Combinatorics (math.CO)

Abstract: Inspired by Thomas-Williams work on the modular sweep map, Garsia and Xin gave a simple algorithm for inverting the sweep map on rational $(m,n)$-Dyck paths for a coprime pairs $(m,n)$ of positive integers. We find their idea naturally extends for general Dyck paths. Indeed, we define a class of Order sweep maps on general Dyck paths, using different sweep orders on level $0$. We prove that each such Order sweep map is a bijection. This includes sweep map for general Dyck paths and incomplete general Dyck paths as special cases.

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate several extremal combinatorics problems that ask for the maximum number of copies of a fixed subgraph given the number of edges. We call this type of problems Kruskal--Katona-type problems. Most of the problems that will be discussed in this paper are related to the joints problem. There are two main results in this paper. First, we prove that, in a $3$-colored graph with $R$ red, $G$ green, $B$ blue edges, the number of rainbow triangles is at most $\sqrt{2RGB}$, which is sharp. Second, we give a generalization of the Kruskal--Katona theorem that implies many other previous generalizations. Both arguments use the entropy method, and the main innovation lies in a more clever argument that improves bounds given by Shearer's inequality.

Abstract: A joint of a set of lines $\mathcal{L}$ in $\mathbb{F}^d$ is a point that is contained in $d$ lines with linearly independent directions. The joints problem asks for the maximum number of joints that are formed by $L$ lines. Guth and Katz showed that the number of joints is at most $O(L^{3/2})$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ using polynomial method. This upper bound is met by the construction given by taking the joints and the lines to be all the $d$-wise intersections and all the $(d-1)$-wise intersections of $M$ hyperplanes in general position. Furthermore, this construction is conjectured to be optimal. In this paper, we verify the conjecture and show that this is the only optimal construction by using a more sophisticated polynomial method argument. This is the first tight bound and structural theorem obtained using this method. We also give a new definition of multiplicity that strengthens the main result of a previous work by Tidor, Zhao and the second author. Lastly, we include some discussion on the constants for the joints of varieties problem.

Abstract: The game of \emph{Cops and Robber} is usually played on a graph, where a group of cops attempt to catch a robber moving along the edges of the graph. The \emph{cop number} of a graph is the minimum number of cops required to win the game. An important conjecture in this area, due to Meyniel, states that the cop number of an $n$-vertex connected graph is $O(\sqrt{n})$. In 2016, Pra{\l}at and Wormald [Meyniel's conjecture holds for random graphs, Random Structures Algorithms. 48 (2016), no. 2, 396-421. MR3449604] showed that this conjecture holds with high probability for random graphs above the connectedness threshold. Moreoever, {\L}uczak and Pra{\l}at [Chasing robbers on random graphs: Zigzag theorem, Random Structures Algorithms. 37 (2010), no. 4, 516-524. MR2760362] showed that on a $\log$-scale the cop number demonstrates a surprising \emph{zigzag} behaviour in dense regimes of the binomial random graph $G(n,p)$. In this paper, we consider the game of Cops and Robber on a hypergraph, where the players move along hyperedges instead of edges. We show that with high probability the cop number of the $k$-uniform binomial random hypergraph $G^k(n,p)$ is $O\left(\sqrt{\frac{n}{k}}\, \log n \right)$ for a broad range of parameters $p$ and $k$ and that on a $\log$-scale our upper bound on the cop number arises as the minimum of \emph{two} complementary zigzag curves, as opposed to the case of $G(n,p)$. Furthermore, we conjecture that the cop number of a connected $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices is $O\left(\sqrt{\frac{n}{k}}\,\right)$.

