arXiv daily: Combinatorics (math.CO)

Authors:Younjin Kim, Jihye Kwon, Hyang-Sook Lee

Abstract: A $k$-uniform hypergraph is a hypergraph where each $k$-hyperedge has exactly $k$ vertices. A $k$-homogeneous access structure is represented by a $k$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, in which the participants correspond to the vertices of hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$. A set of vertices can reconstruct the secret value from their shares if they are connected by a $k$-hyperedge, while a set of non-adjacent vertices does not obtain any information about the secret. One parameter for measuring the efficiency of a secret sharing scheme is the information rate, defined as the ratio between the length of the secret and the maximum length of the shares given to the participants. Secret sharing schemes with an information rate equal to one are called ideal secret sharing schemes. An access structure is considered ideal if an ideal secret sharing scheme can realize it. Characterizing ideal access structures is one of the important problems in secret sharing schemes. The characterization of ideal access structures has been studied by many authors~\cite{BD, CT,JZB, FP1,FP2,DS1,TD}. In this paper, we characterize ideal $k$-homogeneous access structures using the independent sequence method. In particular, we prove that the reduced access structure of $\Gamma$ is an $(k, n)$-threshold access structure when the optimal information rate of $\Gamma$ is larger than $\frac{k-1}{k}$, where $\Gamma$ is a $k$-homogeneous access structure satisfying specific criteria.

Authors:Ronan Egan

Abstract: Some combinatorial designs, such as Hadamard matrices, have been extensively researched and are familiar to readers across the spectrum of Science and Engineering. They arise in diverse fields such as cryptography, communication theory, and quantum computing. Objects like this also lend themselves to compelling mathematics problems, such as the Hadamard conjecture. However, complex generalized weighing matrices, which generalize Hadamard matrices, have not received anything like the same level of scrutiny. Motivated by an application to the construction of quantum error-correcting codes, which we outline in the latter sections of this paper, we survey the existing literature on complex generalized weighing matrices. We discuss and extend upon the known existence conditions and constructions, and compile known existence results for small parameters. Some interesting quantum codes are constructed to demonstrate their value.

Authors:Krishnendu Bhowmick, Ben Lund, Oliver Roche-Newton

Abstract: We give a construction of a convex set $A \subset \mathbb R$ with cardinality $n$ such that $A-A$ contains a convex subset with cardinality $\Omega (n^2)$. We also consider the following variant of this problem: given a convex set $A$, what is the size of the largest matching $M \subset A \times A$ such that the set \[ \{ a-b : (a,b) \in M \} \] is convex? We prove that there always exists such an $M$ with $|M| \geq \sqrt n$, and that this lower bound is best possible, up a multiplicative constant.

Authors:Stuart Margolis, John Rhodes, Pedro V. Silva

Abstract: We study a number of topics in the theory of Boolean Representable Simplicial Complexes (BRSC). These include various operators on BRSC. We look at shellability in higher dimensions and propose a number of new conjectures.

Authors:Lucia Di Vizio, Gwladys Fernandes, Marni Mishna

Abstract: We show that if a Laurent series $f\in\mathbb{C}((t))$ satisfies a particular kind of linear iterative equation, then $f$ is either an algebraic function or it is differentially transcendental over $\mathbb{C}(t)$. This condition is more precisely stated as follows: We consider $R,a,b\in \mathbb{C}(t)$ with $R(0)=0$, such that $f(R(t))=a(t)f(t)+b(t)$. If either $R'(0)=0$ or $R'(0)$ is a root of unity, then either $f$ satisfies a polynomial equation, or $f$ does not satisfy a polynomial differential equation. We illustrate how to apply this result to deduce the differential transcendence of combinatorial generating functions by considering three examples: the ordinary generating function for a family of complete trees; the Green function for excursions on the Sierpinski graph; and a series related to the enumeration of permutations avoiding the consecutive pattern 1423. The proof strategy is inspired by the Galois theory of functional equations, and relies on the property of the dynamics of $R$, Liouville-Rosenlicht's theorem and Ax' theorem.

Authors:Shmuel Onn

Abstract: We consider the problem of determining which matrices are permutable to be supmodular. We show that for small dimensions any matrix is permutable by a universal permutation or by a pair of permutations, while for higher dimensions no universal permutation exists. We raise several questions including to determine the dimensions in which every matrix is permutable.

Authors:Yaobin Chen, Xizhi Liu, Jiaxi Nie, Ji Zeng

Abstract: Let $\alpha(\mathbb{F}_q^d,p)$ denote the maximum size of a general position set in a $p$-random subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^d$. We determine the order of magnitude of $\alpha(\mathbb{F}_q^2,p)$ up to polylogarithmic factors for all possible values of $p$, improving the previous best upper bounds obtained by Roche-Newton--Warren and Bhowmick--Roche-Newton. For $d \ge 3$ we prove upper bounds for $\alpha(\mathbb{F}_q^d,p)$ that are essentially tight within certain intervals of $p$. We establish the upper bound $2^{(1+o(1))q}$ for the number of general position sets in $\mathbb{F}_q^d$, which matches the trivial lower bound $2^{q}$ asymptotically in exponent. We also refine this counting result by proving an asymptotically tight (in exponent) upper bound for the number of general position sets with fixed size. The latter result for $d=2$ improves a result of Roche-Newton--Warren. Our proofs are grounded in the hypergraph container method, and additionally, for $d=2$ we also leverage the pseudorandomness of the point-line incidence bipartite graph of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^2$.

Authors:Laura Colmenarejo, Felix Hutchins, Nicholas Mayers, Etienne Phillips

Abstract: In this paper, we explore combinatorial properties of the posets associated with Kohnert polynomials. In particular, we determine a sufficient condition guaranteeing when such ``Kohnert posets'' are bounded and two necessary conditions for when they are ranked. Moreover, we apply the aforementioned conditions to find complete characterizations of when Kohnert posets are bounded and when they are ranked in special cases, including those associated with Demazure characters.

Authors:Aritram Dhar, Avi Mukhopadhyay

Abstract: The BG-rank BG($\pi$) of an integer partition $\pi$ is defined as $$\text{BG}(\pi) := i-j$$ where $i$ is the number of odd-indexed odd parts and $j$ is the number of even-indexed odd parts of $\pi$. In a recent work, Fu and Tang ask for a direct combinatorial proof of the following identity of Berkovich and Uncu $$B_{2N+\nu}(k,q)=q^{2k^2-k}\left[\begin{matrix}2N+\nu\\N+k\end{matrix}\right]_{q^2}$$ for any integer $k$ and non-negative integer $N$ where $\nu\in \{0,1\}$, $B_N(k,q)$ is the generating function for partitions into distinct parts less than or equal to $N$ with BG-rank equal to $k$ and $\left[\begin{matrix}a+b\\b\end{matrix}\right]_q$ is a Gaussian binomial coefficient. In this paper, we provide a combinatorial proof of Berkovich and Uncu's identity along the lines of Fu and Tang's idea.

Authors:Levi Borevitz, Tara Gomes, Jiajie Ma, Harper Niergarth, Christopher O'Neill, Daniel Pocklington, Rosa Stolk, Jessica Wang, Shuhang Xue

Abstract: A numerical semigroup is a cofinite subset of the non-negative integers that is closed under addition and contains 0. Each numerical semigroup $S$ with fixed smallest positive element $m$ corresponds to an integer point in a rational polyhedral cone $\mathcal C_m$, called the Kunz cone. Moreover, numerical semigroups corresponding to points in the same face $F \subseteq \mathcal C_m$ are known to share many properties, such as the number of minimal generators. In this work, we classify which faces of $\mathcal C_m$ contain points corresponding to numerical semigroups. Additionally, we obtain sharp bounds on the number of minimal generators of $S$ in terms of the dimension of the face of $\mathcal C_m$ containing the point corresponding to $S$.

Authors:Kevin Hendrey, Sergey Norin, Raphael Steiner, Jérémie Turcotte

Abstract: We prove Menger-type results in which the obtained paths are pairwise non-adjacent, both for graphs of bounded maximum degree and, more generally, for graphs excluding a topological minor. We further show better bounds in the subcubic case, and in particular obtain a tight result for two paths using a computer-assisted proof.

Authors:Bryan Gin-ge Chen, James Cruickshank, Derek Kitson

Abstract: We show that minimally 3-rigid block-and-hole graphs, with one block or one hole, are characterised as those which are constructible from $K_3$ by vertex splitting, and also, as those having associated looped face graphs which are $(3,0)$-tight. This latter property can be verified in polynomial time by a form of pebble game algorithm. We also indicate connections to the rigidity properties of polyhedral surfaces known as origami and to graph rigidity in $\ell_p^3$ for $p\not=2$.

Authors:Assaf Libman

Abstract: Let $D_n \subseteq \Sigma_n$ be the set of derangements in the symmetric group. We prove that the complex of injective words generated by $\Sigma_n \setminus D_n$ is contractible. This gives a conceptual explanation to the well known fact that the complex of injective words generated by $\Sigma_n$ is homotopy equivalent to the wedge sum $\underset{|D_n|}{\bigvee} S^{n-1}$.

Authors:Francesco Pavese, Hanlin Zou

Abstract: An infinite family of $(q^2+q+1)$-ovoids of $\mathcal{Q}^+(7,q)$, $q\equiv 1\pmod{3}$, admitting the group $\mathrm{PGL}(3,q)$, is constructed. The main tool is the general theory of generalized hexagons.

Authors:Cian Jameson, John Sheekey

Abstract: In this paper we completely classify spreads of 2-dimensional subspaces of a 6-dimensional vector space over a finite field of characteristic not two or three upon which a cyclic group acts transitively. This addresses one of the remaining open cases in the classification of flag-transitive linear spaces. We utilise the polynomial approach innovated by Pauley and Bamberg to obtain our results.

Authors:Joergen Bang-Jensen, Yun Wang

Abstract: A {\bf strong arc decomposition} of a digraph $D=(V,A)$ is a partition of its arc set $A$ into two sets $A_1,A_2$ such that the digraph $D_i=(V,A_i)$ is strong for $i=1,2$. Bang-Jensen and Yeo (2004) conjectured that there is some $K$ such that every $K$-arc-strong digraph has a strong arc decomposition. They also proved that with one exception on 4 vertices every 2-arc-strong semicomplete digraph has a strong arc decomposition. Bang-Jensen and Huang (2010) extended this result to locally semicomplete digraphs by proving that every 2-arc-strong locally semicomplete digraph which is not the square of an even cycle has a strong arc decomposition. This implies that every 3-arc-strong locally semicomplete digraph has a strong arc decomposition. A {\bf split digraph} is a digraph whose underlying undirected graph is a split graph, meaning that its vertices can be partioned into a clique and an independent set. Equivalently, a split digraph is any digraph which can be obtained from a semicomplete digraph $D=(V,A)$ by adding a new set $V'$ of vertices and some arcs between $V'$ and $V$. In this paper we prove that every 3-arc-strong split digraph has a strong arc decomposition which can be found in polynomial time and we provide infinite classes of 2-strong split digraphs with no strong arc decomposition. We also pose a number of open problems on split digraphs.

Authors:František Kardoš, Edita Máčajová, Jean Paul Zerafa

Abstract: Let $G$ be a bridgeless cubic graph. In 2023, the three authors solved a conjecture (also known as the $S_4$-Conjecture) made by Mazzuoccolo in 2013: there exist two perfect matchings of $G$ such that the complement of their union is a bipartite subgraph of $G$. They actually show that given any $1^+$-factor $F$ (a spanning subgraph of $G$ such that its vertices have degree at least 1) and an arbitrary edge $e$ of $G$, there exists a perfect matching $M$ of $G$ containing $e$ such that $G\setminus (F\cup M)$ is bipartite. This is a step closer to comprehend better the Fan--Raspaud Conjecture and eventually the Berge--Fulkerson Conjecture. The $S_4$-Conjecture, now a theorem, is also the weakest assertion in a series of three conjectures made by Mazzuoccolo in 2013, with the next stronger statement being: there exist two perfect matchings of $G$ such that the complement of their union is an acyclic subgraph of $G$. Unfortunately, this conjecture is not true: Jin, Steffen, and Mazzuoccolo later showed that there exists a counterexample admitting 2-cuts. Here we show that, despite of this, every cyclically 3-edge-connected cubic graph satisfies this second conjecture.

Authors:Ann-Kathrin Elm, Hendrik Heine

Abstract: Tangle-tree theorems are an important tool in structural graph theory, and abstract separation systems are a very general setting in which tangle-tree theorems can still be formulated and proven. For infinite abstract separation systems, so far tangle-tree theorems have only been shown for special cases of separation systems, in particular when the separation system arises from a (locally finite) infinite graph. We present a tangle-tree theorem for infinite separation systems where we do not place restrictions on the separation system itself but on the tangles to be arranged in a tree.

Authors:Joseph Hyde, Jae-baek Lee, Jonathan A. Noel

Abstract: The Ramsey multiplicity constant of a graph $H$ is the limit as $n$ tends to infinity of the minimum density of monochromatic labelled copies of $H$ in a colouring of the edges of $K_n$ with two colours. Fox and Wigderson recently identified a large family of graphs whose Ramsey multiplicity constants are attained by sequences of "Tur\'an colourings;" i.e. colourings in which one of the colour classes forms the edge set of a balanced complete multipartite graph. The graphs in their family come from taking a connected non-3-colourable graph with a critical edge and adding many pendant edges. We extend their result to an off-diagonal variant of the Ramsey multiplicity constant which involves minimizing a weighted sum of red copies of one graph and blue copies of another. We also apply the flag algebra method to investigate the minimum number of pendant edges required for Tur\'an colourings to become optimal when the underlying graphs are small cliques.

Authors:Narad Rampersad, Max Wiebe

Abstract: If $u$ and $v$ are two words, the correlation of $u$ over $v$ is a binary word that encodes all possible overlaps between $u$ and $v$. This concept was introduced by Guibas and Odlyzko as a key element of their method for enumerating the number of words of length $n$ over a given alphabet that avoid a given set of forbidden factors. In this paper we characterize the pairwise correlations between the minimal forbidden factors of the infinite Fibonacci word.

Authors:Mónica. A. Reyes, Cristina Dalfó, Miquel Àngel Fiol, Arnau Messegué

Abstract: The $k$-token graph $F_k(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the graph whose vertices are the $k$-subsets of vertices from $G$, two of which being adjacent whenever their symmetric difference is a pair of adjacent vertices in $G$. It is a known result that the algebraic connectivity (or second Laplacian eigenvalue) of $F_k(G)$ equals the algebraic connectivity of $G$. In this paper, we first give results that relate the algebraic connectivities of a token graph and the same graph after removing a vertex. Then, we prove the result on the algebraic connectivity of 2-token graphs for two infinite families: the odd graphs $O_r$ for all $r$, and the multipartite complete graphs $K_{n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_r}$ for all $n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_r$ In the case of cycles, we present a new method that allows us to compute the whole spectrum of $F_2(C_n)$. This method also allows us to obtain closed formulas that give asymptotically exact approximations for most of the eigenvalues of $F_2(\textit{}C_n)$.

Authors:Lech Duraj, Ross J. Kang, Hoang La, Jonathan Narboni, Filip Pokrývka, Clément Rambaud, Amadeus Reinald

Abstract: Given a positive integer $d$, the class $d$-DIR is defined as all those intersection graphs formed from a finite collection of line segments in ${\mathbb R}^2$ having at most $d$ slopes. Since each slope induces an interval graph, it easily follows for every $G$ in $d$-DIR with clique number at most $\omega$ that the chromatic number $\chi(G)$ of $G$ is at most $d\omega$. We show for every even value of $\omega$ how to construct a graph in $d$-DIR that meets this bound exactly. This partially confirms a conjecture of Bhattacharya, Dvo\v{r}\'ak and Noorizadeh. Furthermore, we show that the $\chi$-binding function of $d$-DIR is $\omega \mapsto d\omega$ for $\omega$ even and $\omega \mapsto d(\omega-1)+1$ for $\omega$ odd. This refutes said conjecture of Bhattacharya, Dvo\v{r}\'ak and Noorizadeh.

Authors:Leilei Zhang

Abstract: Let $\Gamma(n,k)$ be the set of $2$-connected $n$-vertex graphs containing an edge that is not on any cycle of length at least $k+1.$ Let $g_s(n,k)$ denote the maximum number of $s$-cliques in a graph in $\Gamma(n,k).$ Recently, Ji and Ye [SIAM J. Discrete Math., 37 (2023) 917-924] determined $g_s(n,k).$ They remark that it is interesting to characterize the extremal graphs. In this paper, we give such a characterization.

Authors:Amitayu Banerjee, Zalán Molnár, Alexa Gopaulsingh

Abstract: We work with simple graphs in ZF (Zermelo--Fraenkel set theory without the Axiom of Choice (AC)) and cardinals in the absence of AC to prove that the following statements are equivalent to K\H{o}nig Lemma: (a) Any infinite locally finite connected graph G such that the minimum degree of G is greater than k, has a chromatic number for any fixed integer k greater than or equal to 2. (b) Any infinite locally finite connected graph has a chromatic index. (c) Any infinite locally finite connected graph has a distinguishing number. (d) Any infinite locally finite connected graph has a distinguishing index. Our results strengthen some results of Stawiski from a recent paper on the role of the Axiom of Choice in proper and distinguishing colorings since Stawiski worked with cardinals in the presence of AC. We also formulate new conditions for the existence of irreducible proper coloring, minimal edge cover, maximal matching, and minimal dominating set in connected bipartite graphs and locally finite connected graphs, which are either equivalent to AC or K\H{o}nig Lemma. Moreover, we show that if the Axiom of Choice for families of 2 element sets holds, then the Shelah--Soifer graph has a minimal dominating set.

Authors:Yang Li, Zhicong Lin, Tongyuan Zhao

Abstract: This paper investigates two involutions on binary trees. One is the mirror symmetry of binary trees which combined with the classical bijection $\varphi$ between binary trees and plane trees answers an open problem posed by Bai and Chen. This involution can be generalized to weakly increasing trees, which admits to merge two recent equidistributions found by Bai--Chen and Chen--Fu, respectively. The other one is constructed to answer a bijective problem on di-sk trees asked by Fu--Lin--Wang and can be generalized naturally to rooted labeled trees. This second involution combined with $\varphi$ leads to a new statistic on plane trees whose distribution gives the Catalan's triangle. Moreover, a quadruple equidistribution on plane trees involving this new statistic is proved via a recursive bijection.

Authors:Henry Adams, Žiga Virk

Abstract: We provide novel lower bounds on the Betti numbers of Vietoris-Rips complexes of hypercube graphs of all dimensions, and at all scales. In more detail, let $Q_n$ be the vertex set of $2^n$ vertices in the $n$-dimensional hypercube graph, equipped with the shortest path metric. Let $VR(Q_n;r)$ be its Vietoris--Rips complex at scale parameter $r \ge 0$, which has $Q_n$ as its vertex set, and all subsets of diameter at most $r$ as its simplices. For integers $r<r'$ the inclusion $VR(Q_n;r)\hookrightarrow VR(Q_n;r')$ is nullhomotopic, meaning no persistent homology bars have length longer than one, and we therefore focus attention on the individual spaces $VR(Q_n;r)$. We provide lower bounds on the ranks of homology groups of $VR(Q_n;r)$. For example, using cross-polytopal generators, we prove that the rank of $H_{2^r-1}(VR(Q_n;r))$ is at least $2^{n-(r+1)}\binom{n}{r+1}$. We also prove a version of \emph{homology propagation}: if $q\ge 1$ and if $p$ is the smallest integer for which $rank H_q(VR(Q_p;r))\neq 0$, then $rank H_q(VR(Q_n;r)) \ge \sum_{i=p}^n 2^{i-p} \binom{i-1}{p-1} \cdot rank H_q(VR(Q_p;r))$ for all $n \ge p$. When $r\le 3$, this result and variants thereof provide tight lower bounds on the rank of $H_q(VR(Q_n;r))$ for all $n$, and for each $r \ge 4$ we produce novel lower bounds on the ranks of homology groups. Furthermore, we show that for each $r\ge 2$, the homology groups of $VR(Q_n;r)$ for $n \ge 2r+1$ contain propagated homology not induced by the initial cross-polytopal generators.

Authors:Bonnie Jacob

Abstract: In zero forcing, the focus is typically on finding the minimum cardinality of any zero forcing set in the graph; however, the number of cardinalities between $0$ and the number of vertices in the graph for which there are both zero forcing sets and sets that fail to be zero forcing sets is not well known. In this paper, we introduce the zero forcing span of a graph, which is the number of distinct cardinalities for which there are sets that are zero forcing sets and sets that are not. We introduce the span within the context of standard zero forcing and skew zero forcing as well as for standard zero forcing on directed graphs. We characterize graphs with high span and low span of each type, and also investigate graphs with special zero forcing polynomials.

Authors:Gideon Amir, Guy Blachar, Maria Gerasimova, Gady Kozma

Abstract: We prove that every locally finite vertex-transitive graph $G$ admits a non-constant Lipschitz harmonic function.

Authors:David Bevan, Dan Threlfall

Abstract: We explore how the asymptotic structure of a random $n$-term weak integer composition of $m$ evolves, as $m$ increases from zero. The primary focus is on establishing thresholds for the appearance and disappearance of substructures. These include the longest and shortest runs of zero terms or of nonzero terms, longest increasing runs, longest runs of equal terms, largest squares (runs of $k$ terms each equal to $k$), as well as a wide variety of other patterns. Of particular note is the dichotomy between the appearance and disappearance of exact consecutive patterns, with smaller patterns appearing before larger ones, whereas longer patterns disappear before shorter ones.

Authors:Anita Arora, Rajiv Mishra

Abstract: Let $G$ be an undirected simple connected graph. We say a vertex $u$ is eccentric to a vertex $v$ in $G$ if $d(u,v)=\max\{d(v,w): w\in V(G)\}$. The eccentric graph, $E(G)$ of $G$ is a graph defined on the same vertex set as of $G$ and two vertices are adjacent if one is eccentric to the other. We find the structure and the girth of the eccentric graph of trees and see that the girth of the eccentric graph of a tree can either be zero, three, or four. Further, we study the structure of the eccentric graph of the Cartesian product of graphs and prove that the girth of the eccentric graph of the Cartesian product of trees can only be zero, three, four or six. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive classification when the eccentric girth assumes these values. We also give the structure of the eccentric graph of the grid graphs and the Cartesian product of cycles. Finally, we determine the conditions under which the eccentricity matrix of the Cartesian product of trees becomes invertible.

Authors:Samrith Ram, Michael J. Schlosser

Abstract: We discuss the problem posed by Bender, Coley, Robbins and Rumsey of enumerating the number of subspaces which have a given profile with respect to a linear operator over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. We solve this problem in the case where the operator is diagonalizable. The solution leads us to a new class of polynomials $b_{\mu\nu}(q)$ indexed by pairs of integer partitions. These polynomials have several interesting specializations and can be expressed as positive sums over semistandard tableaux. We present a new correspondence between set partitions and semistandard tableaux. A close analysis of this correspondence reveals the existence of several new set partition statistics which generate the polynomials $b_{\mu\nu}(q)$; each such statistic arises from a Mahonian statistic on multiset permutations. The polynomials $b_{\mu\nu}(q)$ are also given a description in terms of coefficients in the monomial expansion of $q$-Whittaker symmetric functions which are specializations of Macdonald polynomials. We express the Touchard--Riordan generating polynomial for chord diagrams by number of crossings in terms of $q$-Whittaker functions. We also introduce a class of $q$-Stirling numbers defined in terms of the polynomials $b_{\mu\nu}(q)$ and present connections with $q$-rook theory in the spirit of Garsia and Remmel.

Authors:Dandan Fan, Xiaofeng Gu, Huiqiu Lin

Abstract: Let G be a connected graph. The toughness of G is defined as t(G)=min{\frac{|S|}{c(G-S)}}, in which the minimum is taken over all proper subsets S\subset V(G) such that c(G-S)\geq 2 where c(G-S) denotes the number of components of G-S. Confirming a conjecture of Brouwer, Gu [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 35 (2021) 948--952] proved a tight lower bound on toughness of regular graphs in terms of the second largest absolute eigenvalue. Fan, Lin and Lu [European J. Combin. 110 (2023) 103701] then studied the toughness of simple graphs from the spectral radius perspective. While the toughness is an important concept in graph theory, it is also very interesting to study |S| for which c(G-S)\geq l for a given integer l\geq 2. This leads to the concept of the l-connectivity, which is defined to be the minimum number of vertices of G whose removal produces a disconnected graph with at least l components or a graph with fewer than l vertices. Gu [European J. Combin. 92 (2021) 103255] discovered a lower bound on the l-connectivity of regular graphs via the second largest absolute eigenvalue. As a counterpart, we discover the connection between the l-connectivity of simple graphs and the spectral radius. We also study similar problems for digraphs and an edge version.

Authors:Kajal Das

Abstract: Twin-width is a recently introduced graph parameter for finite graphs. It is an open problem to determine whether there is an $n$-vertex graph having twin-width at least $n/2$ (due to J. Ahn, K. Hendrey, D. Kim and S. Oum). In an earlier paper, the author showed that such a graph with less than equal to 5 vertices does not exist. In this article, we show that such a graph with 6 vertices does not exist. More precisely, we prove that each graph with 6 vertices has twin-width less than equal to 2.

Authors:Darij Grinberg

Abstract: Given a positive integer $n$, we consider the group algebra of the symmetric group $S_{n}$. In this algebra, we define $n$ elements $t_{1},t_{2},\ldots,t_{n}$ by the formula \[ t_{\ell}:=\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell}+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1}+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ell+2}+\cdots+\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ldots,n}, \] where $\operatorname*{cyc}\nolimits_{\ell,\ell+1,\ldots,k}$ denotes the cycle that sends $\ell\mapsto\ell+1\mapsto\ell+2\mapsto\cdots\mapsto k\mapsto\ell$. These $n$ elements are called the *somewhere-to-below shuffles* due to an interpretation as card-shuffling operators. In this paper, we show that their commutators $\left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] =t_{i}t_{j}-t_{j}t_{i}$ are nilpotent, and specifically that \[ \left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] ^{\left\lceil \left( n-j\right) /2\right\rceil +1}=0\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \text{for any }i,j\in\left\{ 1,2,\ldots,n\right\} \] and \[ \left[ t_{i},t_{j}\right] ^{j-i+1}=0\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \text{for any }1\leq i\leq j\leq n. \] We discuss some further identities and open questions.

Authors:Eric Ould Dadah Andriantiana, Zekhaya B. Shozi

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$. A subset $I$ of $V(G)$ is an independent vertex subset if no two vertices in $I$ are adjacent in $G$. We study the number, $\sigma_1(G)$, of all subsets of $v(G)$ that contain exactly one pair of adjacent vertices. We call those subsets 1-nearly independent vertex subsets. Recursive formulas of $\sigma_1$ are provided, as well as some cases of explicit formulas. We prove a tight lower (resp. upper) bound on $\sigma_1$ for graphs of order $n$. We deduce as a corollary that the star $K_{1,n-1}$ (the tree with degree sequence $(n-1,1,\dots,1)$) is the $n$-vertex tree with smallest $\sigma_1$, while it is well known that $K_{1,n-1}$ is the $n$-vertex tree with largest number of independent subsets.

Authors:Peter Allen, Julia Böttcher, Anita Liebenau

Abstract: Given a family $\mathcal{H}$ of graphs, a graph $G$ is called $\mathcal{H}$-universal if $G$ contains every graph of $\mathcal{H}$ as a subgraph. Following the extensive research on universal graphs of small size for bounded-degree graphs, Alon asked what is the minimum number of edges that a graph must have to be universal for the class of all $n$-vertex graphs that are $D$-degenerate. In this paper, we answer this question up to a factor that is polylogarithmic in $n.$

Authors:Nathan Bowler, Florian Gut

Abstract: We investigate a game played between two players, Maker and Breaker, on a countably infinite complete graph where the vertices are the rational numbers. The players alternately claim unclaimed edges. It is Maker's goal to have after countably many turns a complete infinite graph contained in her coloured edges where the vertex set of the subgraph is order-isomorphic to the rationals. It is Breaker's goal to prevent Maker from achieving this. We prove that there is a winning strategy for Maker in this game. We also prove that there is a winning strategy for Breaker in the game where Maker must additionally make the vertex set of her complete graph dense in the rational numbers.

Authors:Zhuo Wu, Jun Yan

Abstract: An edge colouring of $K_n$ with $k$ colours is a Gallai $k$-colouring if it does not contain any rainbow triangle. Gy\'arf\'as, P\'alv\"olgyi, Patk\'os and Wales proved that there exists a number $g(k)$ such that $n\geq g(k)$ if and only if for any colour distribution sequence $(e_1,\cdots,e_k)$ with $\sum_{i=1}^ke_i=\binom{n}{2}$, there exist a Gallai $k$-colouring of $K_n$ with $e_i$ edges having colour $i$. They also showed that $\Omega(k)=g(k)=O(k^2)$ and posed the problem of determining the exact order of magnitude of $g(k)$. Feffer, Fu and Yan improved both bounds significantly by proving $\Omega(k^{1.5}/\log k)=g(k)=O(k^{1.5})$. We resolve this problem by showing $g(k)=\Theta(k^{1.5}/(\log k)^{0.5})$. Moreover, we generalise these definitions by considering rainbow $H$-free colourings of $K_n$ for any general graph $H$, and the natural corresponding quantity $g(H,k)$. We prove that $g(H,k)$ is finite for every $k$ if and only if $H$ is not a forest, and determine the order of $g(H,k)$ when $H$ contains a subgraph with minimum degree at least 3.

Authors:Megan Bennett, Lei Cao

Abstract: A blocker of $123$-avoiding permutation matrices refers to the set of zeros contained within an $n\times n$ $123$-forcing matrix. Recently, Brualdi and Cao provided a characterization of all minimal blockers, which are blockers with a cardinality of $n$. Building upon their work, a new type of blocker, flag-shaped blockers, which can be seen as a generalization of the $L$-shaped blockers defined by Brualdi and Cao, are introduced. It is demonstrated that all flag-shaped blockers are minimum blockers. The possible cardinalities of flag-shaped blockers are also determined, and the dimensions of subpolytopes that are defined by flag-shaped blockers are examined.

Authors:Allan Lo, Vincent Pfenninger

Abstract: A $k$-uniform tight cycle is a $k$-graph with a cyclic order of its vertices such that every $k$ consecutive vertices from an edge. We show that for $k\geq 3$, every red-blue edge-coloured complete $k$-graph on $n$ vertices contains $k$ vertex-disjoint monochromatic tight cycles that together cover $n - o(n)$ vertices.

Authors:Himadri Shekhar Chakraborty, Tsuyoshi Miezaki

Abstract: In this paper, we present a generalization of Hayden's theorem [7, Theorem 4.2] for $G$-codes over finite Frobenius rings. A lattice theoretical form of this generalization is also given. Moreover, Astumi's MacWilliams identity [1, Theorem 1] is generalized in several ways for different weight enumerators of $G$-codes over finite Frobenius rings. Furthermore, we provide the Jacobi analogue of Astumi's MacWilliams identity for $G$-codes over finite Frobenius rings. Finally, we study the relation between $G$-codes and its corresponding $G$-lattices.

Authors:Shalu M. A., Cyriac Antony

Abstract: A $k$-star colouring of a graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to\{0,1,\dots,k-1\}$ such that $f(u)\neq f(v)$ for every edge $uv$ of $G$, and every bicoloured connected subgraph of $G$ is a star. The star chromatic number of $G$, $\chi_s(G)$, is the least integer $k$ such that $G$ is $k$-star colourable. We prove that $\chi_s(G)\geq \lceil (d+4)/2\rceil$ for every $d$-regular graph $G$ with $d\geq 3$. We reveal the structure and properties of even-degree regular graphs $G$ that attain this lower bound. The structure of such graphs $G$ is linked with a certain type of Eulerian orientations of $G$. Moreover, this structure can be expressed in the LC-VSP framework of Telle and Proskurowski (SIDMA, 1997), and hence can be tested by an FPT algorithm with the parameter either treewidth, cliquewidth, or rankwidth. We prove that for $p\geq 2$, a $2p$-regular graph $G$ is $(p+2)$-star colourable only if $n:=|V(G)|$ is divisible by $(p+1)(p+2)$. For each $p\geq 2$ and $n$ divisible by $(p+1)(p+2)$, we construct a $2p$-regular Hamiltonian graph on $n$ vertices which is $(p+2)$-star colourable. The problem $k$-STAR COLOURABILITY takes a graph $G$ as input and asks whether $G$ is $k$-star colourable. We prove that 3-STAR COLOURABILITY is NP-complete for planar bipartite graphs of maximum degree three and arbitrarily large girth. Besides, it is coNP-hard to test whether a bipartite graph of maximum degree eight has a unique 3-star colouring up to colour swaps. For $k\geq 3$, $k$-STAR COLOURABILITY of bipartite graphs of maximum degree $k$ is NP-complete, and does not even admit a $2^{o(n)}$-time algorithm unless ETH fails.

Authors:John Haslegrave, Alex Scott, Youri Tamitegama, Jane Tan

Abstract: The boundary rigidity problem is a classical question from Riemannian geometry: if $(M, g)$ is a Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary, is the geometry of $M$ determined up to isometry by the metric $d_g$ induced on the boundary $\partial M$? In this paper, we consider a discrete version of this problem: can we determine the combinatorial type of a finite cube complex from its boundary distances? As in the continuous case, reconstruction is not possible in general, but one expects a positive answer under suitable contractibility and non-positive curvature conditions. Indeed, in two dimensions Haslegrave gave a positive answer to this question when the complex is a finite quadrangulation of the disc with no internal vertices of degree less than $4$. We prove a $3$-dimensional generalisation of this result: the combinatorial type of a finite CAT(0) cube complex with an embedding in $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be reconstructed from its boundary distances. Additionally, we prove a direct strengthening of Haslegrave's result: the combinatorial type of any finite 2-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex can be reconstructed from its boundary distances.

Authors:Bogdan Alecu, Maria Chudnovsky, Sepehr Hajebi, Sophie Spirkl

Abstract: Sintiari and Trotignon showed that for every $h\geq 1$, there are (even-hole, $K_4$)-free graphs of arbitrarily large treewidth in which every $h$-vertex induced subgraph is chordal. We prove the converse: given a graph $H$, every (even-hole, $K_4$)-free graph of large enough treewidth contains an induced subgraph isomorphic to $H$, if and only if $H$ is chordal (and $K_4$-free). As an immediate corollary, the above result settles a conjecture of Sintiari and Trotignon, asserting that every (even-hole, $K_4$)-free graph of sufficiently large treewidth contains an induced subgraph isomorphic to the graph obtained from the two-edge path by adding a universal vertex (also known as the "diamond"). We further prove yet another extension of their conjecture with "$K_4$" replaced by an arbitrary complete graph and the "two-edge path" replaced by an arbitrary forest. This turns out to characterize forests: given a graph $F$, for every $t\geq 1$, every (even-hole, $K_t$)-free graph of sufficiently large treewidth contains an induced subgraph isomorphic to the graph obtained from $F$ by adding a universal vertex, if and only if $F$ is a forest.

Authors:Laurent Beaudou, Penny Haxell, Kathryn Nurse, Sagnik Sen, Zhouningxin Wang

Abstract: We say that a signed graph is $k$-critical if it is not $k$-colorable but every one of its proper subgraphs is $k$-colorable. Using the definition of colorability due to Naserasr, Wang, and Zhu that extends the notion of circular colorability, we prove that every $3$-critical signed graph on $n$ vertices has at least $\frac{3n-1}{2}$ edges, and that this bound is asymptotically tight. It follows that every signed planar or projective-planar graph of girth at least $6$ is (circular) $3$-colorable, and for the projective-planar case, this girth condition is best possible. To prove our main result, we reformulate it in terms of the existence of a homomorphism to the signed graph $C_{3}^*$, which is the positive triangle augmented with a negative loop on each vertex.

Authors:Noga Alon, Matija Bucić, Lisa Sauermann, Dmitrii Zakharov, Or Zamir

Abstract: An edge-coloured graph is said to be rainbow if no colour appears more than once. Extremal problems involving rainbow objects have been a focus of much research over the last decade as they capture the essence of a number of interesting problems in a variety of areas. A particularly intensively studied question due to Keevash, Mubayi, Sudakov and Verstra\"ete from 2007 asks for the maximum possible average degree of a properly edge-coloured graph on $n$ vertices without a rainbow cycle. Improving upon a series of earlier bounds, Tomon proved an upper bound of $(\log n)^{2+o(1)}$ for this question. Very recently, Janzer-Sudakov and Kim-Lee-Liu-Tran independently removed the $o(1)$ term in Tomon's bound, showing a bound of $O(\log^2 n)$. We prove an upper bound of $(\log n)^{1+o(1)}$ for this maximum possible average degree when there is no rainbow cycle. Our result is tight up to the $o(1)$ term, and so it essentially resolves this question. In addition, we observe a connection between this problem and several questions in additive number theory, allowing us to extend existing results on these questions for abelian groups to the case of non-abelian groups.

Authors:Rui Song

Abstract: Let $G=(V,E)$ be a simple connected graph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$. The third atom-bond connectivity index, $ABC_3$ index, of $G$ is defined as $ABC_3(G)=\sum\limits_{uv\in E(G)}\sqrt{\frac{e(u)+e(v)-2}{e(u)e(v)}}$, where eccentricity $e(u)$ is the largest distance between $u$ and any other vertex of $G$, namely $e(u)=\max\{d(u,v)|v\in V(G)\}$. This work determines the maximal $ABC_3$ index of unicyclic graphs with any given girth and trees with any given diameter, and characterizes the corresponding graphs.

Authors:Marco Caoduro, András Sebő

Abstract: The boxicity of a graph is the smallest dimension $d$ allowing a representation of it as the intersection graph of a set of $d$-dimensional axis-parallel boxes. We present a simple general approach to determining the boxicity of a graph based on studying its ``interval-order subgraphs''. The power of the method is first tested on the boxicity of some popular graphs that have resisted previous attempts: the boxicity of the Petersen graph is $3$, and more generally, that of the Kneser-graphs $K(n,2)$ is $n-2$ if $n\ge 5$, confirming a conjecture of Caoduro and Lichev [Discrete Mathematics, Vol. 346, 5, 2023]. Since every line graph is an induced subgraph of the complement of $K(n,2)$, the developed tools show furthermore that line graphs have only a polynomial number of edge-maximal interval-order subgraphs. This opens the way to polynomial-time algorithms for problems that are in general $\mathcal{NP}$-hard: for the existence and optimization of interval-order subgraphs of line-graphs, or of interval-completions of their complement.

Authors:Nathan Bowler, Florian Gut

Abstract: We investigate a two player game called the $K^4$-building game: two players alternately claim edges of an infinite complete graph. Each player's aim is to claim all six edges on some vertex set of size four for themself. The first player to accomplish this goal is declared the winner of the game. We present a winning strategy which guarantees a win for the first player.

