June 14, 2018
We show that any family of subsets $A\subseteq 2^{[n]}$ satisfies $\lvert A\rvert \leq O\bigl(n^{\lceil{d}/{2}\rceil}\bigr)$, where $d$ is the VC dimension of $\{S\triangle T \,\vert\, S,T\in A\}$, and $\triangle$ is the symmetric difference operator. We also observe that replacing $\triangle$ by either $\cup$ or $\cap$ fails to satisfy an analogous statement. Our proof is based on the polynomial method; specifically, on an argument due to [Croot, Lev, Pach '17].
May 21, 2017
This text contains over three hundred specific open questions on various topics in additive combinatorics, each placed in context by reviewing all relevant results. While the primary purpose is to provide an ample supply of problems for student research, it is hopefully also useful for a wider audience. It is the author's intention to keep the material current, thus all feedback and updates are greatly appreciated.
February 8, 2022
The dimension of a partially-ordered set $P$ is the smallest integer $d$ such that one can embed $P$ into a product of $d$ linear orders. We prove that the dimension of the divisibility order on the interval $\{1, \dotsc, n\}$ is bounded above by $C(\log n)^2 (\log \log n)^{-2} \log \log \log n$ as $n$ goes to infinity. This improves a recent result by Lewis and the first author, who showed an upper bound of $C(\log n)^2 (\log \log n)^{-1}$ and a lower bound of $c(\log n)^2 (...
November 5, 2019
There are various notions of dimension in fractal geometry to characterise (random and non-random) subsets of $\mathbb R^d$. In this expository text, we discuss their analogues for infinite subsets of $\mathbb Z^d$ and, more generally, for infinite graphs. We then apply these notions to critical percolation clusters, where the various dimensions have different values.
November 8, 2018
We obtain new lower bounds on the Hausdorff dimension of distance sets and pinned distance sets of planar Borel sets of dimension slightly larger than $1$, improving recent estimates of Keleti and Shmerkin, and of Liu in this regime. In particular, we prove that if $A$ has Hausdorff dimension $>1$, then the set of distances spanned by points of $A$ has Hausdorff dimension at least $40/57 > 0.7$ and there are many $y\in A$ such that the pinned distance set $\{ |x-y|:x\in A\}$ ...
November 4, 2022
In this paper, we prove non-trivial estimates for the additive discretized energy of \[\sum_{c\in C} |\{(a_1, a_2, b_1, b_2)\in A^2\times B^2: |(a_1 +cb_1) - (a_2 + cb_2)|\le \delta\}|_{\delta},\] that depend on non-concentration conditions of the sets. As applications, we obtain a number of new results on the $\delta$-covering and on the Hausdorff dimensional version of the $A+cB$ problem. Our proofs introduce a novel approach that makes use of a combination of methods from ...
May 25, 2011
We give the structure of discrete two-dimensional finite sets $A,\,B\subseteq \R^2$ which are extremal for the recently obtained inequality $|A+B|\ge (\frac{|A|}{m}+\frac{|B|}{n}-1)(m+n-1)$, where $m$ and $n$ are the minimum number of parallel lines covering $A$ and $B$ respectively. Via compression techniques, the above bound also holds when $m$ is the maximal number of points of $A$ contained in one of the parallel lines covering $A$ and $n$ is the maximal number of points ...
December 17, 2021
We prove that for $d\geq 0$ and $k\geq 2$, for any subset $A$ of a discrete cube $\{0,1\}^d$, the $k-$higher energy of $A$ (the number of $2k-$tuples $(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_{2k})$ in $A^{2k}$ with $a_1-a_2=a_3-a_4=\dots=a_{2k-1}-a_{2k}$) is at most $|A|^{\log_{2}(2^k+2)}$, and $\log_{2}(2^k+2)$ is the best possible exponent. We also show that if $d\geq 0$ and $2\leq k\leq 10$, for any subset $A$ of a discrete cube $\{0,1\}^d$, the $k-$additive energy of $A$ (the number of $2k-$tup...
December 13, 2005
In this paper, we present an improvement of a large sieve type inequality in high dimensions and discuss its implications on a related problem.
July 10, 2020
By juxtaposing ideas from fractal geometry and dynamical systems, Furstenberg proposed a series of conjectures in the late 1960's that explore the relationship between digit expansions with respect to multiplicatively independent bases. In this work, we introduce and study - in the discrete context of the integers - analogues of some of the notions and results surrounding Furstenberg's work. In particular, we define a new class of fractal sets of integers that parallels the n...