Sets of integers that do not contain long arithmetic progressions

Details Sets of integers that do not contain long arithmetic progressions Sets of integers that do not contain long arithmetic progressions

2008-11-19

arxiv.org/abs/0811.3057v3

Mathematics

Number Theory

14 pages; v2 now captures long APs; v3 typos, formatting, and updated intro

Scientific paper

In 1946, Behrend gave a construction of dense finite sets of integers that do not contain 3-term arithmetic progressions. In 1961, Rankin generalized Behrend's construction to sets avoiding k-term arithmetic progressions, and in 2008 Elkin refined Behrend's 3-term construction. In this work, we combine Elkin's refinement and Rankin's generalization. Arithmetic progressions are handled as a special case of polynomial progressions. In 1946, Behrend gave a construction of dense finite sets of integers that do not contain a 3-term arithmetic progression (AP). In 1961, Rankin generalized Behrend's construction to sets avoiding k-term APs. In 2008, Elkin refined Behrend's 3-term construction, and later in 2008, Green & Wolf found a distinct approach (albeit morally similar) that is technically more straightforward. This work combines Elkin's refinement and Rankin's generalization in the Green & Wolf framework. A curious aspect of the construction is that we induct through sets that do not contain a long polynomial progression in order to construct a set without a long AP. The bounds for r_k(N), the largest size of a subset of {1,2,...,N} that does not contain a k element AP, are (where \log=\log_2, for sufficiently large N, with n=\ceiling{\log k}): r_3(N) > N (\sqrt{360}/(e \pi^{3/2})-\epsilon) \sqrt[4]{2\log N} * 4^{-\sqrt{2 \log N}}, r_k(N) > CN 2^{-n 2^{(n-1)/2} \sqrt[n]{\log N}+\frac{1}{2n}\log\log N}. The improvement over earlier work is in the simplification of the construction, the explicitness of the bound for r_3, and in the \log\log term for general k.

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