 Four-term progression bound with torsion factors

For a finite abelian group $G$, put $t_j=|\{x\in G:jx=0\}|$. If $|f_i|\le 1$, then $|{\mathbb{E}}_{x,d}{\prod }_{i=0}^3{f}_i(x+id)|\le (t_2{t}_3{)}^{1/8}{\min }_i\Vert f_i{\Vert }_{U^3}$. Three applications of Cauchy-Schwarz, eliminating the factors at slopes $3,2,1$, bound the eighth power by ${\mathbb{E}}_{h,k}|{\mathbb{E}}_x{\Delta }_{-3h}{\Delta }_{-2k}{f}_0(x){|}^2$, where ${\Delta }_{h}f(x)=f(x)\overline{f(x+h)}$. The integrand is nonnegative; averaging over $3G$ and $2G$ costs at most their indices $t_3$ and $t_2$ compared with the unrestricted average defining $\Vert f_0{\Vert }_{U^3}^8$. Reversal treats slope three. For slope one, elimination at slopes $3,0,2$ produces increments $-2h,k,-r$, costing only $t_2$; reversal treats slope two. In a cyclic group, $t_2\le 2,t_3\le 3$, so the constant is at most $6^{1/8}$ independently of group size.