Polynomial Szemerédi theorems for countable modules over integral domains and finite fields

Abstract

Given a pair of vector spacesV andW over a countable fieldF and a probability spaceX, one defines apolynomial measure preserving action ofV onX to be a compositionT o ϕ, where ϕ:V→W is a polynomial mapping andT is a measure preserving action ofW onX. We show that the known structure theory of measure preserving group actions extends to polynomial actions and establish a Furstenberg-style multiple recurrence theorem for such actions. Among the combinatorial corollaries of this result are a polynomial Szemerédi theorem for sets of positive density in finite rank modules over integral domains, as well as the following fact:Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a finite family of polynomials with integer coefficients and zero constant term. For any α>0, there exists N ∈ ℕ such that whenever F is a field with |F|≥N and E ⊆F with |E|/|F|≥α, there exist u∈F, u≠0, and w∈E such that w+ϕ(u)∈E for all ϕ∈$\mathcal{P}$.