A multiplicative property for zero-sums. I

invariant concerning short zero-sum subsequences. The structure in both these cases (known respectively as Property B and Property C) was established in a two-step process: first verifying the multiplicative property that, if the structural description holds when

n = n_{1}

and

n = n_{2}

, then it holds when

n = n_{1} n_{2}

, and then resolving the case

n

prime separately. When

n

is prime, the structural characterization for

k i n [2, f r a c 2 n + 1 3]

was recently established, showing

S

must have the form

for some basis

(e_{1}, e_{2})

for

G

. It was conjectured that this also holds for

k i n [2, n - 2]

(when

n

is prime). In this paper, we extend this conjecture by dropping the restriction that

n

be prime and establish the following multiplicative result. Suppose

k = k_{m} n + k_{n}

with

k_{m} i n [0, m - 1]

and

k_{n} i n [0, n - 1]

. If the conjectured structure holds for

k_{m}

in

C_{m} o p l u s C_{m}

and for

k_{n}

in

C_{n} o p l u s C_{n}

, then it holds for

k

in

C_{m n} o p l u s C_{m n}

. This reduces the full characterization question for

n

and

k

to the prime case. Combined with known results, this unconditionally establishes the structure for extremal sequences in

G = C_{n} o p l u s C_{n}

in many cases, including when

n

is only divisible by primes at most

7

, when

n g e q 2

is a prime power and

k l e q f r a c 2 n + 1 3

, or when

n

is composite and

k = n - d - 1

or

n - 2 d + 1

for a proper, nontrivial divisor

d m i d n

.

Review text

Many classical results in combinatorics tell us that a certain property must emerge when a certain set becomes large enough. One is then compelled to ask the inverse question: what is the structure of the system just below the threshold, just before the property does emerge. Davenport's constant of an abelian group \(G\) is the size at which every sequence of elements from \(G\) must contain a zero-sum subsequence. Davenport's constant for \(G = C_n \oplus C_n\), where \(C_n\) is the cyclic group, is \(2n-1\); and the structure of zero-sum-free sequences of size \(2n-2\) is known: some element must repeat \(n-1\) times. There is a refinement: any sequence from \(G\) of size at least \(3n-2\) must contain a zero-sum subsequence of size at most \(n\). Again, the structure of sequences of size \(3n-3\) without any such subsequence is known: a pair of generators must repeat \(n-1\) times each. These two results have a common extension: for \(0 \leq k \leq n-1\), any sequence of size at least \(2n-1+k\) must contain a zero-sum subsequence of size at most \(2n-1-k\) [\textit{C. Wang} and \textit{K. Zhao}, J. Number Theory 176, 365--374 (2017; Zbl 1422.11057)]. Concerning the inverse problem, it is conjectured (for \(k = 2,\dots,n-2\)) that a sequence of size \(2n-2+k\) without any zero-sum subsequence of size at most \(2n-1-k\) must have the form \(S = e_1^{[n-1]}e_2^{[n-1]}(e_1+e_2)^{[k]}\) for some pair of generators \(e_1,e_2 \in G\). This conjecture is the subject of the current paper. The authors prove (Theorem 1.2) that if the conjecture holds for \(C_n \oplus C_n\) and for \(C_m \oplus C_m\), then it holds for \(C_{nm} \oplus C_{nm}\). This reduces the problem to the case of \(n\) being a prime. The proof is obtained by a delicate analysis of a sequence \(S\) in \(C_{nm}\oplus C_{nm}\) satisfying the given restrictions, together with its image in \(C_n \oplus C_n\). A key idea here is played by ``good terms of \(S\), which are the terms for which there are no other terms in \(S\) with the same image. In [Electron. J. Comb. 29, No. 3, Research Paper P3.12, 16 p. (2022; Zbl 1502.11018)] the authors reduce the inverse problem for any abelian group of rank \(2\) to the case considered in this paper.

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