Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2016
We show that if a finite, large enough subset $A$ of an arbitrary abelian group
$G$ satisfies the small doubling condition
$|A+A|\leqslant (\log |A|)^{1-{\it\varepsilon}}|A|$, then
$A$ must contain a three-term arithmetic progression whose terms are not all equal, and
$A+A$ must contain an arithmetic progression or a coset of a subgroup, either of which is of size at least
$\exp [c(\log |A|)^{{\it\delta}}]$. This extends analogous results obtained by Sanders, and by Croot, Łaba and Sisask in the case where
$G=\mathbb{Z}$.