Some zero-sum problems over \(\langle x,y \mid x^2 = y^{n/2}, y^n = 1, yx = xy^s \rangle\) (Q7033722)

Let \(G\) be a finite group multiplicatively written. Let \(\mathrm{ord}(g)\) denote the order of \(g\in G\). Let \(\exp(G)=\mathrm{lcm}\{\mathrm{ord}(g) \mid g\in G\}\) denote the exponent of \(G\). A sequence \(S\) over \(G\), whose order is disregarded, can be written as\N\[\NS=g_1\bullet \ldots \bullet g_k= \prod_{g\in G}^{\bullet}g^{[\mathsf v_g(S)]},\N\]\Nwhere \(|S|=k\) is the length of \(S\) and \(\mathsf v_g(S)\) is the multiplicity of \(g\) in \(S\). Let\N\begin{align*}\N\pi (S)&=\left\{\prod_{i=1}^{k} g_{\tau(i)}\in G \mid \tau \mbox{ is a permutation of } [1,k]\right\}.\N\end{align*}\NWe call \(S\) a product-one sequence if \(1\in \pi (S)\).\N\NThe following zero-sum invariants are defined:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item Let \(\mathsf d(G)\) denote the maximal length of sequences \(S\) over \(G\), where \(S\) contains no product-one subsequence. The invariant \(\mathsf d(G)\) is called the small Davenport constant.\N\item Let \(\mathsf \eta(G)\) denote the smallest integer \(\ell >0\), such that every sequence \(S\) over \(G\) with \(|S|\geq \ell\) has a product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(1\leq |T|\leq \exp(G)\). The invariant \(\mathsf \eta(G)\) is called the \(\eta\)-constant.\N\item Let \(\mathsf s(G)\) denote the smallest integer \(\ell >0\), such that every sequence \(S\) over \(G\) with \(|S|\geq \ell\) has a product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(|T|=\exp(G)\). The invariant \(\mathsf s(G)\) is called the Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv constant.\N\item Let \(\mathsf E(G)\) denote the smallest integer \(\ell >0\), such that every sequence \(S\) over \(G\) with \(|S|\geq \ell\) has a product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(|T|=|G|\). The invariant \(\mathsf E(G)\) is called the Gao constant.\N\end{itemize}\N\NLet\N\[\NG=\langle x,y \mid x^2=y^{\frac{n}{2}}, y^n=1, yx=xy^{s}\rangle,\N\]\Nwhere \(n\geq 8\) is an even positive integer which is not twice an odd prime power and \(s\) is an integer satisfying \(s^2 \equiv 1 \pmod n\) and \(s\not\equiv \pm 1 \pmod n\). In this paper under review, the author proves that \begin{center} \(\mathsf d(G)=n\), \(\eta(G)=n+1\), \(\mathsf s(G)=\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} 2n, & \hbox{if } n\equiv 0 \pmod 4, \\\N3n, & \hbox{if } n\equiv 2 \pmod 4, \end{array} \right.\) and \(\mathsf E(G)=3n\). \end{center} Moreover, the author studies the inverse problems provided that \(n\equiv 0 \pmod 4\). The following results are proved.\N\begin{itemize}\N\item Suppose \(S=\mathsf d(G)=n\), then \(S\) has no nonempty product-one subsequence if and only if there exist \(\alpha, \beta\in G\) and \(t\in \mathbb{Z}\) such that \(G\cong \langle \alpha, \beta \mid \alpha^2 =\beta^{\frac{n}{2}}, \beta^n=1, \beta\alpha=\alpha\beta^{s} \rangle\) and \(S=\beta^{[n-1]}\bullet (\alpha\beta^{t})\).\N\item Suppose \(S=\mathsf \eta(G)-1=n\), then \(S\) has no product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(1\leq |T|\leq \exp(G)\) if and only if there exist \(\alpha, \beta\in G\) and \(t\in \mathbb{Z}\) such that \(G\cong \langle \alpha, \beta \mid \alpha^2 =\beta^{\frac{n}{2}}, \beta^n=1, \beta\alpha=\alpha\beta^{s} \rangle\) and \(S=\beta^{[n-1]}\bullet (\alpha\beta^{t})\).\N\item Suppose \(S=\mathsf s(G)-1=2n-1\), then \(S\) has no product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(|T|=n=\exp(G)\) if and only if there exist \(\alpha, \beta\in G\) and \(t_1, t_2, t_3\in \mathbb{Z}\) such that \(G\cong \langle \alpha, \beta \mid \alpha^2 =\beta^{\frac{n}{2}}, \beta^n=1, \beta\alpha=\alpha\beta^{s} \rangle\), \(\gcd(t_1-t_2, n)=1\) and \(S=(\beta^{t_1})^{[n-1]}\bullet (\beta^{t_2})^{[n-1]}\bullet (\alpha\beta^{t_3})\).\N\item Suppose \(S=\mathsf E(G)-1=3n-1\), then \(S\) has no product-one subsequence \(T\) with \(|T|=2n=|G|\) if and only if there exist \(\alpha, \beta\in G\) and \(t_1, t_2, t_3\in \mathbb{Z}\) such that \(G\cong \langle \alpha, \beta \mid \alpha^2 =\beta^{\frac{n}{2}}, \beta^n=1, \beta\alpha=\alpha\beta^{s} \rangle\), \(\gcd(t_1-t_2, n)=1\) and \(S=(\beta^{t_1})^{[2n-1]}\bullet (\beta^{t_2})^{[n-1]}\bullet (\alpha\beta^{t_3})\).\N\end{itemize}