Zero-sum problems for abelian \(p\)-groups and covers of the integers by residue classes (Q839914)

Let \(C_n\) denote the cyclic group of \(n\) elements. Let \(G=C_{n_1}\oplus \cdots \oplus C_{n_r}\) be an additive finite abelian group with \(1<n_1|\cdots |n_r\). Denote by \(d^*(G)\) the sum \(\sum_{i=1}^r(n_i-1)\). A sequence \(S=a_1\cdot \ldots \cdot a_k\) of elements in \(G\) is called a \textsl{zero-sum sequence} if \(\sum_{i=1}^ka_i=0\) (the identity of \(G\)). Let \(a,n\) be integers with \(n>0\). Denote by \(a(n)\) the set \(a+n\mathbb{Z}=\{a+nx: x\in \mathbb{Z}\}\). A finite system \(\{a_i(n_i)\}_{i=1}^s\) is called a \(m\) cover of \(\mathbb{Z}\) if every integer belongs to at least \(m\) of \(a_1(n_1), \ldots, a_s(n_s)\). The author obtained several new results on zero-sum involving cover of \(\mathbb{Z}\), and the most interesting result among them is the following: Let \(p\) be a prime, and let \(G\) be a finite abelian \(p\)-group. Let \(\{a_i(n_i)\}_{i=1}^s\) be a \(d^*(G)+p^h\) cover of \(\mathbb{Z}\) with \(h\geq 0\), let \(c_1, \ldots, c_s\in G\) and let \(m_1, \cdots, m_s \in \mathbb{Z}\). Then \[ \left|\left\{I\subset [1,s]: \sum_{i\in I}c_i=c \text{ and } \sum_{i\in I} \frac{m_i}{n_i}\in \alpha +p^h\mathbb{Z}\right\}\right|\neq 1 \] for any \(c\in G\) and rational number \(\alpha\).