Lower bounds for the Turán densities of daisies (Q6197308)

Summary: For integers \(r \geqslant 3\) and \(t \geqslant 2\), an \(r\)-uniform \(t\)-daisy \(\mathcal{D}^t_r\) is a family of \(\binom{2t}{t} r\)-element sets of the form \[\{S \cup T : T\subset U, |T|=t \}\] for some sets \(S, U\) with \(|S|=r-t, |U|=2t\) and \(S \cap U = \emptyset\). It was conjectured by \textit{B. Bollobás} et al. [Comb. Probab. Comput. 20, No. 5, 743--747 (2011; Zbl 1293.05381)] (and independently by Bukh) that the Turán densities of \(t\)-daisies satisfy \(\lim\limits_{r \to \infty} \pi(\mathcal{D}_r^t) = 0\) for all \(t \geqslant 2\); this has become a well-known problem, and it is still open for all values of \(t\). In this paper, we give lower bounds for the Turán densities of \(r\)-uniform \(t\)-daisies. To do so, we introduce (and make some progress on) the following natural problem in additive combinatorics: for integers \(m \geqslant 2t \geqslant 4\), what is the maximum cardinality \(g(m, t)\) of a subset \(R\) of \(\mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}\) such that for any \(x \in \mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}\) and any \(2t\)-element subset \(X\) of \(\mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}\), there are \(t\) distinct elements of \(X\) whose sum is not in the translate \(x+R\)? This is a slice-analogue of an extremal Hilbert cube problem considered by \textit{D. S. Gunderson} and \textit{V. Rödl} [Comb. Probab. Comput. 7, No. 1, 65--79 (1998; Zbl 0892.05050)] as well as \textit{J. Cilleruelo} and \textit{R. Tesoro} [Combinatorica 38, No. 3, 511--546 (2018; Zbl 1438.11019)].