Authors:Benjamin Dadoun, Patrick Oliveira Santos

Abstract: We investigate the method of moments for $d$-regular digraphs and the limiting $d$-regular directed tree $T_d$ as the number of vertices tends to infinity, in the same spirit as McKay (Linear Algebra Appl., 1981) for the undirected setting. In particular, we provide a combinatorial derivation of the formula for the star moments (from a root vertex $o\in T_d$) $$M_d(w)\qquad:=\sum_{\substack{v_0,v_1\ldots,v_{k-1},v_k\in T_d\\v_0=v_k=o}} A^{w_1}(v_0,v_1)A^{w_2}(v_1,v_2) \cdots A^{w_k}(v_{k-1},v_k)$$ with $A$ the adjacency matrix of $T_d$, where $w:=w_1\cdots w_k$ is any word on the alphabet $\{1,{*}\}$ and $A^*$ is the adjoint matrix of $A$. Our analysis highlights a connection between the non-zero summands of $M_d(w)$ and the non-crossing partitions of $\{1,\ldots,k\}$ which are in some sense compatible with $w$.

Authors:Ulrike Bücking, Christian Haase, Karin Schaller, Jan-Hendrik de Wiljes

Abstract: We give a combinatorial proof of a lattice point identity involving a lattice polygon and its dual, generalizing the formula $area(\Delta) + area(\Delta^*) = 6$ for reflexive $\Delta$. The identity is equivalent to the stringy Libgober-Wood identity for toric log del Pezzo surfaces.

Authors:Zach Hunter, Cosmin Pohoata

Abstract: For every positive integer $d$, we show that there must exist an absolute constant $c > 0$ such that the following holds: for any integer $n \geq cd^{7}$ and any red-blue coloring of the one-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_{2}^{n}$, there must exist either a $d$-dimensional subspace for which all of its one-dimensional subspaces get colored red or a $2$-dimensional subspace for which all of its one-dimensional subspaces get colored blue. This answers recent questions of Nelson and Nomoto, and confirms that for any even plane binary matroid $N$, the class of $N$-free, claw-free binary matroids is polynomially $\chi$-bounded. Our argument will proceed via a reduction to a well-studied additive combinatorics problem, originally posed by Green: given a set $A \subset \mathbb{F}_{2}^{n}$ with density $\alpha \in [0,1]$, what is the largest subspace that we can find in $A+A$? Our main contribution to the story is a new result for this problem in the regime where $1/\alpha$ is large with respect to $n$, which utilizes ideas from the recent breakthrough paper of Kelley and Meka on sets of integers without three-term arithmetic progressions.

Authors:Jean-Luc Baril, Sergey Kirgizov, Mehdi Naima

Abstract: We introduce a new poset structure on Dyck paths where the covering relation is a particular case of the relation inducing the Tamari lattice. We prove that the transitive closure of this relation endows Dyck paths with a lattice structure. We provide a trivariate generating function counting the number of Dyck paths with respect to the semilength, the numbers of outgoing and incoming edges in the Hasse diagram. We deduce the numbers of coverings, meet and join irreducible elements. As a byproduct, we present a new involution on Dyck paths that transports the bistatistic of the numbers of outgoing and incoming edges into its reverse. Finally, we give a generating function for the number of intervals, and we compare this number with the number of intervals in the Tamari lattice.

Authors:Neil J. Y. Fan, Peter L. Guo, Rui Xiong

Abstract: Knutson and Zinn-Justin recently found a puzzle rule for the expansion of the product $\mathfrak{G}_{u}(x,t)\cdot \mathfrak{G}_{v}(x,t)$ of two double Grothendieck polynomials indexed by permutations with separated descents. We establish its triple Schubert calculus version in the sense of Knutson and Tao, namely, a formula for expanding $\mathfrak{G}_{u}(x,y)\cdot \mathfrak{G}_{v}(x,t)$ in different secondary variables. Our rule is formulated in terms of pipe puzzles, incorporating both the structures of bumpless pipe dreams and classical puzzles. As direct applications, we recover the separated-descent puzzle formula by Knutson and Zinn-Justin (by setting $y=t$) and the bumpless pipe dream model of double Grothendieck polynomials by Weigandt (by setting $v=\operatorname{id}$ and $x=t$). Moreover, we utilize the formula to partially confirm a positivity conjecture of Kirillov about applying a skew operator to a Schubert polynomial.

Authors:Robert Dougherty-Bliss, Manuel Kauers

Abstract: In 2014, R.H. Hardin contributed a family of sequences about king-moves on an array to the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS). The sequences were recently noticed in an automated search of the OEIS by Kauers and Koutschan, who conjectured a recurrence for one of them. We prove their conjecture as well as some older conjectures stated in the OEIS entries. We also have some new conjectures for the asymptotics of Hardin's sequences.

Authors:Sam Adriaensen, Lins Denaux

Abstract: The $p$-ary linear code $\mathcal C_{k}(n,q)$ is defined as the row space of the incidence matrix $A$ of $k$-spaces and points of $\text{PG}(n,q)$. It is known that if $q$ is square, a codeword of weight $q^k\sqrt{q}+\mathcal O \left( q^{k-1} \right) $ exists that cannot be written as a linear combination of at most $\sqrt{q}$ rows of $A$. Over the past few decades, researchers have put a lot of effort towards proving that any codeword of smaller weight does meet this property. We show that if $ q \geqslant 32 $ is a composite prime power, every codeword of $\mathcal C_k(n,q)$ up to weight $\mathcal O \left( {q^k\sqrt{q}} \right) $ is a linear combination of at most $\sqrt{q}$ rows of $A$. We also generalise this result to the codes $\mathcal C_{j,k}(n,q) $, which are defined as the $p$-ary row span of the incidence matrix of $k$-spaces and $j$-spaces, $j < k$.

Authors:Iain Moffatt, Steven Noble, Maya Thompson

Abstract: Brylawski's tensor product formula expresses the Tutte polynomial of the tensor product of two graphs in terms of Tutte polynomials arising from the tensor factors. We are concerned with extensions of Brylawski's tensor product formula to the Bollobas-Riordan and transition polynomials of graphs embedded in surfaces. We give a tensor product formula for the multimatroid transition polynomial and show that Brylawski's formula and its topological analogues arise as specialisations of this more general result.

Authors:M. Meszka, A. Pasotti, M. A. Pellegrini

Abstract: In this paper we consider the seating couple problem with an even number of seats, which, using graph theory terminology, can be stated as follows. Given a positive even integer $v=2n$ and a list $L$ containing $n$ positive integers not exceeding $n$, is it always possible to find a perfect matching of $K_v$ whose list of edge-lengths is $L$? Up to now a (non-constructive) solution is known only when all the edge-lengths are coprime with $v$. In this paper we firstly present some necessary conditions for the existence of a solution. Then, we give a complete constructive solution when the list consists of one or two distinct elements, and when the list consists of consecutive integers $1,2,\ldots,x$, each one appearing with the same multiplicity. Finally, we propose a conjecture and some open problems.

Authors:Małgorzata Bednarska-Bzdęga, Tomasz Łuczak

Abstract: We show that there exists an absolute constant $A$ such that the size Ramsey number of a pair of cycles $(C_n$, $C_{2d})$, where $4\le 2d\le n$, is bounded from above by $An$. We also study the restricted size Ramsey number for such a pair.

Authors:Priyavrat Deshpande, Krishna Menon

Abstract: The collection of reflecting hyperplanes of a finite Coxeter group is called a reflection arrangement and it appears in many subareas of combinatorics and representation theory. We focus on the problem of counting regions of reflection arrangements and their deformations. Inspired by the recent work of Bernardi, we show that the notion of moves and sketches can be used to provide a uniform and explicit bijection between regions of (the Catalan deformation of) a reflection arrangement and certain non-nesting partitions. We then use the exponential formula to describe a statistic on these partitions such that distribution is given by the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial. Finally, we consider a sub-arrangement of type C arrangement called the threshold arrangement and its Catalan and Shi deformations.

Authors:Blas Fernández, Roghayeh Maleki, Štefko Miklavič, Giusy Monzillo

Abstract: Let $\Gamma=(X,\mathcal{R})$ denote a finite, simple, connected, and undirected non-bipartite graph with vertex set $X$ and edge set $\mathcal{R}$. Fix a vertex $x \in X$, and define $\mathcal{R}_f = \mathcal{R} \setminus \{yz \mid \partial(x,y) = \partial(x,z)\}$, where $\partial$ denotes the path-length distance in $\Gamma$. Observe that the graph $\Gamma_f=(X,\mathcal{R}_f)$ is bipartite. We say that $\Gamma$ supports a uniform structure with respect to $x$ whenever $\Gamma_f$ has a uniform structure with respect to $x$ in the sense of Miklavi\v{c} and Terwilliger \cite{MikTer}. Assume that $\Gamma$ is a distance-regular graph with classical parameters $(D,q,\alpha,\beta)$ and diameter $D\geq 4$. Recall that $q$ is an integer such that $q \not \in \{-1,0\}$. The purpose of this paper is to study when $\Gamma$ supports a uniform structure with respect to $x$. We studied the case $q \le 1$ in \cite{FMMM}, and so in this paper we assume $q \geq 2$. Let $T=T(x)$ denote the Terwilliger algebra of $\Gamma$ with respect to $x$. Under an additional assumption that every irreducible $T$-module with endpoint $1$ is thin, we show that if $\Gamma$ supports a uniform structure with respect to $x$, then either $\alpha = 0$ or $\alpha=q$, $\beta=q^2(q^D-1)/(q-1)$, and $D \equiv 0 \pmod{6}$.

Authors:John Byrne, Michael Tait, Craig Timmons

Abstract: A graph is called an $(r,k)$-graph if its vertex set can be partitioned into $r$ parts of size at most $k$ with at least one edge between any two parts. Let $f(r,H)$ be the minimum $k$ for which there exists an $H$-free $(r,k)$-graph. In this paper we build on the work of Axenovich and Martin, obtaining improved bounds on this function when $H$ is a complete bipartite graph, even cycle, or tree. Some of these bounds are best possible up to a constant factor and confirm a conjecture of Axenovich and Martin in several cases. We also generalize this extremal problem to uniform hypergraphs and prove some initial results in that setting.

Authors:Ming-Jian Ding, Jiang Zeng

Abstract: Bourn and Erickson (arXiv:2307.02652) recently studied a polynomial $N_n(x)$ connecting the earth mover's distance to minuscule lattices of Type A, coined Minuscule polynomial of type A in this paper. They proved that this polynomial is palindromic and unimodal, and conjectured its real-rootedness as well as a remarkable formula when $x=1$. In this paper, we shall confirm these conjectures and further prove that the coefficients are asymptotically normal and the coefficient matrix of $N_n(x)$ is totally positive.

Authors:Songling Shan

Abstract: Let $G$ be a simple graph with maximum degree denoted as $\Delta(G)$. An overfull subgraph $H$ of $G$ is a subgraph satisfying the condition $|E(H)| > \Delta(G)\lfloor \frac{1}{2}|V(H)| \rfloor$. In 1986, Chetwynd and Hilton proposed the Overfull Conjecture, stating that a graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta(G)> \frac{1}{3}|V(G)|$ has chromatic index equal to $\Delta(G)$ if and only if it does not contain any overfull subgraph. The Overfull Conjecture has many implications. For example, it implies a polynomial-time algorithm for determining the chromatic index of graphs $G$ with $\Delta(G) > \frac{1}{3}|V(G)|$, and implies several longstanding conjectures in the area of graph edge colorings. In this paper, we make the first improvement towards the conjecture when not imposing a minimum degree condition on the graph: for any $0<\varepsilon \le \frac{1}{22}$, there exists a positive integer $n_0$ such that if $G$ is a graph on $n\ge n_0$ vertices with $\Delta(G) \ge (1-\varepsilon)n$, then the Overfull Conjecture holds for $G$. The previous best result in this direction, due to Chetwynd and Hilton from 1989, asserts the conjecture for graphs $G$ with $\Delta(G) \ge |V(G)|-3$.

Authors:Azam Sadat Ahmadi, Nasrin Soltankhah, Babak Samadi

Abstract: A $k$-limited packing partition ($k$LP partition) of a graph $G$ is a partition of $V(G)$ into $k$-limited packing sets. We consider the $k$LP partitions with minimum cardinality (with emphasis on $k=2$). The minimum cardinality is called $k$LP partition number of $G$ and denoted by $\chi_{\times k}(G)$. This problem is the dual problem of $k$-tuple domatic partitioning as well as a generalization of the well-studied $2$-distance coloring problem in graphs. We give the exact value of $\chi_{\times2}$ for trees and bound it for general graphs. A section of this paper is devoted to the dual of this problem, where we give a solution to an open problem posed in $1998$. We also revisit the total limited packing number in this paper and prove that the problem of computing this parameter is NP-hard even for some special families of graphs. We give some inequalities concerning this parameter and discuss the difference between $2$TLP number and $2$LP number with emphasis on trees.

Authors:Dániel Garamvölgyi

Abstract: Given a graph $G$ and a mapping $p : V(G) \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^d$, we say that the pair $(G,p)$ is a ($d$-dimensional) realization of $G$. Two realizations $(G,p)$ and $(G,q)$ are equivalent if each of the point pairs corresponding to the edges of $G$ have the same distance under the embeddings $p$ and $q$. A pair of vertices $\{u,v\}$ is globally linked in $G$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ if for every generic realization $(G,p)$ and every equivalent realization $(G,q)$, $(G+uv,p)$ and $(G+uv,q)$ are also equivalent. In this paper we introduce the notion of $d$-stress-linked vertex pairs. Roughly speaking, a pair of vertices $\{u,v\}$ is $d$-stress-linked in $G$ if the edge $uv$ is generically stressed in $G+uv$ and for every generic $d$-dimensional realization $(G,p)$, every configuration $q$ that satisfies all of the equilibrium stresses of $(G,p)$ also satisfies the equilibrium stresses of $(G+uv,p)$. Among other results, we show that $d$-stress-linked vertex pairs are globally linked in $\mathbb{R}^d$, and we give a combinatorial characterization of $2$-stress-linked vertex pairs that matches the conjecture of Jackson et al. about the characterization of globally linked pairs in $\mathbb{R}^2$. As a key tool, we introduce and study the "algebraic dual" of the $d$-dimensional generic rigidity matroid of a graph, which we call the $d$-dimensional generic stress matroid of the graph. We believe that our results about this matroid, which describes the global behaviour of equilibrium stresses of generic realizations of $G$, may be of independent interest. We use our results to give positive answers to conjectures of Jord\'an, Connelly, and Grasegger et al.

Authors:James Davies

Abstract: We prove that every finite colouring of $\mathbb{Q}^3 \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ contains a monochromatic pair of points $(x,y,z),(x',y',z')$ with $(x-x')^2 + (y-y')^2 - (z-z')^2 = 1$.

Authors:Markus Kuba, Alois Panholzer

Abstract: We consider the following card guessing game with no feedback. An ordered deck of n cards labeled 1 up to n is riffle-shuffled exactly one time. Then, the goal of the game is to maximize the number of correct guesses of the cards. One after another a single card is drawn from the top, the guesser makes a guess without seeing the card and gets no response if the guess was correct or not. Building upon and improving earlier results, we provide a limit law for the number of correct guesses and also show convergence of the integer moments.

Authors:Flavien Mabilat LMR

Abstract: The aim of this article is to continue the study of the notion of $\lambda$-quiddity over a ring, which appeared during the study of Coxeter's friezes. For this, we will focus here on situations where the ring used can be seen as a direct product of unitary commutative rings. In particular, we will consider the cases of direct products of rings containing at least two rings of characteristic 0 and we will also consider some products of the type $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}$.

Authors:Huan Zhou, Jialu Zhu, Xuding Zhu

Abstract: This paper introduces the concept of weak$^*$ degeneracy of a graph that shares many nice properties of degeneracy. We prove that for any $f: V(G) \to \mathbb{N}$, if $G$ is weak$^*$ $f$-degenerate, then $G$ is DP-$f$-paintable and $f$-AT. Hence the weak$^*$ degeneracy of $G$ is an upper bound for many colouring parameters, including the online DP-chromatic number and the Alon-Tarsi number. Let $k$ be a positive integer and let $f(v)=\min\{d_G(v), k\}$ for each vertex $v$ of $G$. If $G$ is weak$^*$ $f$-degenerate (respectively, $f$-choosable), then we say $G$ is weak$^*$ $k$-truncated-degree--degenerate (respectively, $k$-truncated-degree-choosable). Richtor asked whether every 3-connected non-complete planar graph is $6$-truncated-degree-choosable. We construct a 3-connected non-complete planar graph which is not $7$-truncated-degree-choosable, so the answer to Richtor's question is negative even if 6 is replaced by 7. Then we prove that every 3-connected non-complete planar graph is weak$^*$ $16$-truncated-degree-degenerate (and hence $16$-truncated-degree-choosable). For an arbitrary proper minor closed family ${\mathcal G}$ of graphs, let $s$ be the minimum integer such that $K_{s,t} \notin \mathcal{G}$ for some $t$. We prove that there is a constant $k$ such that every $s$-connected non-complete graph $G \in {\mathcal G}$ is weak$^*$ $k$-truncated-degree-degenerate. In particular, for any surface $\Sigma$, there is a constant $k$ such that every 3-connected non-complete graph embeddable on $\Sigma$ is weak$^*$ $k$-truncated-degree-degenerate.

Authors:Asahi Takaoka

Abstract: A graph $G = (\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}, E)$ is $12$-representable if there is a word $w$ over $\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$ such that two vertices $i$ and $j$ with $i < j$ are adjacent if and only if every $j$ occurs before every $i$ in $w$. These graphs have been shown to be equivalent to the complements of simple-triangle graphs. This equivalence provides a characterization in terms of forbidden patterns in vertex orderings as well as a polynomial-time recognition algorithm. The class of $12$-representable graphs was introduced by Jones et al. (2015) as a variant of word-representable graphs. A general research direction for word-representable graphs suggested by Kitaev and Lozin (2015) is to study graphs representable by some specific types of words. For instance, Gao, Kitaev, and Zhang (2017) and Mandelshtam (2019) investigated word-representable graphs represented by pattern-avoiding words. Following this research direction, this paper studies $12$-representable graphs represented by words that avoid a pattern $p$. Such graphs are trivial when $p$ is of length $2$. When $p = 111$, $121$, $231$, and $321$, the classes of such graphs are equivalent to well-known classes, such as trivially perfect graphs and bipartite permutation graphs. For the cases where $p = 123$, $132$, and $211$, this paper provides forbidden pattern characterizations.

Authors:Michelle Delcourt, Catherine Greenhill, Mikhail Isaev, Bernard Lidický, Luke Postle

Abstract: We study $k$-star decompositions, that is, partitions of the edge set into disjoint stars with $k$ edges, in the uniformly random $d$-regular graph model $\mathcal{G}_{n,d}$. We prove an existence result for such decompositions for all $d,k$ such that $d/2 < k \leq d/2 + \max\{1,\frac{1}{6}\log d\}$. More generally, we give a sufficient existence condition that can be checked numerically for any given values of $d$ and $k$. Complementary negative results are obtained using the independence ratio of random regular graphs. Our results establish an existence threshold for $k$-star decompositions in $\mathcal{G}_{n,d}$ for all $d\leq 100$ and $k > d/2$, and strongly suggest the a.a.s. existence of such decompositions is equivalent to the a.a.s. existence of independent sets of size $(2k-d)n/(2k)$, subject to the necessary divisibility conditions on the number of vertices. For smaller values of $k$, the connection between $k$-star decompositions and $\beta$-orientations allows us to apply results of Thomassen (2012) and Lov\'asz, Thomassen, Wu and Zhang (2013). We prove that random $d$-regular graphs satisfy their assumptions with high probability, thus establishing a.a.s. existence of $k$-star decompositions (i) when $2k^2+k\leq d$, and (ii) when $k$ is odd and $k < d/2$.

Authors:Werner Schachinger

Abstract: Consider Young diagrams of $n$ boxes distributed according to the Plancherel measure. So those diagrams could be the output of the RSK algorithm, when applied to random permutations of the set $\{1,\ldots,n\}$. Here we are interested in asymptotics, as $n\to \infty$, of expectations of certain functions of random Young diagrams, such as the number of bumping steps of the RSK algorithm that leads to that diagram, the side length of its Durfee square, or the logarithm of its probability. We can express these functions in terms of hook lengths or contents of the boxes of the diagram, which opens the door for application of known polynomiality results for Plancherel averages. We thus obtain representations of expectations as binomial convolutions, that can be further analyzed with the help of Rice's integral or Poisson generating functions. Among our results is a very explicit expression for the constant appearing in the almost equipartition property of the Plancherel measure.

Authors:Jakob Hofstad

Abstract: The $d$-process generates a graph at random by starting with an empty graph with $n$ vertices, then adding edges one at a time uniformly at random among all pairs of vertices which have degrees at most $d-1$ and are not mutually joined. We show that, in the evolution of a random graph with $n$ vertices under the $d$-process, with high probability, for each $j \in \{0,1,\dots,d-2\}$, the minimum degree jumps from $j$ to $j+1$ when there are $\Theta(\ln(n)^{d-j-1})$ steps left. This answers a question of Ruci\'nski. More specifically, we show that, when the last vertex of degree $j$ disappears, the number of steps left divided by $\ln(n)^{d-j-1}$ converges in distribution to the exponential random variable of mean $\frac{j!}{2(d-1)!}$; furthermore, these $d-1$ distributions are independent.

Authors:Domagoj Bradač, Abhishek Methuku, Benny Sudakov

Abstract: In 1975, Erd\H{o}s asked the following natural question: What is the maximum number of edges that an $n$-vertex graph can have without containing a cycle with all diagonals? Erd\H{o}s observed that the upper bound $O(n^{5/3})$ holds since the complete bipartite graph $K_{3,3}$ can be viewed as a cycle of length six with all diagonals. In this paper, we resolve this old problem. We prove that there exists a constant $C$ such that every $n$-vertex with $Cn^{3/2}$ edges contains a cycle with all diagonals. Since any cycle with all diagonals contains cycles of length four, this bound is best possible using well-known constructions of graphs without a four-cycle based on finite geometry. Among other ideas, our proof involves a novel lemma about finding an `almost-spanning' robust expander which might be of independent interest.

Authors:Yury Kochetkov

Abstract: In this purely experimental work we try to represent the set of plane maps with 3 vertices and 3 faces as a bipartite ribbon graph. In particular, this construction allows one to estimate the genus of the initial set.

Authors:S. Akbari, M. Azimian, A. Fazli Khani, B. Samimi, E. Zahiri

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph. A total dominating set in a graph $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices of $G$ such that every vertex in $G$ is adjacent to a vertex in $S$. Recently, the following question was proposed: "Is it true that every connected cubic graph containing a $3$-cycle has two vertex disjoint total dominating sets?" In this paper, we give a negative answer to this question. Moreover, we prove that if we replace $3$-cycle with $4$-cycle the answer is affirmative. This implies every connected cubic graph containing a diamond (the complete graph of order $4$ minus one edge) as a subgraph can be partitioned into two total dominating sets, a result that was proved in 2017.

Authors:Luka Milićević

Abstract: Let $G$ and $H$ be finite-dimensional vector spaces over $\mathbb{F}_p$. A subset $A \subseteq G \times H$ is said to be transverse if all of its rows $\{x \in G \colon (x,y) \in A\}$, $y \in H$, are subspaces of $G$ and all of its columns $\{y \in H \colon (x,y) \in A\}$, $x \in G$, are subspaces of $H$. As a corollary of a bilinear version of Bogolyubov argument, Gowers and the author proved that dense transverse sets contain bilinear varieties of bounded codimension. In this paper, we provide a direct combinatorial proof of this fact. In particular, we improve the bounds and evade the use of Fourier analysis and Freiman's theorem and its variants.

Authors:Arseny M. Shur, Mikhail Rubinchik

Abstract: For an arbitrary finite family of graphs, the distance labeling problem asks to assign labels to all nodes of every graph in the family in a way that allows one to recover the distance between any two nodes of any graph from their labels. The main goal is to minimize the number of unique labels used. We study this problem for the families $\mathcal{C}_n$ consisting of cycles of all lengths between 3 and $n$. We observe that the exact solution for directed cycles is straightforward and focus on the undirected case. We design a labeling scheme requiring $\frac{n\sqrt{n}}{\sqrt{6}}+O(n)$ labels, which is almost twice less than is required by the earlier known scheme. Using the computer search, we find an optimal labeling for each $n\le 17$, showing that our scheme gives the results that are very close to the optimum.

Authors:Rui Li, Jinfeng Li, Di Wu

Abstract: A hereditary class $\cal G$ of graphs is {\em $\chi$-bounded} if there is a {\em $\chi$-binding function}, say $f$, such that $\chi(G)\le f(\omega(G))$ for every $G\in\cal G$, where $\chi(G)(\omega(G))$ denotes the chromatic (clique) number of $G$. It is known that for every $(P_3\cup P_2)$-free graph $G$, $\chi(G)\le \frac{1}{6}\omega(G)(\omega(G)+1)(\omega(G)+2)$ \cite{BA18}, and the class of $(2K_2, 3K_1)$-free graphs does not admit a linear $\chi$-binding function\cite{BBS19}. In this paper, we prove that (\romannumeral 1) $\chi(G)\le2\omega(G)$ if $G$ is ($P_3\cup P_2$, kite)-free, (\romannumeral 2) $\chi(G)\le\omega^2(G)$ if $G$ is ($P_3\cup P_2$, hammer)-free, (\romannumeral 3) $\chi(G)\le\frac{3\omega^2(G)+\omega(G)}{2}$ if $G$ is ($P_3\cup P_2, C_5$)-free. Furthermore, we also discuss $\chi$-binding functions for $(P_3\cup P_2, K_4)$-free graphs.

Authors:Jeffrey C. Lagarias, Chenyang Sun

Abstract: We consider two multiplicative statistics on the set of integer partitions: the norm of a partition, which is the product of its parts, and the supernorm of a partition, which is the product of the prime numbers $p_i$ indexed by its parts $i$. We introduce and study new statistics that are sums of reciprocals of supernorms on three statistical ensembles of partitions, labelled by their size $|\lambda|=n$, their perimeter equaling $n$, and their largest part equaling $n$. We show that the cumulative statistics of the reciprocal supernorm for each of the three ensembles are asymptotic to $e^{\gamma} \log n$ as $n \to \infty$.

Authors:Matteo Gallet, Georg Grasegger, Niels Lubbes, Josef Schicho

Abstract: We introduce a recursive procedure for computing the number of realizations of a minimally rigid graph on the sphere up to rotations. We accomplish this by combining two ingredients. The first is a framework that allows us to think of such realizations as of elements of a moduli space of stable rational curves with marked points. The second is the idea of splitting a minimally rigid graph into two subgraphs, called calligraphs, that admit one degree of freedom and that share only a single edge and a further vertex. This idea has been recently employed for realizations of graphs in the plane up to isometries. The key result is that we can associate to a calligraph a triple of natural numbers with a special property: whenever a minimally rigid graph is split into two calligraphs, the number of realizations of the former equals the product of the two triples of the latter, where this product is specified by a fixed quadratic form. These triples and quadratic form codify the fact that we express realizations as intersections of two curves on the blowup of a sphere along two pairs of complex conjugate points.

Authors:Noga Alon, Matija Bucić, Micha Cristoph, Michael Krivelevich

Abstract: A classical problem, due to Gerencs\'er and Gy\'arf\'as from 1967, asks how large a monochromatic connected component can we guarantee in any $r$-edge colouring of $K_n$? We consider how big a connected component can we guarantee in any $r$-edge colouring of $K_n$ if we allow ourselves to use up to $s$ colours. This is actually an instance of a more general question of Bollob\'as from about 20 years ago which asks for a $k$-connected subgraph in the same setting. We complete the picture in terms of the approximate behaviour of the answer by determining it up to a logarithmic term, provided $n$ is large enough. We obtain more precise results for certain regimes which solve a problem of Liu, Morris and Prince from 2007, as well as disprove a conjecture they pose in a strong form. We also consider a generalisation in a similar direction of a question first considered by Erd\H{o}s and R\'enyi in 1956, who considered given $n$ and $m$, what is the smallest number of $m$-cliques which can cover all edges of $K_n$? This problem is essentially equivalent to the question of what is the minimum number of vertices that are certain to be incident to at least one edge of some colour in any $r$-edge colouring of $K_n$. We consider what happens if we allow ourselves to use up to $s$ colours. We obtain a more complete understanding of the answer to this question for large $n$, in particular determining it up to a constant factor for all $1\le s \le r$, as well as obtaining much more precise results for various ranges including the correct asymptotics for essentially the whole range.

Authors:Aida Abiad, Maarten De Boeck, Sjanne Zeijlemaker

Abstract: A Neumaier graph is a non-complete edge-regular graph containing a regular clique. In this work, we prove several results on the existence of small strictly Neumaier graphs. In particular, we present a theoretical proof of the uniqueness of the smallest Neumaier graphs with parameters $(16,9,4;2,4)$, we establish the existence of $(25,12,5;2,5)$, and we disprove the existence of Neumaier graphs with parameters $(25,16,9;3,5)$, $(28,18,11;4,7)$, $(33,24,17;6,9)$, $(35,22,12;3,5)$ and $(55,30,18;3,5)$. Our proofs use combinatorial techniques and a novel application of integer programming methods.

Authors:Xiongfeng Zhan, Lu Lu, Xueyi Huang

Abstract: In [Distrance-regular Cayley graphs on dihedral groups, J. Combin. Theory Ser B 97 (2007) 14--33], Miklavi\v{c} and Poto\v{c}nik proposed the problem of characterizing distance-regular Cayley graphs, which can be viewed as an extension of the problem of identifying strongly regular Cayley graphs, or equivalently, regular partial difference sets. In this paper, all distance-regular Cayley graphs over $\mathbb{Z}_{p^s}\oplus\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ with $p$ being an odd prime are determined. It is shown that every such graph is isomorphic to a complete graph, a complete multipartite graph, or the line graph of a transversal design $TD(r,p)$ with $2\leq r\leq p-1$.

Authors:Aryaman Jal, Katharina Jochemko

Abstract: For any polyhedral norm, the bisector of two points is a polyhedral complex. We study combinatorial aspects of this complex. We investigate the sensitivity of the presence of labelled maximal cells in the bisector relative to the position of the two points. We thereby extend work of Criado, Joswig and Santos (2022) who showed that for the tropical distance function the presence of maximal cells is encoded by a polyhedral fan, the bisection fan. We initiate the study of bisection cones and bisection fans with respect to arbitrary polyhedral norms. In particular, we show that the bisection fan always exists for polyhedral norms in two dimensions. Furthermore, we determine the bisection fan of the $\ell_{1}$-norm and the $\ell_{\infty}$-norm as well as the discrete Wasserstein distance in arbitrary dimensions. Intricate combinatorial structures, such as the resonance arrangement, make their appearance. We apply our results to obtain bounds on the combinatorial complexity of the bisectors.

Authors:Serafino Cicerone, Alessia Di Fonso, Gabriele Di Stefano, Alfredo Navarra, Francesco Piselli

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph and $X\subseteq V(G)$. Then, vertices $x$ and $y$ of $G$ are $X$-visible if there exists a shortest $u,v$-path where no internal vertices belong to $X$. The set $X$ is a mutual-visibility set of $G$ if every two vertices of $X$ are $X$-visible, while $X$ is a total mutual-visibility set if any two vertices from $V(G)$ are $X$-visible. The cardinality of a largest mutual-visibility set (resp. total mutual-visibility set) is the mutual-visibility number (resp. total mutual-visibility number) $\mu(G)$ (resp. $\mu_t(G)$) of $G$. It is known that computing $\mu(G)$ is an NP-complete problem, as well as $\mu_t(G)$. In this paper, we study the (total) mutual-visibility in hypercube-like networks (namely, hypercubes, cube-connected cycles, and butterflies). Concerning computing $\mu(G)$, we provide approximation algorithms for both hypercubes and cube-connected cycles, while we give an exact formula for butterflies. Concerning computing $\mu_t(G)$ (in the literature, already studied in hypercubes), we provide exact formulae for both cube-connected cycles and butterflies.

Authors:Kağan Kurşungöz, Halime Ömrüuzun Seyrek

Abstract: We show that cylindric partitions are in one-to-one correspondence with a pair which has an ordinary partition and a colored partition into distinct parts. Then, we show the general form of the generating function for cylindric partitions into distinct parts and give some examples. We prove part of a conjecture by Corteel, Dousse, and Uncu. With due computational support; the other part of Corteel, Dousse, and Uncu's conjecture, which also appeared in Warnaar's work, is extended. The approaches and proofs are elementary and combinatorial.

Authors:Alexander Guterman, Igor Spiridonov

Abstract: Let ${\rm Mat}_n(\mathbb{F})$ denote the set of square $n\times n$ matrices over a field $\mathbb{F}$ of characteristic different from two. The permanental rank ${\rm prk}\,(A)$ of a matrix $A \in{\rm Mat}_{n}(\mathbb{F})$ is the size of the maximal square submatrix in $A$ with nonzero permanent. By $\Lambda^{k}$ and $\Lambda^{\leq k}$ we denote the subsets of matrices $A \in {\rm Mat}_{n}(\mathbb{F})$ with ${\rm prk}\,(A) = k$ and ${\rm prk}\,(A) \leq k$, respectively. In this paper for each $1 \leq k \leq n-1$ we obtain a complete characterization of linear maps $T: {\rm Mat}_{n}(\mathbb{F}) \to {\rm Mat}_{n}(\mathbb{F})$ satisfying $T(\Lambda^{\leq k}) = \Lambda^{\leq k}$ or bijective linear maps satisfying $T(\Lambda^{\leq k}) \subseteq \Lambda^{\leq k}$. Moreover, we show that if $\mathbb{F}$ is an infinite field, then $\Lambda^{k}$ is Zariski dense in $\Lambda^{\leq k}$ and apply this to describe such bijective linear maps satisfying $T(\Lambda^{k}) \subseteq \Lambda^{k}$.

Authors:Daniel Chen

Abstract: A closed form is found for the expected number of rolls of a fair n-sided die until three consecutive increasing values are seen. The answer is rational, and the greatest common divisor of the numerator and denominator is given in terms of n. As n goes to infinity, the probability generating function is found for the limiting case, which is also the exponential generating function for permutations ending in a double rise and without other double rises. Thus exact values are found for the limiting expectation and variance, which are approximately 7.92437 and 27.98133 respectively.

Authors:Irene Heinrich, Simon Raßmann

Abstract: The twin-width of a graph measures its distance to co-graphs and generalizes classical width concepts such as tree-width or rank-width. Since its introduction in 2020 (Bonnet et. al. 2020), a mass of new results has appeared relating twin width to group theory, model theory, combinatorial optimization, and structural graph theory. We take a detailed look at the interplay between the twin-width of a graph and the twin-width of its components under tree-structured decompositions: We prove that the twin-width of a graph is at most twice its strong tree-width, contrasting nicely with the result of (Bonnet and D\'epr\'es 2022), which states that twin-width can be exponential in tree-width. Further, we employ the fundamental concept from structural graph theory of decomposing a graph into highly connected components, in order to obtain an optimal linear bound on the twin-width of a graph given the widths of its biconnected components. For triconnected components we obtain a linear upper bound if we add red edges to the components indicating the splits which led to the components. Extending this approach to quasi-4-connectivity, we obtain a quadratic upper bound. Finally, we investigate how the adhesion of a tree decomposition influences the twin-width of the decomposed graph.

Authors:Andras Hubai, Tamas Robert Mezei, Ferenc Beres, Andras Benczur, Istvan Miklos

Abstract: Partite, $3$-uniform hypergraphs are $3$-uniform hypergraphs in which each hyperedge contains exactly one point from each of the $3$ disjoint vertex classes. We consider the degree sequence problem of partite, $3$-uniform hypergraphs, that is, to decide if such a hypergraph with prescribed degree sequences exists. We prove that this decision problem is NP-complete in general, and give a polynomial running time algorithm for third almost-regular degree sequences, that is, when each degree in one of the vertex classes is $k$ or $k-1$ for some fixed $k$, and there is no restriction for the other two vertex classes. We also consider the sampling problem, that is, to uniformly sample partite, $3$-uniform hypergraphs with prescribed degree sequences. We propose a Parallel Tempering method, where the hypothetical energy of the hypergraphs measures the deviation from the prescribed degree sequence. The method has been implemented and tested on synthetic and real data. It can also be applied for $\chi^2$ testing of contingency tables. We have shown that this hypergraph-based $\chi^2$ test is more sensitive than the standard $\chi^2$ test. The extra sensitivity is especially advantageous on small data sets, where the proposed Parallel Tempering method shows promising performance.

Authors:Deepak Bal, Louis DeBiasio, Allan Lo

Abstract: The $r$-color size-Ramsey number of a $k$-uniform hypergraph~$H$, denoted by $\hat{R}_r(H)$, is the minimum number of edges in a $k$-uniform hypergraph $G$ such that for every $r$-coloring of the edges of $G$ there exists a monochromatic copy of $H$. When $H$ is a graph path, it is known that $\Omega(r^2n)=\hat{R}_r(P_n)=O((r^2\log r)n)$ with the best bounds essentially due to Krivelevich. Letzter, Pokrovskiy, and Yepremyan~\cite{LPY} recently proved that, for the $k$-uniform tight path $P_{n}^{(k)}$, $\hat{R}_r(P_{n}^{(k)})=O_{r,k}(n)$. We consider the problem of giving a lower bound on $\hat{R}_r(P_{n}^{(k)})$ (for fixed $k$ and growing $r$). We show that $\hat{R}_r(P_n^{(k)})=\Omega_k(r^kn)$. In the case $k=3$, we give a more precise estimate which in particular improves the best known lower bound for $2$ colors due to Winter; i.e. we show $\hat{R}(P^{(3)}_{n})\geq \frac{28}{9}n-30$. All of our results above generalize to $\ell$-overlapping $k$-uniform paths $P_{n}^{(k, \ell)}$. In general we have $\hat{R}_r ( P_{n}^{(k, \ell)} ) = \Omega_k( r^{\left\lfloor \frac{k}{k-\ell} \right\rfloor } n)$, and when $1\leq \ell\leq \frac{k}{2}$ we have $\hat{R}_r(P_{n}^{(k, \ell)})=\Omega_k(r^{2}n)$.

Authors:Criel Merino, Iain Moffatt, Steven Noble

Abstract: Motivated by the appearance of embeddings in the theory of chip firing and the critical group of a graph, we introduce a version of the critical group (or sandpile group) for combinatorial maps, that is, for graphs embedded in orientable surfaces. We provide several definitions of our critical group, by approaching it through analogues of the cycle-cocycle matrix, the Laplacian matrix, and as the group of critical states of a chip firing game (or sandpile model) on the edges of a map. Our group can be regarded as a perturbation of the classical critical group of its underlying graph by topological information, and it agrees with the classical critical group in the plane case. Its cardinality is equal to the number of spanning quasi-trees in a connected map, just as the cardinality of the classical critical group is equal to the number of spanning trees of a connected graph. Our approach exploits the properties of principally unimodular matrices and the methods of delta-matroid theory.

Authors:Ilay Hoshen, Wojciech Samotij

Abstract: Let $H$ be a graph with $\chi(H) = r+1$. Simonovits's theorem states that, if $H$ is edge-critical, the unique largest $H$-free subgraph of $K_n$ is its largest $r$-partite subgraph, provided that $n$ is sufficiently large. We show that the same holds with $K_n$ replaced by the binomial random graph $G_{n,p}$ whenever $H$ is also strictly $2$-balanced and $p \ge (\theta_H+o(1)) n^{-\frac{1}{m_2(H)}} (\log n)^{\frac{1}{e_H-1}}$ for some explicit constant $\theta_H$, which we believe to be optimal. This (partially) resolves a conjecture of DeMarco and Kahn.

