Monochromatic and Zero-Sum Sets of Nondecreasing Modified Diameter

Let m be a positive integer whose smallest prime divisor is denoted by p, and let Zm denote the cyclic group of residues modulo m. For a set B = {x1, x2, ..., xm} of m integers satisfying x1 {0, 1} (every coloring Delta : {1, ..., N} -> Zm), there exist two m-sets [see Abstract in the PDF]

On a Conjecture of Hamidoune for Subsequence Sums

Let G be an abelian group of order m, let S be a sequence of terms from G with k distinct terms, let m ∧ S denote the set of all elements that are a sum of some m-term subsequence of S, and let |S| be the length of S. We show that if |S| ≥ m + 1, and if the multiplicity of each term of S is at most m − k + 2, then either |m ∧ S| ≥ min{m, |S| − m + k − 1}, or there exists a proper, nontrivial subgroup Ha of index a, such that m ∧ S is a union of Ha-cosets, Ha ⊆ m ∧ S, and all but e terms of S are from the same Ha-coset, where e ≤ min{|S|−m+k−2 |Ha| − 1, a − 2} and |m ∧ S| ≥ (e + 1)|Ha|. This confirms a conjecture of Y. O. Hamidoune

Iterated Sumsets and Subsequence Sums

Let $G\cong \mathbb Z/m_1\mathbb Z\times\ldots\times \mathbb Z/m_r\mathbb Z$ be a finite abelian group with $m_1\mid\ldots\mid m_r=\exp(G)$. The Kemperman Structure Theorem characterizes all subsets $A,\,B\subseteq G$ satisfying $|A+B|<|A|+|B|$ and has been extended to cover the case when $|A+B|\leq |A|+|B|$. Utilizing these results, we provide a precise structural description of all finite subsets $A\subseteq G$ with $|nA|\leq (|A|+1)n-3$ when $n\geq 3$ (also when $G$ is infinite), in which case many of the pathological possibilities from the case $n=2$ vanish, particularly for large $n\geq \exp(G)-1$. The structural description is combined with other arguments to generalize a subsequence sum result of Olson asserting that a sequence $S$ of terms from $G$ having length $|S|\geq 2|G|-1$ must either have every element of $G$ representable as a sum of $|G|$-terms from $S$ or else have all but $|G/H|-2$ of its terms lying in a common $H$-coset for some $H\leq G$. We show that the much weaker hypothesis $|S|\geq |G|+\exp(G)$ suffices to obtain a nearly identical conclusion, where for the case $H$ is trivial we must allow all but $|G/H|-1$ terms of $S$ to be from the same $H$-coset. The bound on $|S|$ is improved for several classes of groups $G$, yielding optimal lower bounds for $|S|$. We also generalize Olson's result for $|G|$-term subsums to an analogous one for $n$-term subsums when $n\geq \exp(G)$, with the bound likewise improved for several special classes of groups. This improves previous generalizations of Olson's result, with the bounds for $n$ optimal.Comment: Revised version, with results reworded to appear less technica

Representation of Finite Abelian Group Elements by Subsequence Sums

Let $G\cong C_{n_1}\oplus ... \oplus C_{n_r}$ be a finite and nontrivial abelian group with $n_1|n_2|...|n_r$. A conjecture of Hamidoune says that if $W=w_1... w_n$ is a sequence of integers, all but at most one relatively prime to $|G|$, and $S$ is a sequence over $G$ with $|S|\geq |W|+|G|-1\geq |G|+1$, the maximum multiplicity of $S$ at most $|W|$, and $\sigma(W)\equiv 0\mod |G|$, then there exists a nontrivial subgroup $H$ such that every element $g\in H$ can be represented as a weighted subsequence sum of the form $g=\sum_{i=1}^{n}w_is_i$, with $s_1... s_n$ a subsequence of $S$. We give two examples showing this does not hold in general, and characterize the counterexamples for large $|W|\geq {1/2}|G|$. A theorem of Gao, generalizing an older result of Olson, says that if $G$ is a finite abelian group, and $S$ is a sequence over $G$ with $|S|\geq |G|+D(G)-1$, then either every element of $G$ can be represented as a $|G|$-term subsequence sum from $S$, or there exists a coset $g+H$ such that all but at most $|G/H|-2$ terms of $S$ are from $g+H$. We establish some very special cases in a weighted analog of this theorem conjectured by Ordaz and Quiroz, and some partial conclusions in the remaining cases, which imply a recent result of Ordaz and Quiroz. This is done, in part, by extending a weighted setpartition theorem of Grynkiewicz, which we then use to also improve the previously mentioned result of Gao by showing that the hypothesis $|S|\geq |G|+D(G)-1$ can be relaxed to $|S|\geq |G|+d^*(G)$, where d^*(G)=\Sum_{i=1}^{r}(n_i-1). We also use this method to derive a variation on Hamidoune's conjecture valid when at least $d^*(G)$ of the $w_i$ are relatively prime to $|G|$