English

A note on $\mathscr{B}$-free sets and the existence of natural density

Dynamical Systems 2025-06-13 v1 Number Theory

Abstract

Given BN\mathscr{B}\subseteq \mathbb{N}, let MB=bBbZ\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}=\bigcup_{b\in\mathscr{B}}b\mathbb{Z} be the correspoding set of multiples. We say that B\mathscr{B} is taut if the logarithmic density of MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B} decreases after removing any element from B\mathscr{B}. We say that B\mathscr{B} is minimal if it is primitive (i.e.\ bbb| b' for b,bBb,b'\in\mathscr{B} implies b=bb=b') and the characteristic function η\eta of MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B} is a Toeplitz sequence (i.e.\ for every nNn\in \mathbb{N} there exists sns_n such that η\eta is constant along n+snZn+s_n\mathbb{Z}). With every B\mathscr{B} one associates the corresponding taut set B\mathscr{B}' (determined uniquely among all taut sets by the condition that the associated Mirsky measures agree) and the minimal set B\mathscr{B}^* (determined uniquely among all minimal sets by the condition that every configuration appearing on MB\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*} appears on MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}: for every nNn\in \mathbb{N}, there exists kZk\in \mathbb{Z} such that MB[0,n]=MB[k,k+n]k\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*}\cap [0,n]=\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B} \cap[k,k+n]-k). Besicovitch [2] gave an example of B\mathscr{B} whose set of multiples does not have the natural density. It was proved in [7, Lemma 4.18] that if MB\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}'} posses the natural density then so does MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}. In this paper we show that this is the only obstruction: every configuration ijk{0,1}3ijk\in \{0,1\}^3 (with ij01ij\neq 01), encoding the information on the existence of the natural density for the triple MB,MB,MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B},\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B'}},\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*}, can occur. Furthermore, we show that MB\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B} and MB\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}'} can differ along a set of positive upper density.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.10218,
  title  = {A note on $\mathscr{B}$-free sets and the existence of natural density},
  author = {Aurelia Dymek and Stanisław Kasjan and Joanna Kułaga-Przymus},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.10218},
  year   = {2025}
}

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17 pages