Monochromatic Hilbert cubes and arithmetic progressions

TL;DR

This paper establishes a new relationship between Hilbert cube numbers and Van der Waerden numbers, providing improved lower bounds for the former based on properties of the latter, and explores sumset sizes of Sidon sets.

Contribution

It introduces a novel bound linking Hilbert cube and Van der Waerden numbers, and proves a cubic growth lower bound for sumsets of Sidon sets.

Findings

Improved lower bounds for h(k,4) based on W(k,2).

Demonstrated that large Hilbert cube numbers imply at most doubly exponential W(k,2).

Proved sumset size of Sidon sets is Omega(|A|^3).

Abstract

The Van der Waerden number $W(k,r)$ denotes the smallest $n$ such that whenever $[n]$ is $r$--colored there exists a monochromatic arithmetic progression of length $k$. Similarly, the Hilbert cube number $h(k,r)$ denotes the smallest $n$ such that whenever $[n]$ is $r$--colored there exists a monochromatic affine $k$--cube, that is, a set of the form$$\left\{x_0 + \sum_{b \in B} b : B \subseteq A\right\}$$ for some $|A|=k$ and $x_0 \in \mathbb{Z}$. We show the following relation between the Hilbert cube number and the Van der Waerden number. Let $k \geq 3$ be an integer. Then for every $\epsilon >0$, there is a $c > 0$ such that $$h(k,4) \ge \min\{W(\lfloor c k^2\rfloor, 2), 2^{k^{2.5-\epsilon}}\}.$$ Thus we improve upon state of the art lower bounds for $h(k,4)$ conditional on $W(k,2)$ being significantly larger than $2^k$. In the other direction, this shows that the if the Hilbert cube number is close its state of the art lower bounds, then $W(k,2)$ is at most doubly exponential in $k$. We also show the optimal result that for any Sidon set $A \subset \mathbb{Z}$, one has $$\left|\left\{\sum_{b \in B} b : B \subseteq A\right\}\right| = \Omega( |A|^3) .$$