Finding Certain Arithmetic Progressions in 2-Coloured Cyclic Groups

Abstract: We say a pair of integers

(a, b)

is findable if the following is true. For any

d e l t a > 0

there exists a

p_{0}

such that for any prime

p g e p_{0}

and any red-blue colouring of

m a t h b b Z / p m a t h b b Z

in which each colour has density at least

d e l t a

, we can find an arithmetic progression of length

a + b

inside

m a t h b b Z / p m a t h b b Z

whose first

a

elements are red and whose last

b

elements are blue. Szemer'edi's Theorem on arithmetic progressions implies that

(0, k)

and

(1, k)

are findable for any

k

. We prove that

(2, k)

is also findable for any

k

. However, the same is not true of

(3, k)

. Indeed, we give a construction showing that

(3, 30000)

is not findable. We also show that

(14, 14)

is not findable.

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