Anti-concentration and Graham's rearrangement problem in finite abelian groups
Abstract
Let S be a subset of n elements of a group G. An ordering x1,…,xn of its elements is valid if the partial sums x1,x1+x2,…,x1+⋯+xn are pairwise distinct. This notion has a long history in combinatorial group theory, dated back to Gordon's works in early 1960. Alspach-Liversidge conjecture asserts that any subset of the nonzero elements of a finite abelian group G has a valid ordering. This generalizes Graham's conjecture, which considers the case when the group G is 𝔽p, the cyclic group of prime order. Graham's conjecture has been solved recently, as a combination of results by Kravitz, Bedert and Kravitz, Müyesser and Pokrovskiy, Bedert, Bucić, Kravitz, Montgomery, and Müyesser, and Pham and Sauermann. Beside this, the only other case where Alspach-Liversidge conjecture has been confirmed is G=𝔽2k, thanks to a recent result by Bedert, Bucić, Kravitz, Montgomery, and Müyesser. We prove the Alspach-Liversidge conjecture in its full generality. Our proof combines ideas from many previous papers. In particular, we will use the probabilistic approach and the absorption method. Our new main technical ingredient is a Fourier-moment estimate, which is of independent interest. In particular, we can use it to show that the distribution of certain kinds of random sums in an abelian group has an almost uniform distribution.
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BibTeX
@misc{nguyen2026anticoncentration,
title = {{Anti-concentration and Graham's rearrangement problem in finite abelian groups}},
author = {Hoi H. Nguyen and Tuan Tran and Van H. Vu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.40712},
eprint = {2610.40712},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40712},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Anti-concentration and Graham's rearrangement problem in finite abelian groups
AU - Hoi H. Nguyen
AU - Tuan Tran
AU - Van H. Vu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.40712
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40712
AB - Let S be a subset of n elements of a group G. An ordering x_1,…,x_n of its elements is valid if the partial sums x_1,x_1+x_2,…,x_1+⋯+x_n are pairwise distinct. This notion has a long history in combinatorial group theory, dated back to Gordon's works in early 1960. Alspach-Liversidge conjecture asserts that any subset of the nonzero elements of a finite abelian group G has a valid ordering. This generalizes Graham's conjecture, which considers the case when the group G is 𝔽_p, the cyclic group of prime order. Graham's conjecture has been solved recently, as a combination of results by Kravitz, Bedert and Kravitz, Müyesser and Pokrovskiy, Bedert, Bucić, Kravitz, Montgomery, and Müyesser, and Pham and Sauermann. Beside this, the only other case where Alspach-Liversidge conjecture has been confirmed is G=𝔽_2^k, thanks to a recent result by Bedert, Bucić, Kravitz, Montgomery, and Müyesser. We prove the Alspach-Liversidge conjecture in its full generality. Our proof combines ideas from many previous papers. In particular, we will use the probabilistic approach and the absorption method. Our new main technical ingredient is a Fourier-moment estimate, which is of independent interest. In particular, we can use it to show that the distribution of certain kinds of random sums in an abelian group has an almost uniform distribution.
ER -