English

Finding solutions with distinct variables to systems of linear equations over $\mathbb{F}_p$

Combinatorics 2021-05-17 v1

Abstract

Let us fix a prime pp and a homogeneous system of mm linear equations aj,1x1++aj,kxk=0a_{j,1}x_1+\dots+a_{j,k}x_k=0 for j=1,,mj=1,\dots,m with coefficients aj,iFpa_{j,i}\in\mathbb{F}_p. Suppose that k3mk\geq 3m, that aj,1++aj,k=0a_{j,1}+\dots+a_{j,k}=0 for j=1,,mj=1,\dots,m and that every m×mm\times m minor of the m×km\times k matrix (aj,i)j,i(a_{j,i})_{j,i} is non-singular. Then we prove that for any (large) nn, any subset AFpnA\subseteq\mathbb{F}_p^n of size A>CΓn|A|> C\cdot \Gamma^n contains a solution (x1,,xk)Ak(x_1,\dots,x_k)\in A^k to the given system of equations such that the vectors x1,,xkAx_1,\dots,x_k\in A are all distinct. Here, CC and Γ\Gamma are constants only depending on pp, mm and kk such that Γ<p\Gamma<p. The crucial point here is the condition for the vectors x1,,xkx_1,\dots,x_k in the solution (x1,,xk)Ak(x_1,\dots,x_k)\in A^k to be distinct. If we relax this condition and only demand that x1,,xkx_1,\dots,x_k are not all equal, then the statement would follow easily from Tao's slice rank polynomial method. However, handling the distinctness condition is much harder, and requires a new approach. While all previous combinatorial applications of the slice rank polynomial method have relied on the slice rank of diagonal tensors, we use a slice rank argument for a non-diagonal tensor in combination with combinatorial and probabilistic arguments.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.06863,
  title  = {Finding solutions with distinct variables to systems of linear equations over $\mathbb{F}_p$},
  author = {Lisa Sauermann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.06863},
  year   = {2021}
}

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23 pages