Related papers: On maximal sum-free sets in abelian groups
For a prime $p \equiv 2 \pmod 3$, it is well known that the largest sum-free subsets of $\mathbb{F}_p^n$ have size $\frac{p+1}{3} p^{n-1}$, and the extremal sets must be a cuboid of the form $\{\frac{p+1}{3}, \frac{p+1}{3}+1, \ldots,…
Let $A_1,\ldots,A_n$ be finite subsets of an additive abelian group $G$ with $|A_1|=\cdots=|A_n|\ge2$. Concerning the two new kinds of restricted sumsets $$L(A_1,\ldots,A_n)=\{a_1+\cdots+a_n:\ a_1\in A_1,\ldots,a_n\in A_n,\ \text{and}\…
Given a linear equation $\mathcal{L}$, a set $A \subseteq [n]$ is $\mathcal{L}$-free if $A$ does not contain any `non-trivial' solutions to $\mathcal{L}$. In this paper we consider the following three general questions: (i) What is the size…
Generalising a previous result, we determine all non-abelian finite simple groups whose order has largest prime divisor not exceeding $10^4$. The computer code for this and similar calculations is made available.
We show that every finite abelian group $G$ occurs as the group of rational points of an ordinary abelian variety over $\mathbb{F}_2$, $\mathbb{F}_3$ and $\mathbb{F}_5$. We produce partial results for abelian varieties over a general finite…
Let $f(n,r)$ denote the maximum number of colourings of $A \subseteq \lbrace 1,\ldots,n\rbrace$ with $r$ colours such that each colour class is sum-free. Here, a sum is a subset $\lbrace x,y,z\rbrace$ such that $x+y=z$. We show that $f(n,2)…
This paper establishes a classification of the critical numbers for restricted sumsets in finite abelian groups, determining them exactly for even-order groups and bounding them for odd-order groups, while revealing a fundamental structural…
Let A be an abelian surface over F_q, the field of q elements. The rational points on A/\F_q form an abelian group A(\F_q) \simeq \Z/n_1\Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 \Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 n_3\Z \times\Z/n_1 n_2 n_3 n_4\Z. We are interested in knowing…
A Sidon set is a subset of an Abelian group with the property that each sum of two distinct elements is distinct. We construct a small maximal Sidon set of size $O((n \cdot 2^n)^{1/3})$ in the group $\mathbb{Z}_2^n$, generalizing a result…
A subset of an abelian group is {\em sequenceable} if there is an ordering $(x_1, \ldots, x_k)$ of its elements such that the partial sums $(y_0, y_1, \ldots, y_k)$, given by $y_0 = 0$ and $y_i = \sum_{j=1}^i x_i$ for $1 \leq i \leq k$, are…
We study the question how many subgroups, cosets or subspaces are needed to cover a finite Abelian group or a vector space if we have some natural restrictions on the structure of the covering system. For example we determine, how many…
In this paper we consider the following conjecture, proposed by Brian Alspach, concerning partial sums in finite cyclic groups: given a subset $A$ of $\mathbb{Z}_n\setminus \{0\}$ of size $k$ such that $\sum_{z\in A} z\not= 0$, it is…
Let A, B and S be three subsets of a finite Abelian group G. The restricted sumset of A and B with respect to S is defined as A\wedge^{S} B= {a+b: a in A, b in B and a-b not in S}. Let L_S=max_{z in G}| {(x,y): x,y in G, x+y=z and x-y in…
We determine the structure of a finite subset $A$ of an abelian group given that $|2A|<3(1-\epsilon)|A|$, $\epsilon>0$; namely, we show that $A$ is contained either in a "small" one-dimensional coset progression, or in a union of fewer than…
We adapt Safin's result on powers of sets in free groups to obtain Helfgott type growth in free products: if A is any finite subset of a free product of two arbitrary groups then either A is conjugate into one of the factors, or the size of…
The problem of determining the maximum number of maximal independent sets in certain graph classes dates back to a paper of Miller and Muller and a question of Erd\H{o}s and Moser from the 1960s. The minimum was always considered to be less…
In this survey paper we discuss some recent results and related open questions in additive combinatorics, in particular, questions about sumsets in finite abelian groups.
Let $p$ be a prime number with $p\equiv 2\pmod{3}$ and let $n\ge 1$ be a dimension. It is known that a sum-free subset of ${\mathbb F}_p^n$ can have at most the size $\frac13(p+1)p^{n-1}$ and that, up to automorphisms of ${\mathbb F}_p^n$,…
Finding the maximum size of a Sidon set in $\mathbb{F}_2^t$ is of research interest for more than 40 years. In order to tackle this problem we recall a one-to-one correspondence between sum-free Sidon sets and linear codes with minimum…
This paper discusses the question of how many non-empty subsets of the set $[n] = \{ 1, 2, ..., n\}$ we can choose so that no chosen subset is the union of some other chosen subsets. Let $M(n)$ be the maximum number of subsets we can…