Monochromatic Hilbert cubes and arithmetic progressions (Q2415085)

Summary: The Van der Waerden number \(W(k,r)\) denotes the smallest \(n\) such that whenever \([n]\) is \(r\)-colored there exists a monochromatic arithmetic progression of length \(k\). Similarly, the Hilbert cube number \(h(k,r)\) denotes the smallest \(n\) such that whenever \([n]\) is \(r\)-colored there exists a monochromatic affine \(k\)-cube, that is, a set of the form \[\left\{x_0 + \sum_{b \in B} b : B \subseteq A\right\}\] for some \(|A|=k\) and \(x_0 \in \mathbb{Z}\). We show the following relation between the Hilbert cube number and the Van der Waerden number. Let \(k \geqslant 3\) be an integer. Then for every \(\epsilon >0\), there is a \(c > 0\) such that \[h(k,4) \geqslant \min\{W(\lfloor c k^2\rfloor, 2), 2^{k^{2.5-\epsilon}}\}. \] Thus we improve upon state of the art lower bounds for \(h(k,4)\) conditional on \(W(k,2)\) being significantly larger than \(2^k\). In the other direction, this shows that if the Hilbert cube number is close to its state of the art lower bounds, then \(W(k,2)\) is at most doubly exponential in \(k\). We also show the optimal result that for any Sidon set \(A \subset \mathbb{Z}\), one has \[\left|\left\{\sum_{b \in B} b : B \subseteq A\right\}\right| = \Omega(|A|^3).\]