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Sharp density conditions for infinite $B+B$ sumsets in abelian groups

Combinatorics 2026-07-20 v1

Abstract

Motivated by recent results \cite{charamaras_kousek_mountakis_radic2025BBingroups} on infinite sumsets of the form B+B={b1+b2:b1,b2B}B+B=\{b_1+b_2:b_1,b_2\in B\} in large subsets of abelian groups, and an old problem of Owings \cite[Problem E2494]{Owing_problems} about the partition regularity of B+BB+B in 22 colours, we show the following theorem. Let (G,+)(G,+) be a countable abelian group such that the subgroup {g+g ⁣:gG}\{g+g\colon g\in G\} has finite index and the doubling map D:gg+gD: g\mapsto g+g has finite kernel. Let also Φ=(ΦN)N\Phi=(\Phi_N)_{N} be any Folner sequence in GG and Φ/2=(D1(ΦN))N\Phi/2=(D^{-1}(\Phi_N))_{N}. Then, if AGA\subset G is such that dΦ(A)+dΦ/2(A)>1d_{\Phi}(A)+d_{\Phi/2}(A)>1, there is an infinite set BGB\subset G and some tGt\in G for which t+B+BAt+B+B\subset A. We prove that this result implies the main theorem in \cite{charamaras_kousek_mountakis_radic2025BBingroups}, and construct an example to show the reverse implication does not hold. Moreover, we show that our main theorem is optimal in a strong sense. Namely, for any countable abelian group (G,+)(G,+) with the aforementioned assumptions -- which are necessary -- there exists a Folner sequence Φ\Phi and a set AGA\subset G so that dΦ(A)+dΦ/2(A)=1d_{\Phi}(A)+d_{\Phi/2}(A)=1, but there is no infinite set BGB\subset G and tGt\in G for which t+B+BAt+B+B\subset A. Finally, we relate the optimality of our main result in the integer setting to Owings' problem and present some other considerations around this.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.18132,
  title  = {Sharp density conditions for infinite $B+B$ sumsets in abelian groups},
  author = {Ioannis Kousek},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.18132},
  year   = {2026}
}

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19 pages