The minimum size of signed sumsets (Q491546)

Summary: For a finite abelian group \(G\) and positive integers \(m\) and \(h\), we let \[ \rho(G, m, h) = \min \{ |hA| \; : \; A \subseteq G, |A|=m\} \] and \[ \rho_{\pm} (G, m, h) = \min \{ |h_{\pm} A| \; : \; A \subseteq G, |A|=m\}, \] where \(hA\) and \(h_{\pm} A\) denote the \(h\)-fold sumset and the \(h\)-fold signed sumset of \(A\), respectively. The study of \(\rho(G, m, h)\) has a 200-year-old history and is now known for all \(G\), \(m\), and \(h\). Here we prove that \(\rho_{\pm}(G, m, h)\) equals \(\rho (G, m, h)\) when \(G\) is cyclic, and establish an upper bound for \(\rho_{\pm} (G, m, h)\) that we believe gives the exact value for all \(G\), \(m\), and \(h\).