Permutations destroying arithmetic progressions in finite cyclic groups (Q907229)

Summary: A permutation \(\pi\) of an abelian group \(G\) is said to destroy arithmetic progressions (APs) if, whenever \((a,b,c)\) is a non-trivial 3-term AP in \(G\), that is \(c-b=b-a\) and \(a\), \(b\), \(c\) are not all equal, then \((\pi(a),\pi(b), \pi(c))\) is not an AP. The first author [ibid. 11, No. 1, Research paper R39, 21 p. (2004; Zbl 1128.11007)] conjectured that such a permutation exists of \(\mathbb{Z}_n\), for all \(n \not\in \{2,3,5,7\}\). Here we prove, as a special case of a more general result, that such a permutation exists for all \(n \geq n_0\), for some explicitly constructed number \(n_0 \approx 1.4 \times 10^{14}\). We also construct such a permutation of \(\mathbb{Z}_p\) for all primes \(p > 3\) such that \(p \equiv 3 \pmod 8\).