A note on $\mathscr{B}$-free sets and the existence of natural density

TL;DR

This paper investigates the conditions under which sets of multiples derived from subsets of natural numbers have natural density, introducing concepts like taut and minimal sets, and demonstrating that the only obstruction to density existence is related to the associated taut set.

Contribution

The paper proves that the only obstacle to the existence of natural density in $ ext{B}$-free sets is the density of their associated taut sets, and constructs configurations where densities differ significantly.

Findings

Natural density can fail for certain $ ext{B}$-free sets.

The only obstruction to natural density is the density of the associated taut set.

Configurations with differing densities along positive upper density sets are possible.

Abstract

Given $\mathscr{B}\subseteq \mathbb{N}$, let $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}=\bigcup_{b\in\mathscr{B}}b\mathbb{Z}$ be the correspoding set of multiples. We say that $\mathscr{B}$ is taut if the logarithmic density of $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}$ decreases after removing any element from $\mathscr{B}$. We say that $\mathscr{B}$ is minimal if it is primitive (i.e.\ $b| b'$ for $b,b'\in\mathscr{B}$ implies $b=b'$) and the characteristic function $\eta$ of $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}$ is a Toeplitz sequence (i.e.\ for every $n\in \mathbb{N}$ there exists $s_n$ such that $\eta$ is constant along $n+s_n\mathbb{Z}$). With every $\mathscr{B}$ one associates the corresponding taut set $\mathscr{B}'$ (determined uniquely among all taut sets by the condition that the associated Mirsky measures agree) and the minimal set $\mathscr{B}^*$ (determined uniquely among all minimal sets by the condition that every configuration appearing on $\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*}$ appears on $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}$: for every $n\in \mathbb{N}$, there exists $k\in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*}\cap [0,n]=\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B} \cap[k,k+n]-k$). Besicovitch [2] gave an example of $\mathscr{B}$ whose set of multiples does not have the natural density. It was proved in [7, Lemma 4.18] that if $\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}'}$ posses the natural density then so does $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}$. In this paper we show that this is the only obstruction: every configuration $ijk\in \{0,1\}^3$ (with $ij\neq 01$), encoding the information on the existence of the natural density for the triple $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B},\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B'}},\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}^*}$, can occur. Furthermore, we show that $\mathcal{M}_\mathscr{B}$ and $\mathcal{M}_{\mathscr{B}'}$ can differ along a set of positive upper density.