Davenport constant with weights

For the cyclic group $G=\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ and any non-empty $A\in\mathbb{Z}$. We define the Davenport constant of $G$ with weight $A$, denoted by $D_A(n)$, to be the least natural number $k$ such that for any sequence $(x_1, ..., x_k)$ with $x_i\in G$, there exists a non-empty subsequence $(x_{j_1}, ..., x_{j_l})$ and $a_1, ..., a_l\in A$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^l a_ix_{j_i} = 0$. Similarly, we define the constant $E_A(n)$ to be the least $t\in\mathbb{N}$ such that for all sequences $(x_1, >..., x_t)$ with $x_i \in G$, there exist indices $j_1, ..., j_n\in\mathbb{N}, 1\leq j_1 <... < j_n\leq t$, and $\vartheta_1, >..., \vartheta_n\in A$ with $\sum^{n}_{i=1} \vartheta_ix_{j_i} = 0$. In the present paper, we show that $E_A(n)=D_A(n)+n-1$. This solve the problem raised by Adhikari and Rath \cite{ar06}, Adhikari and Chen \cite{ac08}, Thangadurai \cite{th07} and Griffiths \cite{gr08}.Comment: 6page

Multi-wise and constrained fully weighted Davenport constants and interactions with coding theory

We consider two families of weighted zero-sum constants for finite abelian groups. For a finite abelian group $( G , + )$, a set of weights $W \subset \mathbb{Z}$, and an integral parameter $m$, the $m$-wise Davenport constant with weights $W$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that each sequence over $G$ of length $n$ has at least $m$ disjoint zero-subsums with weights $W$. And, for an integral parameter $d$, the $d$-constrained Davenport constant with weights $W$ is the smallest $n$ such that each sequence over $G$ of length $n$ has a zero-subsum with weights $W$ of size at most $d$. First, we establish a link between these two types of constants and several basic and general results on them. Then, for elementary $p$-groups, establishing a link between our constants and the parameters of linear codes as well as the cardinality of cap sets in certain projective spaces, we obtain various explicit results on the values of these constants

Arithmetic-Progression-Weighted Subsequence Sums

Let $G$ be an abelian group, let $S$ be a sequence of terms $s_1,s_2,...,s_{n}\in G$ not all contained in a coset of a proper subgroup of $G$, and let $W$ be a sequence of $n$ consecutive integers. Let $$W\odot S=\{w_1s_1+...+w_ns_n:\;w_i {a term of} W,\, w_i\neq w_j{for} i\neq j\},$$ which is a particular kind of weighted restricted sumset. We show that $|W\odot S|\geq \min\{|G|-1,\,n\}$, that $W\odot S=G$ if $n\geq |G|+1$, and also characterize all sequences $S$ of length $|G|$ with $W\odot S\neq G$. This result then allows us to characterize when a linear equation $$a_1x_1+...+a_rx_r\equiv \alpha\mod n,$$ where $\alpha,a_1,..., a_r\in \Z$ are given, has a solution $(x_1,...,x_r)\in \Z^r$ modulo $n$ with all $x_i$ distinct modulo $n$. As a second simple corollary, we also show that there are maximal length minimal zero-sum sequences over a rank 2 finite abelian group $G\cong C_{n_1}\oplus C_{n_2}$ (where $n_1\mid n_2$ and $n_2\geq 3$) having $k$ distinct terms, for any $k\in [3,\min\{n_1+1,\,\exp(G)\}]$. Indeed, apart from a few simple restrictions, any pattern of multiplicities is realizable for such a maximal length minimal zero-sum sequence

On weighted zero-sum sequences

Let G be a finite additive abelian group with exponent exp(G)=n>1 and let A be a nonempty subset of {1,...,n-1}. In this paper, we investigate the smallest positive integer $m$, denoted by s_A(G), such that any sequence {c_i}_{i=1}^m with terms from G has a length n=exp(G) subsequence {c_{i_j}}_{j=1}^n for which there are a_1,...,a_n in A such that sum_{j=1}^na_ic_{i_j}=0. When G is a p-group, A contains no multiples of p and any two distinct elements of A are incongruent mod p, we show that s_A(G) is at most $\lceil D(G)/|A|\rceil+exp(G)-1$ if |A| is at least (D(G)-1)/(exp(G)-1), where D(G) is the Davenport constant of G and this upper bound for s_A(G)in terms of |A| is essentially best possible. In the case A={1,-1}, we determine the asymptotic behavior of s_{{1,-1}}(G) when exp(G) is even, showing that, for finite abelian groups of even exponent and fixed rank, s_{{1,-1}}(G)=exp(G)+log_2|G|+O(log_2log_2|G|) as exp(G) tends to the infinity. Combined with a lower bound of $exp(G)+sum{i=1}{r}\lfloor\log_2 n_i\rfloor$, where $G=\Z_{n_1}\oplus...\oplus \Z_{n_r}$ with 1<n_1|... |n_r, this determines s_{{1,-1}}(G), for even exponent groups, up to a small order error term. Our method makes use of the theory of L-intersecting set systems. Some additional more specific values and results related to s_{{1,-1}}(G) are also computed.Comment: 24 pages. Accepted version for publication in Adv. in Appl. Mat

Representation of Finite Abelian Group Elements by Subsequence Sums

Let $G\cong C_{n_1}\oplus ... \oplus C_{n_r}$ be a finite and nontrivial abelian group with $n_1|n_2|...|n_r$. A conjecture of Hamidoune says that if $W=w_1... w_n$ is a sequence of integers, all but at most one relatively prime to $|G|$, and $S$ is a sequence over $G$ with $|S|\geq |W|+|G|-1\geq |G|+1$, the maximum multiplicity of $S$ at most $|W|$, and $\sigma(W)\equiv 0\mod |G|$, then there exists a nontrivial subgroup $H$ such that every element $g\in H$ can be represented as a weighted subsequence sum of the form $g=\sum_{i=1}^{n}w_is_i$, with $s_1... s_n$ a subsequence of $S$. We give two examples showing this does not hold in general, and characterize the counterexamples for large $|W|\geq {1/2}|G|$. A theorem of Gao, generalizing an older result of Olson, says that if $G$ is a finite abelian group, and $S$ is a sequence over $G$ with $|S|\geq |G|+D(G)-1$, then either every element of $G$ can be represented as a $|G|$-term subsequence sum from $S$, or there exists a coset $g+H$ such that all but at most $|G/H|-2$ terms of $S$ are from $g+H$. We establish some very special cases in a weighted analog of this theorem conjectured by Ordaz and Quiroz, and some partial conclusions in the remaining cases, which imply a recent result of Ordaz and Quiroz. This is done, in part, by extending a weighted setpartition theorem of Grynkiewicz, which we then use to also improve the previously mentioned result of Gao by showing that the hypothesis $|S|\geq |G|+D(G)-1$ can be relaxed to $|S|\geq |G|+d^*(G)$, where d^*(G)=\Sum_{i=1}^{r}(n_i-1). We also use this method to derive a variation on Hamidoune's conjecture valid when at least $d^*(G)$ of the $w_i$ are relatively prime to $|G|$