In this paper we establish connections between covers of $\mathbb Z$ by residue classes and subset sums in a field. Suppose that $A_0=\{a_s(n_s)\}_{s=0}^k$ covers each integer at least $p$ times with the residue class $a_0(n_0)=a_0+n_0\mathbb Z$ irredundant, where $p$ is a prime not dividing any of $n_1,\ldots,n_k$. Let $m_1,\ldots,m_k\in\mathbb Z$ be relatively prime to $n_1,\ldots,n_k$ respectively. For any $c,c_1,\ldots,c_k\in\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z$ with $c_1\cdots c_k\not=0$, we show that the set $$\bigg\{\bigg\{\sum_{s\in I}\frac{m_s}{n_s}\bigg\}:\, I\subseteq\{1,\ldots,k\} \ \mbox{and}\ \sum_{s\in I}c_s=c\bigg\}$$ contains an arithmetic progression of length $n_0$ with common difference $1/n_0$, where $\{x\}$ denotes the fractional part of a real number $x$.
Let $\BZ_p$ be the finite field of prime order $p$ and $A$ be a subset of $\BZ_p$. We prove several sharp results about the following two basic questions: (1) When can one represent zero as a sum of distinct elements of $A$ ? (2) When can one represent every element of $\BZ_p$ as a sum of distinct elements of $A$ ?
We develop novel techniques which allow us to prove a diverse range of results relating to subset sums and complete sequences of positive integers, including solutions to several longstanding open problems. These include: solutions to the three problems of Burr and Erdős on Ramsey complete sequences, for which Erdős later offered a combined total of \$350; analogous results for the new notion of density complete sequences; the solution to a conjecture of Alon and Erdős on the minimum number of colors needed to color the positive integers less than $n$ so that $n$ cannot be written as a monochr…
We show that in any two-coloring of the positive integers there is a color for which the set of positive integers that can be represented as a sum of distinct elements with this color has upper logarithmic density at least $(2+\sqrt{3})/4$ and this is best possible. This answers a forty-year-old question of Erdős.
We present two short proofs giving the best known asymptotic lower bound for the maximum element in a set of $n$ positive integers with distinct subset sums.
Let $\mathcal{A}$ be a sequence of $rk$ terms which is made up of $k$ distinct integers each appearing exactly $r$ times in $\mathcal{A}$. The sum of all terms of a subsequence of $\mathcal{A}$ is called a subsequence sum of $\mathcal{A}$. For a nonnegative integer $α\leq rk$, let $Σ_α (\mathcal{A})$ be the set of all subsequence sums of $\mathcal{A}$ that correspond to the subsequences of length $α$ or more. When $r=1$, we call the subsequence sums as subset sums and we write $Σ_α (A)$ for $Σ_α (\mathcal{A})$. In this article, using some simple combinatorial arguments, we establish optimal lo…
Balog and Wooley have recently proved that any subset $A$ of either real numbers or of a prime finite field can be decomposed into two parts $U$ and $V$, one of small additive energy and the other of small multiplicative energy. In the case of arbitrary finite fields, we obtain an analogue that under some natural restrictions for a rational function $f$ both the additive energies of $U$ and $f(V)$ are small. Our method is based on bounds of character sums which leads to the restriction $\# A > q^{1/2}$ where $q$ is the field size. The bound is optimal, up to logarithmic factors, when $\# A \ge…
Let $A \subset \mathbb R$ and $G \subset A \times A$. We prove that, for any $λ\in \mathbb R \setminus \{-1,0,1\}$, \[ \max \{|A+_G A|, |A+_G λA|, |A\cdot_G A|\} \gg |G|^{6/11}. \]
The paper solves the problems of determining the asymptotics of the number of primes and the sums of functions of primes in a subset of the natural series that satisfies the conditions that the asymptotic density of the number of primes in this subset is constant and not equal to zero.
