Theoretical analysis demonstrates formal proofs and structural limits for additive bases in number theory, highlighting insurmountable density barriers for Sidon sets.
This preprint provides an exhaustive mathematical treatise on the Erdős-Turán Additive Bases Conjecture (Problem #16 / #142 in Paul Erdős' collection, 1941), one of the deepest open problems in additive number theory and asymptotic combinatorics. The conjecture asserts that if a subset A ⊆ ℕ is an asymptotic additive basis of order 2 (meaning that every sufficiently large integer n ≥ n0 can be written as n = a + b with a, b ∈ A), then its representation counting function rA(n) = #{(a, b) ∈ A2 ∣ a + b = n} cannot remain uniformly bounded: limsupn → ∞ rA(n) = ∞ This treatise provides an analytical and combinatorial survey of Erdős's classical 1956 probabilistic construction of a Θ(log n) basis, generating function singularities on the unit disc, and the structural impossibility of Sidon sets forming asymptotic bases. Key Mathematical Results & Contributions Erdős's Probabilistic Basis Theorem (1956): Detailed exposition of the existence of an additive basis satisfying c1 log n ≤ rA(n) ≤ c2 log n via independent random selections with probability px = C √{(log x)/x} and Chernoff concentration bounds. Generating Function Singularity Analysis: Examination of the analytic convolution F(z)2 = ∑n=0∞ rA(n) zn on the complex unit disc 𝔻 and the boundary divergence as z → 1−. Sidon Set Density Barrier: Complete algebraic proof that no Sidon set (B2 set with rA(n) ≤ 2) can ever form an additive basis due to the parabolic counting constraint |A ∩ [1, N]| ≤ √N + O(N1/4). Additive Energy Bounds & Cauchy-Schwarz: Structural connections between representation variance ∑ rA(n)2 and additive quadruples. 100% Machine-Checked Verification in Lean 4: Additive basis predicates, finite representation counting functions, representation sum identities, and Sidon non-basis impossibility are machine-certified with 0 axioms, 0 linter warnings, and 0 sorry placeholders via the Lean 4 interactive theorem prover and Mathlib. Repository and Verification Artifacts The companion machine-checked code and formal verification artifacts are publicly hosted on GitHub:https://github.com/flouzzy/erdos-problemsInteractive Portal: https://maths-proofs.edounze.com/#erdos-16-turan Primary MSC (2020): 11B13, 11B34, 11P70, 68V20, 05D40.
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Charles EDOU NZE (2026) studied this question.
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