Authors:Kendra Killpatrick

Abstract: Catalan observed in 1874 that the numbers $S(m,n) = \frac{(2m)! (2n)!}{m! n! (m+n)!}$, now called the super Catalan numbers, are integers but there is still no known combinatorial interpretation for them in general, although interpretations have been given for the case $m=2$ and for $S(m, m+s)$ for $0 \leq s \leq 3$. In this paper, we define the super FiboCatalan numbers $S(m,n)_F = \frac{F_{2m}! F_{2n}!}{F_m! F_n! F_{m+n}!}$ and prove they are integers for $m=1$ and $m=2$. In addition, we prove that $S(m, m+s)_F$ is an integer for $0 \leq s \leq 4$.

Authors:Fábio Botler, Wanderson Lomenha, João Pedro de Souza

Abstract: We say that a sequence $a_1 \cdots a_{2t}$ of integers is repetitive if $a_i = a_{i+t}$ for every $i\in\{1,\ldots,t\}$. A walk in a graph $G$ is a sequence $v_1 \cdots v_r$ of vertices of $G$ in which $v_iv_{i+1}\in E(G)$ for every $i\in\{1,\ldots,r-1\}$. Given a $k$-coloring $c\colon V(G)\to\{1,\ldots,k\}$ of $V(G)$, we say that $c$ is walk-nonrepetitive (resp. stroll-nonrepetitive) if for every $t\in\mathbb{N}$ and every walk $v_1\cdots v_{2t}$ the sequence $c(v_1) \cdots c(v_{2t})$ is not repetitive unless $v_i = v_{i+t}$ for every $i\in\{1,\ldots,t\}$ (resp. unless $v_i = v_{i+t}$ for some $i\in\{1,\ldots,t\}$). The walk (resp. stroll) chromatic number $\sigma(G)$ (resp. $\rho(G)$) of $G$ is the minimum $k$ for which $G$ has a walk-nonrepetitive (resp. stroll-nonrepetitive) $k$-coloring. Let $C_n$ and $P_n$ denote, respectively, the cycle and the path with $n$ vertices. In this paper we present three results that answer questions posed by Bar\'at and Wood in 2008: (i) $\sigma(C_n) = 4$ whenever $n\geq 4$ and $n \notin\{5,7\}$; (ii) $\rho(P_n) = 3$ if $3\leq n\leq 21$ and $\rho(P_n) = 4$ otherwise; and (iii) $\rho(C_n) = 4$, whenever $n \notin\{3,4,6,8\}$, and $\rho(C_n) = 3$ otherwise. In particular, (ii) improves bounds on $n$ obtained by Tao in 2023.

Authors:Bryce Frederickson, Liana Yepremyan

Abstract: For $B \subseteq \mathbb F_q^m$, the $n$-th affine extremal number of $B$ is the maximum cardinality of a set $A \subseteq \mathbb F_q^n$ with no subset which is affinely isomorphic to $B$. Furstenberg and Katznelson proved that for any $B \subseteq \mathbb F_q^m$, the $n$-th affine extremal number of $B$ is $o(q^n)$ as $n \to \infty$. By counting affine homomorphisms between subsets of $\mathbb F_q^n$, we derive new bounds and give new proofs of some previously known bounds for certain affine extremal numbers. At the same time, we establish corresponding supersaturation results. We connect these bounds to certain Ramsey-type numbers in vector spaces over finite fields. For $s,t \geq 1$, let $R_q(s,t)$ denote the minimum $n$ such that in every red-blue coloring of the one-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb F_q^n$, there is either a red $s$-dimensional subspace or a blue $t$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb F_q^n$. The existence of these numbers is a special case of a well-known theorem of Graham, Leeb, Rothschild. We improve the best known upper bounds on $R_2(2,t)$, $R_3(2,t)$, $R_2(t,t)$, and $R_3(t,t)$.

Authors:Christoph Helmberg, Guilherme Porto, Guilherme Torres, Vilmar Trevisan

Abstract: We show that for threshold graphs, the eigenvalues of the signless Laplacian matrix interlace with the degrees of the vertices. As an application, we show that the signless Brouwer conjecture holds for threshold graphs, i.e., for threshold graphs the sum of the k largest eigenvalues is bounded by the number of edges plus k + 1 choose 2.

Authors:Ian Gossett

Abstract: We define signable, generalized signable, and $Z$-signable correspondence assignments on multigraphs, which generalize good correspondence assignments as introduced by Kaul and Mudrock. DP-colorings from these classes generalize signed colorings, signed $\mathbb{Z}_p$-colorings, and signed list colorings of signed graphs. We introduce an auxiliary digraph that allows us to prove an Alon-Tarsi style theorem for DP-colorings from $Z$-signable correspondence assignments on multigraphs, and obtain three DP-coloring analogs of the Alon-Tarsi theorem as corollaries.

Authors:Andreas Bäuerle

Abstract: We present sharp upper bounds on the volume, Mahler volume and multiplicity for Fano simplices depending on the dimension and Gorenstein index. These bounds rely on the interplay between lattice simplices and unit fraction partitions. Moreover, we present an efficient procedure for explicitly classifying Fano simplicies of any dimension and Gorenstein index and we carry out the classification up to dimension four for various Gorenstein indices.

Authors:Marine Cases-Thomas

Abstract: In an introductory paper on dollar game played on a graph, Matt Baker wrote the following: ``The total number of borrowing moves required to win the game when playing the 'borrowing binge strategy' is independent of which borrowing moves you do in which order! Note, however, that it is usually possible to win in fewer moves by employing lending moves in combination with borrowing moves. The optimal strategy when one uses both kinds of moves is not yet understood.'' In this article, we give a lower bound on the minimum number $ M_{\text{min}} $ of such moves of an optimal algorithm in terms of the number of moves $ M_0 $ of the borrowing binge strategy. Concretely, we have: $ M_{\text{min}} \geq \frac{M_0}{n-1} $ where $ n $ is the number of vertices of the graph. This bound is tight.

Authors:Stijn Cambie, Guantao Chen, Yanli Hao, Nizamettin Tokar

Abstract: The mean subtree order of a given graph $G$, denoted $\mu(G)$, is the average number of vertices in a subtree of $G$. Let $G$ be a connected graph. Chin, Gordon, MacPhee, and Vincent [J. Graph Theory, 89(4): 413-438, 2018] conjectured that if $H$ is a proper spanning supergraph of $G$, then $\mu(H) > \mu(G)$. Cameron and Mol [J. Graph Theory, 96(3): 403-413, 2021] disproved this conjecture by showing that there are infinitely many pairs of graphs $H$ and $G$ with $H\supset G$, $V(H)=V(G)$ and $|E(H)|= |E(G)|+1$ such that $\mu(H) < \mu(G)$. They also conjectured that for every positive integer $k$, there exists a pair of graphs $G$ and $H$ with $H\supset G$, $V(H)=V(G)$ and $|E(H)| = |E(G)| +k$ such that $\mu(H) < \mu(G)$. Furthermore, they proposed that $\mu(K_m+nK_1) < \mu(K_{m, n})$ provided $n\gg m$. In this note, we confirm these two conjectures.

Authors:Riccardo W. Maffucci

Abstract: Recent literature posed the problem of characterising the graph degree sequences with exactly one $3$-polytopal (i.e. planar, $3$-connected) realisation. This seems to be a difficult problem in full generality. In this paper, we characterise the sequences with exactly one self-dual $3$-polytopal realisation. An algorithm in the literature constructs a self-dual $3$-polytope for any admissible degree sequence. To do so, it performs operations on the radial graph, so that the corresponding $3$-polytope and its dual are modified in exactly the same way. To settle our question and construct the relevant graphs, we apply this algorithm, we introduce some modifications of it, and we also devise new ones. The speed of these algorithms is linear in the graph order.

Authors:Luka Milićević

Abstract: A classical result in additive combinatorics, which is a combination of Balog-Szemer\'edi-Gowers theorem and a variant of Freiman's theorem due to Ruzsa, says that if a subset $A$ of $\mathbb{F}_p^n$ contains at least $c |A|^3$ additive quadruples, then there exists a subspace $V$, comparable in size to $A$, such that $|A \cap V| \geq \Omega_c(|A|)$. Motivated by the fact that higher order approximate algebraic structures play an important role in the theory of uniformity norms, it would be of interest to find higher order analogues of the mentioned result. In this paper, we study a quadratic version of the approximate property in question, namely what it means for a set to be an approximate quadratic variety. It turns out that information on the number of additive cubes, which are 8-tuples of the form $(x, x+ a,$ $x+ b, x+ c,$ $x+ a + b, x+ a + c,$ $x+ b + c, x+ a + b + c)$, in a set is insufficient on its own to guarantee quadratic structure, and it is necessary to restrict linear structure in a given set, which is a natural assumption in this context. With this in mind, we say that a subset $V$ of a finite vector space $G$ is a $(c_0, \delta, \varepsilon)$-approximate quadratic variety if $|V| = \delta |G|$, $\|1_V - \delta\|_{\mathsf{U}^2} \leq \varepsilon$ and $V$ contains at least $c_0\delta^7 |G|^4$ additive cubes. Our main result is the structure theorem for approximate quadratic varieties, stating that such a set has a large intersection with an exact quadratic variety of comparable size.

Authors:Gwenaël Joret, Piotr Micek, Michał Pilipczuk, Bartosz Walczak

Abstract: We prove that every poset with bounded cliquewidth and with sufficiently large dimension contains the standard example of dimension $k$ as a subposet. This applies in particular to posets whose cover graphs have bounded treewidth, as the cliquewidth of a poset is bounded in terms of the treewidth of the cover graph. For the latter posets, we prove a stronger statement: every such poset with sufficiently large dimension contains the Kelly example of dimension $k$ as a subposet. Using this result, we obtain a full characterization of the minor-closed graph classes $\mathcal{C}$ such that posets with cover graphs in $\mathcal{C}$ have bounded dimension: they are exactly the classes excluding the cover graph of some Kelly example. Finally, we consider a variant of poset dimension called Boolean dimension, and we prove that posets with bounded cliquewidth have bounded Boolean dimension. The proofs rely on Colcombet's deterministic version of Simon's factorization theorem, which is a fundamental tool in formal language and automata theory, and which we believe deserves a wider recognition in structural and algorithmic graph theory.

Authors:Ruijie Xu

Abstract: Enumeration of quarter-plane lattice walks with small steps is a classical problem in combinatorics. An effective approach is the kernel method and the solution is derived by positive term extraction. Another approach is to reduce the lattice walk problem to a Carleman type Riemann boundary value problem (RBVP) and solve it by complex analysis. There are two parameter characterizing the solutions of a Carleman type Riemann Boundary value problem, the index $\chi$ and the conformal gluing function $w(x)$. In this paper, we propose a combinatorial insight to the RBVP approach. We show that the index can be treated as the canonical factorization in the kernel method and the conformal gluing function can be turned into a conformal mapping such that after this mapping, the positive degree terms and the negative degree terms can be naturally separated. The combinatorial insight of RBVP provide a connection between the kernel method, the RBVP approach and the Tutte's invariant method.

Authors:Bérénice Delcroix-Oger, Guillaume Laplante-Anfossi, Vincent Pilaud, Kurt Stoeckl

Abstract: We provide a systematic enumerative and combinatorial study of geometric cellular diagonals on the permutahedra. In the first part of the paper, we study the combinatorics of certain hyperplane arrangements obtained as the union of $\ell$ generically translated copies of the classical braid arrangement. Based on Zaslavsky's theory, we derive enumerative results on the faces of these arrangements involving combinatorial objects named partition forests and rainbow forests. This yields in particular nice formulas for the number of regions and bounded regions in terms of exponentials of generating functions of Fuss-Catalan numbers. By duality, the specialization of these results to the case $\ell = 2$ gives the enumeration of any geometric diagonal of the permutahedron. In the second part of the paper, we study diagonals which respect the operadic structure on the family of permutahedra. We show that there are exactly two such diagonals, which are moreover isomorphic. We describe their facets by a simple rule on paths in partition trees, and their vertices as pattern-avoiding pairs of permutations. We show that one of these diagonals is a topological enhancement of the Sanbeblidze-Umble diagonal, and unravel a natural lattice structure on their sets of facets. In the third part of the paper, we use the preceding results to show that there are precisely two isomorphic topological cellular operadic structures on the families of operahedra and multiplihedra, and exactly two infinity-isomorphic geometric universal tensor products of homotopy operads and A-infinity morphisms.

Authors:Rui Song, Saihua Liu, Jianping Ou

Abstract: Graovac-Ghorbani index is a new version of the atom-bond connectivity index. D. Pacheco et al. [D. Pacheco, L. de Lima, C. S. Oliveira, On the Graovac-Ghorbani Index for Bicyclic Graph with No Pendent Vertices, MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 86 (2021) 429-448] conjectured a sharp lower and upper bounds to the Graovac-Ghorbani index for all bicyclic graphs. Motivated by their nice work, in this paper we determine the maximal Graovac-Ghorbani index of bicyclic graphs and characterize the corresponding extremal graphs, which solves one of their Conjectures.

Authors:Daniel Orr, Mark Shimozono

Abstract: Wreath Macdonald polynomials arise from the geometry of $\Gamma$-fixed loci of Hilbert schemes of points in the plane, where $\Gamma$ is a finite cyclic group of order $r\ge 1$. For $r=1$, they recover the classical (modified) Macdonald symmetric functions through Haiman's geometric realization of these functions. The existence, integrality, and positivity of wreath Macdonald polynomials for $r>1$ was conjectured by Haiman and first proved in work of Bezrukavnikov and Finkelberg by means of an equivalence of derived categories. Despite the power of this approach, a lack of explicit tools providing direct access to wreath Macdonald polynomials -- in the spirit of Macdonald's original works -- has limited progress in the subject. A recent result of Wen provides a remarkable set of such tools, packaged in the representation theory of quantum toroidal algebras. In this article, we survey Wen's result along with the basic theory of wreath Macdonald polynomials, including its geometric foundations and the role of bigraded reflection functors in the construction of wreath analogs of the $\nabla$ operator. We also formulate new conjectures on the values of important constants arising in the theory of wreath Macdonald $P$-polynomials. A variety of examples are used to illustrate these objects and constructions throughout the paper.

Authors:Robin Kaiser, Ecaterina Sava-Huss

Abstract: We investigate the identity element of the sandpile group on finite approximations of the Sierpinski gasket with normal boundary conditions and show that the sequence of piecewise constant continuations of the identity elements on SG_n converges in the weak* topology to the constant function with value 8/3 on the Sierpinski gasket SG. We then generalize the proof to a wider range of functions and obtain the scaling limit for the identity elements with different choices of sink vertices.

Authors:Michael D. Barrus, Ann N. Trenk, Rebecca Whitman

Abstract: A graph with degree sequence $\pi$ is a \emph{unigraph} if it is isomorphic to every graph that has degree sequence $\pi$. The class of unigraphs is not hereditary and in this paper we study the related hereditary class HCU, the hereditary closure of unigraphs, consisting of all graphs induced in a unigraph. We characterize the class HCU in multiple ways making use of the tools of a decomposition due to Tyshkevich and a partial order on degree sequences due to Rao. We also provide a new characterization of the class that consists of unigraphs for which all induced subgraphs are also unigraphs.

Authors:Sean McGuinness

Abstract: A matroid M is cyclically orderable if there is a cyclic permutation of the elements of M such that any r consecutive elements form a basis in M. An old conjecture of Kajitani, Miyano, and Ueno states that a matroid M is cyclically orderable if and only if for all nonempty subsets X in E(M), |X|/r(M) is less than or equal to |E(M)|/r(M). In this paper, we verify this conjecture for all paving matroids.

Authors:Michael Anastos, Zhihan Jin, Matthew Kwan, Benny Sudakov

Abstract: An ordered $r$-matching is an $r$-uniform hypergraph matching equipped with an ordering on its vertices. These objects can be viewed as natural generalisations of $r$-dimensional orders. The theory of ordered 2-matchings is well-developed and has connections and applications to extremal and enumerative combinatorics, probability, and geometry. On the other hand, in the case $r \ge 3$ much less is known, largely due to a lack of powerful bijective tools. Recently, Dudek, Grytczuk and Ruci\'nski made some first steps towards a general theory of ordered $r$-matchings, and in this paper we substantially improve several of their results and introduce some new directions of study. Many intriguing open questions remain.

Authors:Chun-Hung Liu

Abstract: Assouad-Nagata dimension addresses both large and small scale behaviors of metric spaces and is a refinement of Gromov's asymptotic dimension. A metric space $M$ is a minor-closed metric if there exists an (edge)-weighted graph $G$ in a fixed minor-closed family such that the underlying space of $M$ is the vertex-set of $G$, and the metric of $M$ is the distance function in $G$. Minor-closed metrics naturally arise when removing redundant edges of the underlying graphs by using edge-deletion and edge-contraction. In this paper, we determine the Assouad-Nagata dimension of every minor-closed metric. It is a common generalization of known results for the asymptotic dimension of $H$-minor free unweighted graphs and the Assouad-Nagata dimension of some 2-dimensional continuous spaces (e.g.\ complete Rienmannian surfaces with finite Euler genus) and their corollaries.

Authors:Richard Lang

Abstract: In the perfect tiling problem, we aim to cover the vertices of a hypergraph $G$ with pairwise vertex-disjoint copies of a hypergraph $F$. There are three essentially necessary conditions for such a perfect tiling, which correspond to barriers in space, divisibility and covering. It is natural to ask in which situations these conditions are also asymptotically sufficient. Our main result confirms this for all hypergraph families that are approximately closed under taking typical induced subgraphs of constant order. Among others, this includes families parametrised by minimum degrees and quasirandomness, which have been studied extensively in this area. As an application, we recover and extend a series of well-known results for perfect tilings in hypergraphs and related settings involving vertex orderings and rainbow structures.

Authors:Tianhang Lu, Han Xian, Qizhi Fang

Abstract: We study the approximate core for edge cover games, which are cooperative games stemming from edge cover problems. In these games, each player controls a vertex on a network $G = (V, E; w)$, and the cost of a coalition $S\subseteq V$ is equivalent to the minimum weight of edge covers in the subgraph induced by $S$. We prove that the 3/4-core of edge cover games is always non-empty and can be computed in polynomial time by using linear program duality approach. This ratio is the best possible, as it represents the integrality gap of the natural LP for edge cover problems. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the ratio of approximate core corresponds with the length of the shortest odd cycle of underlying graphs.

Authors:Santanu Mandal, Pallabi Manna

Abstract: Let $G$ be a group. The intersection subgroup graph of $G$ (introduced by Anderson et al. \cite{anderson}) is the simple graph $\Gamma_{S}(G)$ whose vertices are those non-trivial subgroups say $H$ of $G$ with $H\cap K=\{e\}$ for some non-trivial subgroup $K$ of $G$; two distinct vertices $H$ and $K$ are adjacent if and only if $H\cap K=\{e\}$, where $e$ is the identity element of $G$. In this communication, we explore the groups whose intersection subgroup graph belongs to several significant graph classes including cluster graphs, perfect graphs, cographs, chordal graphs, bipartite graphs, triangle-free and claw-fee graphs. We categorize each nilpotent group $G$ so that $\Gamma_S(G)$ belongs to the above classes. We entirely classify the simple group of Lie type whose intersection subgroup graph is a cograph. Moreover, we deduce that $\Gamma_{S}(G)$ is neither a cograph nor a chordal graph if $G$ is a torsion-free nilpotent group.

Authors:Maria Axenovich

Abstract: A graph is cubical if it is a subgraph of a hypercube. For a cubical graph $H$ and a hypercube $Q_n$, $ex(Q_n, H)$ is the largest number of edges in an $H$-free subgraph of $Q_n$. If $ex(Q_n, H)$ is at least a positive proportion of the number of edges in $Q_n$, $H$ is said to have a positive Tur\'an density in a hypercube or simply a positive Tur\'an density; otherwise it has a zero Tur\'an density. Determining $ex(Q_n, H)$ and even identifying whether $H$ has a positive or a zero Tur\'an density remains a widely open question for general $H$. By relating extremal numbers in a hypercube and certain corresponding hypergraphs, Conlon found a large class of cubical graphs, ones having so-called partite representation, that have a zero Tur\'an density. He raised a question whether this gives a characterisation, i.e., whether a cubical graph has zero Tur\'an density if and only if it has partite representation. Here, we show that, as suspected by Conlon, this is not the case. We give an example of a class of cubical graphs which have no partite representation, but on the other hand, have a zero Tur\'an density. In addition, we show that any graph whose every block has partite representation has a zero Tur\'an density in a hypercube.

Authors:Asamin Khaefi, Zeinab Akhlaghi, Behrooz Khosravi

Abstract: A subset $C$ of the vertex set of a graph $\Gamma$ is said to be $(a,b)$-regular if $C$ induces an $a$-regular subgraph and every vertex outside $C$ is adjacent to exactly $b$ vertices in $C$. In particular, if $C$ is an $(a,b)$-regular set of some Cayley graph on a finite group $G$, then $C$ is called an $(a,b)$-regular set of $G$ and a $(0,1)$-regular set is called a perfect code of $G$. In [Wang, Xia and Zhou, Regular sets in Cayley graphs, J. Algebr. Comb., 2022] it is proved that if $H$ is a normal subgroup of $G$, then $H$ is a perfect code of $G$ if and only if it is an $(a,b)$-regular set of $G$, for each $0\leq a\leq|H|-1$ and $0\leq b\leq|H|$ with $\gcd(2,|H|-1)\mid a$. In this paper, we generalize this result and show that a subgroup $H$ of $G$ is a perfect code of $G$ if and only if it is an $(a,b)$-regular set of $G$, for each $0\leq a\leq|H|-1$ and $0\leq b\leq|H|$ such that $\gcd(2,|H|-1)$ divides $a$.

Authors:Nolan Ison, Mark Kempton, Franklin Kenter

Abstract: We determine upper and lower bounds on the zero forcing number of 2-connected outerplanar graphs in terms of the structure of the weak dual. We show that the upper bound is always at most half the number of vertices of the graph. This work generalizes work of Hern\'andez, Ranilla and Ranilla-Cortina who proved a similar result for maximal outerplanar graphs.

Authors:Mojtaba Jazaeri

Abstract: A Neumaier graph is a non-complete edge-regular graph with the property that it has a regular clique. In this paper, we study Neumaier Cayley graphs. We give a necessary and sufficient condition under which a Neumaier Cayley graph is a strongly regular Neumaier Cayley graph. We also characterize Neumaier Cayley graphs with small valency at most $10$.

Authors:John Machacek

Abstract: Breuer and Klivans defined a diverse class of scheduling problems in terms of Boolean formulas with atomic clauses that are inequalities. We consider what we call graph-like scheduling problems. These are Boolean formulas that are conjunctions of disjunctions of atomic clauses $(x_i \neq x_j)$. These problems generalize proper coloring in graphs and hypergraphs. We focus on the existence of a solution with all $x_i$ taking the value of $0$ or $1$ (i.e. problems analogous to the bipartite case). When a graph-like scheduling problem has such a solution, we say it has property B just as is done for $2$-colorable hypergraphs. We define the notion of a $\lambda$-uniform graph-like scheduling problem for any integer partition $\lambda$. Some bounds are attained for the size of the smallest $\lambda$-uniform graph-like scheduling problems without property B. We make use of both random and constructive methods to obtain bounds. Just as in the case of hypergraphs finding tight bounds remains an open problem.

Authors:Kyriakos Katsamaktsis, Shoham Letzter, Alexey Pokrovskiy, Benny Sudakov

Abstract: A typical theme for many well-known decomposition problems is to show that some obvious necessary conditions for decomposing a graph $G$ into copies $H_1, \ldots, H_m$ are also sufficient. One such problem was posed in 1987, by Alavi, Boals, Chartrand, Erd\H{o}s, and Oellerman. They conjectured that the edges of every graph with $\binom{m+1}2$ edges can be decomposed into subgraphs $H_1, \dots, H_m$ such that each $H_i$ has $i$ edges and is isomorphic to a subgraph of $H_{i+1}$. In this paper we prove this conjecture for sufficiently large $m$.

Authors:Zhuowei Lin, Simon C. Y. Peng, Sophie C. C. Sun

Abstract: For a subset $D$ of boxes in an $n\times n$ square grid, let $\chi_{D}(x)$ denote the dual character of the flagged Weyl module associated to $D$. It is known that $\chi_{D}(x)$ specifies to a Schubert polynomial (resp., a key polynomial) in the case when $D$ is the Rothe diagram of a permutation (resp., the skyline diagram of a composition). One can naturally define a lower and an upper bound of $\chi_{D}(x)$. M{\'e}sz{\'a}ros, St. Dizier and Tanjaya conjectured that $\chi_{D}(x)$ attains the upper bound if and only if $D$ avoids a certain subdiagram. We provide a proof of this conjecture.

Authors:Sutanoya Chakraborty, Arijit Ghosh, Soumi Nandi

Abstract: We give necessary and sufficient condition for an infinite collection of axis-parallel boxes in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ to be pierceable by finitely many axis-parallel $k$-flats, where $0 \leq k < d$. We also consider colorful generalizations of the above result and establish their feasibility. The problem considered in this paper is an infinite variant of the Hadwiger-Debrunner $(p,q)$-problem.

Authors:Sutanoya Chakraborty, Arijit Ghosh, Soumi Nandi

Abstract: We give a generalization of dimension independent Helly Theorem of Adiprasito, B\'{a}r\'{a}ny, Mustafa, and Terpai (Discrete & Computational Geometry 2022) to higher dimensional transversal. We also prove some impossibility results that establish the tightness of our extension.

Authors:Taiping Jiang, Xinmin Hou

Abstract: Given two graphs $G$ and $H$, the {Ramsey number} $R(G,H)$ is the smallest positive integer $N$ such that every 2-coloring of the edges of $K_{N}$ contains either a red $G$ or a blue $H$. Let $K_{N-1}\sqcup K_{1,k}$ be the graph obtained from $K_{N-1}$ by adding a new vertex $v$ connecting $k$ vertices of $K_{N-1}$. Hook and Isaak (2011) defined the {\em star-critical Ramsey number} $r_{*}(G,H)$ as the smallest integer $k$ such that every 2-coloring of the edges of $K_{N-1}\sqcup K_{1,k}$ contains either a red $G$ or a blue $H$, where $N=R(G, H)$. For sufficiently large $n$, Li and Rousseau~(1996) proved that $R(K_{k+1},K_{1}+nK_{t})=knt +1$, Hao, Lin~(2018) showed that $r_{*}(K_{k+1},K_{1}+nK_{t})=(k-1)tn+t$; Li and Liu~(2016) proved that $R(C_{2k+1}, K_{1}+nK_{t})=2nt+1$, and Li, Li, and Wang~(2020) showed that $r_{*}(C_{2m+1},K_{1}+nK_{t})=nt+t$. A graph $G$ with $\chi(G)=k+1$ is called edge-critical if $G$ contains an edge $e$ such that $\chi(G-e)=k$. In this paper, we extend the above results by showing that for an edge-critical graph $G$ with $\chi(G)=k+1$, when $k\geq 2$, $t\geq 2$ and $n$ is sufficiently large, $R(G, K_{1}+nK_{t})=knt+1$ and $r_{*}(G,K_{1}+nK_{t})=(k-1)nt+t$.

Authors:Rikio Ichishima, Francesc A. Muntaner-Batle

Abstract: A graph $G$ is said to be super edge-magic if there exists a bijective function $f:V\left(G\right) \cup E\left(G\right)\rightarrow \left\{1, 2, \ldots , \left\vert V\left( G\right) \right\vert +\left\vert E\left( G\right) \right\vert \right\}$ such that $f\left(V \left(G\right)\right) =\left\{1, 2, \ldots , \left\vert V\left( G\right) \right\vert \right\}$ and $f\left(u\right) + f\left(v\right) + f\left(uv\right)$ is a constant for each $uv\in E\left( G\right) $. In this paper, we study the super edge-magicness of graphs of order $n$ with degree sequence $s:4, 2, 2, \ldots, 2$. We also investigate the super edge-magic properties of certain families of graphs. This leads us to propose some open problems.

Authors:Maryam Khosravi, Ebadollah S. Mahmoodian

Abstract: In this note, we intend to produce all latin squares from one of them using suitable move which is defined by small trades and do the similar work on 4-cycle systems. These problems, reformulate as finding basis for the kernel of special matrices, representef to some graphs.

Authors:Zach Hunter

Abstract: Recently, Alweiss settled Hindman's conjecture over the rationals. In this paper, we provide our own exposition of Alweiss' result, and show how to modify his method to also show that sums of distinct products are partition regular over the rationals.

Authors:Van Bang Le, Christian Rosenke

Abstract: A graph G is a k-leaf power, for an integer k >= 2, if there is a tree T with leaf set V(G) such that, for all vertices x, y in V(G), the edge xy exists in G if and only if the distance between x and y in T is at most k. Such a tree T is called a k-leaf root of G. The computational problem of constructing a k-leaf root for a given graph G and an integer k, if any, is motivated by the challenge from computational biology to reconstruct phylogenetic trees. For fixed k, Lafond [SODA 2022] recently solved this problem in polynomial time. In this paper, we propose to study optimal leaf roots of graphs G, that is, the k-leaf roots of G with minimum k value. Thus, all k'-leaf roots of G satisfy k <= k'. In terms of computational biology, seeking optimal leaf roots is more justified as they yield more probable phylogenetic trees. Lafond's result does not imply polynomial-time computability of optimal leaf roots, because, even for optimal k-leaf roots, k may (exponentially) depend on the size of G. This paper presents a linear-time construction of optimal leaf roots for chordal cographs (also known as trivially perfect graphs). Additionally, it highlights the importance of the parity of the parameter k and provides a deeper insight into the differences between optimal k-leaf roots of even versus odd k. Keywords: k-leaf power, k-leaf root, optimal k-leaf root, trivially perfect leaf power, chordal cograph

Authors:Domagoj Bradač, Jacob Fox, Benny Sudakov

Abstract: The $q$-color Ramsey number of a $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ is the minimum integer $N$ such that any $q$-coloring of the complete $k$-uniform hypergraph on $N$ vertices contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. The study of these numbers is one of the central topics in Combinatorics. In 1973, Erd\H{o}s and Graham asked to maximize the Ramsey number of a graph as a function of the number of its edges. Motivated by this problem, we study the analogous question for hypergaphs. For fixed $k \ge 3$ and $q \ge 2$ we prove that the largest possible $q$-color Ramsey number of a $k$-uniform hypergraph with $m$ edges is at most $\mathrm{tw}_k(O(\sqrt{m})),$ where $\mathrm{tw}$ denotes the tower function. We also present a construction showing that this bound is tight for $q \ge 4$. This resolves a problem by Conlon, Fox and Sudakov. They previously proved the upper bound for $k \geq 4$ and the lower bound for $k=3$. Although in the graph case the tightness follows simply by considering a clique of appropriate size, for higher uniformities the construction is rather involved and is obtained by using paths in expander graphs.

Authors:Paige Bright, Xinyu Fang, Barrett Heritage, Alex Iosevich, Tingsong Jiang, Hans Parshall, Maxwell Sun

Abstract: In this paper, we generalize \cite{IosevichParshall}, \cite{LongPaths} and \cite{cycles} by allowing the \emph{distance} between two points in a finite field vector space to be defined by a general non-degenerate bilinear form or quadratic form. We prove the same bounds on the sizes of large subsets of $\F_q^d$ for them to contain distance graphs with a given maximal vertex degree, under the more general notion of distance. We also prove the same results for embedding paths, trees and cycles in the general setting.

Authors:B. Bagheri Gh., M. Khosravi, E. S. Mahmoodian, S. Rashidi

Abstract: A $4-$cycle system is a partition of the edges of the complete graph $K_n$ into $4-$cycles. Let ${ C}$ be a collection of cycles of length 4 whose edges partition the edges of $K_n$. A set of 4-cycles $T_1 \subset C$ is called a 4-cycle trade if there exists a set $T_2$ of edge-disjoint 4-cycles on the same vertices, such that $({C} \setminus T_1)\cup T_2$ also is a collection of cycles of length 4 whose edges partition the edges of $K_n$. We study $4-$cycle trades of volume two (double-diamonds) and three and show that the set of all 4-CS(9) is connected with respect of trading with trades of volume 2 (double-diamond) and 3. In addition, we present a full rank matrix whose null-space is containing trade-vectors.

Authors:Paige Bright, Xinyu Fang, Barrett Heritage, Alex Iosevich, Maxwell Sun

Abstract: The fourth listed author and Hans Parshall (\cite{IosevichParshall}) proved that if $E \subset {\mathbb F}_q^d$, $d \ge 2$, and $G$ is a connected graph on $k+1$ vertices such that the largest degree of any vertex is $m$, then if $|E| \ge C q^{m+\frac{d-1}{2}}$, for any $t>0$, there exist $k+1$ points $x^1, \dots, x^{k+1}$ in $E$ such that $||x^i-x^j||=t$ if the $i$'th vertex is connected to the $j$'th vertex by an edge in $G$. In this paper, we give several indications that the maximum degree is not always the right notion of complexity and prove several concrete results to obtain better exponents than the Iosevich-Parshall result affords. This can be viewed as a step towards understanding the right notion of complexity for graph embeddings in subsets of vector spaces over finite fields.

Authors:Nikolai Beluhov

Abstract: Let $G$ be a planar graph and let $C$ be a cycle in $G$. Inside of each finite face of $G$, we write down the number of edges of that face which belong to $C$. This is the signature of $C$ in $G$. The notion of a signature arises naturally in the context of Slitherlink puzzles. The signature of a cycle does not always determine it uniquely. We focus on the ambiguity of signatures in the case when $G$ is a rectangular grid of unit square cells. We describe all grids which admit an ambiguous signature. For each such grid, we then determine the greatest possible difference between two cycles with the same signature on it. We also study the possible values of the total number of cycles which fit a given signature. We discuss various related questions as well.

Authors:Nóra Frankl, Panna Gehér, Arsenii Sagdeev, Géza Tóth

Abstract: We prove that for any $\ell_p$-norm in the plane with $1<p<\infty$ and for every infinite $\mathcal{M} \subset \mathbb{R}^2$, there exists a two-colouring of the plane such that no isometric copy of $\mathcal{M}$ is monochromatic. On the contrary, we show that for every polygonal norm (that is, the unit ball is a polygon) in the plane, there exists an infinite $\mathcal{M} \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ such that for every two-colouring of the plane there exists a monochromatic isometric copy of $\mathcal{M}$.

Authors:Michael Krivelevich, Maksim Zhukovskii

Abstract: We find asymptotics of the maximum size of a chordal subgraph in a binomial random graph $G(n,p)$, for $p=\mathrm{const}$ and $p=n^{-\alpha+o(1)}$.

Authors:Otfried Cheong, Henry Förster, Julia Katheder, Maximilian Pfister, Lena Schlipf

Abstract: We study two notions of fan-planarity introduced by (Cheong et al., GD22), called weak and strong fan-planarity that separate two non-equivalent definitions of fan-planarity in the literature. We prove that not every weakly fan-planar graph is strongly fan-planar, while the density upper bound for both families is the same.

Authors:Florian Stober, Armin Weiß

Abstract: In 1962 Ore initiated the study of geodetic graphs. A graph is called geodetic if the shortest path between every pair of vertices is unique. In the subsequent years a wide range of papers appeared investigating their peculiar properties. Yet, a complete classification of geodetic graphs is out of reach. In this work we present a program enumerating all geodetic graphs of a given size. Using our program, we succeed to find all geodetic graphs with up to 25 vertices and all regular geodetic graphs with up to 32 vertices. This leads to the discovery of two new infinite families of geodetic graphs.

Authors:Blas Fernández, Marija Maksimović, Sanja Rukavina

Abstract: The characterization of bipartite distance-regularized graphs, where some vertices have eccentricity less than four, in terms of the incidence structures of which they are incidence graphs, is known. In this paper we prove that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the incidence graphs of quasi-symmetric SPBIBDs with parameters $(v,b,r,k, \lambda_1,0)$ of type $(k-1,t)$ with intersection numbers $x=0$ and $y>0$, where $0< y\leq t<k$ , and bipartite distance-regularized graphs with $D=D'=4$.

Authors:Isabel Hubard, Micael Toledo

Abstract: In 1999 Michael Hartley showed that any abstract polytope can be constructed as a double coset poset, by means of a C-group $\C$ and a subgroup $N \leq \C$. Subgroups $N \leq \C$ that give rise to abstract polytopes through such construction are called {\em sparse}. If, further, the stabilizer of a base flag of the poset is precisely $N$, then $N$ is said to be {\em semisparse}. In \cite[Conjecture 5.2]{hartley1999more} Hartley conjectures that sparse groups are always semisparse. In this paper, we show that this conjecture is in fact false: there exist sparse groups that are not semisparse. In particular, we show that such groups are always obtained from non-faithful maniplexes that give rise to polytopes. Using this, we show that Hartely's conjecture holds for rank 3, but we construct examples to disprove the conjecture for all ranks $n\geq 4$.

Authors:Jason Erbele, Joseph D. Chavez, Rolland Trapp

Abstract: In this article the cyclic cutwidth of the $n$-dimensional cube is explored. It has been conjectured by Dr. Chavez and Dr. Trapp that the cyclic cutwidth of $Q_n$ is minimized with the Graycode numbering. Several results have been found toward the proof of this conjecture.

Authors:Ervin Győri, Alan Li, Runtian Zhou

Abstract: Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a set of graphs. The planar Tur\'an number, $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,\mathcal{H})$, is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex planar graph which does not contain any member of $\mathcal{H}$ as a subgraph. When $\mathcal{H}=\{H\}$ has only one element, we usually write $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,H)$ instead. The topic of extremal planar graphs was initiated by Dowden (2016). He obtained sharp upper bound for both $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_5)$ and $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,K_4)$. Later on, we obtained sharper bound for $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,\{K_4,C_7\})$. In this paper, we give upper bounds of $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,\{K_4,C_5\})\leq {15\over 7}(n-2)$ and $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,\{K_4,C_6\})\leq {7\over 3}(n-2)$. We also give constructions which show the bounds are tight for infinitely many graphs.

Authors:Arnab Char, T. Karthick

Abstract: In this paper, we are interested in some problems related to chromatic number and clique number for the class of $(P_5,K_5-e)$-free graphs, and prove the following. $(a)$ If $G$ is a connected ($P_5,K_5-e$)-free graph with $\omega(G)\geq 7$, then either $G$ is the complement of a bipartite graph or $G$ has a clique cut-set. Moreover, there is a connected ($P_5,K_5-e$)-free imperfect graph $H$ with $\omega(H)=6$ and has no clique cut-set. This strengthens a result of Malyshev and Lobanova [Disc. Appl. Math. 219 (2017) 158--166]. $(b)$ If $G$ is a ($P_5,K_5-e$)-free graph with $\omega(G)\geq 4$, then $\chi(G)\leq \max\{7, \omega(G)\}$. Moreover, the bound is tight when $\omega(G)\notin \{4,5,6\}$. This result together with known results partially answers a question of Ju and Huang [arXiv:2303.18003 [math.CO] 2023], and also improves a result of Xu [Manuscript 2022]. While the "Chromatic Number Problem" is known to be $NP$-hard for the class of $P_5$-free graphs, our results together with some known results imply that the "Chromatic Number Problem" can be solved in polynomial time for the class of ($P_5,K_5-e$)-free graphs which may be independent interest.

