English

On minimal complements in groups

Combinatorics 2021-09-06 v2 Group Theory Number Theory

Abstract

Let W,WGW,W'\subseteq G be nonempty subsets in an arbitrary group GG. The set WW' is said to be a complement to WW if WW=GWW'=G and it is minimal if no proper subset of WW' is a complement to WW. We show that, if WW is finite then every complement of WW has a minimal complement, answering a problem of Nathanson. This also shows the existence of minimal rr-nets for every r0r\geqslant 0 in finitely generated groups. Further, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of minimal complements of a certain class of infinite subsets in finitely generated abelian groups, partially answering another problem of Nathanson. Finally, we provide infinitely many examples of infinite subsets of abelian groups of arbitrary finite rank admitting minimal complements.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1812.10285,
  title  = {On minimal complements in groups},
  author = {Arindam Biswas and Jyoti Prakash Saha},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.10285},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Minor corrections

R2 v1 2026-06-23T06:56:14.117Z