On minimum delta set values in block monoids over cyclic groups. (Q2642508)

The authors consider block monoids \(\mathcal B(\mathbb{Z}_n,S)\), where \(S=\{1+n\mathbb{Z},a+n\mathbb{Z}\}\) [see \textit{A. Geroldinger} and \textit{F. Halter-Koch}, Non-unique factorizations. Algebraic, combinatorial and analytic theory. Pure Appl. Math. (Boca Raton) 278. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman \& Hall/CRC (2006; Zbl 1113.11002)]. Let \(L(B)=\{l_1,l_2,\dots,l_q\}\) denote the set of lengths (in increasing order) of a block \(B\) and \(\Delta(B)=\{l_2-1,\dots,l_q-l_{q-1}\}\) the difference set. The delta set of the monoid \(\mathcal B(\mathbb{Z}_nS)\) is defined as \[ \Delta(a,n)=\bigcup_{B\in\mathcal B(\mathbb{Z}_n,S)}\Delta(B). \] In the present paper the authors study in detail the quantity \(\delta_2(a,n)=\min\Delta(a,n)\) and the set \(\delta_2(n)=\{\delta_2(a,n):1<a<n\}\). They show that \[ \delta_2(a,n)=\gcd(a_1,a_3,\dots,a_{m-1}), \] where \(n>3\), \(1<a<n\) and \([a_0,a_1,\dots,a_m]\) is the continued fraction expansion of \(\tfrac na\) (which is of odd length, i.e. \(m\) is even). Then the set \(\delta_2(p)\) for \(p\) a prime number is considered and various properties concerning the structure of \(\delta_2(n)\) are shown, for instance \[ \lim_{p\to\infty}\tfrac{\text{card\,}\delta_2(p)}{p}=0. \]