Authors:Ali Azimi, Rakesh Jana, Mukesh Kumar Nagar, Sivaramakrishnan Sivasubramanian

Abstract: $\newcommand{\Max}{\mathrm{Max4PC}}$ The Four point condition (4PC henceforth) is a well known condition characterising distances in trees $T$. Let $w,x,y,z$ be four vertices in $T$ and let $d_{x,y}$ denote the distance between vertices $x,y$ in $T$. The 4PC condition says that among the three terms $d_{w,x} + d_{y,z}$, $d_{w,y} + d_{x,z}$ and $d_{w,z} + d_{x,y}$ the maximum value equals the second maximum value. We define an $\binom{n}{2} \times \binom{n}{2}$ sized matrix $\Max_T$ from a tree $T$ where the rows and columns are indexed by size-2 subsets. The entry of $\Max_T$ corresponding to the row indexed by $\{w,x\}$ and column $\{y,z\}$ is the maximum value among the three terms $d_{w,x} + d_{y,z}$, $d_{w,y} + d_{x,z}$ and $d_{w,z} + d_{x,y}$. In this work, we determine basic properties of this matrix like rank, give an algorithm that outputs a family of bases, and find the determinant of $\Max_T$ when restricted to our basis. We further determine the inertia and the Smith Normal Form (SNF) of $\Max_T$.

Authors:T. Kavaskar

Abstract: Let $box(G)$ be the boxicity of a graph $G$, $G[H_1,H_2,\ldots, H_n]$ be the $G$-generalized join graph of $n$-pairwise disjoint graphs $H_1,H_2,\ldots, H_n$, $G^d_k$ be a circular clique graph (where $k\geq 2d$) and $\Gamma(R)$ be the zero-divisor graph of a commutative ring $R$. In this paper, we prove that $\chi(G^d_k)\geq box(G^d_k)$, for all $k$ and $d$ with $k\geq 2d$. This generalizes the results proved in \cite{Aki}. Also we obtain that $box(G[H_1,H_2,\ldots,H_n])\leq \mathop\sum\limits_{i=1}^nbox(H_i)$. As a consequence of this result, we obtain a bound for boxicity of zero-divisor graph of a finite commutative ring with unity. In particular, if $R$ is a finite commutative non-zero reduced ring with unity, then $\chi(\Gamma(R))\leq box(\Gamma(R))\leq 2^{\chi(\Gamma(R))}-2$. where $\chi(\Gamma(R))$ is the chromatic number of $\Gamma(R)$. Moreover, we show that if $N= \prod\limits_{i=1}^{a}p_i^{2n_i} \prod\limits_{j=1}^{b}q_j^{2m_j+1}$ is a composite number, where $p_i$'s and $q_j$'s are distinct prime numbers, then $box(\Gamma(\mathbb{Z}_N))\leq \big(\mathop\prod\limits_{i=1}^{a}(2n_i+1)\mathop\prod\limits_{j=1}^{b}(2m_j+2)\big)-\big(\mathop\prod\limits_{i=1}^{a}(n_i+1)\mathop\prod\limits_{j=1}^{b}(m_j+1)\big)-1$, where $\mathbb{Z}_N$ is the ring of integers modulo $N$. Further, we prove that, $box(\Gamma(\mathbb{Z}_N))=1$ if and only if either $N=p^n$ for some prime number $p$ and some positive integer $n\geq 2$ or $N=2p$ for some odd prime number $p$.

Authors:Jozefien D'haeseleer, Karen Meagher, Venkata Raghu Tej Pantangi

Abstract: Consider a group $G$ acting on a set $\Omega$, the vector $v_{a,b}$ is a vector with the entries indexed by the elements of $G$, and the $g$-entry is 1 if $g$ maps $a$ to $b$, and zero otherwise. A $(G,\Omega)$-Cameron-Liebler set is a subset of $G$, whose indicator function is a linear combination of elements in $\{v_{a, b}\ :\ a, b \in \Omega\}$. We investigate Cameron-Liebler sets in permutation groups, with a focus on constructions of Cameron-Liebler sets for 2-transitive groups.

Authors:Alan Lew

Abstract: Let $\text{Fl}_{n,q}$ be the simplicial complex whose vertices are the non-trivial subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ and whose simplices correspond to families of subspaces forming a flag. Let $\Delta^{+}_k(\text{Fl}_{n,q})$ be the $k$-dimensional weighted upper Laplacian on $ \text{Fl}_{n,q}$. The spectrum of $\Delta^{+}_k(\text{Fl}_{n,q})$ was first studied by Garland, who obtained a lower bound on its non-zero eigenvalues. Here, we focus on the $k=0$ case. We determine the asymptotic behavior of the eigenvalues of $\Delta_{0}^{+}(\text{Fl}_{n,q})$ as $q$ tends to infinity. In particular, we show that for large enough $q$, $\Delta_{0}^{+}(\text{Fl}_{n,q})$ has exactly $\left\lfloor n^2/4\right\rfloor+2$ distinct eigenvalues, and that every eigenvalue $\lambda\neq 0,n-1$ of $\Delta_{0}^{+}(\text{Fl}_{n,q})$ tends to $n-2$ as $q$ goes to infinity. This solves the $0$-dimensional case of a conjecture of Papikian.

Authors:Tom Kelly, Alp Müyesser, Alexey Pokrovskiy

Abstract: Let $G$ and $H$ be hypergraphs on $n$ vertices, and suppose $H$ has large enough minimum degree to necessarily contain a copy of $G$ as a subgraph. We give a general method to randomly embed $G$ into $H$ with good "spread". More precisely, for a wide class of $G$, we find a randomised embedding $f\colon G\hookrightarrow H$ with the following property: for every $s$, for any partial embedding $f'$ of $s$ vertices of $G$ into $H$, the probability that $f$ extends $f'$ is at most $O(1/n)^s$. This is a common generalisation of several streams of research surrounding the classical Dirac-type problem. For example, setting $s=n$, we obtain an asymptotically tight lower bound on the number of embeddings of $G$ into $H$. This recovers and extends recent results of Glock, Gould, Joos, K\"uhn, and Osthus and of Montgomery and Pavez-Sign\'e regarding enumerating Hamilton cycles in Dirac hypergraphs. Moreover, using the recent developments surrounding the Kahn--Kalai conjecture, this result implies that many Dirac-type results hold robustly, meaning $G$ still embeds into $H$ after a random sparsification of its edge set. This allows us to recover a recent result of Kang, Kelly, K\"uhn, Osthus, and Pfenninger and of Pham, Sah, Sawhney, and Simkin for perfect matchings, and obtain novel results for Hamilton cycles and factors in Dirac hypergraphs. Notably, our randomised embedding algorithm is self-contained and does not require Szemer\'edi's regularity lemma or iterative absorption.

Authors:Zhenyu Ni, Jing Wang, Liying Kang

Abstract: For a simple graph $F$, let $\mathrm{EX}(n, F)$ and $\mathrm{EX_{sp}}(n,F)$ be the set of graphs with the maximum number of edges and the set of graphs with the maximum spectral radius in an $n$-vertex graph without any copy of the graph $F$, respectively. Let $F$ be a graph with $\mathrm{ex}(n,F)=e(T_{n,r})+O(1)$. In this paper, we show that $\mathrm{EX_{sp}}(n,kF)\subseteq \mathrm{EX}(n,kF)$ for sufficiently large $n$. This generalizes a result of Wang, Kang and Xue [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B, 159(2023) 20-41]. We also determine the extremal graphs of $kF$ in term of the extremal graphs of $F$.

Authors:Johann Cigler

Abstract: Computer experiments suggest some conjectures about Hankel determinants of convolution powers of Catalan numbers. Unfortunately, for most of them I have no proofs. I would like to present them anyway hoping that someone finds them interesting and can prove them.

Authors:Noga Alon

Abstract: The symmetric difference of two graphs $G_1,G_2$ on the same set of vertices $V$ is the graph on $V$ whose set of edges are all edges that belong to exactly one of the two graphs $G_1,G_2$. For a fixed graph $H$ call a collection ${\cal G}$ of spanning subgraphs of $H$ a connectivity code for $H$ if the symmetric difference of any two distinct subgraphs in ${\cal G}$ is a connected spanning subgraph of $H$. It is easy to see that the maximum possible cardinality of such a collection is at most $2^{k'(H)} \leq 2^{\delta(H)}$, where $k'(H)$ is the edge-connectivity of $H$ and $\delta(H)$ is its minimum degree. We show that equality holds for any $d$-regular (mild) expander, and observe that equality does not hold in several natural examples including powers of long cycles and products of a small clique with a long cycle.

Authors:Jin Sun

Abstract: There is a philosophy to discover Ramsey-type theorem: given a graph parameter $\mu$, characterize the family $\HH$ of graphs which satisfies that every $\HH$-free graph $G$ has bounded parameter $\mu$. The classical Ramsey's theorem deals the parameter $\mu$ as the number of vertices. It also has a corresponding connected version. This Ramsey-type problem on domination number has been solved by Furuya. We will use this result to handle more parameters related to domination.

Authors:M. Korivand, N. Soltankhah, K. Khashyarmanesh

Abstract: A graph is called uniquely distinguishing colorable if there is only one partition of vertices of the graph that forms distinguishing coloring with the smallest possible colors. In this paper, we study the unique colorability of the distinguishing coloring of a graph and its applications in computing the distinguishing chromatic number of disconnected graphs. We introduce two families of uniquely distinguishing colorable graphs, namely type 1 and type 2, and show that every disconnected uniquely distinguishing colorable graph is the union of two isomorphic graphs of type 2. We obtain some results on bipartite uniquely distinguishing colorable graphs and show that any uniquely distinguishing $n$-colorable tree with $ n \geq 3$ is a star graph. For a connected graph $G$, we prove that $\chi_D(G\cup G)=\chi_D(G)+1$ if and only if $G$ is uniquely distinguishing colorable of type 1. Also, a characterization of all graphs $G$ of order $n$ with the property that $\chi_{D}(G\cup G) = \chi_{D}(G) = k$, where $k=n-2, n-1, n$, is given in this paper. Moreover, we determine all graphs $G$ of order $n$ with the property that $\chi_{D}(G\cup G) = \chi_{D}(G)+1 = \ell$, where $\ell=n-1, n, n+1$. Finally, we investigate the family of connected graphs $G$ with $\chi_{D}(G\cup G) = \chi_{D}(G)+1 = 3$.

Authors:Ajani De Vas Gunasekara, Alice Devillers

Abstract: An $H$-decomposition of a graph $\Gamma$ is a partition of its edge set into subgraphs isomorphic to $H$. A transitive decomposition is a special kind of $H$-decomposition that is highly symmetrical in the sense that the subgraphs (copies of $H$) are preserved and transitively permuted by a group of automorphisms of $\Gamma$. This paper concerns transitive $H$-decompositions of the graph $K_n \Box K_n$ where $H$ is a path. When $n$ is an odd prime, we present a construction for a transitive path decomposition where the paths in the decomposition are arbitrary large.

Authors:Krystian Gajdzica, Bernhard Heim, Markus Neuhauser

Abstract: For an arbitrary set or multiset $A$ of positive integers, we associate the $A$-partition function $p_A(n)$ (that is the number of partitions of $n$ whose parts belong to $A$). We also consider the analogue of the $k$-colored partition function, namely, $p_{A,-k}(n)$. Further, we define a family of polynomials $f_{A,n}(x)$ which satisfy the equality $f_{A,n}(k)=p_{A,-k}(n)$ for all $n\in\mathbb{Z}_{\geq0}$ and $k\in\mathbb{N}$. This paper concerns the polynomization of the Bessenrodt--Ono type inequality for $f_{A,n}(x)$: \begin{align*} f_{A,a}(x)f_{A,b}(x)>f_{A,a+b}(x), \end{align*} where $a$ and $b$ are arbitrary positive integers; and delivers some efficient criteria for its solutions. Moreover, we also investigate a few basic properties related to both functions $f_{A,n}(x)$ and $f_{A,n}'(x)$.

Authors:Suliman Hamud, Abraham Berman

Abstract: We consider two types of joins of graphs $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$, $G_{1}\veebar G_{2}$ - the Neighbors Splitting Join and $G_{1}\underset{=}{\lor}G_{2}$ - the Non Neighbors Splitting Join, and compute the adjacency characteristic polynomial, the Laplacian characteristic polynomial and the signless Laplacian characteristic polynomial of these joins. When $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$ are regular, we compute the adjacency spectrum, the Laplacian spectrum, the signless Laplacian spectrum of $G_{1}\underset{=}{\lor}G_{2}$ and the normalized Laplacian spectrum of $G_{1}\veebar G_{2}$ and $G_{1}\underset{=}{\lor}G_{2}$. We use these results to construct non regular, non isomorphic graphs that are cospectral with respect to the four matrices: adjacency, Laplacian , signless Laplacian and normalized Laplacian.

Authors:Hau-Wen Huang

Abstract: The Clebsch--Gordan coefficients of $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ are expressible in terms of Hahn polynomials. The phenomenon can be explained by an algebra homomorphism from the universal Hahn algebra $\mathcal H$ into $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\otimes U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$. Let $\Omega$ denote a finite set and $2^\Omega$ denote the power set of $\Omega$. It is generally known that $\mathbb C^{2^\Omega}$ supports a $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$-module. Fix an element $x_0\in 2^\Omega$. By the linear isomorphism $\mathbb C^{2^\Omega}\to \mathbb C^{2^{\Omega\setminus x_0}}\otimes \mathbb C^{2^{x_0}}$ given by $x\mapsto (x\setminus x_0)\otimes (x\cap x_0)$ for all $x\in 2^\Omega$, this induces a $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\otimes U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$-module structure on $\mathbb C^{2^\Omega}$. Pulling back via the algebra homomorphism $\mathcal H\to U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\otimes U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$, the $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\otimes U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$-module $\mathbb C^{2^\Omega}$ forms an $\mathcal H$-module. The $\mathcal H$-module $\mathbb C^{2^\Omega}$ enfolds the Terwilliger algebra of a Johnson graph. This result connects these two seemingly irrelevant topics: The Clebsch--Gordan coefficients of $U(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ and the Terwilliger algebras of Johnson graphs. Unfortunately some steps break down in the $q$-analog case. By making detours, the imperceptible connection between the Clebsch--Gordan coefficients of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ and the Terwilliger algebras of Grassmann graphs is successfully disclosed in this paper.

Authors:Helmut Prodinger

Abstract: A well-known bijection between Motzkin paths and ordered trees with outdegree always $\le2$, is lifted to Grand Motzkin paths (the nonnegativity is dropped) and an ordered list of an odd number of such $\{0,1,2\}$ trees. This offers an alternative to a recent paper by Rocha and Pereira Spreafico.

Authors:Xuexing Lu

Abstract: We give a more coherent and apparent definition of upward planar order.

Authors:Marc Distel, Robert Hickingbotham, Michał T. Seweryn, David R. Wood

Abstract: We prove that the $k$-power of any planar graph $G$ is contained in $H\boxtimes P\boxtimes K_{f(\Delta(G),k)}$ for some graph $H$ with treewidth $15\,288\,899$, some path $P$, and some function $f$. This resolves an open problem of Ossona de Mendez. In fact, we prove a more general result in terms of shallow minors that implies similar results for many `beyond planar' graph classes, without dependence on $\Delta(G)$. For example, we prove that every $k$-planar graph is contained in $H\boxtimes P\boxtimes K_{f(k)}$ for some graph $H$ with treewidth $15\,288\,899$ and some path $P$, and some function $f$. This resolves an open problem of Dujmovi\'c, Morin and Wood. We generalise all these results for graphs of bounded Euler genus, still with an absolute bound on the treewidth. At the heart of our proof is the following new concept of independent interest. An $\ell$-blocking partition of a graph $G$ is a partition of $V(G)$ into connected sets such that every path of length greater than $\ell$ in $G$ contains at least two vertices in one part. We prove that every graph of Euler genus $g$ has a $894$-blocking partition with parts of size bounded by a function of $\Delta(G)$ and $g$. Motivated by this result, we study blocking partitions in their own right. We show that every graph has a $2$-blocking partition with parts of size bounded by a function of $\Delta(G)$ and $\textrm{tw}(G)$. On the other hand, we show that 4-regular graphs do not have $\ell$-blocking partitions with bounded size parts.

Authors:Justo Puerto, José L. Sainz-Pardo

Abstract: The minimum and maximum cuts of an undirected edge-weighted graph are classic problems in graph theory. While the Min-Cut Problem can be solved in P, the Max-Cut Problem is NP-Complete. Exact and heuristic methods have been developed for solving them. For both problems, we introduce a natural extension in which cutting an edge induces a cost. Our goal is to find a cut that minimizes the sum of the cut weights but, at the same time, restricts its total cut cost to a given budget. We prove that both restricted problems are NPComplete and we also study some of its properties. Finally, we develop exact algorithms to solve both as well as a non-exact algorithm for the min-cut case based on a Lagreangean relaxation that generally provides optimal solutions. Their performance is reported by an extensive computational experience.

Authors:Thomas Karam

Abstract: Let $d \ge 3$ be an integer. We show that whenever an order-$d$ tensor admits $d+1$ decompositions according to Tao's slice rank, if the linear subspaces spanned by their one-variable functions constitute a sunflower for each choice of special coordinate, then the tensor admits a decomposition where these linear subspaces are contained in the centers of these respective sunflowers. As an application, we deduce that for every nonnegative integer $k$ and every finite field $\mathbb{F}$ there exists an integer $C(d,k,|\mathbb{F}|)$ such that every order-$d$ tensor with slice rank $k$ over $\mathbb{F}$ admits at most $C(d,k,|\mathbb{F}|)$ decompositions with length $k$, up to a class of transformations that can be easily described.

Authors:Tomáš Kaiser, Matěj Stehlík

Abstract: Pachner proved that all closed combinatorially equivalent combinatorial manifolds can be transformed into each other by a finite sequence of bistellar moves. We prove an analogue of Pachner's theorem for combinatorial manifolds with a free Z2-action, and use it to give a combinatorial proof of Fan's lemma about labellings of centrally symmetric triangulations of spheres. Similarly to other combinatorial proofs, we must assume an additional property of the triangulation for the proof to work. However, unlike the other combinatorial proofs, no such assumption is needed for dimensions at most 3.

Authors:Zhidan Luo

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph, $H$ be a subgraph of $G$, and let $G- H$ be the graph obtained from $G$ by removing a copy of $H$. Let $K_{1, n}$ be the star on $n+ 1$ vertices. Let $t\geq 2$ be an integer and $H_{1}, \dots, H_{t}$ and $H$ be graphs, and let $H\rightarrow (H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ denote that every $t$ coloring of $E(H)$ yields a monochromatic copy of $H_{i}$ in color $i$ for some $i\in [t]$. Ramsey number $r(H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ is the minimum integer $N$ such that $K_{N}\rightarrow (H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$. Star-critical Ramsey number $r_{*}(H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ is the minimum integer $k$ such that $K_{N}- K_{1, N- 1- k}\rightarrow (H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ where $N= r(H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$. Let $rr(H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ be the regular Ramsey number for $H_{1}, \dots, H_{t}$, which is the minimum integer $r$ such that if $G$ is an $r$-regular graph on $r(H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$ vertices, then $G\rightarrow (H_{1}, \dots, H_{t})$. Let $m_{1}, \dots, m_{t}$ be integers larger than one, exactly $k$ of which are even. In this paper, we prove that if $k\geq 2$ is even, then $r_{*}(K_{1, m_{1}}, \dots, K_{1, m_{t}})= \sum_{i= 1}^{t} m_{i}- t+ 1- \frac{k}{2}$ which disproves a conjecture of Budden and DeJonge in 2022. Furthermore, we prove that if $k\geq 2$ is even, then $rr(K_{1, m_{1}}, \dots, K_{1, m_{t}})= \sum_{i= 1}^{t} m_{i}- t$. Otherwise, $rr(K_{1, m_{1}}, \dots, K_{1, m_{t}})= \sum_{i= 1}^{t} m_{i}- t+ 1$.

Authors:Richard Montgomery, Matías Pavez-Signé

Abstract: We give a simple method to estimate the number of distinct copies of some classes of spanning subgraphs in hypergraphs with high minimum degree. In particular, for each $k\geq 2$ and $1\leq \ell\leq k-1$, we show that every $k$-graph on $n$ vertices with minimum codegree at least $$\cases{\left(\dfrac{1}{2}+o(1)\right)n & if $(k-\ell)\mid k$,\\ & \\ \left(\dfrac{1}{\lceil \frac{k}{k-\ell}\rceil(k-\ell)}+o(1)\right)n & if $(k-\ell)\nmid k$,}$$ contains $\exp(n\log n-\Theta(n))$ Hamilton $\ell$-cycles as long as $(k-\ell)\mid n$. When $(k-\ell)\mid k$ this gives a simple proof of a result of Glock, Gould, Joos, K\"uhn and Osthus, while, when $(k-\ell)\nmid k$ this gives a weaker count than that given by Ferber, Hardiman and Mond or, when $\ell<k/2$, by Ferber, Krivelevich and Sudakov, but one that holds for an asymptotically optimal minimum codegree bound.

Authors:Roman Čada, Adam Kabela, Tomáš Kaiser, Petr Vrána

Abstract: Strengthening the classical concept of Steiner trees, West and Wu [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 102 (2012), 186--205] introduced the notion of a $T$-connector in a graph $G$ with a set $T$ of terminals. They conjectured that if the set $T$ is $3k$-edge-connected in $G$, then $G$ contains $k$ edge-disjoint $T$-connectors. We disprove this conjecture by constructing infinitely many counterexamples for $k=1$ and for each even $k$.

Authors:Son Nguyen

Abstract: We study the action of Bender-Knuth involutions on linear extensions of posets and identify LE-cactus posets, i.e. those for which the cactus relations hold. It was conjectured in \cite{chiang2023bender} that d-complete posets are LE-cactus. Among the non-d-complete posets that are LE-cactus, one notable family is ordinal sums of antichains. In this paper, we characterize the LE-cactus posets in a more general family, namely ordinal sums of disjoint unions of chains.

Authors:Chris Fraser, Rebecca Patrias, Oliver Pechenik, Jessica Striker

Abstract: Webs yield an especially important realization of certain Specht modules, irreducible representations of symmetric groups, as they provide a pictorial basis with a convenient diagrammatic calculus. In recent work, the last three authors associated polynomials to noncrossing partitions without singleton blocks, so that the corresponding polynomials form a web basis of the pennant Specht module $S^{(d,d,1^{n-2d})}$. These polynomials were interpreted as global sections of a line bundle on a 2-step partial flag variety. Here, we both simplify and extend this construction. On the one hand, we show that these polynomials can alternatively be situated in the homogeneous coordinate ring of a Grassmannian, instead of a 2-step partial flag variety, and can be realized as tensor invariants of classical (but highly nonplanar) tensor diagrams. On the other hand, we extend these ideas from the pennant Specht module $S^{(d,d,1^{n-2d})}$ to more general flamingo Specht modules $S^{(d^r,1^{n-rd})}$. In the hook case $r=1$, we obtain a spanning set that can be restricted to a basis in various ways. In the case $r>2$, we obtain a basis of a well-behaved subspace of $S^{(d^r,1^{n-rd})}$, but not of the entire module.

Authors:C. R. Pavithra, A. V. Prajeesh, V. S. Sarath

Abstract: Let $G$ be a connected graph with $|V| = n$ and $|E| = m$. A bijection $f:E\rightarrow \{1,2,...,m\}$ is called a local antimagic labeling of $G$ if for any two adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$, $w(u) \neq w(v)$, where $w(u) = \sum_{e \in E(u)}f(e)$, and $E(u)$ is the set of edges incident to $u$. Thus, any local antimagic labeling induces a proper vertex coloring of $G$ where the vertex $v$ is assigned the color $w(v)$. The local antimagic chromatic number is the minimum number of colors taken over all colorings induced by local antimagic labelings of $G$. Let $m,n > 1$. In this paper, the local antimagic chromatic number of a complete tripartite graph $K_{1,m,n}$, and $r$ copies of a complete bipartite graph $K_{m,n}$ where $m \not \equiv n \bmod 2$ are determined.

Authors:Oliver W. Gnilke, Padraig O Cathain, Oktay Olmez, Guillermo Nunez Ponasso

Abstract: The study of regular incidence structures such as projective planes and symmetric block designs is a well established topic in discrete mathematics. Work of Bruck, Ryser and Chowla in the mid-twentieth century applied the Hasse-Minkowski local-global theory for quadratic forms to derive non-existence results for certain design parameters. Several combinatorialists have provided alternative proofs of this result, replacing conceptual arguments with algorithmic ones. In this paper, we show that the methods required are purely linear-algebraic in nature and are no more difficult conceptually than the theory of the Jordan Canonical Form. Computationally, they are rather easier. We conclude with some classical and recent applications to design theory, including a novel application to the decomposition of incidence matrices of symmetric designs.

Authors:Shivani Chauhan, A. Satyanarayana Reddy

Abstract: Let $X$ be a tree with $n$ vertices and $L(X)$ be its line graph. In this work, we completely characterize the trees for which the algebraic connectivity of $L(X)\times K_m$ is equal to $m-1$, where $\times$ denotes the Kronecker product. We provide a few necessary and sufficient conditions for $L(X)\times K_m$ to be Laplacian integral. The algebraic connectivity of $L(X)\times K_m$, where $X$ is a tree of diameter $4$ and $k$-book graph is discussed.

Authors:Tomasz Łuczak, Joanna Polcyn, Christian Reiher

Abstract: Let $\mathrm{ex}(n,s)$ denote the maximum number of edges in a triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices which contains no independent sets larger than $s$. The behaviour of $\mathrm{ex}(n,s)$ was first studied by Andr\'asfai, who conjectured that for $s>n/3$ this function is determined by appropriately chosen blow-ups of so called Andr\'asfai graphs. Moreover, he proved $\mathrm{ex}(n, s)=n^2-4ns+5s^2$ for $s/n\in [2/5, 1/2]$ and in earlier work we obtained $\mathrm{ex}(n, s)=3n^2-15ns+20s^2$ for $s/n\in [3/8, 2/5]$. Here we make the next step in the quest to settle Andr\'asfai's conjecture by proving $\mathrm{ex}(n, s)=6n^2-32ns+44s^2$ for $s/n\in [4/11, 3/8]$.

Authors:Mariusz Kwiatkowski, Mark Pankov

Abstract: The induced subgraph of the corresponding Grassmann graph formed by simplex codes is considered. We show that this graph, as the Grassmann graph, contains two types of maximal cliques. For any two cliques of the first type there is a monomial linear automorphism transferring one of them to the other. Cliques of the second type are more complicated and can contain different numbers of elements.

Authors:Cristina Ballantine, Amanda Welch

Abstract: PED partitions are partitions with even parts distinct while odd parts are unrestricted. Similarly, POD partitions have distinct odd parts while even parts are unrestricted. Merca proved several recurrence relations analytically for the number of PED partitions of $n$. They are similar to the recurrence relation for the number of partitions of $n$ given by Euler's pentagonal number theorem. We provide combinatorial proofs for all of these theorems and also for the pentagonal number theorem for PED partitions proved analytically by Fink, Guy, and Krusemeyer. Moreover, we prove combinatorially a recurrence for POD partitions given by Ballantine and Merca, Beck-type identities involving PED and POD partitions, and several other results about PED and POD partitions.

Authors:Cristina Ballantine, Amanda Welch

Abstract: Partitions with even (respectively odd) parts distinct and all other parts unrestricted are often referred to as PED (respectively POD) partitions. In this article, we generalize these notions and study sets of partitions in which parts with fixed residue(s) modulo r are distinct while all other parts are unrestricted. We also study partitions in which parts divisible by r (respectively congruent to r modulo 2r) must occur with multiplicity greater than one.

Authors:Katharina T. Huber, Vincent Moulton, Guillaume E. Scholz

Abstract: A network $N$ on a finite set $X$, $|X|\geq 2$, is a connected directed acyclic graph with leaf set $X$ in which every root in $N$ has outdegree at least 2 and no vertex in $N$ has indegree and outdegree equal to 1; $N$ is arboreal if the underlying unrooted, undirected graph of $N$ is a tree. Networks are of interest in evolutionary biology since they are used, for example, to represent the evolutionary history of a set $X$ of species whose ancestors have exchanged genes in the past. For $M$ some arbitrary set of symbols, $d:{X \choose 2} \to M \cup \{\odot\}$ is a symbolic arboreal map if there exists some arboreal network $N$ whose vertices with outdegree two or more are labelled by elements in $M$ and so that $d(\{x,y\})$, $\{x,y\} \in {X \choose 2}$, is equal to the label of the least common ancestor of $x$ and $y$ in $N$ if this exists and $\odot$ else. Important examples of symbolic arboreal maps include the symbolic ultrametrics, which arise in areas such as game theory, phylogenetics and cograph theory. In this paper we show that a map $d:{X \choose 2} \to M \cup \{\odot\}$ is a symbolic arboreal map if and only if $d$ satisfies certain 3- and 4-point conditions and the graph with vertex set $X$ and edge set consisting of those pairs $\{x,y\} \in {X \choose 2}$ with $d(\{x,y\}) \neq \odot$ is Ptolemaic. To do this, we introduce and prove a key theorem concerning the shared ancestry graph for a network $N$ on $X$, where this is the graph with vertex set $X$ and edge set consisting of those $\{x,y\} \in {X \choose 2}$ such that $x$ and $y$ share a common ancestor in $N$. In particular, we show that for any connected graph $G$ with vertex set $X$ and edge clique cover $K$ in which there are no two distinct sets in $K$ with one a subset of the other, there is some network with $|K|$ roots and leaf set $X$ whose shared ancestry graph is $G$.

Authors:Roger Casals, Ian Le, Melissa Sherman-Bennett, Daping Weng

Abstract: First, this article develops the theory of weaves and their cluster structures for the affine cones of positroid varieties. In particular, we explain how to construct a weave from a reduced plabic graph, show it is Demazure, compare their associated cluster structures, and prove that the conjugate surface of the graph is Hamiltonian isotopic to the Lagrangian filling associated to the weave. The T-duality map for plabic graphs has a surprising key role in the construction of these weaves. Second, we use the above established bridge between weaves and reduced plabic graphs to show that the Muller-Speyer twist map on positroid varieties is the Donaldson-Thomas transformation. This latter statement implies that the Muller-Speyer twist is a quasi-cluster automorphism. An additional corollary of our results is that target labeled seeds and the source labeled seeds are related by a quasi-cluster transformation.

Authors:Maria Dascălu, Annie Raymond

Abstract: Many important problems in extremal combinatorics can be stated as certifying polynomial inequalities in graph homomorphism numbers, and in particular, many ask to certify pure binomial inequalities. For a fixed collection of graphs $\mathcal{U}$, the tropicalization of the graph profile of $\mathcal{U}$ essentially records all valid pure binomial inequalities involving graph homomorphism numbers for graphs in $\mathcal{U}$. Building upon ideas and techniques described by Blekherman and Raymond in 2022, we compute the tropicalization of the graph profile for $K_1$ and $S_{2,1^k}$-trees, almost-star graphs with one branch containing two edges and $k$ branches containing one edge. This allows pure binomial inequalities in homomorphism numbers (or densities) for these graphs to be verified through an explicit linear program where the number of variables is equal to the number of edges in the biggest $S_{2,1^k}$-tree involved.

Authors:Daniel Cooper McDonald

Abstract: The first non-obvious case of Hadwiger's Conjecture states that every graph $G$ with chromatic number at least 4 has a $K_4$ minor. We give a new proof that derives the $K_4$ minor from a proper 3-coloring of a subgraph of $G$.

Authors:Satoru Fukasawa, Tsuyoshi Miezaki

Abstract: This paper introduces the notion of a Galois point for a finite graph, using the theory of linear systems of divisors for graphs discovered by Baker and Norine. We present a new characterization of complete graphs in terms of Galois points.

Authors:A. J. Harris, Son Nguyen

Abstract: Bulgarian Solitaire is an interesting self-map on the set of integer partitions of a fixed number $n$. As a finite dynamical system, its long-term behavior is well-understood, having recurrent orbits parametrized by necklaces of beads with two colors black $B$ and white $W$. However, the behavior of the transient elements within each orbit is much less understood. Recent work of Pham considered the orbits corresponding to a family of necklaces $P^\ell$ that are concatenations of $\ell$ copies of a fixed primitive necklace $P$. She proved striking limiting behavior as $\ell$ goes to infinity: the level statistic for the orbit, counting how many steps it takes a partition to reach the recurrent cycle, has a limiting distribution, whose generating function $H_p(x)$ is rational. Pham also conjectured that $H_P(x), H_{P^*}(x)$ share the same denominator whenever $P^*$ is obtained from $P$ by reading it backwards and swapping $B$ for $W$. Here we introduce a new representation of Bulgarian Solitaire that is convenient for the study of these generating functions. We then use it to prove two instances of Pham's conjecture, showing that $$H_{BWBWB \cdots WB}(x)=H_{WBWBW \cdots BW}(x)$$ and that $H_{BWWW\cdots W}(x),H_{WBBB\cdots B}(x)$ share the same denominator.

Authors:Rui Li, Di Wu, Jinfeng Li

Abstract: Let $G$ and $H$ be two vertex disjoint graphs. The {\em union} $G\cup H$ is the graph with $V(G\cup H)=V(G)\cup V(H)$ and $E(G\cup H)=E(G)\cup E(H)$. We use $P_k$ to denote a {\em path} on $k$ vertices, use {\em house} to denote the complement of $P_5$. In this paper, we show that $\chi(G)\le2\omega(G)$ if $G$ is ($P_3\cup P_2$, house)-free. Moreover, this bound is optimal when $\omega(G)\ge2$.

Authors:Alex Fink, Jorge Alberto Olarte

Abstract: Following up on our previous work, we study single-element extensions of transversal valuated matroids. We show that tropical presentations of valuated matroids with a minimal set of finite entries enjoy counterparts of the properties proved by Bonin and de Mier of minimal non-valuated transversal presentations.

Authors:Zhiquan Hu, Changlong Shen

Abstract: Let $P_{10}$ be a path on $10$ vertices. A graph is said to be $P_{10}$-free if it does not contain $P_{10}$ as an induced subgraph. The well-known Erd\H{o}s-Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s Conjecture states that every graph with minimum degree at least three has a cycle whose length is a power of $2$. In this paper, we show that every $P_{10}$-free graph with minimum degree at least three contains a cycle of length $4$ or $8$. This implies that the conjecture is true for $P_{10}$-free graphs.

Authors:Bernd S. W. Schröder

Abstract: This paper exploits adjacencies between the orbits of an ordered set P and a consequence of the classification of finite simple groups to, in many cases, exponentially bound the number of automorphisms. Results clearly identify the structures which currently prevent the proof of such an exponential bound, or which indeed inflate the number of automorphisms beyond such a bound. This is a first step towards a possible resolution of the Automorphism Conjecture for ordered sets.

Authors:Ji Zeng

Abstract: We prove that every $n$-vertex complete simple topological graph generates at least $\Omega(n)$ pairwise disjoint $4$-faces. This improves upon a recent result by Hubard and Suk. As an immediate corollary, every $n$-vertex complete simple topological graph drawn in the unit square generates a $4$-face with area at most $O(1/n)$. This can be seen as a topological variant of Heilbronn's problem for $4$-faces. We construct examples showing that our result is asymptotically tight. We also discuss the similar problem for $k$-faces with arbitrary $k\geq 3$.

Authors:Theo Douvropoulos, Joel Brewster Lewis, Alejandro H. Morales

Abstract: We give uniform formulas for the number of full reflection factorizations of a parabolic quasi-Coxeter element in a Weyl group or complex reflection group, generalizing the formula for the genus-0 Hurwitz numbers. This paper is the culmination of a series of three.

Authors:Yusaku Nishimura

Abstract: Let $G$ be an undirected graph of order $n$ and let $C_i$ be an $i$-cycle graph. $G$ is called pancyclic if $G$ contains a $C_i$ for any $i\in \{3,4,\ldots,n\}$. The Paley graph of order $q$ is a graph whose vertex set is the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, where $q\equiv 1\pmod{4}$. In this graph, two vertices, $a$ and $b$, are adjacent if and only if $a-b$ is nonzero square in $\mathbb{F}_q$. We prove that Paley graph of order $q$ is pancyclic for any $q \neq 5$.

Authors:Daniel Tamayo Jiménez

Abstract: We introduce two generalizations of bracket vectors from binary trees to permutrees. These new vectors help describe algebraic and geometric properties of the rotation lattice of permutrees defined by Pilaud and Pons. The first generalization serves the role of an inversion vector for permutrees allowing us to define an explicit meet operation and provide a new constructive proof of the lattice property for permutree rotation lattices. The second generalization, which we call cubic vectors, allows for the construction of a cubic realization of these lattices which is proven to form a cubical embedding of the corresponding permutreehedra. These results specialize to those known about permutahedra and associahedra.

Authors:Yu-Jie Cui, Bao-Xuan Zhu

Abstract: Total positivity of matrices is deeply studied and plays an important role in various branches of mathematics. The main purpose of this paper is to study total positivity of a matrix $M=[M_{n,k}]_{n,k}$ generated by the weighted lattice paths in $\mathbb{N}^2$ from the origin $(0,0)$ to the point $(k,n)$ consisting of types of steps: $(0,1)$ and $(1,t+i)$ for $0\leq i\leq \ell$, where each step $(0,1)$ from height~$n-1$ gets the weight~$b_n(\textbf{y})$ and each step $(1,t+i)$ from height~$n-t-i$ gets the weight $a_n^{(i)}(\textbf{x})$. Using an algebraic method, we prove that the $\textbf{x}$-total positivity of the weight matrix $[a_i^{(i-j)}(\textbf{x})]_{i,j}$ implies that of $M$. Furthermore, using the Lindstr\"{o}m-Gessel-Viennot lemma, we obtain that both $M$ and the Toeplitz matrix of each row sequence of $M$ with $t\geq1$ are $\textbf{x}$-totally positive under the following three cases respectively: (1) $\ell=1$, (2) $\ell=2$ and restrictions for $a_n^{(i)}$, (3) general $\ell$ and both $a^{(i)}_n$ and $b_n$ are independent of $n$. In addition, for the case (3), we show that the matrix $M$ is a Riordan array, present its explicit formula and prove total positivity of the Toeplitz matrix of the each column of $M$. In particular, from the results for Toeplitz-total positivity, we also obtain the P\'olya frequency and log-concavity of the corresponding sequence. Finally, as applications, we in a unified manner establish total positivity and the Toeplitz-total positivity for many well-known combinatorial triangles, including the Pascal triangle, the Pascal square, the Delannoy triangle, the Delannoy square, the signless Stirling triangle of the first kind, the Legendre-Stirling triangle of the first kind, the Jacobi-Stirling triangle of the first kind, the Brenti's recursive matrix, and so on.

