In this paper we prove that an abelian group contains $(2^{2m+1}(2^{m-1}+1), 2^m(2^m+1), 2^m)$-difference sets with $m\geqslant 3$ if and only if it contains an elementary abelian 2-group of order $2^{2m}$. Our proof shows that the method of constructing such difference sets is essentially unique.
In an abelian group G, a more sums than differences (MSTD) set is a subset A of 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.
In this paper we study sum-free sets of order $m$ in finite Abelian groups. We prove a general theorem on 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 is divisible by a prime $q$ with $q \equiv 2 \pmod 3$, for every $m \ge C(q) \sqrt{n \log n}$, thus extending and refining a theorem of Green and Ruzsa. In particular, we prove that almost all sum-free subsets of size $m…
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: {\it What is the structure of a large incomplete set ?} The typical answer is that such a set is essentially contained in a maximal subgroup. As a by-product, we obtain a new proof for several earlier results.
The paper deals with a problem of Additive Combinatorics. Let ${\mathbf G}$ be a finite abelian group of order $N$. We prove that the number of subset triples $A,B,C\subset {\mathbf G}$ such that for any $x\in A$, $y\in B$ and $z\in C$ one has $x+y\ne z$ equals $$ 3\cdot 4^N+N3^{N+1} + O((3-c_*)^N) $$ for some absolute constant $c_*>0$. This provides a tight estimate for the number of independent sets in a special 3-uniform linear hypergraph and gives a support for the natural conjecture concerning the maximal possible number of independent sets in such hypergraphs on $n$ vertices.
Let A be a subset of an abelian group G. We say that A is sum-free if there do not exist x,y and z in A satisfying x + y = z. We determine, for any G, the cardinality of the largest sum-free subset of G. This equals c(G)|G| where c(G) is a constant depending on G and lying in the interval [2/7,1/2]. We also estimate the number of sum-free subsets of G. It turns out that log_2 of this number is c(G)|G| + o(|G|), which is tight up to the o-term. For certain abelian groups, those whose order is divisible by a small prime of the form 3k + 2, we can obtain an asymptotic for the number of sum-free s…
In this paper we determine a class of critical sets in the abelian {2--group} that may be obtained from a greedy algorithm. These new critical sets are all 2--critical (each entry intersects an intercalate, a trade of size 4) and completes in a top down manner.
Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. The critical number ${\rm cr}(G)$ of $G$ is the least positive integer $\ell$ such that every subset $A\subseteq G\setminus\{0\}$ of cardinality at least $\ell$ spans $G$, i.e., every element of $G$ can be written as a nonempty sum of distinct elements of $A$. The exact values of the critical number have been completely determined recently for all finite abelian groups. The structure of these sets of cardinality ${\rm cr}(G)-1$ which fail to span $G$ has also been characterized except for the case that $|G|$ is an even number and the case that $|G|=pq$ with $…
In this paper, we consider regular automorphism groups of graphs in the RT$2$ family and the Davis-Xiang family and amorphic abelian Cayley schemes from these graphs. We derive general results on the existence of non-abelian regular automorphism groups from abelian regular automorphism groups and apply them to the RT$2$ family and Davis-Xiang family and their amorphic abelian Cayley schemes to produce amorphic non-abelian Cayley schemes.
A difference set is said to have classical parameters if $ (v,k, λ) = (\frac{q^d-1}{q-1}, \frac{q^{d-1}-1}{q-1}, \frac{q^{d-2}-1}{q-1}).$ The case $d=3$ corresponds to planar difference sets. We focus here on the family of abelian difference sets with $d=4$. The only known examples of such difference sets correspond to the projective geometries $PG(3,q)$. We consider an arbitrary difference set with the parameters of $PG(3,q)$ in an abelian group and establish constraints on its structure. In particular, we discern embedded substructures.
The distribution of cardinalities of zero-sum sets in abelian groups is completely determined. A complex summation involving the Möbius function is given for the general abelian group, while in many special cases, including the case of elementary abelian groups, solved earlier by Li and Wan, it has a compact form. The proof involves two different Möbius transforms, on positive integers and on set partitions.
Partial difference sets with parameters $(v,k,λ,μ)=(v, (v-1)/2, (v-5)/4, (v-1)/4)$ 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 $G$ of an order not a prime power, then $|G|=n^4$ or $9n^4$, where $n>1$ is an odd integer. In 2010, Polhill \cite{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 non-zero squares of a finite field, we completely answer the following…
DICATAM, Università degli Studi di Brescia(布雷西亚大学 DICATAM);DII, Università degli Studi di Brescia(布雷西亚大学 DII);Department of Engineering and Sciences, Universitas Mercatorum(Mercatorum大学工程与科学系);Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya(加泰罗尼亚理工大学数学系)
We define a notion of an arithmetic set in an arbitrary countable group and study properties of these sets in the cases of Abelian groups and non-abelian free groups.
