Solution to the inverse problem for upper asymptotic density

Abstract

Inverse problems study the structure of a set A when the “size” of A + A is small. In the article, the structure of an infinite set A of natural numbers with positive upper asymptotic density is characterized when A is not a subset of an infinite arithmetic progression of difference greater than one and A + A has the least possible upper asymptotic density. For example, if the upper asymptotic density α of A is strictly between 0 and 1/2, the upper asymptotic density of A + A is equal to 3α/2, and A is not a subset of an infinite arithmetic progression of difference greater than one, then A is either a large subset of the union of two infinite arithmetic progressions with the same common difference k = 2/α or for every increasing sequence h_n of positive integers such that the relative density of A in [0, h_n] approaches α, the set A ∩ [0, h_n] can be partitioned into two parts A ∩ [0, c_n] and A ∩ [b_n, h_n], such that c_n/h_n approaches 0, i.e. the size of A ∩ [0, c_n] is asymptotically small compared with the size of [0, h_n], and (h_n − b_n)/h_n approaches α, i.e. the size of A ∩ [b_n, h_n] is asymptotically almost the same as the size of the interval [b_n, h_n]. The results here answer a question of the author in [R. Jin, Inverse problem for upper asymptotic density, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 355 (2003), No. 1, 57–78.]