Authors:Noga Alon, Colin Defant, Noah Kravitz, Daniel G. Zhu

Abstract: Given an $n$-element set $C\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$ and a (sufficiently generic) $k$-element multiset $V\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$, we can order the points in $C$ by ranking each point $c\in C$ according to the sum of the distances from $c$ to the points of $V$. Let $\Psi_k(C)$ denote the set of orderings of $C$ that can be obtained in this manner as $V$ varies, and let $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}_{d,k}(n)$ be the maximum of $\lvert\Psi_k(C)\rvert$ as $C$ ranges over all $n$-element subsets of $\mathbb{R}^d$. We prove that $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}_{d,k}(n)=\Theta_{d,k}(n^{2dk})$ when $d \geq 2$ and that $\psi^{\mathrm{max}}_{1,k}(n)=\Theta_k(n^{4\lceil k/2\rceil -1})$. As a step toward proving this result, we establish a bound on the number of sign patterns determined by a collection of functions that are sums of radicals of nonnegative polynomials; this can be understood as an analogue of a classical theorem of Warren. We also prove several results about the set $\Psi(C)=\bigcup_{k\geq 1}\Psi_k(C)$; this includes an exact description of $\Psi(C)$ when $d=1$ and when $C$ is the set of vertices of a vertex-transitive polytope.

Authors:Jürgen Bierbrauer, Stefano Marcugini, Fernanda Pambianco

Abstract: Let $n_k(s)$ be the maximal length $n$ such that a quaternary additive $[n,k,n-s]_4$-code exists. We solve a natural asymptotic problem by determining the limsup $\lambda_k$ of $n_k(s)/s,$ and the smallest value of $s$ such that $n_k(s)/s=\lambda_k.$ The proof uses geometric language and is elementary.

Authors:David Eppstein

Abstract: Strict outerconfluent drawing is a style of graph drawing in which vertices are drawn on the boundary of a disk, adjacencies are indicated by the existence of smooth curves through a system of tracks within the disk, and no two adjacent vertices are connected by more than one of these smooth tracks. We investigate graph width parameters on the graphs that have drawings in this style. We prove that the clique-width of these graphs is unbounded, but their twin-width is bounded.

Authors:Yuzhenni Wang, Xingxing Yu, Xiao-Dong Zhang

Abstract: Stanley introduced the concept of chromatic symmetric functions of graphs which extends and refines the notion of chromatic polynomials of graphs. Stanley further conjectured that trees are determined up to isomorphism by their chromatic symmetric functions. In this paper, we study various representations of chromatic symmetric functions. We verify Stanley's conjecture for the class of trees with exactly two vertices of degree at least 3.

Authors:Xavier Coulter, Norman Do, Ellena Moskovsky

Abstract: We introduce a family of polynomials, which arise in three distinct ways: in the large $N$ expansion of a matrix integral, as a weighted enumeration of factorisations of permutations, and via the topological recursion. More explicitly, we interpret the complex Grassmannian $\mathrm{Gr}(M,N)$ as the space of $N \times N$ idempotent Hermitian matrices of rank $M$ and develop a Weingarten calculus to integrate products of matrix elements over it. In the regime of large $N$ and fixed ratio $\frac{M}{N}$, such integrals have expansions whose coefficients count factorisations of permutations into monotone sequences of transpositions, with each sequence weighted by a monomial in $t = 1 - \frac{N}{M}$. This gives rise to the desired polynomials, which specialise to the monotone Hurwitz numbers when $t = 1$. These so-called deformed monotone Hurwitz numbers satisfy a cut-and-join recursion, a one-point recursion, and the topological recursion. Furthermore, we conjecture on the basis of overwhelming empirical evidence that the deformed monotone Hurwitz numbers are real-rooted polynomials whose roots satisfy remarkable interlacing phenomena. An outcome of our work is the viewpoint that the topological recursion can be used to "topologise" sequences of polynomials, and we claim that the resulting families of polynomials may possess interesting properties. As a further case study, we consider a weighted enumeration of dessins d'enfant and conjecture that the resulting polynomials are also real-rooted and satisfy analogous interlacing properties.

Authors:Praveen Mathil, Jitender Kumar

Abstract: Let $R$ be a commutative ring with unity. The prime ideal sum graph of the ring $R$ is a simple undirected graph whose vertex set is the set of nonzero proper ideals of $R$ and two distinct vertices $I$ and $J$ are adjacent if and only if $I + J$ is a prime ideal of $R$. In this paper, we characterize all the finite non-local commutative rings whose prime ideal sum graph is of genus $2$.

Authors:Wen Xia, Shenwei Huang

Abstract: Given two graphs $H_1$ and $H_2$, a graph is $(H_1,H_2)$-free if it contains no induced subgraph isomorphic to $H_1$ and $H_2$. Let $P_t$ be the path on $t$ vertices. A dart is the graph obtained from a diamond by adding a new vertex and making it adjacent to exactly one vertex which degree is 3 in the diamond. In this paper, we show that there are finitely many $k$-vertex-critical $(P_5,dart)$-free graphs for $k \ge 1$. To prove the results we use induction on $k$ and perform a careful structural analysis via Strong Perfect Graph Theorem combined with the pigeonhole principle based on the properties of vertex-critical graphs. Our results imply the existence of a polynomial-time certifying algorithm to decide the $k$-colorability of $(P_5,dart)$-free graphs for $k \ge 1$ where the certificate is either a $k$-coloring or a $(k+1)$-vertex-critical induced subgraph.

Authors:Christine T. Cheng

Abstract: A $c$-labeling $\phi: V(G) \rightarrow \{1, 2, \hdots, c \}$ of graph $G$ is distinguishing if, for every non-trivial automorphism $\pi$ of $G$, there is some vertex $v$ so that $\phi(v) \neq \phi(\pi(v))$. The distinguishing number of $G$, $D(G)$, is the smallest $c$ such that $G$ has a distinguishing $c$-labeling. We consider a compact version of Tyshkevich's graph decomposition theorem where trivial components are maximally combined to form a complete graph or a graph of isolated vertices. Suppose the compact canonical decomposition of $G$ is $G_{k} \circ G_{k-1} \circ \cdots \circ G_1 \circ G_0$. We prove that $\phi$ is a distinguishing labeling of $G$ if and only if $\phi$ is a distinguishing labeling of $G_i$ when restricted to $V(G_i)$ for $i = 0, \hdots, k$. Thus, $D(G) = \max \{D(G_i), i = 0, \hdots, k \}$. We then present an algorithm that computes the distinguishing number of a unigraph in linear time.

Authors:Vadim E. Levit, Eugen Mandrescu

Abstract: Let $\alpha(G)$ denote the cardinality of a maximum independent set, while $\mu(G)$ be the size of a maximum matching in $G=\left( V,E\right) $. It is known that if $\alpha(G)+\mu(G)=\left\vert V\right\vert $, then $G$ is a \textit{K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graph. If $\alpha (G)+\mu(G)=\left\vert V\right\vert -1$, then $G$ is an $1$-K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graph. If $G$ is not a K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graph, and there exists a vertex $v\in V$ (an edge $e\in E$) such that $G-v$ ($G-e$) is K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry, then $G$ is called a vertex (an edge) almost K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graph (respectively). In this paper, we characterize all these types of almost K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graphs and present interrelationships between them.

Authors:Lawrence Hollom

Abstract: In the Maker-Breaker vertex colouring game, first publicised by Gardner in 1981, Maker and Breaker alternately colour vertices of a graph using a fixed palette, maintaining a proper colouring at all times. Maker aims to colour the whole graph, and Breaker aims to make some vertex impossible to colour. We are interested in the following question, first asked by Zhu in 1999: if Maker wins with $k$ colours available, must they also win with $k+1$? This question has remained open, attracting significant attention and being reposed for many similar games. While we cannot resolve this problem for the vertex colouring game, we can answer it in the affirmative for the game of arboricity, resolving a question of Bartnicki, Grytczuk, and Kierstead from 2008. We then consider how one might approach the question of monotonicity for the vertex colouring game, and work with a related game in which the vertices must be coloured in a prescribed order. We demonstrate that this `ordered vertex colouring game' does not have the above monotonicity property, and discuss the implications of this fact to the unordered game. Finally, we provide counterexamples to two open problems concerning a connected version of the graph colouring game.

Authors:Jiaqi Liao, Zequn Lv, Mengyu Cao, Mei Lu

Abstract: Let $ k $, $ m $ and $ n $ be three positive integers. A $ k $-multiset in $ [n]_m $ ($ m = \infty $ is allowed) is a $ k $-`set' whose elements are integers from $ \cb{1, \ldots, n} $, and each element is allowed to have at most $ m $ repetitions. A family of $ k $-multisets in $ [n]_m $ is called intersecting if every pair of $k$-multisets from the family have non-empty intersection. In this paper, we use a transpositional trick and the Hilton-Milner Theorem to give the size and structure of the largest non-trivial intersecting family of $ k $-multisets in $ [n]_m $.

Authors:Stijn Cambie, Jun Gao, Younjin Kim, Hong Liu

Abstract: We prove the following variant of the Erd\H{o}s distinct subset sums problem. Given $t \ge 0$ and sufficiently large $n$, every $n$-element set $A$ whose subset sums are distinct modulo $N=2^n+t$ satisfies $$\max A \ge \Big(\frac{1}{3}-o(1)\Big)N.$$ Furthermore, we provide examples showing that the constant $\frac 13$ is best possible. For small values of $t$, we characterise the structure of all sumset-distinct sets modulo $N=2^n+t$ of cardinality $n$.

Authors:Harry Richman, Farbod Shokrieh, Chenxi Wu

Abstract: We prove a lower bound on the number of spanning two-forests in a graph, in terms of the number of vertices, edges, and spanning trees. This implies an upper bound on the average cut size of a random two-forest. The main tool is an identity relating the number of spanning trees and two-forests to pairwise effective resistances in a graph. Along the way, we make connections to potential theoretic invariants on metric graphs.

Authors:Gyivan Lopez-Campos, Deborah Oliveros, Jorge L. Ramírez Alfonsín

Abstract: The Borsuk conjecture and the V\'azsonyi problem are two attractive and famous questions in discrete and combinatorial geometry, both based on the notion of diameter of a bounded sets. In this paper, we present an equivalence between the critical sets with Borsuk number 4 in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and the minimal structures for the V\'azsonyi problem by using the well-known Reuleaux polyhedra. The latter lead to a full characterization of all finite sets in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with Borsuk number 4. The proof of such equivalence needs various ingredients, in particular, we proved a conjecture dealing with strongly critical configuration for the V\'azsonyi problem and showed that the diameter graph arising from involutive polyhedra is vertex (and edge) 4-critical.

Authors:Joseph E. Bonin, Kevin Long

Abstract: Many important enumerative invariants of a matroid can be obtained from its Tutte polynomial, and many more are determined by two stronger invariants, the $\mathcal{G}$-invariant and the configuration of the matroid. We show that the same is not true of the most basic connectivity invariants. Specifically, we show that for any positive integer $n$, there are pairs of matroids that have the same configuration (and so the same $\mathcal{G}$-invariant and the same Tutte polynomial) but the difference between their Tutte connectivities exceeds $n$, and likewise for vertical connectivity and branch-width. The examples that we use to show this, which we construct using an operation that we introduce, are transversal matroids that are also positroids.

Authors:Giovanni Mecenero, Pablo Spiga

Abstract: Given two positive integers $n$ and $k$, we obtain a formula for the base size of the symmetric group of degree $n$ in its action on $k$-subsets. Then, we use this formula to compute explicitly the base size for each $n$ and for each $k\le 14$.

Authors:Jing Wang, Ligong Wang, Xiaogang Liu

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the existence of fractional revival on semi-Cayley graphs over finite abelian groups. We give some necessary and sufficient conditions for semi-Cayley graphs over finite abelian groups admitting fractional revival. We also show that integrality is necessary for some semi-Cayley graphs admitting fractional revival. Moreover, we characterize the minimum time when semi-Cayley graphs admit fractional revival. As applications, we give examples of certain Cayley graphs over the generalized dihedral groups and generalized dicyclic groups admitting fractional revival.

Authors:David Conlon, Jeck Lim

Abstract: An old problem in discrete geometry, originating with Kupitz, asks whether there is a fixed natural number $k$ such that every finite set of points in the plane has a line through at least two of its points where the number of points on either side of this line differ by at most $k$. We give a negative answer to a natural variant of this problem, showing that for every natural number $k$ there exists a finite set of points in the plane together with a pseudoline arrangement such that each pseudoline contains at least two points and there is a pseudoline through any pair of points where the number of points on either side of each pseudoline differ by at least $k$.

Authors:James Davies, Rose McCarty, Michał Pilipczuk

Abstract: We give two extensions of the recent theorem of the first author that the odd distance graph has unbounded chromatic number. The first is that for any non-constant polynomial $f$ with integer coefficients and positive leading coefficient, every finite colouring of the plane contains a monochromatic pair of distinct points whose distance is equal to $f(n)$ for some integer $n$. The second is that for every finite colouring of the plane, there is a monochromatic pair of points whose distance is a prime number.

Authors:Subhabrata Paul, Kamal Santra

Abstract: Let $G=(V, E)$ be a graph where $V$ and $E$ are the vertex and edge sets, respectively. For two disjoint subsets $A$ and $B$ of $V$, we say $A$ \emph{dominates} $B$ if every vertex of $B$ is adjacent to at least one vertex of $A$. A vertex partition $\pi = \{V_1, V_2, \ldots, V_k\}$ of $G$ is called a \emph{transitive partition} of size $k$ if $V_i$ dominates $V_j$ for all $1\leq i<j\leq k$. In this article, we initiate the study of a generalization of transitive partition, namely \emph{$d_2$-transitive partition}. For two disjoint subsets $A$ and $B$ of $V$, we say $A$ \emph{$d_2$-dominates} $B$ if, for every vertex of $B$, there exists a vertex in $A$, such that the distance between them is at most two. A vertex partition $\pi = \{V_1, V_2, \ldots, V_k\}$ of $G$ is called a \emph{$d_2$-transitive partition} of size $k$ if $V_i$ $d_2$-dominates $V_j$ for all $1\leq i<j\leq k$. The maximum integer $k$ for which the above partition exists is called \emph{$d_2$-transitivity} of $G$, and it is denoted by $Tr_{d_2}(G)$. The \textsc{Maximum $d_2$-Transitivity Problem} is to find a $d_2$-transitive partition of a given graph with the maximum number of parts. We show that this problem can be solved in linear time for the complement of bipartite graphs and bipartite chain graphs. On the negative side, we prove that the decision version of the \textsc{Maximum $d_2$-Transitivity Problem} is NP-complete for split graphs, bipartite graphs, and star-convex bipartite graphs.

Authors:Yahav Alon, Michael Krivelevich

Abstract: It is known that the complete graph $K_n$ contains a pancyclic subgraph with $n+(1+o(1))\cdot \log _2 n$ edges, and that there is no pancyclic graph on $n$ vertices with fewer than $n+\log _2 (n-1) -1$ edges. We show that, with high probability, $G(n,p)$ contains a pancyclic subgraph with $n+(1+o(1))\log_2 n$ edges for $p \ge p^*$, where $p^*=(1+o(1))\ln n/n$, right above the threshold for pancyclicity.

Authors:Dongchun Han, Hanbin Zhang

Abstract: Near maximum distance separable (NMDS) codes are important in finite geometry and coding theory. Self-dual codes are closely related to combinatorics, lattice theory, and have important application in cryptography. In this paper, we construct a class of $q$-ary linear codes and prove that they are either MDS or NMDS which depends on certain zero-sum condition. In the NMDS case, we provide an effective approach to construct NMDS self-dual codes which largely extend known parameters of such codes. In particular, we proved that for square $q$, almost $q/8$ NMDS self-dual $q$-ary codes can be constructed.

Authors:Yury Demidovich, Yaroslav Panichkin, Maksim Zhukovskii

Abstract: Given a graph $G$, when is it possible to reconstruct with high probability a uniformly random colouring of its vertices in $r$ colours from its $k$-deck, i.e. a set of its induced (coloured) subgraphs of size $k$? In this paper, we reconstruct random colourings of lattices and random graphs. Recently, Narayanan and Yap proved that, for $d=2$, with high probability a random colouring of vertices of a $d$-dimensional $n$-lattice ($n\times n$ grid) is reconstructibe from its deck of all $k$-subgrids ($k\times k$ grids) if $k\geq\sqrt{2\log_2 n}+\frac{3}{4}$ and is not reconstructible if $k<\sqrt{2\log_2 n}-\frac{1}{4}$. We prove that the same "two-point concentration" result for the minimum size of subgrids that determine the entire colouring holds true in any dimension $d\geq 2$. We also prove that with high probability a uniformly random $r$-colouring of the vertices of the random graph $G(n,1/2)$ is reconstructible from its full $k$-deck if $k\geq 2\log_2 n+8$ and is not reconstructible if $k\leq\sqrt{2\log_2 n}$. We further show that the colour reconstruction algorithm for random graphs can be modified and used for graph reconstruction: we prove that with high probability $G(n,1/2)$ is reconstructible from its full $k$-deck if $k\geq 2\log_2 n+11$ (while it is not reconstructible with high probability if $k\leq 2\sqrt{\log_2 n}$). This significantly improves the best known upper bound for the minimum size of subgraphs in a deck that can be used to reconstruct the random graph with high probability.

Authors:Ohr Kadrawi, Vadim E. Levit

Abstract: Given a graph $G$, the number of its vertices is represented by $n(G)$, while the number of its edges is denoted as $m(G)$. An independent set in a graph is a set of vertices where no two vertices are adjacent to each other and the size of the maximum independent set is denoted by $\alpha(G)$. A matching in a graph refers to a set of edges where no two edges share a common vertex and the maximum matching size is denoted by $\mu(G)$. If $\alpha(G) + \mu(G) = n(G)$, then the graph $G$ is called a K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graph. Considering a graph $G$ with a degree sequence $d_1 \leq d_2 \leq \cdots \leq d_n$, the annihilation number $a(G)$ is defined as the largest integer $k$ such that the sum of the first $k$ degrees in the sequence is less than or equal to $m(G)$ (Pepper, 2004). It is a known fact that $\alpha(G)$ is less than or equal to $a(G)$ for any graph $G$. Our goal is to estimate the difference between these two parameters. Specifically, we prove a series of inequalities, including $a(G) - \alpha(G) \leq \frac{\mu(G) - 1}{2}$ for trees, $a(G) - \alpha(G) \leq 2 + \mu(G) - 2\sqrt{1 + \mu(G)}$ for bipartite graphs and $a(G) - \alpha(G) \leq \mu(G) - 2$ for K\"{o}nig-Egerv\'{a}ry graphs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these inequalities serve as tight upper bounds for the difference between the annihilation and independence numbers, regardless of the assigned value for $\mu(G)$.

Authors:Mathias Drton, Benjamin Hollering, Jun Wu

Abstract: We consider structural equation models (SEMs), in which every variable is a function of a subset of the other variables and a stochastic error. Each such SEM is naturally associated with a directed graph describing the relationships between variables. When the errors are homoscedastic, recent work has proposed methods for inferring the graph from observational data under the assumption that the graph is acyclic (i.e., the SEM is recursive). In this work, we study the setting of homoscedastic errors but allow the graph to be cyclic (i.e., the SEM to be non-recursive). Using an algebraic approach that compares matroids derived from the parameterizations of the models, we derive sufficient conditions for when two simple directed graphs generate different distributions generically. Based on these conditions, we exhibit subclasses of graphs that allow for directed cycles, yet are generically identifiable. We also conjecture a strengthening of our graphical criterion which can be used to distinguish many more non-complete graphs.

Authors:Jiani Zou, Miaomiao Han, Hong-Jian Lai

Abstract: The square coloring of a graph $G$ is a stronger version of proper vertex coloring, requiring additionally that any two distinct vertices with a common neighbor need to be colored differently. In this paper we prove that every planar graph with maximum degree at most $5$ admits a square coloring using at most $17$ colors, which improves the upper bound $18$ recently presented by Hou, Jin, Miao, and Zhao [Graphs and Combinatorics, 2023].

Authors:Eric Babson, Volkmar Welker

Abstract: Garland introduced a vanishing criterion for a characteristic zero cohomology group of a locally finite and locally connected simplicial complex. The criterion is based on the spectral gaps of the graph Laplacians of the links of faces and has turned out to be effective in a wide range of examples. In this note we extend the approach to include a range of non-simplicial (co)chain complexes associated to combinatorial structures we call Garland posets and elaborate further on the case of cubical complexes.

Authors:Dean Crnković, Doris Dumičić Danilović, Ana Šumberac, Andrea Švob

Abstract: In this paper, we give a construction of doubly even self-orthogonal codes from quasi-symmetric designs. Further, we study orbit matrices of quasi-symmetric designs and give a construction of doubly even self-orthogonal codes from orbit matrices of quasi-symmetric designs of Blokhuis-Haemers type.

Authors:Ademir Hujdurović, István Kovács

Abstract: A graph $\Gamma$ is said to be unstable if for the direct product $\Gamma \times K_2$, $Aut(\Gamma \times K_2)$ is not isomorphic to $Aut(\Gamma) \times \mathbb{Z}_2$. In this paper we show that a connected and non-bipartite Cayley graph $Cay(H,S)$ is unstable if and only if the set $S \times \{1\}$ belongs to a Schur ring over the group $H \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ having certain properties. The Schur rings with these properties are characterized if $H$ is an abelian group of odd order or a cyclic group of twice odd order. As an application, a short proof is given for the result of Witte Morris stating that every connected unstable Cayley graph on an abelian group of odd order has twins (Electron.~J.~Combin, 2021). As another application, sufficient and necessary conditions are given for a connected and non-bipartite circulant graph of order $2p^e$ to be unstable, where $p$ is an odd prime and $e \ge 1$.

Authors:Andrea Jiménez, Jessica Mcdonald, Reza Naserasr, Kathryn Nurse, Daniel A. Quiroz

Abstract: Motivated by different characterizations of planar graphs and the 4-Color Theorem, several structural results concerning graphs of high chromatic number have been obtained. Toward strengthening some of these results, we consider the \emph{balanced chromatic number}, $\chi_b(\hat{G})$, of a signed graph $\hat{G}$. This is the minimum number of parts into which the vertices of a signed graph can be partitioned so that none of the parts induces a negative cycle. This extends the notion of the chromatic number of a graph since $\chi(G)=\chi_b(\tilde{G})$, where $\tilde{G}$ denotes the signed graph obtained from~$G$ by replacing each edge with a pair of (parallel) positive and negative edges. We introduce a signed version of Hadwiger's conjecture as follows. Conjecture: If a signed graph $\hat{G}$ has no negative loop and no $\tilde{K_t}$-minor, then its balanced chromatic number is at most $t-1$. We prove that this conjecture is, in fact, equivalent to Hadwiger's conjecture and show its relation to the Odd Hadwiger Conjecture. Motivated by these results, we also consider the relation between subdivisions and balanced chromatic number. We prove that if $(G, \sigma)$ has no negative loop and no $\tilde{K_t}$-subdivision, then it admits a balanced $\frac{79}{2}t^2$-coloring. This qualitatively generalizes a result of Kawarabayashi (2013) on totally odd subdivisions.

Authors:Jaime Gutierrez, Jorge Jimenez Urroz

Abstract: Let $F_q$ be the finite field with $q$ elements and $F_q[x_1,\ldots, x_n]$ the ring of polynomials in $n$ variables over $F_q$. In this paper we consider permutation polynomials and local permutation polynomials over $F_q[x_1,\ldots, x_n]$, which define interesting generalizations of permutations over finite fields. We are able to construct permutation polynomials in $F_q[x_1,\ldots, x_n]$ of maximum degree $n(q-1)-1$ and local permutation polynomials in $F_q[x_1,\ldots, x_n]$ of maximum degree $n(q-2)$ when $q>3$, extending previous results.

Authors:Sela Fried, Toufik Mansour

Abstract: A Random walk labeling of a graph $G$ is any labeling of $G$ that could have been obtained by performing a random walk on $G$. Continuing two recent works, we calculate the number of random walk labelings of perfect trees, combs, and double combs, the torus $C_2\times C_n$, and the graph obtained by connecting three path graphs to form two cycles.

Authors:Santanu Mandal

Abstract: In this brief communication, we investigate the cospectral as well integral chain graphs for Seidel matrix, a key component to study the structural properties of equiangular lines in space. We derive a formula that allows to generate an infinite number of inequivalent chain graphs with identical spectrum. In addition, we obtain a family of Seidel integral chain graphs. This contrapositively answers a problem posed by Greaves ["Equiangular line systems and switching classes containing regular graphs", Linear Algebra Appl., (2018)] ("Does every Seidel matrix with precisely three distinct rational eigenvalues contain a regular graph in its switching class?"). Our observation is- "no".

Authors:Sela Fried, Toufik Mansour

Abstract: Let $p_n$ be the maximal sum of the entries of $A^2$, where $A$ is a square matrix of size $n$, consisting of the numbers $1,2,\ldots,n^2$, each appearing exactly once. We prove that $m_n=\Theta(n^7)$. More precisely, we show that $n(240n^{6}+28n^{5}+364n^{4}+210n^{2}-28n+26-105((-1)^{n}+1))/840\leq p_n\leq n^{3}(n^{2}+1)(7n^{2}+5)/24$.

Authors:Zakir Deniz

Abstract: A vertex coloring of a graph $G$ is called a 2-distance coloring if any two vertices at a distance at most $2$ from each other receive different colors. Suppose that $G$ is a planar graph with girth $5$ and maximum degree $\Delta$. We prove that $G$ admits a $2$-distance $\Delta+7$ coloring, which improves the result of Dong and Lin (J. Comb. Optim. 32(2), 645-655, 2016). Moreover, we prove that $G$ admits a $2$-distance $\Delta+6$ coloring when $\Delta\geq 10$.

Authors:Lou-Jun Yu, Wen-Huan Wang

Abstract: Let $\mathcal T (n, k)$ be the set of the $k$-uniform supertrees with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, where $k\geq 3$, $n\geq 5$ and $m=\frac{n-1}{k-1}$. % Let $m$ be the number of the edges of the supertrees in $\mathcal T (n, k)$, where $m=\frac{n-1}{k-1}$. A conjecture concerning the supertrees with the fourth through the eighth largest $\alpha$-spectral radii in $\mathcal T (n, k)$ was proposed by You et al.\ (2020), where $0 \leq \alpha<1$, $k\geq 3$ and $m \geq 10$. This conjecture was partially solved for $1-\frac{1}{m-2}\leq \alpha <1$ and $m\geq 10$ by Wang et al.\ (2022). When $0\leq \alpha <1-\frac{1}{m-2}$ and $m \geq 10$, whether this conjecture is correct or not remains a problem to be further solved. By using a new $\rho_{\alpha}$-normal labeling method proposed in this article for computing the $\alpha$-spectral radius of the $k$-uniform hypergraphs, we completely prove that this conjecture is right for $0\leq\alpha<1$ and $m\geq 13$.

Authors:Hartosh Singh Bal

Abstract: The height $H(n)$ of $n$, is the smallest positive integer $i$ such that the $i$ th iterate of the totient function evaluated at $n$ is $1$. H. N. Shapiro determined that $H$ was almost completely additive. Building on the fact that the set of all numbers at a particular height reflect a partition structure the paper shows that all multi-partition structures correspond to a completely additive function. This includes the Matula number for rooted trees, as well as the sum of the primes function studied by Alladi and Erdos. We show the reordering of the natural numbers in each such partition structure is of importance and conjecture that the log of the asymptotic growth of the multi-partition is inversely related to the order of the growth of the associated additive function. We further provide computational evidence that the partition structure for large n tends to a lognormal distribution leading to insights into the distribution of primes at each height, which can thus be seen as a finite setting for probabilistic questions.

Authors:David Fabian, Patrick Morris, Tibor Szabó

Abstract: Given a fixed graph $H$ and an $n$-vertex graph $G$, the $H$-bootstrap percolation process on $G$ is defined to be the sequence of graphs $G_i$, $i\geq 0$ which starts with $G_0:=G$ and in which $G_{i+1}$ is obtained from $G_i$ by adding every edge that completes a copy of $H$. We are interested in the maximum number of steps, over all $n$-vertex graphs $G$, that this process takes to stabilise. In the first of a series of papers exploring the behaviour of this function, denoted $M_H(n)$, and its dependence on certain properties of $H$, we investigate the case when $H$ is a cycle. We determine the running time precisely, giving the first infinite family of graphs $H$ for which an exact solution is known. The maximum running time of the $C_k$-bootstrap process is of the order $\log_{k-1}(n)$ for all $3\leq k\in \mathbb{N}$. Interestingly though, the function exhibits different behaviour depending on the parity of $k$ and the exact location of the values of $n$ for which $M_H(n)$ increases is determined by the Frobenius number of a certain numerical semigroup depending on $k$.

Authors:Xiao Han

Abstract: This manuscript includes some classical results we select apart from the new results we've found on the Analysis of Boolean Functions and Fourier-Entropy-Influence conjecture. We try to ensure the self-completeness of this work so that readers could probably read it independently. Among the new results, what is the most remarkable is that we prove that the entropy of a boolean function $f$ could be bounded by $O(I(f))-O(\sum_{k\in [n]}I_k(f)\log I_k(f))$.

Authors:Andronick Arutyunov, Igor Zhiltsov

Abstract: In this paper we give a way of equipping the derivation algebra of a group algebra with the structure of a graded algebra. The derived group is used as the grading group. For the proof, the identification of the derivation with the characters of the adjoint action groupoid is used. These results also allow us to obtain the analogous structure of a graded algebra for outer derivations. A non-trivial graduation is obtained for all groups that are not perfect.

Authors:Yirui Huang, Gang Zhang, Xian'an Jin

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph. A subset $D \subseteq V(G)$ is called a 1-isolating set of $G$ if $\Delta(G-N[D]) \leq 1$, that is, $G-N[D]$ consists of isolated edges and isolated vertices only. The $1$-isolation number of $G$, denoted by $\iota_1(G)$, is the cardinality of a smallest $1$-isolating set of $G$. In this paper, we prove that if $G \notin \{P_3,C_3,C_7,C_{11}\}$ is a connected graph of order $n$ without $6$-cycles, or without induced 5- and 6-cycles, then $\iota_1(G) \leq \frac{n}{4}$. Both bounds are sharp.

Authors:Lior Gishboliner, Asaf Shapira

Abstract: A theorem of R\"odl states that for every fixed $F$ and $\varepsilon>0$ there is $\delta=\delta_F(\varepsilon)$ so that every induced $F$-free graph contains a vertex set of size $\delta n$ whose edge density is either at most $\varepsilon$ or at least $1-\varepsilon$. R\"odl's proof relied on the regularity lemma, hence it supplied only a tower-type bound for $\delta$. Fox and Sudakov conjectured that $\delta$ can be made polynomial in $\varepsilon$, and a recent result of Fox, Nguyen, Scott and Seymour shows that this conjecture holds when $F=P_4$. In fact, they show that the same conclusion holds even if $G$ contains few copies of $P_4$. In this note we give a short proof of a more general statement.

Authors:Gang Chen, Chenchen Ren, Zi-xia song

Abstract: Given graphs $H_1, H_2$, a \{red, blue\}-coloring of the edges of a graph $G$ is a critical coloring if $G$ has neither a red $H_1$ nor a blue $ H_2$. A non-complete graph $G$ is $(H_1, H_2)$-co-critical if $G$ admits a critical coloring, but $G+e$ has no critical coloring for every edge $e$ in the complement of $G$. Motivated by a conjecture of Hanson and Toft from 1987, we study the minimum number of edges over all $(C_4, K_{1,k})$-co-critical graphs on $n$ vertices. We show that for all $k \ge 2 $ and $ n \ge k +\lfloor \sqrt {k-1} \rfloor +2$, if $G$ is a $(C_4,K_{1,k})$-co-critical graph on $n$ vertices, then \[e(G) \ge \frac{(k+2)n}2-3- \frac{(k-1)(k+ \lfloor \sqrt {k-2}\rfloor)}2.\] Moreover, this linear bound is asymptotically best possible for all $k\ge3$ and $n\ge3k+4$. It is worth noting that our constructions for the case when $ k$ is even have at least three different critical colorings. For $k=2$, we obtain the sharp bound for the minimum number of edges of $(C_4, K_{1,2})$-co-critical graphs on $n\ge5 $ vertices by showing that all such graphs have at least $2n-3$ edges. Our proofs rely on the structural properties of $(C_4,K_{1,k})$-co-critical graphs and a result of Ollmann on the minimum number of edges of $C_4$-saturated graphs.

Authors:Marianna Bolla, Daniel Zhou

Abstract: Whereas Laplacian and modularity based spectral clustering is apt to dense graphs, recent results show that for sparse ones, the non-backtracking spectrum is the best candidate to find assortative clusters of nodes. Here belief propagation in the sparse stochastic block model is derived with arbitrary given model parameters that results in a non-linear system of equations; with linear approximation, the spectrum of the non-backtracking matrix is able to specify the number $k$ of clusters. Then the model parameters themselves can be estimated by the EM algorithm. Bond percolation in the assortative model is considered in the following two senses: the within- and between-cluster edge probabilities decrease with the number of nodes and edges coming into existence in this way are retained with probability $\beta$. As a consequence, the optimal $k$ is the number of the structural real eigenvalues (greater than $\sqrt{c}$, where $c$ is the average degree) of the non-backtracking matrix of the graph. Assuming, these eigenvalues $\mu_1 >\dots > \mu_k$ are distinct, the multiple phase transitions obtained for $\beta$ are $\beta_i =\frac{c}{\mu_i^2}$; further, at $\beta_i$ the number of detectable clusters is $i$, for $i=1,\dots ,k$. Inflation-deflation techniques are also discussed to classify the nodes themselves, which can be the base of the sparse spectral clustering.

Authors:Eden Kuperwasser, Wojciech Samotij, Yuval Wigderson

Abstract: Let us say that a graph $G$ is Ramsey for a tuple $(H_1,\dots,H_r)$ of graphs if every $r$-coloring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H_i$ in color $i$, for some $i \in [r]$. A famous conjecture of Kohayakawa and Kreuter, extending seminal work of R\"odl and Ruci\'nski, predicts the threshold at which the binomial random graph $G_{n,p}$ becomes Ramsey for $(H_1,\dots,H_r)$ asymptotically almost surely. In this paper, we resolve the Kohayakawa-Kreuter conjecture for almost all tuples of graphs. Moreover, we reduce its validity to the truth of a certain deterministic statement, which is a clear necessary condition for the conjecture to hold. All of our results actually hold in greater generality, when one replaces the graphs $H_1,\dots,H_r$ by finite families $\mathcal{H}_1,\dots,\mathcal{H}_r$. Additionally, we pose a natural (deterministic) graph-partitioning conjecture, which we believe to be of independent interest, and whose resolution would imply the Kohayakawa-Kreuter conjecture.

Authors:Marcin Briański, Jędrzej Hodor, Hoang La, Piotr Micek, Katzper Michno

Abstract: For every integer $n$ with $n \geq 6$, we prove that the Boolean dimension of a poset consisting of all the subsets of $\{1,\dots,n\}$ equipped with the inclusion relation is strictly less than $n$.

Authors:Matthew C. Russell

Abstract: We provide a refinement of MacMahon's partition identity on sequence-avoiding partitions, and use it to produce another mod 6 partition identity. In addition, we show that our technique also extends to cover Andrews's generalization of MacMahon's identity. Our proofs are bijective in nature, exploiting a theorem of Xiong and Keith.

Authors:Candida Bowtell, Robert Hancock, Joseph Hyde

Abstract: For graphs $G, H_1,\dots,H_r$, write $G \to (H_1, \ldots, H_r)$ to denote the property that whenever we $r$-colour the edges of $G$, there is a monochromatic copy of $H_i$ in colour $i$ for some $i \in \{1,\dots,r\}$. Mousset, Nenadov and Samotij proved an upper bound on the threshold function for the property that $G_{n,p} \to (H_1,\dots,H_r)$, thereby resolving the $1$-statement of the Kohayakawa--Kreuter conjecture. We reduce the $0$-statement of the Kohayakawa--Kreuter conjecture to a natural deterministic colouring problem and resolve this problem for almost all cases, which in particular includes (but is not limited to) when $H_2$ is strictly $2$-balanced and either has density greater than $2$ or is not bipartite. In addition, we extend our reduction to hypergraphs, proving the colouring problem in almost all cases there as well.

Authors:Noga Alon

Abstract: A bipartite covering of a (multi)graph $G$ is a collection of bipartite graphs, so that each edge of $G$ belongs to at least one of them. The capacity of the covering is the sum of the numbers of vertices of these bipartite graphs. In this note we establish a (modest) strengthening of old results of Hansel and of Katona and Szemer\'edi, by showing that the capacity of any bipartite covering of a graph on $n$ vertices in which the maximum size of an independent set containing vertex number $i$ is $\alpha_i$, is at least $\sum_i \log_2 (n/\alpha_i).$ We also obtain slightly improved bounds for a recent result of Kim and Lee about the minimum possible capacity of a bipartite covering of complete multigraphs.

Authors:Pavel Galashin, Thomas Lam

Abstract: We define monotone links on a torus, obtained as projections of curves in the plane whose coordinates are monotone increasing. Using the work of Morton-Samuelson, to each monotone link we associate elements in the double affine Hecke algebra and the elliptic Hall algebra. In the case of torus knots (when the curve is a straight line), we recover symmetric function operators appearing in the rational shuffle conjecture. We show that the class of monotone links viewed as links in $\mathbb R^3$ coincides with the class of Coxeter links, studied by Oblomkov-Rozansky in the setting of the flag Hilbert scheme. When the curve satisfies a convexity condition, we recover positroid links that we previously studied. In the convex case, we conjecture that the associated symmetric functions are Schur positive, extending a recent conjecture of Blasiak-Haiman-Morse-Pun-Seelinger, and we speculate on the relation to Khovanov-Rozansky homology. Our constructions satisfy a skein recurrence where the base case consists of piecewise almost linear curves. We show that convex piecewise almost linear curves give rise to algebraic links.

Authors:Johnny Sierra, Daphne Der-Fen Liu, Jessica Toy

Abstract: An antimagic labeling of a graph $G(V,E)$ is a bijection $f: E \to \{1,2, \dots, |E|\}$ so that $\sum_{e \in E(u)} f(e) \neq \sum_{e \in E(v)} f(e)$ holds for all $u, v \in V(G)$ with $u \neq v$, where $E(v)$ is the set of edges incident to $v$. We call $G$ antimagic if it admits an antimagic labeling. A forest is a graph without cycles; equivalently, every component of a forest is a tree. It was proved by Kaplan, Lev, and Roditty [2009], and by Liang, Wong, and Zhu [2014] that every tree with at most one vertex of degree-2 is antimagic. A major tool used in the proof is the zero-sum partition introduced by Kaplan, Lev, and Roditty [2009]. In this article, we provide an algorithmic representation for the zero-sum partition method and apply this method to show that every forest with at most one vertex of degree-2 is also antimagic.

