A combinatorial large sieve for Sidon sets, distances, and norm forms

Mathematics > Number Theory [Submitted on 16 Jun 2026] Title:A combinatorial large sieve for Sidon sets, distances, and norm forms View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:We develop a new combinatorial large sieve method for sets with bounded algebraic multiplicities. The method exploits algebraic splitting modulo many small primes: local congruence branching produces many modular collisions, while global bounded-multiplicity hypotheses force these collisions to be rare. As a first application, we prove that every Sidon subset $A\subset\{1^2,\ldots,N^2\}$ satisfies \[ |A| \le N\exp\left( -c\frac{\log N}{\log\log N} \right) \] for some absolute constant $c>0$. This gives the first super-polylogarithmic saving for a classical problem of Alon and Erdős. As a second application, we establish new upper bounds for two grid-distance problems. We show that the largest subset of $[N]^2$ with no repeated distance has size at most $N\exp\left(-c\log N/\log\log N\right)$, giving the first progress in over thirty years on a problem of Erdős and Guy. The same method also gives a super-polylogarithmic saving for subsets of $[N]^2$ with no isosceles triangles, a problem recently popularized by Ellenberg and by the PatternBoost work of Charton, Ellenberg, Wagner, and Williamson. We then develop an entropic version of the method. This gives bounds for $B_2[g]$-sets in the squares and for analogous bounded-multiplicity problems associated with norm forms over arbitrary number fields. Moreover, we prove the first nontrivial bounds for $B_3[g]$-sets in the cubes and $B_4[g]$-sets in the fourth powers. Current browse context: math.NT References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.