Infinite monochromatic patterns in the integers

Abstract

We show the existence of several infinite monochromatic patterns in the integers obtained as values of suitable symmetric polynomials. The simplest example is the following. For every finite coloring of the natural numbers $\mathbb{N}=C_1\cup\ldots\cup C_r$, there exists an increasing sequence $a<b<c<\ldots$ such that all elements below are monochromatic, that is, they belong to the same $C_i$: $$a,b,c,\ldots, a+b+ab, a+c+ac, b+c+bc,\ldots,a+b+c+ab+ac+bc+abc,\ldots.$$ The proofs use algebra in the space of ultrafilters $\beta\mathbb{Z}$.