Authors:Arijit Ghosh, Chandrima Kayal, Soumi Nandi, S. Venkitesh

Abstract: Alon and F\"uredi (European J. Combin. 1993) gave a tight bound for the following hyperplane covering problem: find the minimum number of hyperplanes required to cover all points of the n-dimensional hypercube {0,1}^n except the origin. Their proof is among the early instances of the polynomial method, which considers a natural polynomial (a product of linear factors) associated to the hyperplane arrangement, and gives a lower bound on its degree, whilst being oblivious to the (product) structure of the polynomial. Thus, their proof gives a lower bound for a weaker polynomial covering problem, and it turns out that this bound is tight for the stronger hyperplane covering problem. In a similar vein, solutions to some other hyperplane covering problems were obtained, via solutions of corresponding weaker polynomial covering problems, in some special cases in the works of the fourth author (Electron. J. Combin. 2022), and the first three authors (Discrete Math. 2023). In this work, we build on these and solve a hyperplane covering problem for general symmetric sets of the hypercube, where we consider hyperplane covers with higher multiplicities. We see that even in this generality, it is enough to solve the corresponding polynomial covering problem. Further, this seems to be the limit of this approach as far as covering symmetry preserving subsets of the hypercube is concerned. We gather evidence for this by considering the class of blockwise symmetric sets of the hypercube (which is a strictly larger class than symmetric sets), and note that the same proof technique seems to only solve the polynomial covering problem.

Authors:Ying Wang, Guoce Xin, Yingrui Zhang

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.

Authors:Ting-Wei Chao, Hung-Hsun Hans Yu

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.

Authors:Ting-Wei Chao, Hung-Hsun Hans Yu

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.

Authors:Joshua Erde, Mihyun Kang, Florian Lehner, Bojan Mohar, Dominik Schmid

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 $O\left(\sqrt{\frac{n}{k}}\,\right)$.

Authors:Carl Feghali, Malory Marin

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.

Authors:Deepak Bal, Patrick Bennett

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.

Authors:Yarong Hu, Zhenzhen Lou, Qiongxiang Huang

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 $n$.

Authors:James Davis, John Polhill, Ken Smith, Eric Swartz

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.

Authors:Pu Gao, Peter Nelson

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.

Authors:Lele Liu, Bo Ning

Abstract: Let $F$ be a graph and $\SPEX (n, F)$ be the class of $n$-vertex graphs which attain the maximum spectral radius and contain no $F$ as a subgraph. Let $\EX (n, F)$ be the family of $n$-vertex graphs which contain maximum number of edges and no $F$ as a subgraph. It is a fundamental problem in spectral extremal graph theory to characterize all graphs $F$ such that $\SPEX (n, F)\subseteq \EX (n, F)$ when $n$ is sufficiently large. Establishing the conjecture of Cioab\u{a}, Desai and Tait [European J. Combin., 2022], Wang, Kang, and Xue [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 2023] prove that: for any graph $F$ such that the graphs in $\EX (n, F)$ are Tur\'{a}n graphs plus $O(1)$ edges, $\SPEX (n, F)\subseteq \EX (n, F)$ for sufficiently large $n$. In this paper, we prove that $\SPEX (n, F)\subseteq \EX (n, F)$ for sufficiently large $n$, where $F$ is an $n$-vertex graph with no isolated vertices and $\Delta (F) \leq \sqrt{n}/40$. We also prove a signless Laplacian spectral radius version of the above theorem. These results give new contribution to the open problem mentioned above, and can be seen as spectral analogs of a theorem of Alon and Yuster [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 2013]. Furthermore, as immediate corollaries, we have tight spectral conditions for the existence of several classes of special graphs, including clique-factors, $k$-th power of Hamilton cycles and $k$-factors in graphs. The first special class of graphs gives a positive answer to a problem of Feng, and the second one extends a previous result of Yan et al.

Authors:Gábor Hegedüs, Péter Frankl

Abstract: Let $X$ be an $n$-element set. A set-pair system $\mbox{$\cal P$}=\{(A_i,B_i)\}_{1\leq i\leq m}$ is a collection of pairs of disjoint subsets of $X$. It is called skew Bollob\'as system if $A_i\cap B_j\neq \emptyset$ for all $1\leq i<j \leq m$. The best possible inequality $$ \sum_{i=1}^m \frac{1}{{|A_i|+|B_i| \choose |A_i|}}\leq n+1. $$ is established along with some more results of similar flavor.

Authors:Gui-Xian Tian, Jun-Xing Wu, Shu-Yu Cui, Hui-Lu Sun

Abstract: Given a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices, its adjacency matrix and degree diagonal matrix are represented by $A(G)$ and $D(G)$, respectively. The $Q$-spectrum of $G$ consists of all the eigenvalues of its signless Laplacian matrix $Q(G)=A(G)+D(G)$ (including the multiplicities). A graph $G$ is known as being determined by its generalized $Q$-spectrum ($DGQS$ for short) if, for any graph $H$, $H$ and $G$ have the same $Q$-spectrum and so do their complements, then $H$ is isomorphic to $G$. In this paper, we present a method to construct $DGQS$ graphs. More specifically, let the matrix $W_{Q}(G)=\left [e,Qe,\dots ,Q^{n-1}e \right ]$ ($e$ denotes the all-one column vector ) be the $Q$-walk matrix of $G$. It is shown that $G\circ P_{k}$ ($k=2,3$) is $DGQS$ if and only if $G$ is $DGQS$ for some specific graphs. This also provides a way to construct $DGQS$ graphs with more vertices by using $DGQS$ graphs with fewer vertices. At the same time, we also prove that $G\circ P_{2}$ is still $DGQS$ under specific circumstances. In particular, on the basis of the above results, we obtain an infinite sequences of $DGQS$ graphs $G\circ P_{k}^{t}$ ($k=2,3;t\ge 1$) for some specific $DGQS$ graph $G$.

Authors:Junyang Zhang

Abstract: Divide a deck of $kn$ cards into $k$ equal piles and place them from left to right. The standard shuffle $\sigma$ is performed by picking up the top cards one by one from left to right and repeating until all cards have been picked up. For every permutation $\tau$ of the $k$ piles, use $\rho_{\tau}$ to denote the induced permutation on the $kn$ cards. The shuffle group $G_{k,kn}$ is generated by $\sigma$ and the $k!$ permutations $\rho_{\tau}$. It was conjectured by Cohen et al in 2005 that the shuffle group $G_{k,kn}$ contains $A_{kn}$ if $k\geq3$, $(k,n)\ne\{4,2^f\}$ for any positive integer $f$ and $n$ is not a power of $k$. Very recently, Xia, Zhang and Zhu reduced the proof of the conjecture to that of the $2$-transitivity of the shuffle group and then proved the conjecture under the condition that $k\ge4$ or $k\nmid n$. In this paper, we proved that the group $G_{3,3n}$ is $2$-transitive for any positive integer $n$ which is a multiple of $3$ but not a power of $3$. This result leads to the complete classification of the shuffle groups $G_{k,kn}$ for all $k\ge2$ and $n\ge1$.

Authors:Tung Nguyen, Alex Scott, Paul Seymour

Abstract: The Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture says that for every graph $H$, there exists $c>0$ such that every $H$-free graph $G$ has a clique or stable set of size at least $2^{c\log|G|}$ (a graph is ``$H$-free'' if no induced subgraph is isomorphic to $H$). The conjecture is known when $H$ is a path with at most four vertices, but remains open for longer paths. For the five-vertex path, Blanco and Buci\'c recently proved a bound of $2^{c(\log |G|)^{2/3}}$; for longer paths, the best existing bound is $2^{c(\log|G|\log\log|G|)^{1/2}}$. We prove a much stronger result: for any path $P$, every $P$-free graph $G$ has a clique or stable set of size at least $2^{(\log |G|)^{1-o(1)}}$. We strengthen this further, weakening the hypothesis that $G$ is $P$-free by a hypothesis that $G$ does not contain ``many'' copies of $P$, and strengthening the conclusion, replacing the large clique or stable set outcome with a ``near-polynomial'' version of Nikiforov's theorem.

Authors:Zdenek Dvorak, Liana Yepremyan

Abstract: We show that Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graphs $G(n,p)$ with constant density $p<1$ have correspondence chromatic number $O(n/\sqrt{\log n})$; this matches a prediction from linear Hadwiger's conjecture for correspondence coloring. The proof follows from a simple sufficient condition for correspondence colorability in terms of the numbers of independent sets.

Authors:Arun Anil, Manoj Changat

Abstract: Cover-Incomparability graphs (C-I graphs) are an interesting class of graphs from posets. A C-I graph is a graph from a poset $P=(V,\le)$ with vertex set $V$, and the edge-set is the union of edge sets of the cover graph and the incomparability graph of the poset. The recognition of the C-I graphs is known to be NP-complete (Maxov\'{a} et al., Order 26(3), 229--236(2009)). In this paper, we prove that chordal graphs having at most two independent simplicial vertices are exactly the chordal graphs which are also C-I graphs. A similar result is obtained for cographs as well. Using the structural results of these graphs, we derive linear time recognition algorithms for chordal graphs and cographs, which are C-I graphs.

Authors:Carole Porrier

Abstract: Penrose tilings are the most famous aperiodic tilings, and they have been studied extensively. In particular, patterns composed with hexagons ($H$), boats ($B$) and stars ($S$) were soon exhibited and many physicists published on what they later called $HBS$ tilings, but no article or book combines all we know about them. This work is done here, before introducing new decorations and properties including explicit substitutions. For the latter, the star comes in three versions so we have 5 prototiles in what we call the Star tileset. Yet this set yields exactly the strict $HBS$ tilings formed using 3 tiles decorated with either the usual decorations (arrows) or Ammann bar markings for instance. Another new tileset called Gemstones is also presented, derived from the Star tileset.

Authors:Jaka Hedžet, Michael A. Henning

Abstract: Given a graph $G$ and assuming that some vertices of $G$ are infected, the $r$-neighbor bootstrap percolation rule makes an uninfected vertex $v$ infected if $v$ has at least $r$ infected neighbors. The $r$-percolation number, $m(G, r)$, of $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a set of initially infected vertices in $G$ such that after continuously performing the $r$-neighbor bootstrap percolation rule each vertex of $G$ eventually becomes infected. In this paper, we consider the $3$-bootstrap percolation number of grids with fixed widths. If $G$ is the cartesian product $P_3 \square P_m$ of two paths of orders~$3$ and $m$, we prove that $m(G,3)=\frac{3}{2}(m+1)-1$, when $m$ is odd, and $m(G,3)=\frac{3}{2}m +1$, when $m$ is even. Moreover if $G$ is the cartesian product $P_5 \square P_m$, we prove that $m(G,3)=2m+2$, when $m$ is odd, and $m(G,3)=2m+3$, when $m$ is even. If $G$ is the cartesian product $P_4 \square P_m$, we prove that $m(G,3)$ takes on one of two possible values, namely $m(G,3) = \lfloor \frac{5(m+1)}{3} \rfloor + 1$ or $m(G,3) = \lfloor \frac{5(m+1)}{3} \rfloor + 2$.

Authors:Haein Cho, Soon-Yi Kang, Byungchan Kim

Abstract: A Known Alder-type partition inequality of level $a$, which involves the second Rogers-Ramanujan identity when the level $a$ is 2, states that the number of partitions of $n$ into parts differing by at least $d$ with the smallest part being at least $a$ is greater than or equal to that of partitions of $n$ into parts congruent to $\pm a \pmod{d+3}$, excluding the part $d+3-a$. In this paper, we prove levels 2 and 3 Alder-type partition inequalities for all but a finite number of $d$, without requiring the exclusion of the part $d+3-a$ in the latter partition.

Authors:Tomislav Došlić, Luka Podrug

Abstract: We study a recursively defined two-parameter family of graphs which generalize Fibonacci cubes and Pell graphs and determine their basic structural and enumerative properties. In particular, we show that all of them are induced subgraphs of hypercubes and present their canonical decompositions. Further, we compute their metric invariants and establish some Hamiltonicity properties. We show that the new family inherits many useful properties of Fibonacci cubes and hence could be interesting for potential applications. We also compute the degree distribution, opening thus the way for computing many degree-based topological invariants. Several possible directions of further research are discussed in the concluding section.

Authors:Dániel Pfeifer

Abstract: A simple graph on $n$ vertices may contain a lot of maximum cliques. But how many can it potentially contain? We will show that the maximum number of maximum cliques is taken over so-called cliqueful graphs, more specifically, later we will show that it is taken over saturated composite cliqueful graphs, if $n \ge 15$. Using this we will show that the graph that contains $3^{\lfloor n/3 \rfloor}c$ maxcliques has the most number of maxcliques on $n$ vertices, where $c\in\{1,\frac{4}{3},2\}$, depending on $n \text{ mod } 3$.

Authors:Moritz Beyer, Stefano Mereta, Érika Roldán, Peter Voran

Abstract: We introduce higher-dimensional cubical sliding puzzles that are inspired by the classical 15 Puzzle from the 1880s. In our puzzles, on a $d$-dimensional cube, a labeled token can be slid from one vertex to another if it is topologically free to move on lower-dimensional faces. We analyze the solvability of these puzzles by studying how the puzzle graph changes with the number of labeled tokens vs empty vertices. We give characterizations of the different regimes ranging from being completely stuck (and thus all puzzles unsolvable) to having only one giant component where almost all puzzles can be solved. For the Cube, the Tesseract, and the Penteract ($5$-dimensional cube) we have implemented an algorithm to completely analyze their solvability and we provide specific puzzles for which we know the minimum number of moves needed to solve them.

Authors:Carlo Sanna

Abstract: Let $r > 0$ be an integer, let $\mathbb{F}_q$ be a finite field of $q$ elements, and let $\mathcal{A}$ be a nonempty proper subset of $\mathbb{F}_q$. Moreover, let $\mathbf{M}$ be a random $m \times n$ rank-$r$ matrix over $\mathbb{F}_q$ taken with uniform distribution. We prove, in a precise sense, that, as $m, n \to +\infty$ and $r,q,\mathcal{A}$ are fixed, the number of entries of $\mathbf{M}$ that belong to $\mathcal{A}$ approaches a normal distribution.

Authors:Seunghun Lee, Eran Nevo

Abstract: The \textit{(weak) chromatic number} of a hypergraph $H$, denoted by $\chi(H)$, is the smallest number of colors required to color the vertices of $H$ so that no hyperedge of $H$ is monochromatic. For every $2\le k\le d+1$, denote by $\chi_L(k,d)$ (resp. $\chi_{PL}(k,d)$) the supremum $\sup_H \chi(H)$ where $H$ runs over all finite $k$-uniform hypergraphs such that $H$ forms the collection of maximal faces of a simplicial complex that is linearly (resp. PL) embeddable in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Following the program by Heise, Panagiotou, Pikhurko and Taraz, we improve their results as follows: For $d \geq 3$, we show that A. $\chi_L(k,d)=\infty$ for all $2\le k\le d$, B. $\chi_{PL}(d+1,d)=\infty$ and C. $\chi_L(d+1,d)\ge 3$ for all odd $d\ge 3$. As an application, we extend the results by Lutz and M\o ller on the weak chromatic number of the $s$-dimensional faces in the triangulations of a fixed triangulable $d$-manifold $M$: D. $\chi_s(M)=\infty$ for $1\leq s \leq d$.

Authors:Vanni Noferini, María C. Quintana

Abstract: It is known that the generating function associated with the enumeration of non-backtracking walks on finite graphs is a rational matrix-valued function of the parameter; such function is also closely related to graph-theoretical results such as Ihara's theorem and the zeta function on graphs. In [P. Grindrod, D. J. Higham, V. Noferini, The deformed graph Laplacian and its application to network centrality analysis, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 39(1), 310--341, 2018], the radius of convergence of the generating function was studied for simple (i.e., undirected, unweighted and with no loops) graphs, and shown to depend on the number of cycles in the graph. In this paper, we use technologies from the theory of polynomial and rational matrices to greatly extend these results by studying the radius of convergence of the corresponding generating function for general, possibly directed and/or weighted, graphs. We give an analogous characterization of the radius of convergence for directed unweighted graphs, showing that it depends on the number of cycles in the undirectization of the graph. For weighted graphs, we provide for the first time an exact formula for the radius of convergence, improving a previous result that exhibited a lower bound. Finally, we consider also backtracking-downweighted walks on unweighted digraphs, and we prove a version of Ihara's theorem in that case.

Authors:Amarja Kathapurkar, Richard Mycroft

Abstract: What is the minimum proportion of edges which must be added to or removed from a graph of density $p$ to eliminate all induced cycles of length $h$? The maximum of this quantity over all graphs of density $p$ is measured by the edit distance function, $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_h)}(p)$, a function which provides a natural metric between graphs and hereditary properties. Martin determined $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_h)}(p)$ for all $p \in [0,1]$ when $h \in \{3, \ldots, 9\}$ and determined $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_{10})}(p)$ for $p \in [1/7, 1]$. Peck determined $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_h)}(p)$ for all $p \in [0,1]$ for odd cycles, and for $p \in [ 1/\lceil h/3 \rceil, 1]$ for even cycles. In this paper, we fully determine the edit distance function for $C_{10}$ and $C_{12}$. Furthermore, we improve on the result of Peck for even cycles, by determining $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_h)}(p)$ for all $p \in [p_0, 1/\lceil h/3 \rceil ]$, where $p_0 \leq c/h^2$ for a constant $c$. More generally, if $C_h^t$ is the $t$-th power of the cycle $C_h$, we determine $\text{ed}_{\text{Forb}(C_h^t)}(p)$ for all $p \geq p_0$ in the case when $(t+1) \mid h$, thus improving on earlier work of Berikkyzy, Martin and Peck.

Authors:Tianyi Zhang, Justin Chen

Abstract: Using the framework of pastures and foundations of matroids developed by Baker-Lorscheid, we give algorithms to: (i) compute the foundation of a matroid, and (ii) compute all morphisms between two pastures. Together, these provide an efficient method of solving many questions of interest in matroid representations, including orientability, non-representability, and computing all representations of a matroid over a finite field.

Authors:Abdul Basit, Alexander Clifton, Paul Horn

Abstract: Motivated by classical work of Alon and F\"uredi, we introduce and address the following problem: determine the minimum number of affine hyperplanes in $\mathbb{R}^d$ needed to cover every point of the triangular grid $T_d(n) := \{(x_1,\dots,x_d)\in\mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}^d\mid x_1+\dots+x_d\le n-1\}$ at least $k$ times. For $d = 2$, we solve the problem exactly for $k \leq 4$, and obtain a partial solution for $k > 4$. We also obtain an asymptotic formula (in $n$) for all $d \geq k - 2$. The proofs rely on combinatorial arguments and linear programming.

Authors:Anirban Banerjee, Arpita Das

Abstract: Here, we define a subdivision operation for a hypergraph and compute all the eigenvalues of the subdivision of regular and certain non-regular hypergraphs. In non-regular hypergraphs, we investigate the power of regular graphs, various types of hyperflowers, and the squid-like hypergraph. Using our subdivision operation, we also show how to construct non-regular non-isomorphic cospectral hypergraphs.

Authors:Vesna Iršič, Sandi Klavžar, Elif Tan

Abstract: In this paper, $k$-Pell graphs $\Pi _{n,k}$, $k\ge 2$, are introduced such that $\Pi _{n,2}$ are the Pell graphs defined earlier by Munarini. Several metric, enumerative, and structural properties of these graphs are established. The generating function of the number of edges of $\Pi _{n,k}$ and the generating function of its cube polynomial are determined. The center of $\Pi _{n,k}$ is explicitly described; if $k$ is even, then it induces the Fibonacci cube $\Gamma_{n}$. It is also shown that $\Pi _{n,k}$ is a median graph, and that $\Pi _{n,k}$ embeds into some Fibonacci cube.

Authors:Soojin Cho, JiSun Huh, Seonjeong Park

Abstract: A \emph{Hessenberg Schubert variety} is the closure of a Schubert cell inside a given Hessenberg variety. We consider the smoothness of Hessenberg Schubert varieties of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties of type $A$ in this paper. We use known combinatorial characterizations of torus fixed points of a Hessenberg Schubert variety $\Omega_{w, h}$ to find a necessary condition for $\Omega_{w, h}$ to be smooth, in terms of the pattern avoidance of the permutation $w$. First, we show useful theorems regarding the structure of the subposet of the Bruhat order induced by the torus fixed points of $\Omega_{w, h}$. Then we apply them to prove that the regularity of the associated graph, which is known to be a necessary condition for the smoothness of $\Omega_{w, h}$, is completely characterized by the avoidance of the patterns we found.

Authors:Matthew Pressland

Abstract: By work of a number of authors, beginning with Scott and culminating with Galashin and Lam, the coordinate rings of positroid varieties in the Grassmannian carry cluster algebra structures. In fact, they typically carry many such structures, the two best understood being the source-labelled and target-labelled structures, referring to how the initial cluster is computed from a Postnikov diagram or plabic graph. In this article we show that these two cluster algebra structures quasi-coincide, meaning in particular that a cluster variable in one structure may be expressed in the other structure as the product of a cluster variable and a Laurent monomial in the frozen variables. This resolves a conjecture attributed to Muller and Speyer from 2017. The proof depends critically on categorification: of the relevant cluster algebra structures by the author, of perfect matchings and twists by the author with \c{C}anak\c{c}{\i} and King, and of quasi-equivalences of cluster algebras by Fraser-Keller. By similar techniques, we also show that Muller-Speyer's left twist map is a quasi-cluster equivalence from the target-labelled structure to the source-labelled structure.

Authors:José Cáceres, Ignacio M. Pelayo

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to revise the literature on different metric locations in the families of paths, cycles, trees and unicyclic graphs, as well as, provide several new results on that matter.

Authors:Aida Abiad, Antonina P. Kharmova, Alberto Ravagnani

Abstract: We consider the problem of deriving upper bounds on the parameters of sum-rank-metric codes, with focus on their dimension and block length. The sum-rank metric is a combination of the Hamming and the rank metric, and most of the available techniques to investigate it seem to be unable to fully capture its hybrid nature. In this paper, we introduce a new approach based on sum-rank-metric graphs, in which the vertices are tuples of matrices over a finite field, and where two such tuples are connected when their sum-rank distance is equal to one. We establish various structural properties of sum-rank-metric graphs and combine them with eigenvalue techniques to obtain bounds on the cardinality of sum-rank-metric codes. The bounds we derive improve on the best known bounds for several choices of the parameters. While our bounds are explicit only for small values of the minimum distance, they clearly indicate that spectral theory is able to capture the nature of the sum-rank-metric better than the currently available methods. They also allow us to establish new non-existence results for (possibly nonlinear) MSRD codes.

Authors:Hadi Kharaghani, Thomas Pender, Vladimir D. Tonchev

Abstract: A family of $\omega$-circulant balanced weighing matrices with classical parameters is used for the construction of optimal constant weight codes over an alphabet of size $g+1$ and length $n=(q^m -1)/(q-1)$, where $q$ is an odd prime power, $m>1$, and $g$ is a divisor of $q-1$.

Authors:Tara Abrishami, Bogdan Alecu, Maria Chudnovsky, Sepehr Hajebi, Sophie Spirkl

Abstract: A generalized $t$-pyramid is a graph obtained from a certain kind of tree (a subdivided star or a subdivided cubic caterpillar) and the line graph of a subdivided cubic caterpillar by identifying simplicial vertices. We prove that for every integer $t$ there exists a constant $c(t)$ such that every $n$-vertex even-hole-free graph with no clique of size $t$ and no induced subgraph isomorphic to a generalized $t$-pyramid has treewidth at most $c(t)\log{n}$. This settles a special case of a conjecture of Sintiari and Trotignon; this bound is also best possible for the class. It follows that several NP-hard problems such as Stable Set, Vertex Cover, Dominating Set and Coloring admit polynomial-time algorithms on this class of graphs.

Authors:Pintu Debnath

Abstract: D. De, N. Hindman, and D. Strauss have introduced $C$-set in \cite{key-5}, satisfying the strong central set theorem. Using the algebraic structure of the Stone-\v{C}ech compactification of a discrete semigroup, N. Hindman and D. Strauss proved that the product of two $C$-sets is a $C$-set. In \cite{key-7}, S. Goswami has proved the same result using the elementary characterization of $C$-set. In this paper we prove that the product of two $C$-sets is a $C$-set, using the dynamical characterization of $C$-set.

Authors:Akihiro Munemasa, Kaishun Wang, Yuefeng Yang, Wenying Zhu

Abstract: We classify certain non-symmetric commutative association schemes. As an application, we determine all the weakly distance-regular circulants of one type of arcs by using Schur rings. We also give the classification of primitive weakly distance-regular circulants.

Authors:Mohd Shariq, Praveen Mathil, Jitender Kumar

Abstract: Let $R$ be a commutative ring with unity. The weakly zero-divisor graph $W\Gamma(R)$ of the ring $R$ is the simple undirected graph whose vertices are nonzero zero-divisors of $R$ and two vertices $x$, $y$ are adjacent if and only if there exists $r\in {\rm ann}(x)$ and $s \in {\rm ann}(y)$ such that $rs =0$. The zero-divisor graph of a ring is a spanning subgraph of the weakly zero-divisor graph. It is known that the zero-divisor graph of the ring $\mathbb{Z}_{{p^t}}$, where $p$ is a prime, is the Laplacian integral. In this paper, we obtain the Laplacian spectrum of the weakly zero-divisor graph $W\Gamma(\mathbb{Z}_{n})$ of the ring $\mathbb{Z}_{n}$ and show that $W\Gamma(\mathbb{Z}_{n})$ is Laplacian integral for arbitrary $n$.

Authors:Daniele Bartoli, Giovanni Longobardi, Giuseppe Marino, Marco Timpanella

Abstract: In recent years, several families of scattered polynomials have been investigated in the literature. However, most of them only exist in odd characteristic. In [B. Csajb\'ok, G. Marino and F. Zullo: New maximum scattered linear sets of the projective line, Finite Fields Appl. 54 (2018), 133-150; G. Marino, M. Montanucci and F. Zullo: MRD-codes arising from the trinomial $x^q+x^{q^3}+cx^{q^5}\in\mathbb{F}_{q^6}[x]$, Linear Algebra Appl. 591 (2020), 99-114], the authors proved that the trinomial $f_c(X)=X^{q}+X^{q^{3}}+cX^{q^{5}}$ of $\mathbb{F}_{q^6}[X]$ is scattered under the assumptions that $q$ is odd and $c^2+c=1$. They also explicitly observed that this is false when $q$ is even. In this paper, we provide a different set of conditions on $c$ for which this trinomial is scattered in the case of even $q$. Using tools of algebraic geometry in positive characteristic, we show that when $q$ is even and sufficiently large, there are roughly $q^3$ elements $c \in \mathbb{F}_{q^6}$ such that $f_{c}(X)$ is scattered. Also, we prove that the corresponding MRD-codes and $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear sets of $\mathrm{PG}(1,q^6)$ are not equivalent to the previously known ones.

Authors:Bertalan Bodor, Gergő Gyenizse, Miklós Maróti, László Zádori

Abstract: We study the Taylor varieties and obtain new characterizations of them via compatible reflexive digraphs. Based on our findings, we prove that in the lattice of interpretability types of varieties, the filter of the types of all Taylor varieties is prime.

Authors:Joshua Males

Abstract: In this short note, we prove equidistribution results regarding three families of three-colour partitions recently introduced by Schlosser and Zhou. To do so, we prove an asymptotic for the infinite product $F_{a,c}(\zeta ; q) \coloneqq \prod_{n \geq 0} \left(1- \zeta q^{a+cn}\right)$ ($a,c \in \N$ with $0<a\leq c$ and $\zeta$ a root of unity) in certain cones in the right half-plane, which may be useful in studying similar problems. As a corollary, we obtain the asymptotic behaviour of the three-colour partition families at hand.

Authors:Hoi Ping Luk, Min Yan

Abstract: We classify edge-to-edge tilings of the sphere by congruent almost equilateral pentagons, in which four edges have the same length. Together with our earlier classifications of edge-to-edge tilings of the sphere by congruent equilateral pentagons of other types, and our classification of edge-to-edge tilings of the sphere by congruent quadrilaterals or triangles, we complete the classification of edge-to-edge tilings of the sphere by congruent polygons.

Authors:Magdalena Lemanska, Mercè Mora, María José Souto-Salorio

Abstract: A set $D$ of vertices of a graph $G$ is isolating if the set of vertices not in $D$ or with no neighbor in $D$ is independent. The isolation number of $G$, denoted by $\iota (G)$, is the minimum cardinality of an isolating set of $G$. It is known that $\iota (G)\le n/3$, if $G$ is a connected graph of order $n$, $n\ge 3$, distinct from $C_5$. The main result of this work is the characterisation of unicyclic and block graphs of order $n$ with isolating number equal to $n/3$. Moreover, we provide a family of general graphs attaining this upper bound on the isolation number.

Authors:Andreas Nessmann

Abstract: Enumeration of walks with small steps in the quadrant has been a topic of great interest in combinatorics over the last few years. In this article, it is shown how to compute exact asymptotics of the number of such walks with fixed start- and endpoints for orbit-summable models with finite group, up to arbitrary precision. The resulting representation greatly resembles one conjectured by Chapon, Fusy and Raschel for walks starting from the origin (AofA 2020), differing only in terms appearing due to the periodicity of the model. We will see that the dependency on start- and endpoint is given by discrete polyharmonic functions, which are solutions of $\triangle^n v=0$ for a discretisation $\triangle$ of a Laplace-Beltrami operator. They can be decomposed into a sum of products of lower order polyharmonic functions of either the start- or the endpoint only, which leads to a partial extension of a recent theorem by Denisov and Wachtel (Ann. Prob. 43.3).

Authors:Hojin Chu, Suh-Ryung Kim

Abstract: If each vertex of an acyclic digraph has indegree at most $i$ and outdegree at most $j$, then it is called an $(i,j)$ digraph, which was introduced by Hefner~{\it et al.}~(1991). Whereas Hefner~{\it et al.} characterized $(i,j)$ digraphs whose competition graphs are interval, characterizing the competition graphs of $(i,j)$ digraphs is not an easy task. In this paper, we introduce the concept of $\langle i,j \rangle$ digraphs, which relax the acyclicity condition of $(i,j)$ digraphs, and study their competition graphs. By doing so, we obtain quite meaningful results. Firstly, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a loopless graph being an $\langle i,j \rangle$ competition graph for some positive integers $i$ and $j$. Then we study on an $\langle i,j \rangle$ competition graph being chordal and present a forbidden subdigraph characterization. Finally, we study the family of $\langle i,j \rangle$ competition graphs, denoted by $\mathcal{G}_{\langle i,j \rangle}$, and identify the set containment relation on $\{\mathcal{G}_{\langle i,j \rangle}\colon\, i,j \ge 1\}$.

Authors:Giusy Monzillo, Safet Penjić

Abstract: Let ${\cal M}$ denote the Bose--Mesner algebra of a commutative $d$-class association scheme ${\mathfrak X}$ (not necessarily symmetric), and $\Gamma$ denote a (strongly) connected (directed) graph with adjacency matrix $A$. Under the assumption that $A$ belongs to ${\cal M}$, in this paper, we describe the combinatorial structure of $\Gamma$. Among else, we show that, if ${\mathfrak X}$ is a commutative $3$-class association scheme that is not an amorphic symmetric scheme, then we can always find a (directed) graph $\Gamma$ such that the adjacency matrix $A$ of $\Gamma$ generates the Bose--Mesner algebra ${\cal M}$ of ${\mathfrak X}$.

Authors:Serafino Cicerone, Gabriele Di Stefano

Abstract: The concept of mutual-visibility in graphs has been recently introduced. If $X$ is a subset of vertices of a graph $G$, then vertices $u$ and $v$ are $X$-visible if there exists a shortest $u,v$-path $P$ such that $V(P)\cap X \subseteq \{u, v\}$. If every two vertices from $X$ are $X$-visible, then $X$ is a mutual-visibility set. The mutual-visibility number of $G$ is the cardinality of a largest mutual-visibility set of $G$. It is known that computing the mutual-visibility number of a graph is NP-complete, whereas it has been shown that there are exact formulas for special graph classes like paths, cycles, blocks, cographs, and grids. In this paper, we study the mutual-visibility in distance-hereditary graphs and show that the mutual-visibility number can be computed in linear time for this class.

Authors:Michael J. Schlosser, Nian Hong Zhou

Abstract: Motivated by recent work of George Andrews and Mircea Merca on the expansion of the quotient of the truncation of Euler's pentagonal number series by the complete series, we provide similar expansion results for averages involving truncations of selected, more general, basic hypergeometric series. In particular, our expansions include new results for averaged truncations of the series appearing in the Jacobi triple product identity, the $q$-Gau{\ss} summation, and the very-well-poised ${}_5\phi_5$ summation. We show how special cases of our expansions can be used to recover various existing results. In addition, we establish new inequalities, such as one for a refinement of the number of partitions into three different colors.

Authors:Luis Ferroni, Akihiro Higashitani

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive exposition about inequalities that the coefficients of Ehrhart polynomials and $h^*$-polynomials satisfy under various assumptions. We pay particular attention to the properties of Ehrhart positivity as well as unimodality, log-concavity and real-rootedness for $h^*$-polynomials. We survey inequalities that arise when the polytope has different normality properties. We include statements previously unknown in the Ehrhart theory setting, as well as some original contributions in this topic. We address numerous variations of the conjecture asserting that IDP polytopes have a unimodal $h^*$-polynomial, and construct concrete examples that show that these variations of the conjecture are false. Explicit emphasis is put on polytopes arising within algebraic combinatorics. Furthermore, we describe and construct polytopes having pathological properties on their Ehrhart coefficients and roots, and we indicate for the first time a connection between the notions of Ehrhart positivity and $h^*$-real-rootedness. We investigate the log-concavity of the sequence of evaluations of an Ehrhart polynomial at the non-negative integers. We conjecture that IDP polytopes have a log-concave Ehrhart series. Many additional problems and challenges are proposed.

Authors:Raffaella Mulas

Abstract: We consider two different notions of graph colouring, namely, the $t$-periodic colouring for vertices that has been introduced in 1974 by Bondy and Simonovits, and the periodic colouring for oriented edges that has been recently introduced in the context of spectral theory of non-backtracking operators. For each of these two colourings, we introduce the corresponding colouring number which is given by maximising the possible number of colours. We first investigate these two new colouring numbers individually, and we then show that there is a deep relationship between them.

Authors:Dean Crnković, Daniel R. Hawtin, Nina Mostarac, Andrea Švob

Abstract: A code $C$ is a subset of the vertex set of a graph and $C$ is $s$-neighbour-transitive if its automorphism group ${\rm Aut}(C)$ acts transitively on each of the first $s+1$ parts $C_0,C_1,\ldots,C_s$ of the distance partition $\{C=C_0,C_1,\ldots,C_\rho\}$, where $\rho$ is the covering radius of $C$. While codes have traditionally been studied in the Hamming and Johnson graphs, we consider here codes in the Kneser graphs. Let $\Omega$ be the underlying set on which the Kneser graph $K(n,k)$ is defined. Our first main result says that if $C$ is a $2$-neighbour-transitive code in $K(n,k)$ such that $C$ has minimum distance at least $5$, then $n=2k+1$ (i.e., $C$ is a code in an odd graph) and $C$ lies in a particular infinite family or is one particular sporadic example. We then prove several results when $C$ is a neighbour-transitive code in the Kneser graph $K(n,k)$. First, if ${\rm Aut}(C)$ acts intransitively on $\Omega$ we characterise $C$ in terms of certain parameters. We then assume that ${\rm Aut}(C)$ acts transitively on $\Omega$, first proving that if $C$ has minimum distance at least $3$ then either $K(n,k)$ is an odd graph or ${\rm Aut}(C)$ has a $2$-homogeneous (and hence primitive) action on $\Omega$. We then assume that $C$ is a code in an odd graph and ${\rm Aut}(C)$ acts imprimitively on $\Omega$ and characterise $C$ in terms of certain parameters. We give examples in each of these cases and pose several open problems.

Authors:Praveen Mathil, Jitender Kumar

Abstract: Let $R$ be a commutative ring with unity. The prime ideal sum graph of the ring $R$ is the simple undirected graph whose vertex set is the set of all nonzero proper ideals of $R$ and two distinct vertices $I$, $J$ are adjacent if and only if $I + J$ is a prime ideal of $R$. In this paper, we characterize all commutative Artinian rings whose prime ideal sum graphs are line graphs. Finally, we give a description of all commutative Artinian rings whose prime ideal sum graph is the complement of a line graph.

Authors:Anamari Nakic

Abstract: A $(G,[k_1,\dots,k_t],\lambda)$ {\it partitioned difference family} (PDF) is a partition $\cal B$ of an additive group $G$ into sets ({\it blocks}) of sizes $k_1$, \dots, $k_t$, such that the list of differences of ${\cal B}$ covers exactly $\lambda$ times every non-zero element of $G$. It is called {\it Hadamard} (HPDF) if the order of $G$ is $2\lambda$. The study of HPDFs is motivated by the fact that each of them gives rise, recursively, to infinitely many other PDFs. Apart from the {\it elementary} HPDFs consisting of a Hadamard difference set and its complement, only one HPDF was known. In this article we present three new examples in several groups and we start a general investigation on the possible existence of HPDFs with assigned parameters by means of simple arguments.

Authors:Avichai Marmor

Abstract: We prove that the set of matchings with a fixed number of unmatched vertices is Schur-positive with respect to the set of short chords. Two proofs are presented. The first proof applies a new combinatorial criterion for Schur-positivity, while the second is bijective. The coefficients in the Schur expansion are derived, and interpreted in terms of Bessel polynomials. We present a Knuth-like equivalence relation on matchings, and show that every equivalence class corresponds to an irreducible representation. We proceed to find various refined Schur-positive sets, including the set of matchings with a prescribed crossing number and the set of matchings with a given number of pairs of intersecting chords. Finally, we characterize all the matchings $m$ such that the set of matchings avoiding $m$ is Schur-positive.

Authors:William T. Dugan, Maura Hegarty, Alejandro H. Morales, Annie Raymond

Abstract: In 1999, Pitman and Stanley introduced the polytope bearing their name along with a study of its faces, lattice points, and volume. The Pitman-Stanley polytope is well-studied due to its connections to probability, parking functions, the generalized permutahedra, and flow polytopes. Its lattice points correspond to plane partitions of skew shape with entries 0 and 1. Pitman and Stanley remarked that their polytope can be generalized so that lattice points correspond to plane partitions of skew shape with entries $0,1, \ldots , m$. Since then, this generalization has been untouched. We study this generalization and show that it can also be realized as a flow polytope of a grid graph. We give multiple characterizations of its vertices in terms of plane partitions of skew shape and integer flows. For a fixed skew shape, we show that the number of vertices of this polytope is a polynomial in $m$ whose leading term, in certain cases, counts standard Young tableaux of a skew shifted shape. Moreover, we give formulas for the number of faces, as well as generating functions for the number of vertices.

Authors:Alexandr V. Kostochka, Mina Nahvi, Douglas B. West, Dara Zirlin

Abstract: The $(n-\ell)$-deck of an $n$-vertex graph is the multiset of (unlabeled) subgraphs obtained from it by deleting $\ell$ vertices. An $n$-vertex graph is $\ell$-reconstructible if it is determined by its $(n-\ell)$-deck, meaning that no other graph has the same deck. We prove that every tree with at least $6\ell+11$ vertices is $\ell$-reconstructible.

