Intersection of an approximate group power with a subgroup Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-11-05
Let be a finite -approximate group in , let , and let be an integer. Then is a -approximate group.
The higher product bound for an approximate group covers by at most left translates of . In every translate meeting , choose one representative . If is another point in that intersection, then . Thus the chosen representatives give with . Identity containment and inversion symmetry are inherited from .
The restriction matters. In , put , where is any symmetric set containing zero. Four translates of , with first-coordinate shifts and both second-coordinate shifts, cover , hence cover . Thus is a -approximate group, while can have arbitrarily large doubling constant.
Write
Under the improved bounds allowed in the question, and
Moreover , whose size is at most by the higher product bound for an approximate group. Thus
The Ruzsa covering lemma supplies of size at most such that
Taking the to be the factors in this last product gives
where and every is a -approximate group in generating a subgroup of step less than .