Projection and fibering in groups of bounded exponent

Abstract

We develop a projection and fibering method for sets of small combinatorial doubling in (not necessarily abelian) discrete groups. As an application, in the abelian case we prove that, if $A$ is finite, the ambient group has exponent $r$, and $|A+A|\le K|A|$, then \[ |\langle A\rangle|\leq r^{(2+o(1))K}|A|. \] This answers a question of Ruzsa with an optimal leading coefficient, independent of Fox--Pham. The main ingredient is a discrete version of a fiber spillover argument. For sets in $2$-step nilpotent groups of exponent $r$, we also prove that $|A^3|\le K|A|$ implies $|⟨A⟩|\le r^{(2+o_K(1))K}|A|$. The proof combines the abelian theorem with a weighted averaging of central fibers and commutators.

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