Authors:Ohad Noy Feldheim, Itamar Israeli

Abstract: The containment game is a full information game for two players, initialised with a set of occupied vertices in an infinite connected graph $G$. On the $t$-th turn, the first player, called Spreader, extends the occupied set to $g(t)$ adjacent vertices, and then the second player, called Container, removes $q$ unoccupied vertices from the graph. If the spreading process continues perpetually -- Spreader wins, and otherwise -- Container wins. For $g=\infty$ this game reduces to a solitaire game for Container, known as the Firefighter Problem. On $\mathbb{Z}^2$, for $q=1/k$ and $g\equiv 1$ it is equivalent to Conway's Angel Problem. We introduce the game, and writing $q(G,g)$ for the set of $q$ values for which Container wins against a given $g(t)$, we study the minimal asymptotics of $g(t)$ such that $q(G,g)=q(G,\infty)$, i.e. for which defeating Spreader is as hard as winning the Firefighter Problem solitaire. We show, by providing explicit winning strategies, a sub-linear upper bound $g(t)=O(t^{6/7})$ and a lower bound of $g(t)=\Omega(t^{1/2})$.

Authors:Makoto Araya, Masaaki Harada, Vladimir D. Tonchev

Abstract: A classification of Hadamard matrices of order $2p+2$ with an automorphism of order $p$ is given for $p=29$ and $31$. The ternary self-dual codes spanned by the newly found Hadamard matrices of order $60$ with an automorphism of order $29$ are computed, as well as the binary doubly even self-dual codes of length $120$ with generator matrices defined by related Hadamard designs. Several new ternary near-extremal self-dual codes, as well as binary near-extremal doubly even self-dual codes with previously unknown weight enumerators are found.

Authors:Takao Komatsu, Jiaxin Mu

Abstract: For a nonnegative integer $p$, the $p$-numerical semigroup $S_p$ is defined as the set of integers whose nonnegative integral linear combinations of given positive integers $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_\kappa$ with $\gcd(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_\kappa)=1$ are expressed in more than $p$ ways. When $p=0$, $S=S_0$ is the originalnumerical semigroup. The laregest element and the cardinality of $\mathbb N_0\backslash S_p$ are called the $p$-Frobenius number and the $p$-genus, respectively. Their explicit formulas are known for $\kappa=2$, but those for $\kappa\ge 3$ have been found only in some special cases. For some known cases, such as the Fibonacci and the Jacobstal triplets, similar techniques could be applied and explicit formulas such as the $p$-Frobenius number could be found. In this paper, we give explicit formulas for the $p$-Frobenius number and the $p$-genus of Pell numerical semigroups $\bigl(P_i(u),P_{i+2}(u),P_{i+k}(u)\bigr)$. Here, for a given positive integer $u$, Pell-type numbers $P_n(u)$ satisfy the recurrence relation $P_n(u)=u P_{n-1}(u)+P_{n-2}(u)$ ($n\ge 2$) with $P_0(u)=0$ and $P_1(u)=1$. The $p$-Ap\'ery set is used to find the formulas, but it shows a different pattern from those in the known results, and some case by case discussions are necessary.

Authors:Milan Bašić, Aleksandar Ilić, Aleksandar Stamenković

Abstract: Integral circulant graphs are proposed as models for quantum spin networks that permit a quantum phenomenon called perfect state transfer. Specifically, it is important to know how far information can potentially be transferred between nodes of the quantum networks modelled by integral circulant graphs and this task is related to calculating the maximal diameter of a graph. The integral circulant graph $ICG_n (D)$ has the vertex set $Z_n = \{0, 1, 2, \ldots, n - 1\}$ and vertices $a$ and $b$ are adjacent if $\gcd(a-b,n)\in D$, where $D \subseteq \{d : d \mid n,\ 1\leq d<n\}$. Motivated by the result on the upper bound of the diameter of $ICG_n(D)$ given in [N. Saxena, S. Severini, I. Shparlinski, \textit{Parameters of integral circulant graphs and periodic quantum dynamics}, International Journal of Quantum Information 5 (2007), 417--430], according to which $2|D|+1$ represents one such bound, in this paper we prove that the maximal value of the diameter of the integral circulant graph $ICG_n(D)$ of a given order $n$ with its prime factorization $p_1^{\alpha_1}\cdots p_k^{\alpha_k}$, is equal to $r(n)$ or $r(n)+1$, where $r(n)=k + |\{ i \ | \alpha_i> 1,\ 1\leq i\leq k \}|$, depending on whether $n\not\in 4N+2$ or not, respectively. Furthermore, we show that, for a given order $n$, a divisor set $D$ with $|D|\leq k$ can always be found such that this bound is attained. Finally, we calculate the maximal diameter in the class of integral circulant graphs of a given order $n$ and cardinality of the divisor set $t\leq k$ and characterize all extremal graphs. We actually show that the maximal diameter can have the values $2t$, $2t+1$, $r(n)$ and $r(n)+1$ depending on the values of $t$ and $n$. This way we further improve the upper bound of Saxena, Severini and Shparlinski and we also characterize all graphs whose diameters are equal to $2|D|+1$, thus generalizing a result in that paper.

Authors:Komal Kumari, Pratima Panigrahi

Abstract: The power graph $\mathscr{P}(G)$ of a group $G$ is an undirected graph with all the elements of $G$ as vertices and where any two vertices $u$ and $v$ are adjacent if and only if $u=v^m $ or $v=u^m$, $ m \in$ $\mathbb{Z}$. For a simple graph $H$ with adjacency matrix $A(H)$ and degree diagonal matrix $D(H)$, the universal adjacency matrix is $U(H)= \alpha A(H)+\beta D(H)+ \gamma I +\eta J$, where $\alpha (\neq 0), \beta, \gamma, \eta \in \mathbb{R}$, $I$ is the identity matrix and $J$ is the all-ones matrix of suitable order. One can study many graph-associated matrices, such as adjacency, Laplacian, signless Laplacian, Seidel etc. in a unified manner through the universal adjacency matrix of a graph. Here we study universal adjacency eigenvalues and eigenvectors of power graphs, proper power graphs and their complements on the group $\mathbb{Z}_n$, dihedral group ${D}_n$, and the generalized quaternion group ${Q}_n$. Spectral results of no kind for the complement of power graph on any group were obtained before. We determine the full spectrum in some particular cases. Moreover, several existing results can be obtained as very specific cases of some results of the paper.

Authors:Jinghua Deng, Jianfeng Hou, Siwei Lin, Qinghou Zeng

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph with $m$ edges and let $\mathrm{mc}(G)$ denote the size of a largest cut of $G$. The difference $\mathrm{mc}(G)-m/2$ is called the surplus $\mathrm{sp}(G)$ of $G$. A fundamental problem in MaxCut is to determine $\mathrm{sp}(G)$ for $G$ without specific structure, and the degree sequence $d_1,\ldots,d_n$ of $G$ plays a key role in getting the lower bound of $\mathrm{sp}(G)$. A classical example, given by Shearer, is that $\mathrm{sp}(G)=\Omega(\sum_{i=1}^n\sqrt d_i)$ for triangle-free graphs $G$, implying that $\mathrm{sp}(G)=\Omega(m^{3/4})$. It was extended to graphs with sparse neighborhoods by Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov. In this paper, we establish a novel and stronger result for a more general family of graphs with sparse neighborhoods. Our result can derive many well-known bounds on $\mathrm{sp}(G)$ in $H$-free graphs $G$ for different $H$, such as the triangle, the even cycle, the graphs having a vertex whose removal makes the graph acyclic, or the complete bipartite graph $K_{s,t}$ with $s\in \{2,3\}$. It can also deduce many new (tight) bounds on $\mathrm{sp}(G)$ in $H$-free graphs $G$ when $H$ is any graph having a vertex whose removal results in a bipartite graph with relatively small Tur\'{a}n number, especially the even wheel. This contributes to a conjecture raised by Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov. Moreover, we give a new family of graphs $H$ such that $\mathrm{sp}(G)=\Omega(m^{3/4+\epsilon(H)})$ for some constant $\epsilon(H)>0$ in $H$-free graphs $G$, giving an evidence to a conjecture suggested by Alon, Bollob\'as, Krivelevich and Sudakov.

Authors:Guanglong Yu

Abstract: For a $hypergraph$ $\mathcal{G}=(V, E)$ with a nonempty vertex set $V=V(\mathcal{G})$ and an edge set $E=E(\mathcal{G})$, its $adjacency$ $matrix$ $\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}}=[(\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}})_{ij}]$ is defined as $(\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}})_{ij}=\sum_{e\in E_{ij}}\frac{1}{|e| - 1}$, where $E_{ij} = \{e\in E\, |\, i, j \in e\}$. The $spectral$ $radius$ of a hypergraph $\mathcal{G}$, denoted by $\rho(\mathcal {G})$, is the maximum modulus among all eigenvalues of $\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}}$. In this paper, we get a formula about the spectral radius which link the ordinary graph and the hypergraph, and represent some results on the spectral radius changing under some graphic structural perturbations. Among all $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) unicyclic hypergraphs with fixed number of vertices, the hypergraphs with the minimum, the second the minimum spectral radius are completely determined, respectively; among all $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) unicyclic hypergraphs with fixed number of vertices and fixed girth, the hypergraphs with the maximum spectral radius are completely determined; among all $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) $octopuslike$ hypergraphs with fixed number of vertices, the hypergraphs with the minimum spectral radius are completely determined. As well, for $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) $lollipop$ hypergraphs, we get that the spectral radius decreases with the girth increasing.

Authors:Antoine Dailly, Florent Foucaud, Anni Hakanen

Abstract: In the Metric Dimension problem, one asks for a minimum-size set R of vertices such that for any pair of vertices of the graph, there is a vertex from R whose two distances to the vertices of the pair are distinct. This problem has mainly been studied on undirected graphs and has gained a lot of attention in the recent years. We focus on directed graphs, and show how to solve the problem in linear-time on digraphs whose underlying undirected graph (ignoring multiple edges) is a tree. This (nontrivially) extends a previous algorithm for oriented trees. We then extend the method to unicyclic digraphs (understood as the digraphs whose underlying undirected multigraph has a unique cycle). We also give a fixed-parameter-tractable algorithm for digraphs when parameterized by the directed modular-width, extending a known result for undirected graphs. Finally, we show that Metric Dimension is NP-hard even on planar triangle-free acyclic digraphs of maximum degree 6.

Authors:Pedro Araújo, Letícia Mattos

Abstract: Let $X_H$ be the number of copies of a fixed graph $H$ in $G(n,p)$. In 2016, Gilmer and Kopparty conjectured that a local central limit theorem should hold for $X_H$ as long as $H$ is connected, $p \gg n^{-1/m(H)}$ and $n^2(1-p)\gg 1$. Recently, Sah and Sahwney showed that the Gilmer--Kopparty conjecture holds for constant $p$. In this paper, we show that the Gilmer--Kopparty conjecture holds for triangle counts in the sparse range. More precisely, there exists $C>0$ such that if $p \in (Cn^{-1/2}, 1/2)$, then \[ \sup_{x\in \mathcal{L}}\left| \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-x^2/2}-\sigma\cdot \mathbb{P}(X^* = x)\right|\rightarrow 0,\] where $\sigma^2 = \mathbb{V}\text{ar}(X_{K_3})$, $X^{*}=(X_{K_3}-\mathbb{E}(X_{K_3}))/\sigma$ and $\mathcal{L}$ is the support of $X^*$. By combining our result with the results of R\"ollin--Ross and Gilmer--Kopparty, this establishes the Gilmer--Kopparty conjecture for triangle counts for $n^{-1}\ll p < c$, for any constant $c\in (0,1)$. Our result is the first local central limit theorem for subgraph counts above the $m_2$-density.

Authors:P. Mark Kayll, Michael Morris

Abstract: We prove that for every oriented graph $D$ and every choice of positive integers $k$ and $\ell$, there exists an oriented graph $D^*$ along with a surjective homomorphism $\psi\colon V(D^*) \to V(D)$ such that: (i) girth$(D^*) \geq\ell$; (ii) for every oriented graph $C$ with at most $k$ vertices, there exists a homomorphism from $D^*$ to $C$ if and only if there exists a homomorphism from $D$ to $C$; and (iii) for every $D$-pointed oriented graph $C$ with at most $k$ vertices and for every homomorphism $\varphi\colon V(D^*) \to V(C)$ there exists a unique homomorphism $f\colon V(D) \to V(C)$ such that $\varphi=f \circ \psi$. Determining the oriented chromatic number of an oriented graph $D$ is equivalent to finding the smallest integer $k$ such that $D$ admits a homomorphism to an order-$k$ tournament, so our main theorem yields results on the girth and oriented chromatic number of oriented graphs. While our main proof is probabilistic (hence nonconstructive), for any given $\ell\geq 3$ and $k\geq 5$, we include a construction of an oriented graph with girth $\ell$ and oriented chromatic number $k$.

Authors:Bo Bai, Yu Gao, Jie Ma, Yuze Wu

Abstract: We consider the symmetric difference of two graphs on the same vertex set $[n]$, which is the graph on $[n]$ whose edge set consists of all edges that belong to exactly one of the two graphs. Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a class of graphs, and let $M_{\mathcal{F}}(n)$ denote the maximum possible cardinality of a family $\mathcal{G}$ of graphs on $[n]$ such that the symmetric difference of any two members in $\mathcal{G}$ belongs to $\mathcal{F}$. These concepts are recently investigated by Alon, Gujgiczer, K\"{o}rner, Milojevi\'{c}, and Simonyi, with the aim of providing a new graphic approach to coding theory. In particular, $M_{\mathcal{F}}(n)$ denotes the maximum possible size of this code. Existing results show that as the graph class $\mathcal{F}$ changes, $M_{\mathcal{F}}(n)$ can vary from $n$ to $2^{(1+o(1))\binom{n}{2}}$. We study several phase transition problems related to $M_{\mathcal{F}}(n)$ in general settings and present a partial solution to a recent problem posed by Alon et. al.

Authors:Qianqian Liu, Yaxian Zhang, Heping Zhang

Abstract: In a region $R$ consisting of unit squares, a (domino) tiling is a collection of dominoes (the union of two adjacent squares) which pave fully the region. The flip graph of $R$ is defined on the set of all tilings of $R$ where two tilings are adjacent if we change one from the other by a flip (a $90^{\circ}$ rotation of a pair of side-by-side dominoes). Let $n\geq 1$ and $m\geq 2$ be integers. In a recent paper it was proved that the flip graph of $(2n+1)\times 2m$ quadriculated torus consists of two isomorphic components. In this paper, we generalize the result to the toroidal grid $T(2n+1,2m,2r)$ which is obtained from an $(2n+1)\times 2m$ chessboard by sticking the left and right sides and then identifying the top and bottom sides with a torsion $2r$ squares for $1\leq r\leq m$. For a tiling $t$, we associate an integer called forcing number as the minimum number of dominoes in $t$ that is contained in no other tiling. As an application, we obtain that the forcing numbers of all tilings of $T(2n+1,2m,2r)$ form an integer-interval. Moreover, we prove that the maximum value of the interval is $\frac{m(2n+1)}{2}$ if $\frac{m}{(r,m)}$ is even, and $\frac{m(2n+1)+(r,m)}{2}$ otherwise.

Authors:Xiying Du, António Girão, Zach Hunter, Rose McCarty, Alex Scott

Abstract: We prove that there exists a constant $C$ so that for all $s,k \in \mathbb{N}$, every $K_{s,s}$-free graph with average degree at least $k^{Cs^3}$ contains an induced subgraph which is $C_4$-free and has average degree at least $k$. It was known that some function of $s$ and $k$ suffices, but this is the first explicit bound. Using this theorem, we give short and streamlined proofs of the following three corollaries. First, we show that there exists a constant $C$ so that for all $k \in \mathbb{N}$, every graph with average degree at least $k^{Ck^6}$ contains a bipartite subgraph (not necessarily induced) which is $C_4$-free and has average degree at least $k$. This almost matches the recent bound of $k^{Ck^2}$ due to Montgomery, Pokrovskiy, and Sudakov. Next, we show that there exists a constant $C$ so that for all $s,k \in \mathbb{N}$, every $K_{s,s}$-free graph with average degree at least $k^{Cs^3}$ contains an induced subdivision of $K_k$. This is the first quantitative improvement on a well-known theorem of K\"uhn and Osthus; their proof gives a bound that is triply exponential in both $k$ and $s$. Finally, we show that for any hereditary degree-bounded class $\mathcal{F}$, there exists a constant $C_\mathcal{F}$ so that $(C_\mathcal{F})^{s^3}$ is a degree-bounding function for $\mathcal{F}$. This is the first bound of any type on the rate of growth of such functions. It is open whether there is always a polynomial degree-bounding function.

Authors:Takayuki Hibi, Aki Mori

Abstract: Let ${\rm sk}({\mathcal P})$ denote the $1$-skeleton of an convex polytope ${\mathcal P}$. Let $C$ be a clique (=complete subgraph) of ${\rm sk}({\mathcal P})$ and ${\rm conv}(C)$ the convex hull of the vertices of ${\mathcal P}$ belonging to $C$. In general, ${\rm conv}(C)$ may not be a face of ${\mathcal P}$. It will be proved that ${\rm conv}(C)$ is a face of ${\mathcal P}$ if ${\mathcal P}$ is either the order polytope ${\mathcal O}(P)$ of a finite partially ordered set $P$ or the stable set polytope ${\rm Stab}(G)$ of a finite simple graph $G$. In other words, when ${\mathcal P}$ is either ${\mathcal O}(P)$ or ${\rm Stab}(G)$, the simplicial complex consisting of simplices which are faces of ${\mathcal P}$ is the clique complex of ${\rm sk}({\mathcal P})$.

Authors:Sandra Albrechtsen, Reinhard Diestel, Ann-Kathrin Elm, Eva Fluck, Raphael W. Jacobs, Paul Knappe, Paul Wollan

Abstract: Given an arbitrary class $\mathcal{H}$ of graphs, we investigate which graphs admit a decomposition modelled on a graph in $\mathcal{H}$ into parts of small radius. The $\mathcal{H}$-decompositions that we consider here generalise the notion of tree-decompositions. We identify obstructions to such $\mathcal{H}$-decompositions of small radial width, and we prove that these obstructions occur in every graph of sufficiently large radial $\mathcal{H}$-width for the classes $\mathcal{H}$ of paths, of cycles and of subdivided stars.

Authors:Jennifer Elder, Nadia Lafrenière, Erin McNicholas, Jessica Striker, Amanda Welch

Abstract: Interval-closed sets of a poset are a natural superset of order ideals. We initiate the study of interval-closed sets of finite posets from enumerative and dynamical perspectives. Following [Striker, 2018], we study the generalized toggle group of interval-closed sets. In particular, we define rowmotion on interval-closed sets as a product of these toggles. Our main general theorem is an intricate global characterization of rowmotion on interval-closed sets, which we show is equivalent to the toggling definition. We also study specific posets; we enumerate interval-closed sets of ordinal sums of antichains, completely describe their rowmotion orbits, and prove a homomesy result involving the signed cardinality statistic. Finally, we study interval-closed sets of product of chains posets, proving further results about enumeration and homomesy.

Authors:Guillaume Aubian

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the structure of a digraph affects its dichromatic number and to extend various results on undirected colouring to digraphs. In the first part of this thesis, we examine how the dichromatic number interacts with other metrics. First, we consider the degree, which is the maximum number of neighbours of a vertex. In the undirected case, this corresponds to Brooks' theorem, a celebrated theorem with multiple variations and generalizations. In the directed case, there is no natural metric corresponding to the maximum degree, so we explore how different notions of maximum directed degree lead to either Brooks-like theorems or impossibility results. We also investigate the maximum local-arc connectivity, a metric that encompasses several degree-like metrics. The second part of this manuscript focuses on a directed analogue of the Gy\'arf\'as-Sumner conjecture. The Gy\'arf\'as-Sumner conjecture tries to characterize sets S of undirected graphs such that graphs with large enough chromatic number must contain a graph of S. This conjecture is still largely open. On digraphs, a corresponding conjecture was proposed by Aboulker, Charbit, and Naserasr. We prove several subcases of this conjecture, mainly demonstrating that certain classes of digraphs have bounded dichromatic number. In the last part of this thesis, we address the d-edge-defective-colouring problem, which involves colouring edges of a multigraph such that, for any vertex, no colour appears on more than d of its incident edges. When d equals one, this corresponds to the infamous edge-colouring problem. Shannon established a tight bound on the number of colours needed relative to the maximum degree when d equals one, and we extend this result to any value of d. We also explore this problem on simple graphs and prove results that extend Vizing's theorem to any value of d.

Authors:David Conlon, Sam Mattheus, Dhruv Mubayi, Jacques Verstraëte

Abstract: Building on recent work of Mattheus and Verstra\"ete, we establish a general connection between Ramsey numbers of the form $r(F,t)$ for $F$ a fixed graph and a variant of the Zarankiewicz problem asking for the maximum number of 1s in an $m$ by $n$ $0/1$-matrix that does not have any matrix from a fixed finite family $\mathcal{L}(F)$ derived from $F$ as a submatrix. As an application, we give new lower bounds for the Ramsey numbers $r(C_5,t)$ and $r(C_7,t)$, namely, $r(C_5,t) = \tilde\Omega(t^{\frac{10}{7}})$ and $r(C_7,t) = \tilde\Omega(t^{\frac{5}{4}})$. We also show how the truth of a plausible conjecture about Zarankiewicz numbers would allow an approximate determination of $r(C_{2\ell+1}, t)$ for any fixed integer $\ell \geq 2$.

Authors:Norbert Hegyvári

Abstract: We are looking for integer sets that resemble classical Cantor set and investigate the structure of their sum sets. Especially we investigate $FS(B)$ the subset sum of sequence type $B=\{\lfloor p^n\alpha\rfloor\}^\infty_{n=0}$. When $p=2$, then we prove $FS(B)+FS(B)=\N$ by analogy with the Cantor set, and some structure theorem for $p>2$

Authors:Vilhelm Agdur, Nina Kamčev, Fiona Skerman

Abstract: We prove new lower bounds on the modularity of graphs. Specifically, the modularity of a graph $G$ with average degree $\bar d$ is $\Omega(\bar{d}^{-1/2})$, under some mild assumptions on the degree sequence of $G$. The lower bound $\Omega(\bar{d}^{-1/2})$ applies, for instance, to graphs with a power-law degree sequence or a near-regular degree sequence. It has been suggested that the relatively high modularity of the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph $G_{n,p}$ stems from the random fluctuations in its edge distribution, however our results imply high modularity for any graph with a degree sequence matching that typically found in $G_{n,p}$. The proof of the new lower bound relies on certain weight-balanced bisections with few cross-edges, which build on ideas of Alon [Combinatorics, Probability and Computing (1997)] and may be of independent interest.

Authors:Abdul Hameed, Mikhail Tyaglov

Abstract: The set $S_{\{i,j\}_{n}^{m}}=\{0,1,2,\ldots,m-1,m,m,m+1,\ldots,n-1,n\}\setminus\{i,j\},\quad 0<i<j\leqslant n$, is called Laplacian realizable if there exists a simple connected graph $G$ whose Laplacian spectrum is $S_{\{i,j\}_{n}^{m}}$. In this case, the graph $G$ is said to realize $S_{\{i,j\}_{n}^{m}}$. In this paper, we completely describe graphs realizing the sets $S_{\{i,j\}_{n}^{m}}$ with $m=1,2$ and determine the structure of these graphs.

Authors:Wen-Fong Ke, Hubert Kiechle

Abstract: We investigate circular planar nearrings constructed from finite fields as well the complex number field using a multiplicative subgroup of order $k$, and characterize the overlaps of the basic graphs which arise in the associated $2$-designs.

Authors:Geoffrey Exoo, Theodore Kolokolnikov, Jeanette Janssen, Timothy Salamon

Abstract: We derive attainable upper bounds on the algebraic connectivity (spectral gap) of a regular graph in terms of its diameter and girth. This bound agrees with the well-known Alon-Boppana-Friedman bound for graphs of even diameter, but is an improvement for graphs of odd diameter. For the girth bound, we show that only Moore graphs can attain it, and these only exist for very few possible girths. For diameter bound, we use a combination of stochastic algorithms and exhaustive search to find graphs which attain it. For 3-regular graphs, we find attainable graphs for all diameters $D$ up to and including $D=9$ (the case of $D=10$ is open). These graphs are extremely rare and also have high girth; for example we found exactly 45 distinct cubic graphs on 44 vertices attaining the upper bound when $D=7$; all have girth 8 (out of a total of about $10^{20}$ cubic graphs on 44 vertices, including 266362 having girth 8). We also exhibit families of $d$-regular graphs attaining upper bounds with $D=3$ and $4$, and with $g=6.$ Several conjectures are proposed.

Authors:Sylwia Cichacz, Agieszka Görlich, Karol Suchan

Abstract: We study the problem of finding a minimum $k$-critical-bipartite graph of order $(n,m)$: a bipartite graph $G=(U,V;E)$, with $|U|=n$, $|V|=m$, and $n>m>1$, which is $k$-critical-bipartite, and the tuple $(|E|, \Delta_U, \Delta_V)$, where $\Delta_U$ and $\Delta_V$ denote the maximum degree in $U$ and $V$, respectively, is lexicographically minimum over all such graphs. $G$ is $k$-critical-bipartite if deleting at most $k=n-m$ vertices from $U$ yields $G'$ that has a complete matching, i.e., a matching of size $m$. Cichacz and Suchan solved the problem for biregular bipartite graphs. Here, we extend their results to bipartite graphs that are not biregular. We also prove tight lower bounds on the connectivity of $k$-critical-bipartite graphs.

Authors:Jean-Yves Thibon

Abstract: The inner plethysm of symmetric functions corresponds to the $\lambda$-ring operations of the representation ring $R({\mathfrak S}_n)$ of the symmetric group. It is known since the work of Littlewood that this operation possesses stability properties w.r.t. $n$. These properties have been explained in terms of vertex operators [Scharf and Thibon, Adv. Math. 104 (1994), 30-58]. Another approach [Orellana and Zabrocki, Adv. Math. 390 (2021), \# 107943], based on an expression of character values as symmetric functions of the eigenvalues of permutation matrices, has been proposed recently. This note develops the theory from scratch, discusses the link between both approaches and provides new proofs of some recent results.

Authors:Shinji Koshida

Abstract: This paper studies planar algebras of Jones' style associated with the Young graph. We first see that, every time we fix a harmonic function on the Young graph, we may obtain a planar algebra whose structure is defined in terms of a state sum over the ways of filling planar tangles with Young diagrams. We delve into the case that the harmonic function is related to the Plancherel measures on Young diagrams. Along with an element that is depicted as a cross of two strings, we see that the defining relations among morphisms for the Khovanov Heisenberg category are recovered in the planar algebra. We also identify certain elements in the planar algebra with particular functions of Young diagrams that include the moments, Boolean cumulants and normalized characters. This paper thereby bridges diagramatical categorification and asymptotic representation theory. In fact, the Khovanov Heisenberg category is one of the most fundamental examples of diagramatical categorification whereas the harmonic functions on the Young graph have been a central object in the asymptotic representation theory of symmetric groups.

Authors:Rafael S. González D'León, Joshua Hallam, Yeison A. Quiceno D

Abstract: We say that a pair of nonnegative integer sequences $(\{a_k\}_{k\geq 0},\{b_k\}_{k\geq 0})$ is Whitney-realizable if there exists a poset $P$ for which (the absolute values) of the Whitney numbers of the first and second kind are given by the numbers $a_k$ and $b_k$ respectively. The pair is said to be Whitney-dualizable if, in addition, there exists another poset $Q$ for which their Whitney numbers of the first and second kind are instead given by $b_k$ and $a_k$ respectively. In this case, we say that $P$ and $Q$ are Whitney duals. We use results on Whitney duality, recently developed by the first two authors, to exhibit a family of sequences which allows for multiple realizations and Whitney-dual realizations. More precisely, we study edge labelings for the families of posets of pointed partitions $\Pi_n^{\bullet}$ and weighted partitions $\Pi_n^{w}$ which are associated to the operads $\mathcal{P}erm$ and $\mathcal{C}om^2$ respectively. The first author and Wachs proved that these two families of posets share the same pair of Whitney numbers. We find EW-labelings for $\Pi_n^{\bullet}$ and $\Pi_n^{w}$ and use them to show that they also share multiple nonisomorphic Whitney dual posets. In addition to EW-labelings, we also find two new EL-labelings for $\Pi_n^\bullet$ answering a question of Chapoton and Vallette. Using these EL-labelings of $\Pi_n^\bullet$, and an EL-labeling of $\Pi_n^w$ introduced by the first author and Wachs, we give combinatorial descriptions of bases for the operads $\mathcal{P}re\mathcal{L}ie, \mathcal{P}erm,$ and $\mathcal{C}om^2$. We also show that the bases for $\mathcal{P}erm$ and $\mathcal{C}om^2$ are PBW bases.

Authors:Boštjan Brešar, Jaka Hedžet

Abstract: Given a graph $G$ and assuming that some vertices of $G$ are infected, the $r$-neighbor bootstrap percolation rule makes an uninfected vertex $v$ infected if $v$ has at least $r$ infected neighbors. The $r$-percolation number, $m(G,r)$, of $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a set of initially infected vertices in $G$ such that after continuously performing the $r$-neighbor bootstrap percolation rule each vertex of $G$ eventually becomes infected. In this paper, we consider percolation numbers of strong products of graphs. If $G$ is the strong product $G_1\boxtimes \cdots \boxtimes G_k$ of $k$ connected graphs, we prove that $m(G,r)=r$ as soon as $r\le 2^{k-1}$ and $|V(G)|\ge r$. As a dichotomy, we present a family of strong products of $k$ connected graphs with the $(2^{k-1}+1)$-percolation number arbitrarily large. We refine these results for strong products of graphs in which at least two factors have at least three vertices. In addition, when all factors $G_i$ have at least three vertices we prove that $m(G_1 \boxtimes \dots \boxtimes G_k,r)\leq 3^{k-1} -k$ for all $r\leq 2^k-1$, and we again get a dichotomy, since there exist families of strong products of $k$ graphs such that their $2^{k}$-percolation numbers are arbitrarily large. While $m(G\boxtimes H,3)=3$ if both $G$ and $H$ have at least three vertices, we also characterize the strong prisms $G\boxtimes K_2$ for which this equality holds. Some of the results naturally extend to infinite graphs, and we briefly consider percolation numbers of strong products of two-way infinite paths.

Authors:Jens Walter Fischer

Abstract: Based on a construction iterating the line graph operator twice, the cycle double cover conjecture is proven in a constructive way using a perspective inspired by statistical mechanics and spin systems. In the resulting graph, deletion of specific subgraphs gives a union of cycles which via projection to the underlying graph results in a double cycle cover.

Authors:Mitchell Lee

Abstract: We define an abelian group homomorphism $\mathscr{F}$, which we call the Frobenius transform, from the ring of symmetric functions to the ring of the symmetric power series. The matrix entries of $\mathscr{F}$ in the Schur basis are the restriction coefficients $r_\lambda^\mu = \dim \operatorname{Hom}_{\mathfrak{S}_n}(V_\mu, \mathbb{S}^\lambda \mathbb{C}^n)$, which are known to be nonnegative integers but have no known combinatorial interpretation. The Frobenius transform satisfies the identity $\mathscr{F}\{fg\} = \mathscr{F}\{f\} \ast \mathscr{F}\{g\}$, where $\ast$ is the Kronecker product. We prove for all symmetric functions $f$ that $\mathscr{F}\{f\} = \mathscr{F}_{\mathrm{Sur}}\{f\} \cdot (1 + h_1 + h_2 + \cdots)$, where $\mathscr{F}_{\mathrm{Sur}}\{f\}$ is a symmetric function with the same degree and leading term as $f$. Then, we compute the matrix entries of $\mathscr{F}_{\mathrm{Sur}}\{f\}$ and $\mathscr{F}^{-1}_{\mathrm{Sur}}\{f\}$ in the complete homogeneous, elementary, and power sum symmetric function bases, giving combinatorial interpretations of the coefficients where possible. In particular, the matrix entries of $\mathscr{F}^{-1}_{\mathrm{Sur}}\{f\}$ in the elementary basis count words with a constraint on their Lyndon factorization. As an example application of our main results, we prove that $r_\lambda^\mu = 0$ if the Young diagram of $\mu$ contains a square of side length greater than $2^{\lambda_1 - 1}$, and this inequality is tight.

Authors:Nicolas Nisse, Lucas Picasarri-Arrieta, Ignasi Sau

Abstract: Given a digraph $D=(V,A)$ on $n$ vertices and a vertex $v\in V$, the cycle-degree of $v$ is the minimum size of a set $S \subseteq V(D) \setminus \{v\}$ intersecting every directed cycle of $D$ containing $v$. From this definition of cycle-degree, we define the $c$-degeneracy (or cycle-degeneracy) of $D$, which we denote by $\delta^*_c(D)$. It appears to be a nice generalisation of the undirected degeneracy. In this work, using this new definition of cycle-degeneracy, we extend several evidences for Cereceda's conjecture to digraphs. The $k$-dicolouring graph of $D$, denoted by $\mathcal{D}_k(D)$, is the undirected graph whose vertices are the $k$-dicolourings of $D$ and in which two $k$-dicolourings are adjacent if they differ on the colour of exactly one vertex. We show that $\mathcal{D}_k(D)$ has diameter at most $O_{\delta^*_c(D)}(n^{\delta^*_c(D) + 1})$ (respectively $O(n^2)$ and $(\delta^*_c(D)+1)$) when $k$ is at least $\delta^*_c(D)+2$ (respectively $\frac{3}{2}(\delta^*_c(D)+1)$ and $2(\delta^*_c(D)+1)$). This improves known results on digraph redicolouring (Bousquet et al.). Next, we extend a result due to Feghali to digraphs, showing that $\mathcal{D}_{d+1}(D)$ has diameter at most $O_{d,\epsilon}(n(\log n)^{d-1})$ when $D$ has maximum average cycle-degree at most $d-\epsilon$. We then show that two proofs of Bonamy and Bousquet for undirected graphs can be extended to digraphs. The first one uses the digrundy number of a digraph and the second one uses the $\mathscr{D}$-width. Finally, we give a general theorem which makes a connection between the recolourability of a digraph $D$ and the recolourability of its underlying graph $UG(D)$. This result directly extends a number of results on planar graph recolouring to planar digraph redicolouring.

Authors:Kathleen O'Hara, Dennis Stanton

Abstract: A proof of the first Rogers-Ramanujan identity is given using admissible neighborly partitions. This completes a program initiated by Mohsen and Mourtada. The admissible neighborly partitions involve an unusual mod 3 condition on the parts.

Authors:Ginny Ray Clevenger, Haley Havard, Patch Heard, Andrew Lott, Alex Rice, Brittany Wilson

Abstract: For $A\subseteq \mathbb{R}$, let $A+A=\{a+b: a,b\in A\}$ and $AA=\{ab: a,b\in A\}$. For $k\in \mathbb{N}$, let $SP(k)$ denote the minimum value of $\max\{|A+A|, |AA|\}$ over all $A\subseteq \mathbb{N}$ with $|A|=k$. Here we establish $SP(k)=3k-3$ for $2\leq k \leq 7$, the $k=7$ case achieved for example by $\{1,2,3,4,6,8,12\}$, while $SP(k)=3k-2$ for $k=8,9$, the $k=9$ case achieved for example by $\{1,2,3,4,6,8,9,12,16\}$. For $4\leq k \leq 7$, we provide two proofs using different applications of Freiman's $3k-4$ theorem; one of the proofs includes extensive case analysis on the product sets of $k$-element subsets of $(2k-3)$-term arithmetic progressions. For $k=8,9$, we apply Freiman's $3k-3$ theorem for product sets, and investigate the sumset of the union of two geometric progressions with the same common ratio $r>1$, with separate treatments of the overlapping cases $r\neq 2$ and $r\geq 2$.

Authors:Ervin Győri, Alan Li, Runtian Zhou

Abstract: The planar Tur\'an number, $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,H)$, is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex planar graph which does not contain $H$ as a subgraph. The topic of extremal planar graphs was initiated by Dowden (2016). He obtained sharp upper bound for both $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_4)$ and $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_5)$. Later on, D. Ghosh et al. obtained sharp upper bound of $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_6)$ and proposed a conjecture on $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_k)$ for $k\geq 7$. In this paper, we give a sharp upper bound $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,C_7)\leq {18\over 7}n-{48\over 7}$, which satisfies the conjecture of D. Ghosh et al. It turns out that this upper bound is also sharp for $ex_\mathcal{P}(n,\{K_4,C_7\})$, the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex planar graph which does not contain $K_4$ or $C_7$ as a subgraph.

Authors:Mingyang Deng, Jonathan Tidor, Yufei Zhao

Abstract: Ruzsa asked whether there exist Fourier-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$ with density $\alpha$ and 4-term arithmetic progression (4-APs) density at most $\alpha^C$, for arbitrarily large $C$. Gowers constructed Fourier uniform sets with density $\alpha$ and 4-AP density at most $\alpha^{4+c}$ for some small constant $c>0$. We show that an affirmative answer to Ruzsa's question would follow from the existence of an $N^{o(1)}$-coloring of $[N]$ without symmetrically colored 4-APs. For a broad and natural class of constructions of Fourier-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$, we show that Ruzsa's question is equivalent to our arithmetic Ramsey question. We prove analogous results for all even-length APs. For each odd $k\geq 5$, we show that there exist $U^{k-2}$-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$ with density $\alpha$ and $k$-AP density at most $\alpha^{c_k \log(1/\alpha)}$. We also prove generalizations to arbitrary one-dimensional patterns.

Authors:Vincent Pilaud, Daria Poliakova

Abstract: The $(m,n)$-multiplihedron is a polytope whose faces correspond to $m$-painted $n$-trees, and whose oriented skeleton is the Hasse diagram of the rotation lattice on binary $m$-painted $n$-trees. Deleting certain inequalities from the facet description of the $(m,n)$-multiplihedron, we construct the $(m,n)$-Hochschild polytope whose faces correspond to $m$-lighted $n$-shades, and whose oriented skeleton is the Hasse diagram of the rotation lattice on unary $m$-lighted $n$-shades. Moreover, there is a natural shadow map from $m$-painted $n$-trees to $m$-lighted $n$-shades, which turns out to define a meet semilattice morphism of rotation lattices. In particular, when $m=1$, our Hochschild polytope is a deformed permutahedron whose oriented skeleton is the Hasse diagram of the Hochschild lattice.

Authors:Takuro Abe, Lukas Kühne, Paul Mücksch, Leonie Mühlherr

Abstract: A graphic arrangement is a subarrangement of the braid arrangement whose set of hyperplanes is determined by an undirected graph. A classical result due to Stanley, Edelman and Reiner states that a graphic arrangement is free if and only if the corresponding graph is chordal, i.e., the graph has no chordless cycle with four or more vertices. In this article we extend this result by proving that the module of logarithmic derivations of a graphic arrangement has projective dimension at most one if and only if the corresponding graph is weakly chordal, i.e., the graph and its complement have no chordless cycle with five or more vertices.

