On a question of Alon

A system of linear equations in ${\mathbb{F}}_p^n$ is $\mathit{\text{common}}$ if every two-colouring of ${\mathbb{F}}_p^n$ yields at least as many monochromatic solutions as a random two-colouring, asymptotically as $n\to \mathrm{\infty }$. By analogy to the graph-theoretic setting, Alon has asked whether any (non-Sidorenko) system of linear equations can be made uncommon by adding sufficiently many free variables. Fox, Pham and Zhao answered this question in the affirmative among systems which consist of a single equation. We answer Alon’s question in the negative. We also observe that the property of remaining common despite that addition of arbitrarily many free variables is closely related to a notion of commonness in which one replaces the arithmetic mean of the number of monochromatic solutions with the geometric mean, and furthermore resolve questions of Kamčev–Liebenau–Morrison.