Piecewise syndetic set

In mathematics, piecewise syndeticity is a notion of largeness of subsets of the natural numbers.

A set is called piecewise syndetic if there exists a finite subset G of such that for every finite subset F of there exists an such that

where . Equivalently, S is piecewise syndetic if there is a constant b such that there are arbitrarily long intervals of where the gaps in S are bounded by b.

Properties

• A set is piecewise syndetic if and only if it is the intersection of a syndetic set and a thick set.
• If S is piecewise syndetic then S contains arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions.
• A set S is piecewise syndetic if and only if there exists some ultrafilter U which contains S and U is in the smallest two-sided ideal of , the Stone–Čech compactification of the natural numbers.
• Partition regularity: if is piecewise syndetic and , then for some , contains a piecewise syndetic set. (Brown, 1968)
• If A and B are subsets of with positive upper Banach density, then is piecewise syndetic.

Other notions of largeness

There are many alternative definitions of largeness that also usefully distinguish subsets of natural numbers:

• Cofiniteness
• IP set
• member of a nonprincipal ultrafilter
• positive upper density
• syndetic set
• thick set

See also

• Ergodic Ramsey theory

Notes

References