Let $A$ be a finite, nonempty subset of an abelian group. We show that if every element of $A$ is a sum of two other elements, then $A$ has a nonempty zero-sum subset. That is, a (finite, nonempty) sum-full subset of an abelian group is not zero-sum-free.
Difference sets are subsets of a group satisfying certain combinatorial property with respect to the group operation. They can be characterized using an equality in the group ring of the corresponding group. In this paper, we exploit the special structure of the group ring of an abelian group to establish a one-to one correspondence of the class of difference sets with specific parameters in that group with the set of all complex solutions of a specified system of polynomial equations. The correspondence also develops some tests for a Boolean function to be a bent function.
A subset $A$ of a finite abelian group is called $(k,\ell)$-sum-free if $kA \cap \ell A=\emptyset.$ In this paper, we extend this concept to compact abelian groups and study the question of how large a measurable $(k,\ell)$-sum-free set can be. For integers $1 \leq k <\ell$ and a compact abelian group $G$, let $$λ_{k,\ell}(G)=\sup\{ μ(A): kA \cap \ell A =\emptyset \}$$ be the maximum possible size of a $(k,\ell)$-sum-free subset of $G$. We prove that if $G=\mathbb{I} \times M$, where $\mathbb{I}$ is the identity component of $G$, then $$λ_{k, \ell}(G)=\max \left\{ λ_{k, \ell}(M), λ_{k, \ell}(\…
Strong external difference families (SEDFs) have applications to cryptography and are rich combinatorial structures in their own right; until now, all SEDFs have been in abelian groups. In this paper, we consider SEDFs in both abelian and non-abelian groups. We characterize the order of groups possessing admissible parameters for non-trivial SEDFs, develop non-existence and existence results, several of which extend known results, and present the first family of non-abelian SEDFs. We introduce the concept of equivalence for EDFs and SEDFs, and begin the task of enumerating SEDFs. Complete resu…
We extend the concepts of sum-free sets and Sidon-sets of combinatorial number theory with the aim to provide explicit constructions for spherical designs. We call a subset $S$ of the (additive) abelian group $G$ {\it $t$-free} if for all non-negative integers $k$ and $l$ with $k+l \leq t$, the sum of $k$ (not necessarily distinct) elements of $S$ does not equal the sum of $l$ (not necessarily distinct) elements of $S$ unless $k=l$ and the two sums contain the same terms. Here we shall give asymptotic bounds for the size of a largest $t$-free set in ${\bf Z}_n$, and for $t \leq 3$ discuss how …
We shortly present two small results regarding the study formal duality in finite abelian groups as introduced by Cohn, Kumar, Reiher and Schürmann. In particular, we give a new example of a formally self dual set in $\mathbb{Z}_2^2\times\mathbb{Z}_4^2$ and computed nonexistence of primitive formally dual sets of size $8$ in $\mathbb{Z}_8^2$.
Let $\mathfrak g$ be a simple Lie algebra, $\mathfrak b$ a fixed Borel subalgebra, and $W$ the Weyl group of $\mathfrak g$. In this note, we study a relationship between the maximal abelian ideals of $\mathfrak b$ and the minimal inversion complete sets of $W$. The latter have been recently defined by Malvenuto et al. (J. Algebra, 424 (2015), 330-356.)
We show that any connected Cayley graph $Γ$ on an Abelian group of order $2n$ and degree $\tildeΩ(\log n)$ has at most $2^{n+1}(1 + o(1))$ independent sets. This bound is tight up to to the $o(1)$ term when $Γ$ is bipartite. Our proof is based on Sapozhenko's graph container method and uses the Plünnecke-Rusza-Petridis inequality from additive combinatorics.
Tarnauceanu [Archiv der Mathematik, 102 (1), (2014), 11--14] gave a characterisation of elementary abelian $2$-groups in terms of their maximal sum-free sets. His theorem states that a finite group $G$ is an elementary abelian $2$-group if and only if the set of maximal sum-free sets coincides with the set of complements of the maximal subgroups. A corollary is that the number of maximal sum-free sets in an elementary abelian $2$-group of finite rank $n$ is $2^n-1$. Regretfully, we show here that the theorem is wrong. We then prove a correct version of the theorem from which the desired coroll…
A difference matrix over a group is a discrete structure that is intimately related to many other combinatorial designs, including mutually orthogonal Latin squares, orthogonal arrays, and transversal designs. Interest in constructing difference matrices over $2$-groups has been renewed by the recent discovery that these matrices can be used to construct large linking systems of difference sets, which in turn provide examples of systems of linked symmetric designs and association schemes. We survey the main constructive and nonexistence results for difference matrices, beginning with a classic…
We prove an arithmetic regularity lemma for stable subsets of finite abelian groups, generalising our previous result for high-dimensional vector spaces over finite fields of prime order. A qualitative version of this generalisation was recently obtained by the first author in joint work with Conant and Pillay, using model-theoretic techniques. In contrast, the approach in the present paper is highly quantitative and relies on several key ingredients from arithmetic combinatorics.
