Lower bounds for corner-free sets

We show that for infinitely many $N$ there is a set $A \subset [N]^2$ of size $2^{-(c + o(1)) \sqrt{\log_2 N}} N^2$ not containing any configuration $(x, y), (x + d, y), (x, y + d)$ with $d \neq 0$, where $c = 2 \sqrt{2 \log_2 \frac{4}{3}} \approx 1.822\dots$.

Generalized heredity in ℬ-free systems

Let [Formula: see text] be a primitive set, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and denote by [Formula: see text] the orbit closure of [Formula: see text] under the shift. We complement results on heredity of [Formula: see text] from [Dymek et al., [Formula: see text]-free sets and dynamics, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 370 (2018) 5425–5489] in two directions: In the proximal case we prove that a certain subshift [Formula: see text], which coincides with [Formula: see text] when [Formula: see text] is taut, is always hereditary. (In particular there is no need for the stronger assumption that the set [Formula: see text] has light tails, as in [Dymek et al., [Formula: see text]-free sets and dynamics, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 370 (2018) 5425–5489].) We also generalize the concept of heredity to include the non-proximal (and hence non-hereditary) case by proving that [Formula: see text] is always “hereditary above its unique minimal (Toeplitz) subsystem”. Finally, we characterize this Toeplitz subsystem as being a set [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] for a set [Formula: see text] that can be derived from [Formula: see text], and draw some further conclusions from this characterization. Throughout results from [Kasjan et al., Dynamics of [Formula: see text]-free sets: A view through the window, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2019 (2019) 2690–2734] are heavily used.

Groups containing locally maximal product-free sets of size 4

Every locally maximal product-free set S in a finite group G satisfies G=S∪SS∪S−1S∪SS−1∪S−−√, where SS={xy∣x,y∈S}, S−1S={x−1y∣x,y∈S}, SS−1={xy−1∣x,y∈S} and S−−√={x∈G∣x2∈S}. To better understand locally maximal product-free sets, Bertram asked whether every locally maximal product-free set S in a finite abelian group satisfy |S−−√|≤2|S|. This question was recently answered in the negation by the current author. Here, we improve some results on the structures and sizes of finite groups in terms of their locally maximal product-free sets. A consequence of our results is the classification of abelian groups that contain locally maximal product-free sets of size 4, continuing the work of Street, Whitehead, Giudici and Hart on the classification of groups containing locally maximal product-free sets of small sizes. We also obtain partial results on arbitrary groups containing locally maximal product-free sets of size 4, and conclude with a conjecture on the size 4 problem as well as an open problem on the general case.

On the exponents of APN power functions and Sidon sets, sum-free sets, and Dickson polynomials

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We derive necessary conditions related to the notions, in additive combinatorics, of Sidon sets and sum-free sets, on those exponents <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ d\in {\mathbb Z}/(2^n-1){\mathbb Z} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, which are such that <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ F(x) = x^d $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is an APN function over <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ {\mathbb F}_{2^n} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> (which is an important cryptographic property). We study to what extent these new conditions may speed up the search for new APN exponents <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">\begin{document}$ d $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>. We summarize all the necessary conditions that an exponent must satisfy for having a chance of being an APN, including the new conditions presented in this work. Next, we give results up to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M5">\begin{document}$ n = 48 $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, providing the number of exponents satisfying all the conditions for a function to be APN.</p><p style='text-indent:20px;'>We also show a new connection between APN exponents and Dickson polynomials: <inline-formula><tex-math id="M6">\begin{document}$ F(x) = x^d $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is APN if and only if the reciprocal polynomial of the Dickson polynomial of index <inline-formula><tex-math id="M7">\begin{document}$ d $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is an injective function from <inline-formula><tex-math id="M8">\begin{document}$ \{y\in {\Bbb F}_{2^n}^*; tr_n(y) = 0\} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math id="M9">\begin{document}$ {\Bbb F}_{2^n}\setminus \{1\} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>. This also leads to a new and simple connection between Reversed Dickson polynomials and reciprocals of Dickson polynomials in characteristic 2 (which generalizes to every characteristic thanks to a small modification): the squared Reversed Dickson polynomial of some index and the reciprocal of the Dickson polynomial of the same index are equal.</p>

Characterization of the conditional stationary distribution in Markov chains via systems of linear inequalities

This paper considers ergodic, continuous-time Markov chains $\{X(t)\}_{t \in (\!-\infty,\infty)}$ on $\mathbb{Z}^+=\{0,1,\ldots\}$ . For an arbitrarily fixed $N \in \mathbb{Z}^+$ , we study the conditional stationary distribution $\boldsymbol{\pi}(N)$ given the Markov chain being in $\{0,1,\ldots,N\}$ . We first characterize $\boldsymbol{\pi}(N)$ via systems of linear inequalities and identify simplices that contain $\boldsymbol{\pi}(N)$ , by examining the $(N+1) \times (N+1)$ northwest corner block of the infinitesimal generator $\textbf{\textit{Q}}$ and the subset of the first $N+1$ states whose members are directly reachable from at least one state in $\{N+1,N+2,\ldots\}$ . These results are closely related to the augmented truncation approximation (ATA), and we provide some practical implications for the ATA. Next we consider an extension of the above results, using the $(K+1) \times (K+1)$ ( $K > N$ ) northwest corner block of $\textbf{\textit{Q}}$ and the subset of the first $K+1$ states whose members are directly reachable from at least one state in $\{K+1,K+2,\ldots\}$ . Furthermore, we introduce new state transition structures called (K, N)-skip-free sets, using which we obtain the minimum convex polytope that contains $\boldsymbol{\pi}(N)$ .