Thresholds for zero-sums with small cross numbers in abelian groups (Q6943855)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a finite abelian group and \(S=(g_1, \ldots, g_{t})\) a sequence of elements of \(\Gamma\). If \(g_1+\cdots+g_{t}=0\), we call \(S\) zero-sum. Let \(k(S)\) denote the cross number of \(S\), which is defined as \(\sum_{i=1}^{t}\frac{1}{|g_i|},\) where \(|g_i|\) denotes the order of \(g_i\) in \(\Gamma\). We call \(S\) good if \(S\) contains a zero-sum subsequence \(T\) with \(k(T)\leq 1\). In 1989, \textit{P. Lemke} and \textit{D. Kleitman} [J. Number Theory 31, No. 3, 335--345 (1989; Zbl 0672.10038)] proved the result that for every positive integer \(n\), every sequence of \(n\) elements of \(\mathbb{Z}_n\) is good, which confirmed a conjecture of Erdős and Lemke. In 1993, \textit{A. Geroldinger} [J. Number Theory 44, No. 1, 60--65 (1993; Zbl 0781.20017)] generalized the above result to that for any finite abelian group \(\Gamma\), every sequence of \(|\Gamma|\) elements of \(\Gamma\) is good.\N\NIn this paper under review, the authors studied the proportion of good sequence of the same length. Let \(\mathbb{E}r(t)\) denote the event that containing all good sequences of length \(t\) and let\N\[\N\textbf{P}_{\frac{1}{2}}(\Gamma)=\min\left\{t: \mathrm{Pr}[\mathbb{E}r(t)] \geq \frac{1}{2}\right\}.\N\]\NThe authors proved the following result. Let \(\Gamma\cong \mathbb{Z}_{p_1^k} \oplus \cdots \oplus \mathbb{Z}_{p_d^k}\), where \(p_1, \ldots, p_d\) are (not necessarily distinct) primes and \(k\geq 1\). Then\N\[\N\textbf{P}_{\frac{1}{2}}(\Gamma)\leq k^d\exp\left[\left(\frac{(d+1)!\prod_i\lg p_i}{2}\lg k\right)^{\frac{1}{d+1}} - \left(\frac{d}{d+1}\right)\lg\lg k+O(1)\right].\N\]