Simplices in thin subsets of Euclidean spaces (Q6185896)

One of the central problems in geometric Ramsey theory is to prove that `large' sets automatically contain a given geometric set up to translation, rotation, and dilation. These questions may arise in \(\mathbb{R}^k\), integer lattices, or vector spaces over finite fields for example. The setting considered here is the Euclidean one of \(\mathbb{R}^k\). \textit{J. Bourgain} [Isr. J. Math. 54, 307--316 (1986; Zbl 0609.10043)] showed that subsets of \(\mathbb{R}^k\) with positive Lebesgue density contain a translated rotated copy of all sufficiently large dilates of any non-degenerate simplex with \(k\) vertices. If `large' is interpreted in terms of Hausdorff dimension \(s<k\) less is known, with some positive results obtained by the first author and \textit{B. Liu} [Isr. J. Math. 231, No. 1, 123--137 (2019; Zbl 1417.52023)]. There are also negative results in the same direction: \textit{T. Keleti} [Anal. PDE 1, No. 1, 29--33 (2008; Zbl 1151.28302)] constructed a subset of \(\mathbb{R}\) with full Hausdorff dimension that does not contain any non-trivial \(3\) term arithmetic progression, and similar negative results have been found in dimension two by Falconer and \textit{P. Maga} [Real Anal. Exch. 36, No. 1, 79--90 (2011; Zbl 1246.28005)]. The main result here is that there is a critical threshold dimension \(s_k<k\) with the property that any measurable subset of \(\mathbb{R}^k\) with Hausdorff dimension at least \(s_k\) must contain a similar copy of any non-degenerate simplex on \(k\) vertices.