Subproducts of small residue classes

Abstract

For any prime $p$, let $y(p)$ denote the smallest integer $y$ such that every reduced residue class $\pmod p$ is represented by the product of some subset of $\{1,\dots,y\}$. It is easy to see that $y(p)$ is at least as large as the smallest quadratic nonresidue $\pmod p$; we prove that $y(p) \ll_\varepsilon p^{1/(4 \sqrt e)+\varepsilon}$, thus strengthening Burgess's classical result. This result is of intermediate strength between two other results, namely Burthe's proof that the multiplicative group $\pmod p$ is generated by the integers up to $O_\varepsilon(p^{1/(4 \sqrt e)+\varepsilon}$, and Munsch and Shparlinski's result that every reduced residue class $\pmod p$ is represented by the product of some subset of the primes up to $O_\varepsilon(p^{1/(4 \sqrt e)+\varepsilon}$. Unlike the latter result, our proof is elementary and similar in structure to Burgess's proof for the least quadratic nonresidue.