Arithmetic Progressions in a Random Binary Subset-Sum Set

Abstract

Let $u=(u_n)_{n\ge0}$ be a binary sequence, and define \[ X_0=1,\qquad X_{n+1}=2X_n+u_n \qquad(n\ge0). \] Let $A_u$ be the set of all nonempty finite subset sums of the sequence $(X_n)$, and let $L_u(N)$ denote the maximum length of an arithmetic progression contained in $A_u\cap[1,N]$. We prove that there are absolute constants $c>0$ and $N_0\geq 1$ such that, for every binary sequence $u$, \[ L_u(N)\ge \exp\!\left(c\sqrt{\frac{\log N}{\log\log N}}\right) \] for all $N\geq N_0$. Moreover, if the random variables $u_n$ are independent and uniformly distributed on $\{0,1\}$, then, almost surely, \[ L_u(N)\ll_u N^{2/3}\exp\!\left(C\sqrt{\log N\log\log N}\right), \] where $C>0$ is an absolute constant. Furthermore, every eventually periodic binary sequence satisfies $L_u(N)\gg_u N^{1/2}$.