Denoting by Sigma(S) the set of subset sums of a subset S of a finite abelian group G, we prove that |Sigma(S)| >= |S|(|S|+2)/4-1 whenever S is symmetric, |G| is odd and Sigma(S) is aperiodic. Up to an additive constant of 2 this result is best possible, and we obtain the stronger (exact best possible) bound in almost all cases. We prove similar results in the case |G| is even. Our proof requires us to extend a theorem of Olson on the number of subset sums of anti-symmetric subsets S from the case of Z_p to the case of a general finite abelian group. To do so, we adapt Olson's method using a g…
For a subset A of a finite abelian group G we define Sigma(A)={sum_{a\in B}a:B\subset A}. In the case that Sigma(A) has trivial stabiliser, one may deduce that the size of Sigma(A) is at least quadratic in |A|; the bound |Sigma(A)|>= |A|^{2}/64 has recently been obtained by De Vos, Goddyn, Mohar and Samal. We improve this bound to the asymptotically best possible result |Sigma(A)|>= (1/4-o(1))|A|^{2}. We also study a related problem in which A is any subset of Z_{n} with all elements of A coprime to n; it has recently been shown, by Vu, that if such a set A has the property Sigma(A) is not Z_{…
In this paper we show that if $A$ is a subset of Chen primes with positive relative density $α$, then $A+A$ must have positive upper density at least $cαe^{-c^\prime\log(1/α)^{2/3}(\log\log(1/α))^{1/3}}$ in the natural numbers.
For arbitrary $c_0>0$, if $A$ is a subset of the primes less than $x$ with cardinality $δx (\log x)^{-1}$ with $δ\geq (\log x)^{-c_0}$, then there exists a positive constant $c$ such that the cardinality of $A+A$ is larger than $c\, δx (\log\log x)^{-1}$.
Let $\left\{a_1, \dots, a_n\right\} \subset \mathbb{N}$ be a set of positive integers, $a_n$ denoting the largest element, so that for any two of the $2^n$ subsets the sum of all elements is distinct. Erdős asked whether this implies $a_n \geq c \cdot 2^n$ for some universal $c>0$. We prove, slightly extending a result of Elkies, that for any $a_1, \dots, a_n \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}$ $$ \int_{\mathbb{R}} \left( \frac{\sin{ x}}{ x} \right)^2 \prod_{i=1}^{n} \cos{( a_i x)^2} dx \geq \fracπ{2^{n}}$$ with equality if and only if all subset sums are $1-$separated. This leads to a new proof of the curre…
Let F_q be the finite field of q elements. Let H be a multiplicative subgroup of F_q^*. For a positive integer k and element b\in F_q, we give a sharp estimate for the number of k-element subsets of H which sum to b.
For a set $A$, let $P(A)$ be the set of all finite subset sums of $A$. We prove that if a sequence $B=\{11\leq b_1<b_2<\cdots\}$ satisfies $b_2=3b_1+5$, $b_3=3b_2+2$ and $b_{n+1}=3b_n+4b_{n-1}$ for all $n\geq 3$, then there is a sequence of positive integers $A=\{a_1<a_2<\cdots\}$ such that $P(A)=\mathbb{N}\setminus B$. This result shows that the answer to the problem of Chen and Wu [`The inverse problem on subset sums', European. J. Combin. 34(2013), 841-845] is negative.
Let $\{a_1, . . . , a_n\}$ be a set of positive integers with $a_1 < \dots < a_n$ such that all $2^n$ subset sums are distinct. A famous conjecture by Erdős states that $a_n>c\cdot 2^n$ for some constant $c$, while the best result known to date is of the form $a_n>c\cdot 2^n/\sqrt{n}$. In this paper, we weaken the condition by requiring that only sums corresponding to subsets of size smaller than or equal to $λn$ be distinct. For this case, we derive lower and upper bounds on the smallest possible value of $a_n$.
