A non-linear Roth theorem for thick Cantor sets

Abstract

We prove that for any function $f$ satisfying certain mild conditions and any Cantor set $K$ with Newhouse thickness greater than $1$, there exists $x\in K$ and $t>0$ such that \[ \{x-t,x,x+f(t)\}\subset K. \] This is an extension of previous work on the existence of three-term arithmetic progressions in Cantor sets to the non-linear setting.