English

Cardinalities of $g$-difference sets

Combinatorics 2025-01-22 v1

Abstract

Let ηg(n)\eta_{g}(n) be the smallest cardinality that AZA\subseteq {\mathbb Z} can have if AA is a gg-difference basis for [n][n] (i.e, if, for each x[n]x\in [n], there are {\em at least} gg solutions to a1a2=xa_{1}-a_{2}=x ). We prove that the finite, non-zero limit limnηg(n)n\lim\limits_{n\rightarrow \infty}\frac{\eta_{g}(n)}{\sqrt{n}} exists, answering a question of Kravitz. We also investigate a similar problem in the setting of a vector space over a finite field. Let αg(n)\alpha_g(n) be the largest cardinality that A[n]A\subseteq [n] can have if, for all nonzero xx, a1a2=xa_{1}-a_{2}=x has {\em at most} gg solutions. We also prove that αg(n)=gn(1+og(1))\alpha_g(n)={\sqrt{gn}}(1+o_{g}(1)) as nn\rightarrow\infty.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.11736,
  title  = {Cardinalities of $g$-difference sets},
  author = {Eric Schmutz and Michael Tait},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.11736},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:11:45.964Z