Control and its applications in additive combinatorics

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...

The main results of this paper concern growth in sums of a $k$-convex function $f$. Firstly, we streamline the proof of a growth result for $f(A)$ where $A$ has small additive doubling, and improve the bound by removing logarithmic factors. The result yields an optimal bound for \[ |2^k f(A) - (2^k-1)f(A)|. \] We also generalise a recent result of Hanson, Roche-Newton and Senger, by proving that for any finite $A\subset \mathbb{R}$ \[ | 2^k f(sA-sA) - (2^k-1) f(sA-sA)| \g...

We present a collection of new results on problems related to 3SUM, including: 1. The first truly subquadratic algorithm for $\ \ \ \ \ $ 1a. computing the (min,+) convolution for monotone increasing sequences with integer values bounded by $O(n)$, $\ \ \ \ \ $1b. solving 3SUM for monotone sets in 2D with integer coordinates bounded by $O(n)$, and $\ \ \ \ \ $1c. preprocessing a binary string for histogram indexing (also called jumbled indexing). The running time is...

A set of reals $A=\{a_1,...,a_n\}$ labeled in increasing order is called convex if there exists a continuous strictly convex function $f$ such that $f(i)=a_i$ for every $i$. Given a convex set $A$, we prove \[|A+A|\gg\frac{|A|^{14/9}}{(\log|A|)^{2/9}}.\] Sumsets of different summands and an application to a sum-product-type problem are also studied either as remarks or as theorems.

In this paper, we prove that the bound \[ \max \{ |8A-7A|,|5f(A)-4f(A)| \} \gg |A|^{\frac{3}{2} + \frac{1}{54}-o(1)} \] holds for all $A \subset \mathbb R$, and for all convex functions $f$ which satisfy an additional technical condition. This technical condition is satisfied by the logarithmic function, and this fact can be used to deduce a sum-product estimate \[ \max \{ |16A| , |A^{(16)}| \} \gg |A|^{\frac{3}{2} + c}, \] for some $c>0$. Previously, no sum-product estimate ...

This paper considers various formulations of the sum-product problem. It is shown that, for a finite set $A\subset{\mathbb{R}}$, $$|A(A+A)|\gg{|A|^{\frac{3}{2}+\frac{1}{178}}},$$ giving a partial answer to a conjecture of Balog. In a similar spirit, it is established that $$|A(A+A+A+A)|\gg{\frac{|A|^2}{\log{|A|}}},$$ a bound which is optimal up to constant and logarithmic factors. We also prove several new results concerning sum-product estimates and expanders, for example, s...

A set $B$ is said to be \emph{sum-free} if there are no $x,y,z\in B$ with $x+y=z$. We show that there exists a constant $c>0$ such that any set $A$ of $n$ integers contains a sum-free subset $A'$ of size $|A'|\geqslant n/3+c\log \log n$. This answers a longstanding problem in additive combinatorics, originally due to Erd\H{o}s.

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...

The main result of this paper is the following: for all $b \in \mathbb Z$ there exists $k=k(b)$ such that \[ \max \{ |A^{(k)}|, |(A+u)^{(k)}| \} \geq |A|^b, \] for any finite $A \subset \mathbb Q$ and any non-zero $u \in \mathbb Q$. Here, $|A^{(k)}|$ denotes the $k$-fold product set $\{a_1\cdots a_k : a_1, \dots, a_k \in A \}$. Furthermore, our method of proof also gives the following $l_{\infty}$ sum-product estimate. For all $\gamma >0$ there exists a constant $C=C(\gamma...

In the paper we prove that any sumset or difference set has large E_3 energy. Also, we give a full description of families of sets having critical relations between some kind of energies such as E_k, T_k and Gowers norms. In particular, we give criteria for a set to be a 1) set of the form H+L, where H+H is small and L has "random structure", 2) set equals a disjoint union of sets H_j, each H_j has small doubling, 3) set having large subset A' with 2A' is equal to a set with ...