On minimal asymptotic bases (Q5894366)

For a set \(A\subseteq \mathbb N_0=\{0,1,2,3,\dots\}\) and \(2\leq h\in\mathbb N\) let \(hA\) denote the set \(hA:= \{a_1+a_2+\cdots+ a_h\}\) with \(a_1,a_2,\dots, a_h\in A\). The set \(A\) is an asymptotic basis of order \(h\) if \(hA\) contains all sufficiently large integers. An asymptotic basis \(A\) of order \(h\) is a minimal asymptotic basis of order \(h\) if no proper subset of \(A\) is an asymptotic basis of order \(h\); this is for any \(a\in A\) the set \(E_a:= hA\setminus h(A\setminus\{a\})\) is infinite. The counting function \(A(x)\) of a set \(A\) is \(A(x):=\sum_{\substack{ 0<a\in A\\ a\leq x}} 1\). An asymptotic basis \(A\) of order \(h\) is strongly minimal if for every \(a\in A\) there exists a constant \(c= c(a)> 0\) such that for the counting function \(E_a(x)\) of \(E_a\) is \(E_a(x)> c(A(x))^{h-1}\) for all \(x\) sufficiently large. For an asymptotic basis \(A\) of order \(h\) is \(A(x)> c_1 x^{{1\over h}}\) \((c_1> 0)\) for all \(x\) sufficiently large, and \(A\) is thin if \(A(x)< c_2 x^{{1\over h}}\) \((c_2> 0)\) for all \(x\) sufficiently large. For a nonempty subset \(W\subseteq\mathbb N_0\) is \({\mathcal F}^*(W)\) the set of all finite nonempty subsets of \(W\), and let \(A(W)\) be the set of all numbers of the form \(\sum_{f\in{\mathcal F}} 2^f\), where \({\mathcal F}\in{\mathcal F}^*(W)\). For the main results of this note the following two theorems are mentioned: Theorem 1. Let \(\mathbb N_0= W_1\cup W_2\) be a partition with \(0\in W_1\) such that \(W_1\) and \(W_2\) are infinite. Then \(A= A(W_1)\cup A(W_2)\) is a minimal asymptotic basis of order 2 if and only if either \(W_1\) contains no consecutive integers or \(W_2\) contains consecutive integers or both. Theorem 3. Let \(\mathbb N_0= W_1\cup W_2\) with \(W_1\) and \(W_2\) infinite. If \(A= A(W_1)\cup A(W_2)\) is a minimal asymptotic basis of order 2, then \(A\) is strongly minimal if and only if \(A\) is thin. In this article there are also resolved three problems on asymptotic bases of order 2 which had been posed by \textit{M. B. Nathanson} [Acta Arith. 49, No. 5, 525--532 (1988; Zbl 0601.10040)].