but I'll write down at least a beginning
$$\begin{align}
|S_N|^2 &= \frac 1{H^2} \left| \sum_{h=1}^H \sum_n a_n \right|^2 \\ 
&\leq  \frac1H \sum_{h=1}^H \left|\sum_n a_{n+h} \right|^2 \\
&= \frac1H \sum_{h=1}^H \sum_{n,m} a_{n+h}\overline{a_{m+h}}
\end{align}$$
and after this I already get lost. =( (Of course, I have scribbed down much more than just this, but it all lead nowhere, so I won't expose you to that...)
I would really appreciate some help. Cheers!

REPLY [6 votes]: Here's a route to the solution. I tried to be detailed with the sums, so the computations get a little messy. By the way, this inequality is a form of van der Corput's Inequality. You can see more at Terry Tao's blog, but the version he talks about is a little less obviously related.
As for the computation, you have
$$
HS_N=H\sum_na_n=\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_na_{n+k}=\sum_n\sum_{k=1}^Ha_{n+k}.
$$
The inner sum vanishes except for $n$ in the range $1-H\leq n\leq N-1$. It follows by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality that
$$\begin{align*}
H^2|S_N|^2
&=
\left|\sum_n\sum_{k=1}^Ha_{n+k}\right|^2\leq
(N+H-1)\sum_n\left|\sum_{k=1}^Ha_{n+k}\right|^2\\
&=
(N+H-1)\sum_n\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_{j=1}^Ha_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}\\
&=
(N+H-1)\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_{j=1}^H\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}.
\end{align*}$$
To evaluate the sum, group the terms $a_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}$ by the value of the difference $k-j$ (I've included a detailed computation below in case it's not clear what I mean). In the end, you'll find that
$$\begin{align*}
\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_{j=1}^H\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}
&=
H\sum_n|a_n|^2+
2\text{Re}\,\left(\sum_{h=1}^{H-1}(H-h)\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_{n}\right)\\
&\leq
2\sum_{h=0}^{H-1}(H-h)\left|\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_{n}\right|.
\end{align*}
$$
Combining everything from here (I've adjusted this to reflect @process91's comment), you get
$$
\begin{align*}
|S_N|^2&
\leq
2\left(\frac{N+H-1}{H}\right)\sum_{h=0}^{H-1}\left(1-\frac{h}{H}\right)\left|\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_{n}\right|\\
&\leq 4\frac{N}{H}\sum_{h=0}^{H}\left|\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_{n}\right|.
\end{align*}
$$
Now just delimit the above sum and insert $e^{2\pi i(f(n+h)-f(n))}$ for $a_{n+h}\overline{a}_n$ to get the inequality the book wants.

Here's a detailed computation of the sum I referenced above. Write
$$\begin{align*}
\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_{j=1}^H\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}
&=
\sum_{1\leq j\leq k\leq H}\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}\\
&\qquad +
\sum_{1\leq k<j\leq H}\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j},
\end{align*}
$$
and observe that
$$
\begin{align*}
\sum_{1\leq j\leq k\leq H}\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}
&=
\sum_{1\leq j\leq k\leq H}\sum_na_{n+k-j}\overline{a}_{n}\\
&=
\sum_{0\leq k-j\leq H-j\leq H-1}\sum_na_{n+k-j}\overline{a}_n\\
&=
\sum_{0\leq h\leq H-j\leq H-1}\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_n\\
&=
\sum_{h=0}^{H-1}\sum_{j=1}^{H-h}\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_n\\
&=
\sum_{h=0}^{H-1}(H-h)\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_n.
\end{align*}
$$
Similarly,
$$
\begin{align*}
\sum_{1\leq k<j\leq H}\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}
&=
\sum_{h=1}^{H-1}(H-h)\sum_na_n\overline{a}_{n+h}.
\end{align*}$$
So it follows that
$$\begin{align*}
\sum_{k=1}^H\sum_{j=1}^H\sum_na_{n+k}\overline{a}_{n+j}
&=
H\sum_n|a_n|^2+
2\text{Re}\,\left(\sum_{h=1}^{H-1}(H-h)\sum_na_{n+h}\overline{a}_{n}\right).
\end{align*}$$