Sum-free sets in abelian groups

We show that there is an absolute constant δ>0 such that the number of sum-free subsets of any finite abelian groupG is

Sum-free sets in abelian groups

An IP system is a functionn taking finite subsets ofN to a commutative, additive group Ω satisfyingn(α∪β)=n(α)+n(β) whenever α∩β=ø. In an extension of their Szemerédi theorem for finitely many commuting measure preserving transformations, Furstenberg and Katznelson showed that ifS _i ,1≤i≤k, are IP systems into a commutative (possibly infinitely generated) group Ω of measure preserving transformations of a probability space (X, B, μ, andA∈B with μ(A)>0, then for some ø≠α one has μ(? _i=1 ^k S _i({α})A>0). We extend this to so-called FVIP systems, which are polynomial analogs of IP systems, thereby generalizing as well joint work by the author and V. Bergelson concerning special FVIP systems of the formS(α)=T(p(n(α))), wherep:Z ^t →Z ^d is a polynomial vanishing at zero,T is a measure preservingZ ^d action andn is an IP system intoZ ^t . The primary novelty here is potential infinite generation of the underlying group action, however there are new applications inZ ^d as well, for example multiple recurrence along a wide class ofgeneralized polynomials (very roughly, functions built out of regular polynomials by iterated use of the greatest integer function).     

Progression-free sets in finite abelian groups

Let G be a finite abelian group. Write and denote by rk(2G) the rank of the group 2G.Extending a result of Meshulam, we prove the following. Suppose that A⊆G is free of “true” arithmetic progressions; that is, a₁+a₃=2a₂ with a₁,a₂,a₃∈A implies that a₁=a₃. Then |A|<2|G|/rk(2G). When G is of odd order this reduces to the original result of Meshulam.As a corollary, we generalize a result of Alon and show that if an integer k?2 and a real ε>0 are fixed, |2G| is large enough, and a subset A⊆G satisfies |A|?(1/k+ε)|G|, then there exists A₀⊆A such that 1?|A₀|?k and the elements of A₀ add up to zero. When G is of odd order or cyclic this reduces to the original result of Alon.     

Counting sum-free sets in abelian groups

In this paper we study sum-free sets of order m in finite abelian groups. We prove a general theorem about independent sets in 3-uniform hypergraphs, which allows us to deduce structural results in the sparse setting from stability results in the dense setting. As a consequence, we determine the typical structure and asymptotic number of sum-free sets of order m in abelian groups G whose order n is divisible by a prime q with q ≡ 2 (mod 3), for every m ? \(C(q)\sqrt {n\log n} \) , thus extending and refining a theorem of Green and Ruzsa. In particular, we prove that almost all sumfree subsets of size m are contained in a maximum-size sum-free subset of G. We also give a completely self-contained proof of this statement for abelian groups of even order, which uses spectral methods and a new bound on the number of independent sets of a fixed size in an (n, d, λ)-graph.     

Counting MSTD sets in finite abelian groups

In an abelian group G, a more sums than differences (MSTD) set is a subset A⊂G such that |A+A|>|A−A|. We provide asymptotics for the number of MSTD sets in finite abelian groups, extending previous results of Nathanson. The proof contains an application of a recently resolved conjecture of Alon and Kahn on the number of independent sets in a regular graph.     

Free generating sets of lattice-ordered abelian groups

We prove that the generators g₁,…,g_n of a lattice-ordered abelian group G form a free generating set iff each ?-ideal generated by any n−1 linear combinations of the g_i is strictly contained in some maximal ?-ideal of G.     

Structure of large incomplete sets in abelian groups

Let G be a finite abelian group and A be a subset of G. We say that A is complete if every element of G can be represented as a sum of different elements of A. In this paper, we study the following question     

Difference sets in dihedral groups

We study the existence of nontrivial (2m, k, )-difference sets in dihedral groups. Some nonexistence results are proved. In particular, we show that n = k – is odd and (n)/n < 1/2. Finally, a computer search shows that, except 5 undecided cases, no nontrivial difference set exists in dihedral groups for n 10⁶.     

