Related papers: Large zero-free subsets of Z/pZ

In this paper we discuss some of the key properties of sum-free subsets of abelian groups. Our discussion has been designed with a broader readership in mind, and is hence not overly technical. We consider answers to questions like: how…

Let A be a subset of an abelian group G. We say that A is sum-free if there do not exist x,y and z in A satisfying x + y = z. We determine, for any G, the cardinality of the largest sum-free subset of G. This equals c(G)|G| where c(G) is a…

Let A be a subset of a finite abelian group G. We say that A is sum-free if there is no solution of the equation x + y = z, with x, y, z belonging to the set A. In this paper we shall characterise the largest possible sum-free subsets of G…

A finite abelian group $G$ of cardinality $n$ is said to be of type III if every prime divisor of $n$ is congruent to 1 modulo 3. We obtain a classification theorem for sum-free subsets of largest possible cardinality in a finite abelian…

A set of elements of a finite abelian group is called sum-free if it contains no Schur triple, i.e., no triple of elements $x,y,z$ with $x+y=z$. The study of how large the largest sum-free subset of a given abelian group is had started more…

A subset $S$ of a finite abelian group, written additively, is called zero-sumfree if the sum of the elements of each non-empty subset of $S$ is non-zero. We investigate the maximal cardinality of zero-sumfree sets, i.e., the (small) Olson…

It is well-known that for a prime $p\equiv 2\pmod 3$ and integer $n\ge 1$, the maximum possible size of a sum-free subset of the elementary abelian group $\mathbb Z_p^n$ is $\frac13\,(p+1)p^{n-1}$. We establish a matching stability result…

Let $A$ be a finite, nonempty subset of an abelian group. We show that if every element of $A$ is a sum of two other elements, then $A$ has a nonempty zero-sum subset. That is, a (finite, nonempty) sum-full subset of an abelian group is not…

Let $p$ be a prime and let $P$ be a Sylow $p$-subgroup of a finite nonabelian group $G$. Let $bcl(G)$ be the size of the largest conjugacy class of the group $G$. We show that $|P/O_p(G)| < bcl(G)$ if $G$ is not abelian.

We show that if 2^{aleph_0} Cohen reals are added to the universe, then for every reduced non-free torsion-free abelian group A of cardinality less than the continuum, there is a prime p so that Ext_p(A, Z) not= 0. In particular if it is…

A sequence in an additively written abelian group is called zero-free if each of its nonempty subsequences has sum different from the zero element of the group. The article determines the structure of the zero-free sequences with lengths…

A set $A\subset \mathbb{F}_p^n$ is sum-free if $A+A$ does not intersect $A$. If $p\equiv 2 \mod 3$, the maximal size of a sum-free in $\mathbb{F}_p^n$ is known to be $(p^n+p^{n-1})/3$. We show that if a sum-free set $A\subset…

A subset $A$ of a given finite abelian group $G$ is called $(k,l)$-sum-free if the sum of $k$ (not necessarily distinct) elements of $A$ does not equal the sum of $l$ (not necessarily distinct) elements of $A$. We are interested in finding…

We characterize the structure of maximum-size sum-free subsets of a random subset of an Abelian group $G$. In particular, we determine the threshold $p_c \approx \sqrt{\log n / n}$ above which, with high probability as $|G| \to \infty$,…

A subset $D$ of an Abelian group is $decomposable$ if $\emptyset\ne D\subset D+D$. In the paper we give partial answer to an open problem asking whether every finite decomposable subset $D$ of an Abelian group contains a non-empty subset…

Let n be an integer, and consider finite sequences of elements of the group Z/nZ x Z/nZ. Such a sequence is called zero-sum free, if no subsequence has sum zero. It is known that the maximal length of such a zero-sum free sequence is 2n-2,…

This paper studies the maximal size of product-free sets in Z/nZ. These are sets of residues for which there is no solution to ab == c (mod n) with a,b,c in the set. In a previous paper we constructed an infinite sequence of integers…

Let $G$ be a $p$-group for some prime $p$. Let $n$ be the positive integer so that $|G:Z(G)| = p^n$. Suppose $A$ is a maximal abelian subgroup of $G$. Let $$p^l = {\rm max} \{|Z(C_G (g)):Z(G)| : g \in G \setminus Z(G)\},$$ $$p^b = {\rm max}…

We show that if the existence of a supercompact cardinal is consistent with ZFC, then it is consistent with ZFC that the p-rank of Ext_Z(G, Z) is as large as possible for every prime p and any torsion-free abelian group G . Moreover, given…

Let $\Z/pZ$ be the finite field of prime order $p$ and $A$ be a subsequence of $\Z/pZ$. We prove several classification results about the following questions: (1) When can one represent zero as a sum of some elements of $A$ ? (2) When can…