Tower-type bounds for Roth's theorem with popular differences (Q6056476)

As a natural consequence of the findings in [\textit{V. Bergelson} et al., Invent. Math. 160, No. 2, 261--303 (2005; Zbl 1087.28007)], the following question was raised: Suppose that \( \alpha, \varepsilon > 0 \). Is it true that there is \( N_0(\alpha,\varepsilon ) \) such that if \( N \ge N_0(\alpha, \varepsilon ) \), and if \( A \subseteq \left\lbrace 1,\dots,N\right\rbrace \) has size \( \alpha N \), then there is some \( d \ne 0 \) such that \( A \) has at least \( (\alpha^3 - \varepsilon )N \) three-term arithmetic progressions with common difference \( d \)? \textit{B. Green} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 15, No. 2, 340--376 (2005; Zbl 1160.11314)] developed an arithmetic analogue of Szemerédi's regularity lemma and used it to give an affirmative answer to this question and it is known as Green's popular progression difference theorem. Green's proof uses the arithmetic regularity lemma and consequently shows that \( N_0 \) can be taken to be an exponential tower of twos of height \( \varepsilon^{-O(1)} \). In this paper, the main theorem determines the growth of the minimum \( N_0 \) for which Green's progression difference theorem holds, showing that it is an exponential tower of twos of height \( \Theta (\log (1/\varepsilon)). \) The authors prove that there exist absolute constants \( c, C > 0 \) such that for all \( 0 < \varepsilon < 1/2 \), \[ \text{tower}(c \log (1/\varepsilon)) \le N_0 (\varepsilon) \le \text{tower}(C \log (1/\varepsilon)), \] where \( \text{tower}(m) \) denotes an exponential tower of twos of height \( m. \)