Let $(G, +)$ be an abelian group. In 2004, Eliahou and Kervaire found an explicit formula for the smallest possible cardinality of the sumset $A+A$, where $A \subseteq G$ has fixed cardinality $r$. We consider instead the smallest possible cardinality of the difference set $A-A$, which is always greater than or equal to the smallest possible cardinality of $A+A$ and can be strictly greater. We conjecture a formula for this quantity and prove the conjecture in the case that $G$ is a cyclic group or a vector space over a finite field. This resolves a conjecture of Bajnok and Matzke on signed sum…
Let $v$ be a product of at most three not necessarily distinct primes. We prove that there exists no strong external difference family with more than two subsets in abelian group $G$ of order $v$, except possibly when $G=C_p^3$ and $p$ is a prime greater than $3 \times 10^{12}$.
In 1998, Khodkar showed that the minimal critical set in the Latin square corresponding to the elementary abelian 2-group of order 16 is of size at most 124. Since the paper was published, improved methods for solving integer programming problems have been developed. Here we give an example of a critical set of size 121 in this Latin square, found through such methods. We also give a new upper bound on the size of critical sets of minimal size for the elementary abelian 2-group of order $2^n$: $4^{n}-3^{n}+4-2^{n}-2^{n-2}$. We speculate about possible lower bounds for this value, given some ot…
Motivated by a connection between semi-regular relative difference sets and mutually unbiased bases, we study relative difference sets with parameters $(m,n,m,m/n)$ in groups of non-prime-power orders. Let $p$ be an odd prime. We prove that there does not exist a $(2p,p,2p,2)$ relative difference set in any group of order $2p^2$, and an abelian $(4p,p,4p,4)$ relative difference set can only exist in the group $\Bbb{Z}_2^2\times \Bbb{Z}_3^2$. On the other hand, we construct a family of non-abelian relative difference sets with parameters $(4q,q,4q,4)$, where $q$ is an odd prime power greater th…
A subset $B$ of a group $G$ is called a difference basis of $G$ if each element $g\in G$ can be written as the difference $g=ab^{-1}$ of some elements $a,b\in B$. The smallest cardinality $|B|$ of a difference basis $B\subset G$ is called the difference size of $G$ and is denoted by $Δ[G]$. The fraction $ð[G]:=\frac{Δ[G]}{\sqrt{|G|}}$ is called the difference characteristic of $G$. Using properies of the Galois rings, we prove recursive upper bounds for the difference sizes and characteristics of finite Abelian groups. In particular, we prove that for a prime number $p\ge 11$, any finite Abeli…
Combining results on quadrics in projective geometries with an algebraic interplay between finite fields and Galois rings, we construct the first known family of partial difference sets with negative Latin square type parameters in nonelementary abelian groups, the groups $\Z_4^{2k}\times \Z_2^{4 \ell-4k}$ for all $k$ when $\ell$ is odd and for all $k < \ell$ when $\ell$ is even. Similarly, we construct partial difference sets with Latin square type parameters in the same groups for all $k$ when $\ell$ is even and for all $k<\ell$ when $\ell$ is odd. These constructions provide the first examp…
Balogh, Liu, Sharifzadeh and Treglown [Journal of the European Mathematical Society, 2018] recently gave a sharp count on the number of maximal sum-free subsets of $\{1, \dots, n\}$, thereby answering a question of Cameron and Erdős. In contrast, not as much is know about the analogous problem for finite abelian groups. In this paper we give the first sharp results in this direction, determining asymptotically the number of maximal sum-free sets in both the binary and ternary spaces $\mathbb Z^k_2$ and $\mathbb Z^k_3$. We also make progress on a conjecture of Balogh, Liu, Sharifzadeh and Tregl…
A set A of positive integers is called a perfect difference set if every nonzero integer has an unique representation as the difference of two elements of A. We construct dense perfect difference sets from dense Sidon sets. As a consequence of this new approach, we prove that there exists a perfect difference set A such that A(x) >> x^{\sqrt{2}-1-o(1)}. We also prove that there exists a perfect difference set A such that limsup_{x\to \infty}A(x)/\sqrt x\geq 1/\sqrt 2.
