Related papers: $L$--functions and sum--free sets

In 1990, Alon and Kleitman proposed an argument for the sum-free subset problem: every set of n nonzero elements of a finite Abelian group contains a sum-free subset A of size |A|>\frac{2}{7}n. In this note, we show that the argument…

In this short note we prove the following result: If a completely multiplicative function $f:\mathbb{N}\to[-1,1]$ is small on average in the sense that $\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)\ll x^{1-\delta}$, for some $\delta>0$, and if the Dirichlet series…

Let $f$ be a completely multiplicative function that assumes values inside the unit disc. We show that if $\sum_{n<x} f(n) \ll x/(\log x)^A$, $x>2$, for some $A>2$, then either $f(p)$ is small on average or $f$ pretends to be $\mu(n)n^{it}$…

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…

We introduce a simple sieve-theoretic approach to studying partial sums of multiplicative functions which are close to their mean value. This enables us to obtain various new results as well as strengthen existing results with new proofs.…

For $p$ being a large prime number, and $A \subset \mathbb{F}_p$ we prove the following: $(i)$ If $A(A+A)$ does not cover all nonzero residues in $\mathbb{F}_p$, then $|A| < p/8 + o(p)$. $(ii)$ If $A$ is both sum-free and satisfies $A =…

Given $A$ a set of $N$ positive integers, an old question in additive combinatorics asks that whether $A$ contains a sum-free subset of size at least $N/3+\omega(N)$ for some increasing unbounded function $\omega$. The question is generally…

Let $A$ be a subset of a finite field $\mathbb{F}$. When $\mathbb{F}$ has prime order, we show that there is an absolute constant $c > 0$ such that, if $A$ is both sum-free and equal to the set of its multiplicative inverses, then $|A| <…

We classify the polynomials $f(x,y) \in \mathbb R[x,y]$ such that given any finite set $A \subset \mathbb R$ if $|A+A|$ is small, then $|f(A,A)|$ is large. In particular, the following bound holds : $|A+A||f(A,A)| \gtrsim |A|^{5/2}.$ The…

Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be a finite field of prime order $p$ and let $A \subset \mathbb{F}_p$ be a subset. In the dense regime when $|A| \geq \alpha p$ for some $\alpha \in (0,1)$, we determine the optimal constant $f(\alpha)$ in the inequality…

Given a set $A \subseteq \mathbb{F}_p^n$, what conditions does one need to guarantee that iterated sumsets of the form $A+\cdots+A$ expand quickly (say, within $O(p)$ terms) to the whole space? When only the size of $A$ is known, such…

Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be the field of a prime order $p.$ It is known that for any integer $N\in [1,p]$ one can construct a subset $A\subset\mathbb{F}_p$ with $|A|= N$ such that $$ \max\{|A+A|, |AA|\}\ll p^{1/2}|A|^{1/2}. $$ In the present…

A set $B$ is said to be \emph{sum-free} if there are no $x,y,z\in B$ with $x+y=z$. We show that there exists a constant $c>0$ such that any set $A$ of $n$ integers contains a sum-free subset $A'$ of size $|A'|\geqslant n/3+c\log \log n$.…

For a prime $p$, we consider Kloosterman sums $$ K_{p}(a) = \sum_{x\in \F_p^*} \exp(2 \pi i (x + ax^{-1})/p), \qquad a \in \F_p^*, $$ over a finite field of $p$ elements. It is well known that due to results of Deligne, Katz and Sarnak, the…

We prove a generalization of Frieman's $3k-3$ theorem for the sumset $$ \Sigma^{l}(A_1,\ldots,A_k)=\{a_{j_{1}}+\cdots+a_{j_{l}}:\,1\leq j_{1}<\cdots<j_{l}\leq k,\ a_{j_{s}}\in A_{j_{s}}\text{ for all }s\}. $$

We prove that for an arbitrary $\varepsilon>0$ and any multiplicative subgroup $\Gamma \subseteq \mathbf{F}_p$, $1\ll |\Gamma| \le p^{2/3 -\varepsilon}$ there are no sets $B$, $C \subseteq \mathbf{F}_p$ with $|B|, |C|>1$ such that…

We provide examples of multiplicative functions $f$ supported on the $k$-free integers such that at primes $f(p)=\pm 1$ and such that the partial sums of $f$ up to $x$ are $o(x^{1/k})$. Further, if we assume the Generalized Riemann…

A family of sets is union-free if there are no three distinct sets in the family such that the union of two of the sets is equal to the third set. Kleitman proved that every union-free family has size at most $(1+o(1))\binom{n}{n/2}$.…

The Landau-Selberg-Delange method provides an asymptotic formula for the partial sums of a multiplicative function whose average value on primes is a fixed complex number $v$. The shape of this asymptotic implies that $f$ can get very small…

Let $\kl_n(a,b;m)$ be the hyper-Kloosterman sum. Fix integers $n\geqslant2,a\neq0$, $b\neq0$ and $k\geqslant2$. For any $0\neq\eta\in\mathbb{C}$ and multiplicative function $f: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{C}$, we prove that…