Inverse problems associated with subsequence sums in \(C_p \oplus C_p\). II (Q6041550)

The paper under review fits into the context of the so-called Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv theorem, which is a classical result in combinatorial number theory. We need first to state the basic definition: let \(G\) be a finite abelian group and \(S\) a sequence with elements of \(G\). Let \(\Sigma_k(S)\) denote the set of group elements which can be expressed as a sum of a nonempty subsequence of \(S\) with length \(k\). Then in the refereed paper the authors study the following result: let \(p\) be a prime and take \(G\) to be the direct sum \(\mathbb{Z}/p \mathbb{Z}\oplus \mathbb{Z}/p \mathbb{Z}\). Consider then \(\Sigma_{p^2}(S)\) for a sequence \(S\) in this ambient space, where \(|S|=p^2 +r\) and \(p-1\leq r \leq 2p-3\). then the main result of the paper is that either \(0\in \Sigma_{p^2}(S)\) or \(|\Sigma_{p^2}(S)|\geq p(r-p+3)-1\). Complementarily to this, the authors are able to say which is the structure of \(S\) in the case that \(|\Sigma_{p^2}(S)|= p(r-p+3)-1\) (content of Theorem 1.7 and 1.8) For Part I, see [Front. Math. China 15, No. 5, 985--1000 (2020; Zbl 1461.11134)].