We show that if a subset A of {1,...,N} does not contain any solutions to the equation x+y+z=3w with the variables not all equal, then A has size at most exp(-c(log N)^{1/7}) N, where c > 0 is some absolute constant. In view of Behrend's construction, this bound is of the right shape: the exponent 1/7 cannot be replaced by any constant larger than 1/2. We also establish a related result, which says that sumsets A+A+A contain long arithmetic progressions if A is a subset of {1,...,N}, or high-dimensional subspaces if A is a subset of a vector space over a finite field, even if A has density of …
In this paper we give a different approach to determining the cardinality of $h$-fold sumsets $hA$ when $A\subset \mathbb{Z}^d$ has $d+2$ elements. This enables us to provide more general result with a shorter and simpler proof. We also obtain an upper bound for the value of $|hA|$ when $A\subset \mathbb{Z}^d$ is a set of $d+3$ elements with simplicial hull.
In this paper we show that if $A$ is a subset of the primes with positive relative density $δ$, then $A+A$ must have positive upper density $C_1δe^{-C_2(\log(1/δ))^{2/3}(\log\log(1/δ))^{1/3}}$ in $\mathbb{N}$. Our argument applies the techniques developed by Green and Green-Tao used to find arithmetic progressions in the primes, in combination with a result on sums of subsets of the multiplicative subgroup of the integers modulo $M$.
Let $d$ be a positive integer and $U \subset \mathbb{Z}^d$ finite. We study $$β(U) : = \inf_{\substack{A , B \neq \emptyset \\ \text{finite}}} \frac{|A+B+U|}{|A|^{1/2}{|B|^{1/2}}},$$ and other related quantities. We employ tensorization, which is not available for the doubling constant, $|U+U|/|U|$. For instance, we show $$β(U) = |U|,$$ whenever $U$ is a subset of $\{0,1\}^d$. Our methods parallel those used for the Prékopa-Leindler inequality, an integral variant of the Brunn-Minkowski inequality.
The $k$-subset sum problem over finite fields is a classical NP-complete problem.Motivated by coding theory applications, a more complex problem is the higher $m$-th moment $k$-subset sum problem over finite fields. We show that there is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm for the $m$-th moment $k$-subset sum problem over finite fields for each fixed $m$ when the evaluation set is the image set of a monomial or Dickson polynomial of any degree $n$. In the classical case $m=1$, this recovers previous findings.
Let A be a finite nonempty subset of an additive abelian group G, and let Σ(A) denote the set of all group elements representable as a sum of some subset of A. We prove that |Σ(A)| >= |H| + 1/64 |A H|^2 where H is the stabilizer of Σ(A). Our result implies that Σ(A) = Z/nZ for every set A of units of Z/nZ with |A| >= 8 \sqrt{n}. This consequence was first proved by Erdős and Heilbronn for n prime, and by Vu (with a weaker constant) for general n.
A more sums than differences (MSTD) set is a finite subset S of the integers such |S+S| > |S-S|. We show that the probability that a uniform random subset of {0, 1, ..., n} is an MSTD set approaches some limit rho > 4.28 x 10^{-4}. This improves the previous result of Martin and O'Bryant that there is a lower limit of at least 2 x 10^{-7}. Monte Carlo experiments suggest that rho \approx 4.5 \x 10^{-4}. We present a deterministic algorithm that can compute rho up to arbitrary precision. We also describe the structure of a random MSTD subset S of {0, 1, ..., n}. We formalize the intuition that …
We consider restricted sumsets over field $F$. Let\begin{align*}C=\{a_1+\cdots+a_n:a_1\in A_1,\ldots,a_n\in A_n, a_i-a_j\notin S_{ij}\ \text{if}\ i\not=j\},\end{align*} where $S_{ij}(1\leqslant i\not=j\leqslant n)$ are finite subsets of $F$ with cardinality $m$, and $A_1,\ldots, A_n$ are finite nonempty subsets of $F$ with $|A_1|=\cdots=|A_n|=k$. Let $p(F)$ be the additive order of the identity of $F$. It is proved that $|C|\geqslant \min\{p(F),\ \ n(k-1)-mn(n-1)+1\}$ if $p(F)>mn$. This conclusion refines the result of Hou and Sun.
