Monochrome symmetric subsets of colored groups

Abstract

In (Electron. J. Combin. 10 (2003); http://www.combinatorics.org/volume-10/Abstracts/v1oi1r28.html), the first author (Yuliya Gryshko) asked three questions. Is it true that every infinite group admitting a 2-coloring without infinite monochromatic symmetric subsets is either almost cyclic (i.e., have a finite index subgroup which is cyclic infinite) or countable locally finite? Does every infinite group G include a monochromatic symmetric subset of any cardinal < G for any finite coloring? Does every uncountable group G such that B ( G ) < G where B ( G ) = { x ∈ G : x 2 = 1 } , admit a 2-coloring without monochromatic symmetric subsets of cardinality G ? We answer the first question positively. Assuming the generalized continuum hypothesis ( GCH ) , we give a positive answer to the second question in the abelian case. Finally, we build a counter-example for the third question and we give a necessary and sufficient condition for an infinite group G to admit 2-coloring without monochromatic symmetric subsets of cardinality G . This generalizes some results of Protasov on infinite abelian groups (Mat. Zametki 59 (1996) 468–471; Dopovidi NAN Ukrain 1 (1999) 54–57).