Inverse zero-sum problems II

Let $G$ be an additive finite abelian group. A sequence over $G$ is called a minimal zero-sum sequence if the sum of its terms is zero and no proper subsequence has this property. Davenport's constant of $G$ is the maximum of the lengths of the minimal zero-sum sequences over $G$. Its value is well-known for groups of rank two. We investigate the structure of minimal zero-sum sequences of maximal length for groups of rank two. Assuming a well-supported conjecture on this problem for groups of the form $C_m \oplus C_m$, we determine the structure of these sequences for groups of rank two. Combining our result and partial results on this conjecture, yields unconditional results for certain groups of rank two.Comment: new version contains results related to Davenport's constant only; other results will be described separatel

On product-one sequences over dihedral groups

Let $G$ be a finite group. A sequence over $G$ means a finite sequence of terms from $G$, where repetition is allowed and the order is disregarded. A product-one sequence is a sequence whose elements can be ordered such that their product equals the identity element of the group. The set of all product-one sequences over $G$ (with concatenation of sequences as the operation) is a finitely generated C-monoid. Product-one sequences over dihedral groups have a variety of extremal properties. This article provides a detailed investigation, with methods from arithmetic combinatorics, of the arithmetic of the monoid of product-one sequences over dihedral groups.Comment: to appear in Journal of Algebra and its Application

Zero-sum problems with congruence conditions

For a finite abelian group $G$ and a positive integer $d$, let $\mathsf s_{d \mathbb N} (G)$ denote the smallest integer $\ell \in \mathbb N_0$ such that every sequence $S$ over $G$ of length $|S| \ge \ell$ has a nonempty zero-sum subsequence $T$ of length $|T| \equiv 0 \mod d$. We determine $\mathsf s_{d \mathbb N} (G)$ for all $d\geq 1$ when $G$ has rank at most two and, under mild conditions on $d$, also obtain precise values in the case of $p$-groups. In the same spirit, we obtain new upper bounds for the Erd{\H o}s--Ginzburg--Ziv constant provided that, for the $p$-subgroups $G_p$ of $G$, the Davenport constant $\mathsf D (G_p)$ is bounded above by $2 \exp (G_p)-1$. This generalizes former results for groups of rank two