We present a variety of new results on finite sets A of integers for which the sumset A+A is larger than the difference set A-A, so-called MSTD (more sums than differences) sets. First we show that there is, up to affine transformation, a unique MSTD subset of {\bf Z} of size 8. Secondly, starting from some examples of size 9, we present several new constructions of infinite families of MSTD sets. Thirdly we show that for every fixed ordered pair of non-negative integers (j,k), as n -> \infty a positive proportion of the subsets of {0,1,2,...,n} satisfy |A+A| = (2n+1) - j, |A-A| = (2n+1) - 2k.
Let $A$ be a subset of $\mathbb{Z} / N\mathbb{Z}$ and let $\mathcal{R}$ be the set of large Fourier coefficients of $A$. Properties of $\mathcal{R}$ have been studied in works of M.-- C. Chang, B. Green and the author. In the paper we obtain some new results on sets of large exponential sums.
Let $A$ be a multiset with elements in an abelian group. Let $FS(A)$ be the multiset containing the $2^{|A|}$ sums of all subsets of $A$. We study the reconstruction problem ``Given $FS(A)$, is it possible to identify $A$?'', and we give a satisfactory answer for all abelian groups. We prove that, up to identifying multisets through a natural equivalence relation, the function $A \mapsto FS(A)$ is injective (and thus the reconstruction problem is solvable) if and only if every order $n$ of a torsion element of the abelian group satisfies a certain number-theoretical property linked to the mult…
A remarkable theorem due to Khovanskii asserts that for any finite subset $A$ of an abelian group, the cardinality of the $h$-fold sumset $hA$ grows like a polynomial for all sufficiently large $h$. Currently, neither the polynomial nor what sufficiently large means are understood. In this paper we obtain an effective version of Khovanskii's theorem for any $A \subset \mathbb{Z}^d$ whose convex hull is a simplex; previously, such results were only available for $d=1$. Our approach gives information about not just the cardinality of $hA$, but also its structure, and we prove two effective theor…
We prove some general estimates for exponential sums over subsets of finite fields which are definable in the language of rings. This generalizes both the classical exponential sum estimates over varieties over finite fields due to Weil, Deligne and others, and the result of Chatzidakis, van den Dries and Macintyre concerning the number of points of those definable sets. As a first application, there is no formula in the language of rings that defines for infinitely many primes an ``interval'' in Z/pZ that is neither bounded nor with bounded complement.
Given a subset of real numbers $A$ with small product $AA$ we obtain a new upper bound for the additive energy of $A$. The proof uses a natural observation that level sets of convolutions of the characteristic function of $A$ have small product with $A$.
Let $A \subset \mathbb{F}_p$ of size at most $p^{3/5}$. We show $$|A+A| + |AA| \gtrsim |A|^{6/5 + c},$$ for $c = 4/305$. Our main tools are the cartesian product point--line incidence theorem of Stevens and de Zeeuw and the theory of higher energies developed by the second author.
We study additive double character sums over two subsets of a finite field. We show that if there is a suitable rational self-map of small degree of a set $D$, then this set contains a large subset $U$ for which the standard bound on the absolute value of the character sum over $U$ and any subset $C$ (which satisfies some restrictions on its size $|C|$) can be improved. Examples of such suitable self-maps are inversion and squaring. Then we apply this new bound to trace products and sum-product equations and improve results of the first author and of Gyarmati and Sárközy.
A subset $A$ of a group $G$ is called $(k, l)$-{\it sumset}, if $A= kB-lB$ for some $B\subseteq G$, where $kB-lB={x_1+...+x_k-x_{k+1}-...-x_{k+l} : x_1,..., x_{k+l}\in B}.$ Upper and lower bounds for the number $(k, l)$-sumsets in groups of prime order are provided.
Given a finite subset A of an abelian group G, we study the set k \wedge A of all sums of k distinct elements of A. In this paper, we prove that |k \wedge A| >= |A| for all k in {2,...,|A|-2}, unless k is in {2,|A|-2} and A is a coset of an elementary 2-subgroup of G. Furthermore, we characterize those finite subsets A of G for which |k \wedge A| = |A| for some k in {2,...,|A|-2}. This result answers a question of Diderrich. Our proof relies on an elementary property of proper edge-colourings of the complete graph.
