Control and its applications in additive combinatorics

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

We develop the theory of the additive dimension ${\rm dim} (A)$, i.e. the size of a maximal dissociated subset of a set $A$. It was shown that the additive dimension is closely connected with the growth of higher sumsets $nA$ of our set $A$. We apply this approach to demonstrate that for any small multiplicative subgroup $\Gamma$ the sequence $|n\Gamma|$ grows very fast. Also, we obtain a series of applications to the sum--product phenomenon and to the Balog--Wooley decomposi...

We improve a result of Solymosi on sum-products in R, namely, we prove that max{|A+A|,|AA|}\gg |A|^{4/3+c}, where c>0 is an absolute constant. New lower bounds for sums of sets with small product set are found. Previous results are improved effectively for sets A from R with |AA| \le |A|^{4/3}.

We prove a new class of low-energy decompositions which, amongst other consequences, imply that any finite set $A$ of integers may be written as $A = B \cup C$, where $B$ and $C$ are disjoint sets satisfying \[ |\{ (b_1, \dots, b_{2s}) \in B^{2s} \ | \ b_1 + \dots + b_{s} = b_{s+1} + \dots + b_{2s}\}| \ll_{s} |B|^{2s - (\log \log s)^{1/2 - o(1)}} \] and \[ |\{ (c_1, \dots, c_{2s}) \in C^{2s} \ | \ c_1 \dots c_{s} = c_{s+1} \dots c_{2s} \}| \ll_{s} |C|^{2s - (\log \log s)^{1/2...

In this paper we prove new bounds for sums of convex or concave functions. Specifically, we prove that for all $A,B \subseteq \mathbb R$ finite sets, and for all $f,g$ convex or concave functions, we have $$|A + B|^{38}|f(A) + g(B)|^{38} \gtrsim |A|^{49}|B|^{49}.$$ This result can be used to obtain bounds on a number of two-variable expanders of interest, as well as to the asymmetric sum-product problem. We also adjust our technique to also prove the three-variable expans...

In recent years some near-optimal estimates have been established for certain sum-product type estimates. This paper gives some first extremal results which provide information about when these bounds may or may not be tight. The main tool is a new result which provides a nontrivial upper bound on the multiplicative energy of a sum set or difference set.

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.

We improve the best known sum-product estimates over the reals. We prove that \[ \max(|A+A|,|AA|)\geq |A|^{\frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{1167} - o(1)}\,, \] for a finite $A\subset \mathbb R$, following a streamlining of the arguments of Solymosi, Konyagin and Shkredov. We include several new observations to our techniques. Furthermore, \[ |AA+AA|\geq |A|^{\frac{127}{80} - o(1)}\,. \] Besides, for a convex set $A$ we show that \[ |A+A|\geq |A|^{\frac{30}{19}-o(1)}\,. \] This paper ...

In this paper we further study the relationship between convexity and additive growth, building on the work of Schoen and Shkredov (\cite{SS}) to get some improvements to earlier results of Elekes, Nathanson and Ruzsa (\cite{ENR}). In particular, we show that for any finite set $A\subset{\mathbb{R}}$ and any strictly convex or concave function $f$, \[|A+f(A)|\gg{\frac{|A|^{24/19}}{(\log|A|)^{2/19}}}\] and \[\max\{|A-A|,\ |f(A)+f(A)|\}\gg{\frac{|A|^{14/11}}{(\log|A|)^{2/11}}}....

We improve a previous sum--products estimates in R, namely, we obtain that max{|A+A|,|AA|} \gg |A|^{4/3+c}, where c any number less than 5/9813. New lower bounds for sums of sets with small the product set are found. Also we prove some pure energy sum--products results, improving a result of Balog and Wooley, in particular.