Variations on the sum-product problem II

We prove new results on additive properties of finite sets $A$ with small multiplicative doubling $|AA|\leq M|A|$ in the category of real/complex sets as well as multiplicative subgroups in the prime residue field. The improvements are based on new combinatorial lemmata, which may be of independent interest. Our main results are the inequality $$ |A-A|^3|AA|^5 \gtrsim |A|^{10}, $$ over the reals, "redistributing" the exponents in the textbook Elekes sum-product inequality a...

It is established that there exists an absolute constant $c>0$ such that for any finite set $A$ of positive real numbers $$|AA+A| \gg |A|^{\frac{3}{2}+c}.$$ On the other hand, we give an explicit construction of a finite set $A \subset \mathbb R$ such that $|AA+A|=o(|A|^2)$, disproving a conjecture of Balog.

It is established that for any finite set of positive real numbers $A$, we have $$|A/A+A| \gg \frac{|A|^{\frac{3}{2}+\frac{1}{26}}}{\log^{1/2}|A|}.$$

In this paper, we consider the sum-product problem of obtaining lower bounds for the size of the set $$\frac{A+A}{A+A}:=\left \{ \frac{a+b}{c+d} : a,b,c,d \in A, c+d \neq 0 \right\},$$ for an arbitrary finite set $A$ of real numbers. The main result is the bound $$\left| \frac{A+A}{A+A} \right| \gg \frac{|A|^{2+\frac{2}{25}}}{|A:A|^{\frac{1}{25}}\log |A|},$$ where $A:A$ denotes the ratio set of $A$. This improves on a result of Balog and the author (arXiv:1402.5775), provid...

It was asked by E. Szemer\'edi if, for a finite set $A\subset\mathbb{Z}$, one can improve estimates for $\max\{|A+A|,|A\cdot A|\}$, under the constraint that all integers involved have a bounded number of prime factors -- that is, each $a\in A$ satisfies $\omega(a)\leq k$. In this paper, answer Szemer\'edi's question in the affirmative by showing that this maximum is of order $|A|^{\frac{5}{3}-o(1)}$ provided $k\leq (\log|A|)^{1-\epsilon}$ for some $\epsilon>0$. In fact, this...

Let $A$ and $B$ be finite subsets of $\mathbb{C}$ such that $|B|=C|A|$. We show the following variant of the sum product phenomenon: If $|AB|<\alpha|A|$ and $\alpha \ll \log |A|$, then $|kA+lB|\gg |A|^k|B|^l$. This is an application of a result of Evertse, Schlickewei, and Schmidt on linear equations with variables taking values in multiplicative groups of finite rank, in combination with an earlier theorem of Ruzsa about sumsets in $\mathbb{R}^d$. As an application of the ca...

In the present paper we show that if A is a set of n real numbers, and the product set A.A has at most n^(1+c) elements, then the k-fold sumset kA has at least n^(log(k/2)/2 log 2 + 1/2 - f_k(c)) elements, where f_k(c) -> 0 as c -> 0. We believe that the methods in this paper might lead to a much stronger result; indeed, using a result of Trevor Wooley on Vinogradov's Mean Value Theorem and the Tarry-Escott Problem, we show that if |A.A| < n^(1+c), then |k(A.A)| > n^(Omega((k...

We give an improved bound on the famed sum-product estimate in a field of residue class modulo $p$ ($\mathbb{F}_{p}$) by Erd\H{o}s and Szemeredi, and a non-empty set $A \subset \mathbb{F}_{p}$ such that: $$ \max \{|A+A|,|A A|\} \gg \min \left\{\frac{|A|^{15 / 14} \max \left\{1,|A|^{1 / 7} p^{-1 / 14}\right\}}{(\log |A|)^{2 / 7}}, \frac{|A|^{11 / 12} p^{1 / 12}}{(\log |A|)^{1 / 3}}\right\}, $$ and more importantly: $$\max \{|A+A|,|A A|\} \gg \frac{|A|^{15 / 14}}{(\log |A|)^{2 ...

For a subset A of a field F, write A(A + 1) for the set {a(b + 1):a,b\in A}. We establish new estimates on the size of A(A+1) in the case where F is either a finite field of prime order, or the real line. In the finite field case we show that A(A+1) is of cardinality at least C|A|^{57/56-o(1)} for some absolute constant C, so long as |A| < p^{1/2}. In the real case we show that the cardinality is at least C|A|^{24/19-o(1)}. These improve on the previously best-known exponen...

We show two asymmetric estimates, one on the number of collinear triples and the other on that of solutions to $(a_1+a_2)(a_1^{\prime\prime\prime}+a_2^{\prime\prime\prime})=(a_1^\prime+a_2^\prime)(a_1^{\prime\prime}+a_2^{\prime\prime})$. As applications, we improve results on difference-product/division estimates and on Balog-Wooley decomposition: For any finite subset $A$ of $\mathbb{R}$, \[ \max\{|A-A|,|AA|\} \gtrsim |A|^{1+105/347},\quad \max\{|A-A|,|A/A|\} \gtrsim |A|^{1+...