A step beyond Freiman's theorem for set addition modulo a prime (Q2199684)

A well-known \(3k-4\) theorem of \textit{G. A. Freĭman} [Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved., Mat. 1964, No. 6(43), 168--178 (1964; Zbl 0201.37504)] says that any finite subset of integers \(A\) with \(|A+A| \le 3|A|-4\) is contained in an arithmetic progression of length at most \(|A+A|-|A|+1\). This is an optimal result in the sense that the constants \(3\) and \(4\) cannot be changed but the question is open in the case of the group \(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\), where \(p\) is a prime. Namely, Freiman showed the same for \(A \subseteq \mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\) with \(|A+A| \le 2.4|A|-3\) but the constant \(2.4\) is believed to be increased. The main result of this paper is Theorem. Let \(p\) be a prime number and let \(A\subset \mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\) be a set with \(|A+A| \le 2.48|A|-7\) and \(|A| <p/10^{10}\). Then there is an arithmetic progression \(P \subset \mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\) such that \(A \subseteq P\) and \(|P| \le |A+A|-|A|+1\).