A new expander and improved bounds for $A(A+A)$

Abstract

The main result in this paper concerns a new five-variable expander. It is proven that for any finite set of real numbers $A$, $$|\{(a_1+a_2+a_3+a_4)^2+\log a_5 :a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4,a_5 \in A \}| \gg \frac{|A|^2}{\log |A|}.$$ This bound is optimal, up to logarithmic factors. The paper also gives new lower bounds for $|A(A-A)|$ and $|A(A+A)|$, improving on results from arXiv:1312.6438. The new bounds are $$|A(A-A)| \gtrapprox |A|^{3/2+\frac{1}{34}}$$ and $$|A(A+A)| \gtrapprox |A|^{3/2+\frac{5}{242}}.$$