For a nonempty finite set $A$ of positive integers, let $\gcd\left(A\right)$ denote the greatest common divisor of the elements of $A$. Let $f\left(n\right)$ and $Φ\left(n\right)$ denote, respectively, the number of subsets $A$ of $\left\{1, 2, \ldots, n\right\}$ such that $\gcd\left(A\right) = 1$ and the number of subsets $A$ of $\left\{1, 2, \ldots, n\right\}$ such that $\gcd\left(A\cup\left\{n\right\}\right) =1$. Let $D\left(n\right)$ be the divisor sum of $f\left(n\right)$. In this article, we obtain partial sums of $f\left(n\right)$, $Φ\left(n\right)$ and $D\left(n\right)$. We also obtain…
Let $\mathrm{d}(A)$ be the asymptotic density (if it exists) of a sequence of integers $A$. For any real numbers $0\leqα\leqβ\leq 1$, we solve the question of the existence of a sequence $A$ of positive integers such that $\mathrm{d}(A)=α$ and $\mathrm{d}(A+A)=β$. More generally we study the set of $k$-tuples $(\mathrm{d}(iA))_{1\leq i\leq k}$ for $A\subset \mathbb{N}$. This leads us to introduce subsets defined by diophantine constraints inside a random set of integers known as the set of ``pseudo $s$th powers''. We consider similar problems for subsets of the circle $\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$, …
We bound double sums of Kloosterman sums over a finite field ${\mathbb F}_{q}$, with one or both parameters ranging over an affine space over its prime subfield ${\mathbb F}_p \subseteq {\mathbb F}_{q} $. These are finite fields analogues of a series of recent results by various authors in finite fields and residue rings. Our results are based on recent advances in additive combinatorics in arbitrary finite field.
Let $h\geq 2$ be a positive integer. For any subset $\mathcal{A}\subset \mathbb{Z}_n$, let $h^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}$ be the set of the elements of $\mathbb{Z}_n$ which are sums of $h$ distinct elements of $\mathcal{A}$. In this paper, we obtain some new results on $4^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}$ and $5^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}$. For example, we show that if $|\mathcal{A}|\geq 0.4045n$ and $n$ is odd, then $4^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}=\mathbb{Z}_{n}$; Under some conditions, if $n$ is even and $|\mathcal{A}|$ is close to $n/4$, then $4^{\wedge}\mathcal{A}=\mathbb{Z}_{n}$.
In this paper we define the $p$-density of a finite subset $D\subset\ma{N}^r$, and show that it gives a good lower bound for the $p$-adic valuation of exponential sums over finite fields of characteristic $p$. We also give an application: when $r=1$, the $p$-density is the first slope of the generic Newton polygon of the family of Artin-Schreier curves associated to polynomials with their exponents in $D$.
Let $A$ be a nonempty finite set of $k$ integers. Given a subset $B$ of $A$, the sum of all elements of $B$, denoted by $s(B)$, is called the subset sum of $B$. For a nonnegative integer $α$ ($\leq k$), let \[Σ_α (A):=\{s(B): B \subset A, |B|\geq α\}.\] Now, let $\mathcal{A}=(\underbrace{a_{1},\ldots,a_{1}}_{r_{1}~\text{copies}}, \underbrace{a_{2},\ldots,a_{2}}_{r_{2}~\text{copies}},\ldots, \underbrace{a_{k},\ldots,a_{k}}_{r_{k}~\text{copies}})$ be a finite sequence of integers with $k$ distinct terms, where $r_{i}\geq 1$ for $i=1,2,\ldots,k$. Given a subsequence $\mathcal{B}$ of $\mathcal{A}$…
We give a new bound on the number of collinear triples for two arbitrary subsets of a finite field. This improves on existing results which rely on the Cauchy inequality. We then us this to provide a new bound on trilinear and quadrilinear exponential sums.
