Extremal product-one free sequences and \(|G|\)-product-one free sequences of a metacyclic group (Q2142674)

The EGZ (Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv) theorem was a harbinger of a class of combinatorial number theoretic problems studied via (finite abelian) group theory. The `zero-sum' problems were also formulated as `product-one' problems in a non-abelian setting. This latter area is a rich one where, despite a plethora of papers appearing through the last decade and more, more questions remain unanswered than the ones that have been answered. When we consider general finite (not necessarily abelian) groups \(G\), a sequence of elements \(g_1, \cdots, g_n\) is said to be a product-one sequence if the product of the \(g_i\)'s in some order is \(1\). One defines by analogy with the abelian case, the constants \(d(G)\) and \(E(G)\), respectively, as follows: \(d(G)\) is the maximal possible \(n\) such that there is a sequence of length \(n\) that does not contain any product-one subsequence; Equivalently, \(d(G)+1\) is the least possible \(r\) such that every sequence of length \(r\) in \(G\) contains a product-one subsequence -- this is the analogue of the classical Davenport constant. \(E(G)\) is the least possible \(m \geq O(G)\) such that every sequence of length \(m\) contains a product-one subsequence of length equal to \(O(G)\) -- this is the analogue of the classical EGZ constant. In [Eur. J. Comb. 27, No. 6, 777--787 (2006; Zbl 1091.11008)], \textit{W. Gao} and \textit{J. J. Zhuang} proved for dihedral groups that \(d(G) + O(G) = E(G)\). They conjectured this to hold in general. In the paper under review, the authors consider the following metacyclic groups \(C_p \ltimes C_m\) where \(p\) is the smallest prime dividing \(m\): \[ G = <x,y| x^p, y^m, x^{-1}yx = y^r> \] where \(gcd(p(r-1),m)=1\). In a recent paper, the present authors verified the conjecture for these metacyclic groups, obtaining \(d(G)=m+p-2\) and \(E(G) = pm+m+p-2\). The purpose of the present paper is to characterize in these groups: (i) sequences of length \(d(G)\) which do not contain product-one subsequences, and (ii) sequences of length \(E(G)-1\) which do not contain any product-one subsequence of length \(O(G)\).