Paley type partial difference sets in abelian groups

Partial difference sets with parameters $\left(v,k,\lambda ,\mu \right)=\left(v,\left(v?1\right)/2,\left(v?5\right)/4,\left(v?1\right)/4\right)$ are called Paley type partial difference sets. In this note, we prove that if there exists a Paley type partial difference set in an abelian group of order v, where v is not a prime power, then $v=n^4$ or $9n^4$, $n>1$ an odd integer. In 2010, Polhill constructed Paley type partial difference sets in abelian groups with those orders. Thus, combining with the constructions of Polhill and the classical Paley construction using nonzero squares of a finite field, we completely answer the following question: “For which odd positive integers $v>1$, can we find a Paley type partial difference set in an abelian group of order $v$?”     

Centerpole sets for colorings of abelian groups

A subset C?G of a group G is called k-centerpole if for each k-coloring of G there is an infinite monochromatic subset G, which is symmetric with respect to a point c??C in the sense that S=cS ^?1 c. By c _k (G) we denote the smallest cardinality c _k (G) of a k-centerpole subset in G. We prove that c _k (G)=c _k (? ^m ) if G is an abelian group of free rank m??k. Also we prove that c ₁(? ⁿ⁺¹)=1, c ₂(? ⁿ⁺²)=3, c ₃(? ⁿ⁺³)=6, 8??c ₄(? ⁿ⁺⁴)??c ₄(?⁴)=12 for all n????, and ${\frac{1}{2}(k^{2}+3k-4)\le c_{k}(\mathbb{Z}^{n})\le2^{k}-1-\max_{s\le k-2}\binom {k-1}{s-1}}$ for all n??k??4.     

Countably infinite quasi-convex sets in some locally compact abelian groups

We produce a class of countably infinite quasi-convex sets (sequences converging to zero) in the circle group T and in the group J₂ of 2-adic integers determined by sequences of integers satisfying a mild lacunarity condition. We also extend our results to the group R of real numbers. All these quasi-convex sets have a stronger property: Every infinite (necessarily) symmetric subset containing 0 is still quasi-convex.     

On sets of Haar measure zero in abelian polish groups

It is shown that the concept of zero set for the Haar measure can be generalized to abelian Polish groups which are not necessarily locally compact. It turns out that these groups, in many respects, behave like locally compact groups. Suitably modified, many theorems from harmonic analysis carry over to this case. A few applications are given and some open problems are mentioned.     

Difference sets and sum-free sets in groups of order 16

Transversals for sum-free sets in the nine nonabelian order 16 groups are given. It is shown that exactly eight of the order 16 groups have difference sets Dwithλ = 2and D = -D. It is proven that the only (υ, k, λ) difference sets with υ = 2^t and λ = 2, have parameters (16, 6, 2). It is shown that exactly four of the order 16 groups can be partitioned into three sum-free sets.     

Toward the abelian root groups conjecture for special Moufang sets

We prove that if a root group of a special Moufang set contains an element of order then it is abelian.     

Exterior algebras and two conjectures on finite abelian groups

Let G be a finite abelian group with |G| > 1. Let a ₁, …, a _k be k distinct elements of G and let b ₁, …, b _k be (not necessarily distinct) elements of G, where k is a positive integer smaller than the least prime divisor of |G|. We show that there is a permutation π on {1, …,k} such that a ₁ b _π(1), …, a _k b _π(k) are distinct, provided that any other prime divisor of |G| (if there is any) is greater than k!. This in particular confirms the Dasgupta-Károlyi-Serra-Szegedy conjecture for abelian p-groups. We also pose a new conjecture involving determinants and characters, and show that its validity implies Snevily’s conjecture for abelian groups of odd order. Our methods involve exterior algebras and characters.     

Universal abelian groups

We examine the existence of universal elements in classes of infinite abelian groups. The main method is using group invariants which are defined relative to club guessing sequences. We prove, for example:Theorem:For n≧2, there is a purely universal separable p-group in ℵ _n if, and only if, . Partially supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation. Publication number 455.     

Almost-affable abelian groups

In this paper we show that a direct summand of a simply presented mixed abelain group is an almost affable group. As a consequence, the classification theorem due to the author is extended to the largest possible class.