The relative sizes of sumsets and difference sets

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...

The basic theme of this paper is the fact that if $A$ is a finite set of integers, then the sum and product sets cannot both be small. A precise formulation of this fact is Conjecture 1 below due to Erd\H os-Szemer\'edi [E-S]. (see also [El], [T], and [K-T] for related aspects.) Only much weaker results or very special cases of this conjecture are presently known. One approach consists of assuming the sum set $A + A$ small and then deriving that the product set $AA$ is large ...

We discuss several questions concerning sum-free sets in groups, raised by Erd\H{o}s in his survey "Extremal problems in number theory" (Proceedings of the Symp. Pure Math. VIII AMS) published in 1965. Among other things, we give a characterization for large sets $A$ in an abelian group $G$ which do not contain a subset $B$ of fixed size $k$ such that the sum of any two different elements of $B$ do not belong to $A$ (in other words, $B$ is sum-free with respect to $A$). Erd...

In this paper we prove that every set $A\subset\mathbb{Z}$ satisfying the inequality $\sum_{x}\min(1_A*1_A(x),t)\le(2+\delta)t|A|$ for $t$ and $\delta$ in suitable ranges, then $A$ must be very close to an arithmetic progression. We use this result to improve the estimates of Green and Morris for the probability that a random subset $A\subset\mathbb{N}$ satisfies $|\mathbb{N}\setminus(A+A)|\ge k$; specifically we show that $\mathbb{P}(|\mathbb{N}\setminus(A+A)|\ge k)=\Theta(2...

We describe general connections between intersective properties of sets in Abelian groups and positive exponential sums. In particular, given a set $A$ the maximal size of a set whose difference set avoids $A$ will be related to positive exponential sums using frequencies from $A$.

In this paper we present a procedure which allows to transform a subset $A$ of $\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ into a set $ A'$ such that $ |2\hspace{0.15cm}\widehat{} A'|\leq|2\hspace{0.15cm}\widehat{} A | $, where $2\hspace{0.15cm}\widehat{} A$ is defined to be the set $\left\{a+b:a\neq b,\;a,b\in A\right\}$. From this result, we get some lower bounds for $ |2\hspace{0.15cm}\widehat{} A| $. Finally, we give some remarks related to the problem for which sets $A\subset \mathbb{Z}_{p}$ we ha...

This is a survey of old and new problems and results in additive number theory.

Improving upon the results of Freiman and Candela-Serra-Spiegel, we show that for a non-empty subset $A\subseteq\mathbb F_p$ with $p$ prime and $|A|<0.0045p$, (i) if $|A+A|<2.59|A|-3$ and $|A|>100$, then $A$ is contained in an arithmetic progression of size $|A+A|-|A|+1$, and (ii) if $|A-A|<2.6|A|-3$, then $A$ is contained in an arithmetic progression of size $|A-A|-|A|+1$. The improvement comes from using the properties of higher energies.

In the paper we find new inequalities involving the intersections $A\cap (A-x)$ of shifts of some subset $A$ from an abelian group. We apply the inequalities to obtain new upper bounds for the additive energy of multiplicative subgroups and convex sets and also a series another results on the connection of the additive energy and so--called higher moments of convolutions. Besides we prove new theorems on multiplicative subgroups concerning lower bounds for its doubling consta...

For a finite abelian group $G$ and positive integers $m$ and $h$, we let $$\rho(G, m, h) = \min \{|hA| \; : \; A \subseteq G, |A|=m\}$$ and $$\rho_{\pm} (G, m, h) = \min \{|h_{\pm} A| \; : \; A \subseteq G, |A|=m\},$$ where $hA$ and $h_{\pm} A$ denote the $h$-fold sumset and the $h$-fold signed sumset of $A$, respectively. The study of $\rho(G, m, h)$ has a 200-year-old history and is now known for all $G$, $m$, and $h$. Here we prove that $\rho_{\pm}(G, m, h)$ equals $\rho (...