Sequences with small subsum sets

Abstract

AbstractA conjecture of Gao and Leader, recently proved by Sun, states that if X=(xi)i=1n is a sequence of length n in a finite abelian group of exponent n, then either some subsequence of X sums to zero or the set of all sums of subsequences of X has cardinality at least 2n−1. This conjecture turns out to be a simple consequence of a theorem of Olson and White; we investigate generalizations that are not implied by this theorem. In particular, we prove the following result: if X=(xi)i=1n is a sequence of length n, the terms of which generate a finite abelian group of rank at least 3, then either some subsequence of X sums to zero or the set of all sums of subsequences of X has cardinality at least 4n−5