English

Difference sets are not multiplicatively closed

Number Theory 2016-10-04 v4 Combinatorics

Abstract

We prove that for any finite set A of real numbers its difference set D:=A-A has large product set and quotient set, namely, |DD|, |D/D| \gg |D|^{1+c}, where c>0 is an absolute constant. A similar result takes place in the prime field F_p for sufficiently small D. It gives, in particular, that multiplicative subgroups of size less than p^{4/5-\eps} cannot be represented in the form A-A for any A from F_p.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1602.02360,
  title  = {Difference sets are not multiplicatively closed},
  author = {Ilya D. Shkredov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1602.02360},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

21 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:44:56.221Z