In this note we prove the non-existence of two types of partial difference sets in Abelian groups of order 216. This finalizes the classification of parameters for which a partial difference set of size at most 100 exists in an Abelian group.
Partial difference sets (for short, PDSs) with parameters ($n^2$, $r(n-ε)$, $εn+r^2-3εr$, $r^2-εr$) are called Latin square type (respectively negative Latin square type) PDSs if $ε=1$ (respectively $ε=-1$). In this paper, we will give restrictions on the parameter $r$ of a (negative) Latin square type partial difference set in an abelian group of non-prime power order. As far as we know no previous general restrictions on $r$ were known. Our restrictions are particularly useful when $a$ is much larger than $b$. As an application, we show that if there exists an abelian negative Latin square t…
A generating pair $x, y$ for a group $G$ is said to be \textbf{\textit{symmetric}} if there exists an automorphism $φ_{x,y}$ of $G$ inverting both $x$ and $y$, that is, $x^{φ_{x,y}}=x^{-1}$ and $y^{φ_{x,y}}=y^{-1}$. Similarly, a group $G$ is said to be \textbf{\textit{strongly symmetric}} if $G$ can be generated with two elements and if all generating pairs of $G$ are symmetric. In this paper we classify the finite strongly symmetric non-abelian simple groups. Combinatorially, these are the finite non-abelian simple groups $G$ such that every orientably regular hypermap with monodromy group $G…
A famous result of Freiman describes the structure of finite sets A of integers with small doubling property. If |A + A| <= K|A| then A is contained within a multidimensional arithmetic progression of dimension d(K) and size f(K)|A|. Here we prove an analogous statement valid for subsets of an arbitrary abelian group.
For a compact abelian group $G$, a corner in $G \times G$ is a triple of points $(x,y)$, $(x,y+d)$, $(x+d,y)$. The classical corners theorem of Ajtai and Szemerédi implies that for every $α> 0$, there is some $δ> 0$ such that every subset $A \subset G \times G$ of density $α$ contains a $δ$ fraction of all corners in $G \times G$, as $x,y,d$ range over $G$. Recently, Mandache proved a "popular differences" version of this result in the finite field case $G = \mathbb F_p^n$, showing that for any subset $A \subset G \times G$ of density $α$, one can fix $d \neq 0$ such that $A$ contains a large …
This paper addresses the question whether triple arrays can be constructed from Youden squares developed from difference sets. We prove that if the difference set is abelian, then having $-1$ as multiplier is both a necessary and sufficient condition for the construction to work. Using this, we are able to give a new infinite family of triple arrays. We also give an alternative and more direct version of the construction, leaving out the intermediate step via Youden squares. This is used when we analyse the case of non-abelian difference sets, for which we prove a sufficient condition for givi…
In this paper we prove that if there is a regular Paley type partial difference set in an Abelian group $G$ of order $v$, where $v=p_1^{2k_1}p_2^{2k_2}\cdots p_n^{2k_n}$, $n\ge 2$, $p_1$, $p_2$, $\cdots$, $p_n$ are distinct odd prime numbers, then for any $1 \le i \le n$, $p_i$ is congruent to 3 modulo 4 whenever $k_i$ is odd. These new necessary conditions further limit the specific order of an Abelian group $G$ in which there can exist a Paley type partial difference set. Our result is similar to a result on Abelian Hadamard (Menon) difference sets proved by Ray-Chaudhuri and Xiang in 1997.
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…
Combinatorial transfer: a new method for constructing infinite families of nonabelian difference sets, partial difference sets, and relative difference sets
Let $H$ be a transfer Krull monoid over a finite ablian group $G$ (for example, rings of integers, holomorphy rings in algebraic function fields, and regular congruence monoids in these domains). Then each nonunit $a \in H$ can be written as a product of irreducible elements, say $a = u_1 \ldots u_k$, and the number of factors $k$ is called the length of the factorization. The set $\mathsf L (a)$ of all possible factorization lengths is the set of lengths of $a$. It is classical that the system $\mathcal L (H) = \{ \mathsf L (a) \mid a \in H \}$ of all sets of lengths depends only on the group…
We provide new examples of the asymptotic counting for the number of subsets on groups of given size which are free of certain configurations. These examples include sets without solutions to equations in non-abelian groups, and linear configurations in abelian groups defined from group homomorphisms. The results are obtained by combining the methodology of hypergraph containers joint with arithmetic removal lemmas. As a consequence, random counterparts are presented as well.