On zero-sum subsequences of prescribed length

Abstract

Let [Formula: see text] be an additive finite abelian group with exponent [Formula: see text]. For any positive integer [Formula: see text], let [Formula: see text] be the smallest positive integer [Formula: see text] such that every sequence [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text] of length at least [Formula: see text] has a zero-sum subsequence of length [Formula: see text]. Let [Formula: see text] be the Davenport constant of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we prove that if [Formula: see text] is a finite abelian [Formula: see text]-group with [Formula: see text] then [Formula: see text] for every [Formula: see text], which confirms a conjecture by Gao et al. recently, where [Formula: see text] is a prime.