Abstract: Let $k \geq 1$. A graph $G$ is $\mathbf{W_k}$ if for any $k$ pairwise disjoint independent vertex subsets $A_1, \dots, A_k$ in $G$, there exist $k$ pairwise disjoint maximum independent sets $S_1, \dots, S_k$ in $G$ such that $A_i \subseteq S_i$ for $i \in [k]$. Recognizing $\mathbf{W_1}$ graphs is co-NP-hard, as shown by Chv\'atal and Hartnell (1993) and, independently, by Sankaranarayana and Stewart (1992). Extending this result and answering a recent question of Levit and Tankus, we show that recognizing $\mathbf{W_k}$ graphs is co-NP-hard for $k \geq 2$. On the positive side, we show that recognizing $\mathbf{W_k}$ graphs is, for each $k\geq 2$, FPT parameterized by clique-width and by tree-width. Finally, we construct graphs $G$ that are not $\mathbf{W_2}$ such that, for every vertex $v$ in $G$ and every maximal independent set $S$ in $G - N[v]$, the largest independent set in $N(v) \setminus S$ consists of a single vertex, thereby refuting a conjecture of Levit and Tankus.

Abstract: In this note we analyze two algorithms, one for producing a matching and one for an independent set, on $k$-uniform $d$-regular hypergraphs of large girth. As a result we obtain new lower bounds on the size of a maximum matching or independent set in such hypergraphs.

Abstract: Let $G_{n,\gamma}$ be the set of all connected graphs on $n$ vertices with domination number $\gamma$. A graph is called a minimizer graph if it attains the minimum spectral radius among $G_{n,\gamma}$. Very recently, Liu, Li and Xie [Linear Algebra and its Applications 673 (2023) 233--258] proved that the minimizer graph over all graphs in $\mathbb{G}_{n,\gamma}$ must be a tree. Moreover, they determined the minimizer graph among $G_{n,\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor}$ for even $n$, and posed the conjecture on the minimizer graph among $G_{n,\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor}$ for odd $n$. In this paper, we disprove the conjecture and completely determine the unique minimizer graph among $G_{n,\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor}$ for odd $n$.

Abstract: A $(v,k,\lambda, \mu)$-partial difference set (PDS) is a subset $D$ of a group $G$ such that $|G| = v$, $|D| = k$, and every nonidentity element $x$ of $G$ can be written in either $\lambda$ or $\mu$ different ways as a product $gh^{-1}$, depending on whether or not $x$ is in $D$. Assuming the identity is not in $D$ and $D$ is inverse-closed, the corresponding Cayley graph ${\rm Cay}(G,D)$ will be strongly regular. Partial difference sets have been the subject of significant study, especially in abelian groups, but relatively little is known about PDSs in nonabelian groups. While many techniques useful for abelian groups fail to translate to a nonabelian setting, the purpose of this paper is to show that examples and constructions using abelian groups can be modified to generate several examples in nonabelian groups. In particular, in this paper we use such techniques to construct the first known examples of PDSs in nonabelian groups of order $q^{2m}$, where $q$ is a power of an odd prime $p$ and $m \ge 2$. The groups constructed can have exponent as small as $p$ or as large as $p^r$ in a group of order $p^{2r}$. Furthermore, we construct what we believe are the first known Paley-type PDSs in nonabelian groups and what we believe are the first examples of Paley-Hadamard difference sets in nonabelian groups, and, using analogues of product theorems for abelian groups, we obtain several examples of each. We conclude the paper with several possible future research directions.

Abstract: Consider a random $n\times m$ matrix $A$ over the finite field of order $q$ where every column has precisely $k$ nonzero elements, and let $M[A]$ be the matroid represented by $A$. In the case that q=2, Cooper, Frieze and Pegden (RS\&A 2019) proved that given a fixed binary matroid $N$, if $k\ge k_N$ and $m/n\ge d_N$ where $k_N$ and $d_N$ are sufficiently large constants depending on N, then a.a.s. $M[A]$ contains $N$ as a minor. We improve their result by determining the sharp threshold (of $m/n$) for the appearance of a fixed matroid $N$ as a minor of $M[A]$, for every $k\ge 3$, and every finite field.