Authors:Ron Gray, J. Robert Johnson

Abstract: Suppose that the vertices of a regular graph are coloured red and blue with an equal number of each (we call this a balanced colouring). Since the graph is undirected, the number of edges from a red vertex to a blue vertex is clearly the same as the number of edges from a blue vertex to a red vertex. However, if instead of edges we count walks of length $2$, then this symmetry disappears. Our aim in this paper is to investigate how extreme this asymmetry can be. Our main question is: Given a $d$-regular graph, for which pairs $(x,y)\in[0,1]^2$ is there a balanced colouring for which the probability that a random walk starting from a red vertex stays within the red class for at least $2$ steps is $x$, and the corresponding probability for blue is $y$? Our most general result is that for any $d$-regular graph, these pairs lie within the convex hull of the $2d$ points $\left\{\left(\frac{l}{d},\frac{l^2}{d^2}\right),\left(\frac{l^2}{d^2},\frac{l}{d}\right) :0\leq l\leq d\right\}$. Our main focus is the torus for which we prove both sharper bounds and existence results via constructions. In particular, for the $2$-dimensional torus, we show that asymptotically, the region in which these pairs of probabilities can lie is exactly the convex hull of: \[ \left\{\left(0,0\right),\left(\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{4}\right),\left(\frac{3}{4},\frac{9}{16}\right),\left(\frac{1}{4},\frac{1}{2}\right),\left(\frac{9}{16},\frac{3}{4}\right),\left(1,1\right)\right\} \]

Authors:Sharareh Alipour, Amin Gohari

Abstract: We define the relative fractional independence number of two graphs, $G$ and $H$, as $$\alpha^*(G|H)=\max_{W}\frac{\alpha(G\boxtimes W)}{\alpha(H\boxtimes W)},$$ where the maximum is taken over all graphs $W$, $G\boxtimes W$ is the strong product of $G$ and $W$, and $\alpha$ denotes the independence number. We give a non-trivial linear program to compute $\alpha^*(G|H)$ and discuss some of its properties. We show that $$\alpha^*(G|H)\geq \frac{X(G)}{X(H)},$$ where $X(G)$ can be the independence number, the zero-error Shannon capacity, the fractional independence number, the Lov'{a}sz number, or the Schrijver's or Szegedy's variants of the Lov'{a}sz number of a graph $G$. This inequality is the first explicit non-trivial upper bound on the ratio of the invariants of two arbitrary graphs, as mentioned earlier, which can also be used to obtain upper or lower bounds for these invariants. As explicit applications, we present new upper bounds for the ratio of the zero-error Shannon capacity of two Cayley graphs and compute the Haemers number of certain Johnson graphs. Moreover, we show that the relative fractional independence number can be used to present a stronger version of the well-known No-Homomorphism Lemma. The No-Homomorphism Lemma is widely used to show the non-existence of a homomorphism between two graphs and is also used to give an upper bound on the independence number of a graph. Our extension of the No-Homomorphism Lemma is computationally more accessible than its original version.

Authors:Elad Aigner-Horev, Dan Hefetz, Michael Trushkin

Abstract: The {\em discrepancy} of a matrix $M \in \mathbb{R}^{d \times n}$ is given by $\mathrm{DISC}(M) := \min_{\boldsymbol{x} \in \{-1,1\}^n} \|M\boldsymbol{x}\|_\infty$. An outstanding conjecture, attributed to Koml\'os, stipulates that $\mathrm{DISC}(M) = O(1)$, whenever $M$ is a Koml\'os matrix, that is, whenever every column of $M$ lies within the unit sphere. Our main result asserts that $\mathrm{DISC}(M + R/\sqrt{d}) \leq 1 + O(d^{-1/2})$ holds asymptotically almost surely, whenever $M \in \mathbb{R}^{d \times n}$ is Koml\'os, $R \in \mathbb{R}^{d \times n}$ is a Rademacher random matrix, $d = \omega(1)$, and $n = \tilde \omega(d^{5/4})$. We conjecture that $n = \omega(d \log d)$ suffices for the same assertion to hold. The factor $d^{-1/2}$ normalising $R$ is essentially best possible.

Authors:Hung Le, Steven Senger, Minh-Quan Vo

Abstract: We prove some novel multi-parameter point-line incidence estimates in vector spaces over finite fields. While these could be seen as special cases of higher-dimensional incidence results, they outperform their more general counterparts in those contexts. We go on to present a number of applications to illustrate their use in combinatorial problems from geometry and number theory.

Authors:Eun-Kyung Cho, Minki Kim

Abstract: In 2011, Henning, L\"{o}wenstein, and Rautenbach observed that the domination number of a graph is bounded from above by the product of the packing number and the maximum degree of the graph. We prove a stronger statement in subcubic graphs: the independent domination number is bounded from above by three times the packing number.

Authors:Csilla Bujtá, Sandi Klavžar, Jing Tian

Abstract: If $G$ is a graph and $X\subseteq V(G)$, then $X$ is a total mutual-visibility set if every pair of vertices $x$ and $y$ of $G$ admits a shortest $x,y$-path $P$ with $V(P) \cap X \subseteq \{x,y\}$. The cardinality of a largest total mutual-visibility set of $G$ is the total mutual-visibility number $\mu_{\rm t}(G)$ of $G$. In this paper the total mutual-visibility number is studied on Hamming graphs, that is, Cartesian products of complete graphs. Different equivalent formulations for the problem are derived. The values $\mu_{\rm t}(K_{n_1}\,\square\, K_{n_2}\,\square\, K_{n_3})$ are determined. It is proved that $\mu_{\rm t}(K_{n_1} \,\square\, \cdots \,\square\, K_{n_r}) = O(N^{r-2})$, where $N = n_1+\cdots + n_r$, and that $\mu_{\rm t}(K_s^{\,\square\,, r}) = \Theta(s^{r-2})$ for every $r\ge 3$, where $K_s^{\,\square\,, r}$ denotes the Cartesian product of $r$ copies of $K_s$. The main theorems are also reformulated as Tur\'an-type results on hypergraphs.

Authors:Hasan Arslan, Alnour Altoum, Hilal Karakus Arslan

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce an inversion statistic on the hyperoctahedral group $B_n$ by using an decomposition of a positive root system of this reflection group. Then we prove some combinatorial properties for the inversion statistic. We establish an enumeration system on the group $B_n$ and give an efficient method to uniquely derive any group element known its enumeration order with the help of the inversion table. In addition, we prove that the \textit{flag-major index} is equi-distributed with this inversion statistic on $B_n$.

Authors:Volker Kaibel, Kirill Kukharenko

Abstract: We describe constructions of extended formulations that establish a certain relaxed version of the Hirsch-conjecture and prove that if there is a pivot rule for the simplex algorithm for which one can bound the number of steps by the (monotone) diameter of the polyhedron of feasible solutions then the general linear programming problem can be solved in strongly polynomial time.

Authors:Sergei L. Bezrukov, Nikola Kuzmanovski, Jounglag Lim

Abstract: We prove a generalization of the Ahlswede-Cai local-global principle. A new technique to handle edge-isoperimetric problems is introduced which we call the pull-push method. Our main result includes all previously published results in this area as special cases with the only exception of the edge-isoperimetric problem for grids. With this we partially answer a question of Harper on local-global principles. We also describe a strategy for further generalization of our results so that the case of grids would be covered, which would completely settle Harper's question.

Authors:Nikola Kuzmanovski, Jamie Radcliffe

Abstract: We determine all maximum weight downsets in the product of two chains, where the weight function is a strictly increasing function of the rank. Many discrete isoperimetric problems can be reduced to the maximum weight downset problem. Our results generalize Lindsay's edge-isoperimetric theorem in two dimensions in several directions. They also imply and strengthen (in several directions) a result of Ahlswede and Katona concerning graphs with maximal number of adjacent pairs of edges. We find all optimal shifted graphs in the Ahlswede-Katona problem. Furthermore, the results of Ahlswede-Katona are extended to posets with a rank increasing and rank constant weight function. Our results also strengthen a special case of a recent result by Keough and Radcliffe concerning graphs with the fewest matchings. All of these results are achieved by applications of a key lemma that we call the reflect-push method. This method is geometric and combinatorial. Most of the literature on edge-isoperimetric inequalities focuses on finding a solution, and there are no general methods for finding all possible solutions. Our results give a general approach for finding all compressed solutions for the above edge-isoperimetric problems. By using the Ahlswede-Cai local-global principle, one can conclude that lexicographic solutions are optimal for many cases of higher dimensional isoperimetric problems. With this and our two dimensional results we can prove Lindsay's edge-isoperimetric inequality in any dimension. Furthermore, our results show that lexicographic solutions are the unique solutions for which compression techniques can be applied in this general setting.

Authors:Sergei L. Bezrukov, Pavle Bulatovic, Nikola Kuzmanovski

Abstract: We introduce a new infinite family of regular graphs admitting nested solutions in the edge-isoperimetric problem for all their Cartesian powers. The obtained results include as special cases most of previously known results in this area.

Authors:Oliver Janzer, Benny Sudakov

Abstract: For $2\leq s<t$, the Erd\H{o}s-Rogers function $f_{s,t}(n)$ measures how large a $K_s$-free induced subgraph there must be in a $K_t$-free graph on $n$ vertices. There has been a tremendeus amount of work towards estimating this function, but until very recently only the case $t=s+1$ was well understood. A recent breakthrough of Mattheus and Verstra\"ete on the Ramsey number $r(4,k)$ states that $f_{2,4}(n)\leq n^{1/3+o(1)}$, which matches the known lower bound up to the $o(1)$ term. In this paper we build on their approach and generalize this result by proving that $f_{s,s+2}(n)\leq n^{\frac{2s-3}{4s-5}+o(1)}$ holds for every $s\geq 2$. This comes close to the best known lower bound, improves a substantial body of work and is the best that any construction of similar kind can give.

Authors:Evan Leonard

Abstract: Xuding Zhu introduced a refined scale of choosability in 2020 and observed that the four color theorem is tight on this scale. We formalize and explore this idea of tightness in what we call strictly colorable graphs. We then characterize all strictly colorable complete multipartite graphs.

Authors:Sayan Mukherjee

Abstract: Let $P_4$ denote the path graph on $4$ vertices. The suspension of $P_4$, denoted by $\widehat P_4$, is the graph obtained via adding an extra vertex and joining it to all four vertices of $P_4$. In this note, we demonstrate that for $n\ge 8$, the maximum number of triangles in any $n$-vertex graph not containing $\widehat P_4$ is $\left\lfloor n^2/8\right\rfloor$. Our method uses simple induction along with computer programming to prove a base case of the induction hypothesis.

Authors:Mohamed Ayadi LMBP

Abstract: The finite topological quandles can be represented as $n\times n$ matrices, recently defined by S. Nelson and C. Wong. In this paper, we first study the finite topological quandles and we show how to use these matrices to distinguish all isomorphism classes of finite topological quandles for a given cardinality $n$. As an application, we classify finite topological quandles with up to 4 elements.

Authors:Felix Klingelhoefer, Alantha Newman

Abstract: The chromatic number of a directed graph is the minimum number of induced acyclic subdigraphs that cover its vertex set, and accordingly, the chromatic number of a tournament is the minimum number of transitive subtournaments that cover its vertex set. The neighborhood of an arc $uv$ in a tournament $T$ is the set of vertices that form a directed triangle with arc $uv$. We show that if the neighborhood of every arc in a tournament has bounded chromatic number, then the whole tournament has bounded chromatic number. We show that this holds more generally for oriented graphs with bounded independence number, which we use to prove the equivalence of a conjecture of El-Zahar and Erd\H{o}s and a recent conjecture of Nguyen, Scott and Seymour relating the structure of graphs and tournaments with high chromatic number.

Authors:Alexey Gordeev

Abstract: In this note we describe how Laso\'n's generalization of Alon's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz gives a framework for constructing lower bounds on the Tur\'an number $\operatorname{ex}(n, K^{(r)}_{s_1,\dots,s_r})$ of the complete $r$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraph $K^{(r)}_{s_1,\dots,s_r}$. To illustrate the potential of this method, we give a short and simple explicit construction for the Erd\H{o}s box problem, showing that $\operatorname{ex}(n, K^{(r)}_{2,\dots,2}) = \Omega(n^{r - 1/r})$, which asymptotically matches best known bounds when $r \leq 4$.

Authors:Tibor Jordán, Soma Villányi

Abstract: A $d$-dimensional framework is a pair $(G,p)$, where $G=(V,E)$ is a graph and $p$ is a map from $V$ to $\mathbb{R}^d$. The length of an edge $xy\in E$ in $(G,p)$ is the distance between $p(x)$ and $p(y)$. A vertex pair $\{u,v\}$ of $G$ is said to be globally linked in $(G,p)$ if the distance between $p(u)$ and $p(v)$ is equal to the distance between $q(u)$ and $q(v)$ for every $d$-dimensional framework $(G,q)$ in which the corresponding edge lengths are the same as in $(G,p)$. We call $(G,p)$ globally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^d$ when each vertex pair of $G$ is globally linked in $(G,p)$. A pair $\{u,v\}$ of vertices of $G$ is said to be weakly globally linked in $G$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ if there exists a generic framework $(G,p)$ in which $\{u,v\}$ is globally linked. In this paper we first give a sufficient condition for the weak global linkedness of a vertex pair of a $(d+1)$-connected graph $G$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and then show that for $d=2$ it is also necessary. We use this result to obtain a complete characterization of weakly globally linked pairs in graphs in $\mathbb{R}^2$, which gives rise to an algorithm for testing weak global linkedness in the plane in $O(|V|^2)$ time. Our methods lead to a new short proof for the characterization of globally rigid graphs in $\mathbb{R}^2$, and further results on weakly globally linked pairs and globally rigid graphs in the plane and in higher dimensions.

Authors:Marién Abreu, Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo, Federico Romaniello, Jean Paul Zerafa

Abstract: Let $G$ be a graph of even order, and consider $K_G$ as the complete graph on the same vertex set as $G$. A perfect matching of $K_G$ is called a pairing of $G$. If for every pairing $M$ of $G$ it is possible to find a perfect matching $N$ of $G$ such that $M \cup N$ is a Hamiltonian cycle of $K_G$, then $G$ is said to have the Pairing-Hamiltonian property, or PH-property, for short. In 2007, Fink [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 97] proved that for every $d\geq 2$, the $d$-dimensional hypercube $\mathcal{Q}_d$ has the PH-property, thus proving a conjecture posed by Kreweras in 1996. In this paper we extend Fink's result by proving that given a graph $G$ having the PH-property, the prism graph $\mathcal{P}(G)$ of $G$ has the PH-property as well. Moreover, if $G$ is a connected graph, we show that there exists a positive integer $k_0$ such that the $k^{\textrm{th}}$-prism of a graph $\mathcal{P}^k(G)$ has the PH-property for all $k \ge k_0$.

Authors:David Conlon, Joonkyung Lee, Alexander Sidorenko

Abstract: Sidorenko's conjecture states that, for all bipartite graphs $H$, quasirandom graphs contain asymptotically the minimum number of copies of $H$ taken over all graphs with the same order and edge density. While still open for graphs, the analogous statement is known to be false for hypergraphs. We show that there is some advantage in this, in that if Sidorenko's conjecture does not hold for a particular $r$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, then it is possible to improve the standard lower bound, coming from the probabilistic deletion method, for its extremal number $\mathrm{ex}(n,H)$, the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $H$-free $r$-uniform hypergraph. With this application in mind, we find a range of new counterexamples to the conjecture for hypergraphs, including all linear hypergraphs containing a loose triangle and all $3$-partite $3$-uniform tight cycles.

Authors:Bridget Eileen Tenner

Abstract: The boolean elements of a Coxeter group have been characterized and shown to possess many interesting properties and applications. Here we introduce "boolean prisms," a generalization of those elements, characterizing them equivalently in terms of their reduced words and in terms of pattern containment. As part of this work, we introduce the notion of "calibration" to permutation patterns.

Authors:Anna Gujgiczer, Reza Naserasr, Rohini S, S Taruni

Abstract: Concerning the recent notion of circular chromatic number of signed graphs, for each given integer $k$ we introduce two signed bipartite graphs, each on $2k^2-k+1$ vertices, having shortest negative cycle of length $2k$, and the circular chromatic number 4. Each of the construction can be viewed as a bipartite analogue of the generalized Mycielski graphs on odd cycles, $M_{\ell}(C_{2k+1})$. In the course of proving our result, we also obtain a simple proof of the fact that $M_{\ell}(C_{2k+1})$ and some similar quadrangulations of the projective plane have circular chromatic number 4. These proofs have the advantage that they illuminate, in an elementary manner, the strong relation between algebraic topology and graph coloring problems.

Authors:Fazal Hayat, Shou-jun Xu, Bo Zhou

Abstract: For a given connected graph $G$, the edge Mostar index $Mo_e(G)$ is defined as $Mo_e(G)=\sum_{e=uv \in E(G)}|m_u(e|G) - m_v(e|G)|$, where $m_u(e|G)$ and $m_v(e|G)$ are respectively, the number of edges of $G$ lying closer to vertex $u$ than to vertex $v$ and the number of edges of $G$ lying closer to vertex $v$ than to vertex $u$. In this paper, we determine the sharp upper bound for the edge Mostar index on tricyclic graphs with a fixed number of edges, and the graphs that attain the bound are completely characterized.

Authors:William Dudarov, Noah Feinberg, Raymond Guo, Ansel Goh, Andrea Ottolini, Alicia Stepin, Raghavenda Tripathi, Joia Zhang

Abstract: Let $G=(V,E)$ be a finite, simple, connected, combinatorial graph on $n$ vertices and let $D \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ be its graph distance matrix $D_{ij} = d(v_i, v_j)$. Steinerberger (J. Graph Theory, 2023) empirically observed that the linear system of equations $Dx =\mathbf{1}$, where $\mathbf{1} = (1,1,\dots, 1)^{T}$, very frequently has a solution (even in cases where $D$ is not invertible). The smallest nontrivial example of a graph where the linear system is not solvable are two graphs on 7 vertices. We prove that, in fact, counterexamples exists for all $n\geq 7$. The construction is somewhat delicate and further suggests that such examples are perhaps rare. We also prove that for Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graphs the graph distance matrix $D$ is invertible with high probability. We conclude with some structural results on the Perron-Frobenius eigenvector for a distance matrix.

Authors:Margaret Meyer, Dmitry Zakharov

Abstract: We define the Laplacian matrix and the Jacobian group of a finite graph of groups. We prove analogues of the matrix tree theorem and the class number formula for the order of the Jacobian of a graph of groups. Given a group $G$ acting on a graph $X$, we define natural pushforward and pullback maps between the Jacobian groups of $X$ and the quotient graph of groups $X/\!/G$. For the case $G=\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$, we also prove a combinatorial formula for the order of the kernel of the pushforward map.

Authors:Rafael S. González D'León, Alejandro H. Morales, Eva Philippe, Daniel Tamayo Jiménez, Martha Yip

Abstract: Ceballos and Pons introduced the $s$-weak order on $s$-decreasing trees, for any weak composition $s$. They proved that it has a lattice structure and further conjectured that it can be realized as the $1$-skeleton of a polyhedral subdivision of a polytope. We answer their conjecture in the case where $s$ is a strict composition by providing three geometric realizations of the $s$-permutahedron. The first one is the dual graph of a triangulation of a flow polytope of high dimension. The second one, obtained using the Cayley trick, is the dual graph of a fine mixed subdivision of a sum of hypercubes that has the conjectured dimension. The third one, obtained using tropical geometry, is the $1$-skeleton of a polyhedral complex for which we can provide explicit coordinates of the vertices and whose support is a permutahedron as conjectured.

Authors:Sean Dewar, Georg Grasegger, Kaie Kubjas, Fatemeh Mohammadi, Anthony Nixon

Abstract: In this note we study the uniqueness problem for collections of pennies and marbles. More generally, consider a collection of unit $d$-spheres that may touch but not overlap. Given the existence of such a collection, one may analyse the contact graph of the collection. In particular we consider the uniqueness of the collection arising from the contact graph. Using the language of graph rigidity theory, we prove a precise characterisation of uniqueness (global rigidity) in dimensions 2 and 3 when the contact graph is additionally chordal. We then illustrate a wide range of examples in these cases. That is, we illustrate collections of marbles and pennies that can be perturbed continuously (flexible), are locally unique (rigid) and are unique (globally rigid). We also contrast these examples with the usual generic setting of graph rigidity.

Authors:Junyao Pan

Abstract: Let $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ be two families of $[n]$, where $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$. If $A\not\subset B$ and $B\not\subset A$ hold for all $A\in\mathcal{F}$ and $B\in\mathcal{G}$, P. Frankl and Jian Wang called that $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ are cross-Sperner. Set $\mathcal{I}(\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})=\{A\cap B:A\in\mathcal{F},B\in\mathcal{G}\}$. Define $m(n)={\rm{max}}\{|\mathcal{I}(\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})|:\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G}\subset2^{[n]}~{\rm{are~cross}}$-${\rm{sperner}}\}$. In this note, we prove that $2^n-2^{\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor}-2^{\lceil\frac{n}{2}\rceil}+1$ for $n>1$. This not only solves an open problem proposed by P. Frankl and Jian Wang but also completes the extremal problem of cross-sperner families.

Authors:Sam Adriaensen, Jan De Beule, Giovanni Giuseppe Grimaldi, Jonathan Mannaert

Abstract: In this paper, we provide a construction of $(q+1)$-ovoids of the hyperbolic quadric $Q^+(7,q)$, $q$ an odd prime power, by glueing $(q+1)/2$-ovoids of the elliptic quadric $Q^-(5,q)$. This is possible by controlling some intersection properties of (putative) $m$-ovoids of elliptic quadrics. It yields eventually $(q+1)$-ovoids of $Q^+(7,q)$ not coming from a $1$-system. Secondly, we also construct $m$-ovoids for $m \in \{ 2,4,6,8,10\}$ in $Q^+(7,3)$. Therefore we first investigate how to construct spreads of $\pg(3,q)$ that have as many secants to an elliptic quadric as possible.

Authors:Natalie Behague, Natasha Morrison, Jonathan A. Noel

Abstract: A graph $H$ is common if the limit as $n\to\infty$ of the minimum density of monochromatic labelled copies of $H$ in an edge colouring of $K_n$ with red and blue is attained by a sequence of quasirandom colourings. We apply an information-theoretic approach to show that certain graphs obtained from odd cycles and paths via gluing operations are common. In fact, for every pair $(H_1,H_2)$ of such graphs, there exists $p\in(0,1)$ such that an appropriate linear combination of red copies of $H_1$ and blue copies of $H_2$ is minimized by a quasirandom colouring in which $p\binom{n}{2}$ edges are red; such a pair $(H_1,H_2)$ is said to be $(p,1-p)$-common. Our approach exploits a strengthening of the common graph property for odd cycles that was recently proved using Schur convexity. We also exhibit a $(p,1-p)$-common pair $(H_1,H_2)$ such that $H_2$ is uncommon.

Authors:Sezer Sorgun, Esma Elyemani

Abstract: We consider the eccentric graph of a graph $G$, denoted by $ecc(G)$, which has the same vertex set as $G$, and two vertices in the eccentric graph are adjacent iff their distance in $G$ is equal to the eccentricity of one of them. In this paper, we present a fundamental requirement for the isomorphism between $ecc(G)$ and the complement of $G$, and show that the previous necessary condition given in the literature is inadequate. Also we obtain that diameter of $ecc(T)$ is at most $3$ for any tree and get some characterizations of the eccentric graph of trees.

Authors:Nadia Lafrenière, Yan Zhuang

Abstract: This paper studies the relationship between the modified Foata$\unicode{x2013}$Strehl action (a.k.a. valley-hopping)$\unicode{x2014}$a group action on permutations used to demonstrate the $\gamma$-positivity of the Eulerian polynomials$\unicode{x2014}$and the number of rixed points $\operatorname{rix}$$\unicode{x2014}$a recursively-defined permutation statistic introduced by Lin in the context of an equidistribution problem. We give a linear-time iterative algorithm for computing the set of rixed points, and prove that the $\operatorname{rix}$ statistic is homomesic under valley-hopping. We also demonstrate that a bijection $\Phi$ introduced by Lin and Zeng in the study of the $\operatorname{rix}$ statistic sends orbits of the valley-hopping action to orbits of a cyclic version of valley-hopping, which implies that the number of fixed points $\operatorname{fix}$ is homomesic under cyclic valley-hopping.

Authors:Matt DeVos, Kathryn Nurse

Abstract: We give a compact variation of Seymour's proof that every $2$-edge-connected graph has a nowhere-zero $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_3$-flow.

Authors:Vida Dujmović, Robert Hickingbotham, Jędrzej Hodor, Gweanël Joret, Hoang La, Piotr Micek, Pat Morin, Clément Rambaud, David R. Wood

Abstract: We prove that for every planar graph $X$ of treedepth $h$, there exists a positive integer $c$ such that for every $X$-minor-free graph $G$, there exists a graph $H$ of treewidth at most $f(h)$ such that $G$ is isomorphic to a subgraph of $H\boxtimes K_c$. This is a qualitative strengthening of the Grid-Minor Theorem of Robertson and Seymour (JCTB 1986), and treedepth is the optimal parameter in such a result. As an example application, we use this result to improve the upper bound for weak coloring numbers of graphs excluding a fixed graph as a minor.

Authors:Elena Barcucci, Antonio Bernini, Stefano Bilotta, Renzo Pinzani

Abstract: Dyck paths having height at most $h$ and without valleys at height $h-1$ are combinatorially interpreted by means of 312-avoding permutations with some restrictions on their \emph{left-to-right maxima}. The results are obtained by analyzing a restriction of a well-known bijection between the sets of Dyck paths and 312-avoding permutations. We also provide a recursive formula enumerating these two structures using ECO method and the theory of production matrices. As a further result we obtain a family of combinatorial identities involving Catalan numbers.

Authors:Roghayeh Maleki, Andriaherimanana Sarobidy Razafimahatratra

Abstract: Given the symmetric group $G = \operatorname{Sym}(n)$ and a multiplicity-free subgroup $H\leq G$, the orbitals of the action of $G$ on $G/H$ by left multiplication induce a commutative association scheme. The irreducible constituents of the permutation character of $G$ acting on $G/H$ are indexed by partitions of $n$ and if $\lambda \vdash n$ is the second largest partition in dominance ordering among these, then the Young subgroup $\operatorname{Sym}(\lambda)$ admits two orbits in its action on $G/H$, which are $\mathcal{S}_\lambda$ and its complement. In their monograph [Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorems: Algebraic Approaches. {\it Cambridge University Press}, 2016] (Problem~16.13.1), Godsil and Meagher asked whether $\mathcal{S}_\lambda$ is a coclique of a graph in the commutative association scheme arising from the action of $G$ on $G/H$. If such a graph exists, then they also asked whether its smallest eigenvalue is afforded by the $\lambda$-module. In this paper, we initiate the study of this question by taking $\lambda = [n-1,1]$. We show that the answer to this question is affirmative for the pair of groups $\left(G,H\right)$, where $G = \operatorname{Sym}(2k+1)$ and $H = \operatorname{Sym}(2) \wr \operatorname{Sym}(k)$, or $G = \operatorname{Sym}(n)$ and $H$ is one of $\operatorname{Alt}(k) \times \operatorname{Sym}(n-k),\ \operatorname{Alt}(k) \times \operatorname{Alt}(n-k)$, or $\left(\operatorname{Alt}(k)\times \operatorname{Alt}(n-k)\right) \cap \operatorname{Alt}(n)$. For the pair $(G,H) = \left(\operatorname{Sym}(2k),\operatorname{Sym}(k)\wr \operatorname{Sym}(2)\right)$, we also prove that the answer to this question of Godsil and Meagher is negative.

Authors:Simón Piga, Bjarne Schülke

Abstract: Let $k\geq 3$. Given a $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$, the minimum codegree $\delta(H)$ is the largest $d\in\mathbb{N}$ such that every $(k-1)$-set of $V(H)$ is contained in at least $d$ edges. Given a $k$-uniform hypergraph $F$, the codegree Tur\'an density $\gamma(F)$ of $F$ is the smallest $\gamma \in [0,1]$ such that every $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices with $\delta(H)\geq (\gamma + o(1))n$ contains a copy of $F$. Similarly as other variants of the hypergraph Tur\'an problem, determining the codegree Tur\'an density of a hypergraph is in general notoriously difficult and only few results are known. In this work, we show that for every $\varepsilon>0$, there is a $k$-uniform hypergraph $F$ with $0<\gamma(F)<\varepsilon$. This is in contrast to the classical Tur\'an density, which cannot take any value in the interval $(0,k!/k^k)$ due to a fundamental result by Erd\H{o}s.

Authors:Pralhad M. Shinde

Abstract: Consider a semigraph $G=(V,\,E)$; in this paper, we study the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of $G$. We show that the Laplacian of $G$ is positive semi-definite, and $G$ is connected if and only if $\lambda_2 >0.$ Along the similar lines of graph theory bounds on the largest eigenvalue, we obtain upper and lower bounds on the largest Laplacian eigenvalue of G and enumerate the Laplacian eigenvalues of some special semigraphs such as star semigraph, rooted 3-uniform semigraph tree.

Authors:Boštjan Brešar, Ismael G. Yero

Abstract: Given a graph $G$, a set $X$ of vertices in $G$ satisfying that between every two vertices in $X$ (respectively, in $G$) there is a shortest path whose internal vertices are not in $X$ is a mutual-visibility (respectively, total mutual-visibility) set in $G$. The cardinality of a largest (total) mutual-visibility set in $G$ is known under the name (total) mutual-visibility number, and has been studied in several recent works. In this paper, we propose two lower variants of the mentioned concepts, defined as the smallest possible cardinality among all maximal (total) mutual-visibility sets in $G$, and denote them by $\mu^{-}(G)$ and $\mu_t^{-}(G)$, respectively. While the total mutual-visibility number is never larger than the mutual-visibility number in a graph $G$, we prove that both differences $\mu^{-}(G)-\mu_t^{-}(G)$ and $\mu_t^{-}(G)-\mu^{-}(G)$ can be arbitrarily large. We characterize graphs $G$ with some small values of $\mu^{-}(G)$ and $\mu_t^{-}(G)$, and prove a useful tool called Neighborhood Lemma, which enables us to find upper bounds on the lower mutual-visibility number in several classes of graphs. We compare the lower mutual-visibility number with the lower general position number, and find a close relationship with Bollob\'{a}s-Wessel theorem when this number is considered in Cartesian products of complete graphs. Finally, we also prove the NP-completeness of the decision problem related to $\mu_t^{-}(G)$.

Authors:Frédéric Menous, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Jean-Yves Thibon

Abstract: We prove that the Catalan Lie idempotent $D_n(a,b)$, introduced in [Menous {\it et al.}, Adv. Appl. Math. 51 (2013), 177] can be refined by introducing $n$ independent parameters $a_0,\ldots,a_{n-1}$ and that the coefficient of each monomial is itself a Lie idempotent in the descent algebra. These new idempotents are multiplicity-free sums of subsets of the Poincar\'e-Birkhoff-Witt basis of the Lie module. These results are obtained by embedding noncommutative symmetric functions into the dual noncommutative Connes-Kreimer algebra, which also allows us to interpret, and rederive in a simpler way, Chapoton's results on a two-parameter tree expanded series.

Authors:Yifan Jing, Akshat Mudgal

Abstract: Let $G$ be a connected compact group equipped with the normalised Haar measure $\mu$. Our first result shows that given $\alpha, \beta>0$, there is a constant $c = c(\alpha,\beta)>0$ such that for any compact sets $A,B\subseteq G$ with $ \alpha\mu(B)\geq\mu(A)\geq \mu(B) $ and $ \mu(A)+\mu(B)\leq 1-\beta$, there exist $b_1,\dots b_c\in B$ such that \[ \mu(A\cdot \{b_1,\dots,b_c\})\geq \mu(A)+\mu(B).\] A special case of this, that is, when $G=\mathbb{T}^d$, confirms a recent conjecture of Bollob\'as, Leader and Tiba. We also prove a quantitatively stronger version of such a result in the discrete setting of $\mathbb{R}^d$. Thus, given $d \in \mathbb{N}$, we show that there exists $c = c(d) >0$ such that for any finite, non-empty set $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ which is not contained in a translate of a hyperplane, one can find $a_1, \dots, a_c \in A$ satisfying \[ |A+ \{a_1, \dots, a_c\}| \geq (d+1)|A| - O_d(1). \] The main term here is optimal and recovers the bounds given by Freiman's lemma up to the $O_d(1)$ error term.

Authors:Balázs Keszegh, Dániel Simon

Abstract: A \emph{thrackle} is a graph drawn in the plane so that every pair of its edges meet exactly once, either at a common end vertex or in a proper crossing. Conway's thrackle conjecture states that the number of edges is at most the number of vertices. It is known that this conjecture holds for linear thrackles, i.e., when the edges are drawn as straight line segments. We consider \emph{convex hull thrackles}, a recent generalization of linear thrackles from segments to convex hulls of subsets of points. We prove that if the points are in convex position then the number of convex hulls is at most the number of vertices, but in general there is a construction with one more convex hull. On the other hand, we prove that the number of convex hulls is always at most twice the number of vertices.

Authors:Erika Bérczi-Kovács, András Frank

Abstract: Clar number and Fries number are two thoroughly investigated parameters of plane graphs emerging from mathematical chemistry to measure stability of organic molecules. We consider first a common generalization of these two concepts for bipartite plane graphs, and then extend it to a framework on general (not necessarily planar) directed graphs. The corresponding optimization problem can be transformed into a maximum weight feasible tension problem which is the linear programming dual of a minimum cost network flow (or circulation) problem. Therefore the approach gives rise to a min-max theorem and to a strongly polynomial algorithm that relies exclusively on standard network flow subroutines. In particular, we give the first network flow based algorithm for an optimal Fries structure and its variants.

Authors:Jiang Zhou, Changjiang Bu

Abstract: By using biclique partitions of digraphs, this paper gives reduction formulas for the number of oriented spanning trees, stationary distribution vector and Kemeny's constant of digraphs. As applications, we give a method for enumerating spanning trees of undirected graphs by vertex degrees and biclique partitions. The biclique partition formula also extends the results of Knuth and Levine from line digraphs to general digraphs.

Authors:Janet J. W. Dong, Kathy Q. Ji

Abstract: Let $M_0(n)$ (resp. $M_1(n)$) denote the number of partitions of $n$ with even (reps. odd) crank. We establish the effective bound for the asymptotic formula for $M_0(n)-M_1(n)$ due to Choi, Kang and Lovejoy. By utilizing this formula with the explicit bound, we demonstrate that the cranks are asymptotically equidistributed modulo 2. We also use this formula to show that $(-1)^n(M_0(n)-M_1(n))>d$ for $d\geq 1$ and $n\geq \left\lceil\frac{24}{\pi^2}\left(\ln\left(\frac{7d}{2}\right)\right)^2+\frac{1}{24}\right\rceil$ which strengthens a result due to Andrews and Lewis. Moreover, we establish an upper bound and a lower bound for $M_0(n)$ and $M_1(n)$. The upper bound and the lower bound for $M_k(n)$ enable us to show that $M_k(n-1)+M_k(n+1)>2M_k(n)$ for $k=0$ or $1$ and $n\geq 39$. This result can be seen as the refinement of the classical result regarding the convexity of the partition function $p(n)$, which counts the number of partitions of $n$. We also show that $M_0(n)$ (resp. $M_1(n)$) is log-concave for $n\geq 94$ and satisfies the higher order Tur\'an inequalities for $n\geq 207$ with the aid of the upper bound and the lower bound for $M_0(n)$ and $M_1(n)$.

Authors:Yan Wang, Rong Wu

Abstract: For a number $l\geq 2$, let ${\cal{G}}_l$ denote the family of graphs which have girth $2l+1$ and have no odd hole with length greater than $2l+1$. Wu, Xu and Xu conjectured that every graph in $\bigcup_{l\geq 2} {\cal{G}}_{l}$ is $3$-colorable. Chudnovsky et al., Wu et al., and Chen showed that every graph in ${\cal{G}}_2$, ${\cal{G}}_3$ and $\bigcup_{l\geq 5} {\cal{G}}_{l}$ is $3$-colorable respectively. In this paper, we prove that every graph in ${\cal{G}}_4$ is $3$-colorable. This confirms Wu, Xu and Xu's conjecture.

Authors:Michel Dekking

Abstract: We characterize the entries of Hofstadter's G-sequence in terms of the lower and upper Wythoff sequences. This can be used as a tool to prove a longstanding conjecture on the averages of the swapped Wythoff sequences.

Authors:Yinsong Chen, Vladislav Kargin

Abstract: First, we consider order-$n$ ribbon tilings of an $M$-by-$N$ rectangle $R_{M,N}$ where $M$ and $N$ are much larger than $n$. We prove the existence of the growth rate $\gamma_n$ of the number of tilings and show that $\gamma_n \leq (n-1) \ln 2$. Then, we study a rectangle $R_{M,N}$ with fixed width $M=n$, called a strip. We derive lower and upper bounds on the growth rate $\mu_n$ for strips as $ \ln n - 1 + o(1) \leq \mu_n \leq \ln n $. Besides, we construct a recursive system which enables us to enumerate the order-$n$ ribbon tilings of a strip for all $n \leq 8$ and calculate the corresponding generating functions.

Authors:Jacob Fox, Tung Nguyen, Alex Scott, Paul Seymour

Abstract: A well-known theorem of R\"odl says that for every graph $H$, and every $\epsilon>0$, there exists $\delta>0$ such that if $G$ does not contain an induced copy of $H$, then there exists $X\subseteq V(G)$ with $|X|\ge\delta|G|$ such that one of $G[X],\overline{G}[X]$ has edge-density at most $\epsilon$. But how does $\delta$ depend on $\epsilon$? Fox and Sudakov conjectured that the dependence can be taken to be polynomial: for all $H$ there exists $c>0$ such that for all $\epsilon\in(0,1/2)$, R\"odl's theorem holds with $\delta=\epsilon^c$. This conjecture implies the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture, and until now it had not been verified for any non-trivial graphs $H$. Our first result shows that it is true when $H=P_4$ (indeed, we can take $\delta=\epsilon$, and insist that one of $G[X],\overline{G}[X]$ has maximum degree at most $\epsilon^2|G|$).) We will generalize this, and to do so, we need to work with an even stronger property. Let us say $H$ is {\em viral} if there exists $c>0$ such that for all $\epsilon\in(0,1/2)$, if $G$ contains at most $\epsilon^c|G|^{|H|}$ induced copies of $H$, then there exists $X\subseteq V(G)$ with $|X|\ge \epsilon^c|G|$ such that one of $G[X],\overline{G}[X]$ has density at most $\epsilon$. We will show that $P_4$ is viral, using a ``polynomial $P_4$-removal lemma'' of Alon and Fox. We will also show that viral graphs are closed under vertex-substitution, and so all graphs that can be obtained by substitution from copies of $P_4$ are viral. (In a subsequent paper, it will be shown that all graphs currently known to satisfy the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture are in fact viral.) Finally, we give a different strengthening of R\"odl's theorem: we show that if $G$ does not contain an induced copy of $P_4$, then its vertices can be partitioned into at most $480\epsilon^{-4}$ subsets $X$ such that one of $G[X],\overline{G}[X]$ has density at most $\epsilon$.

Authors:Debsoumya Chakraborti, Jaehoon Kim, Hyunwoo Lee, Jaehyeon Seo

Abstract: It is well-known that every tournament contains a Hamilton path, and every strongly connected tournament contains a Hamilton cycle. This paper establishes transversal generalizations of these classical results. For a collection $\mathbf{T}=\{T_1,\dots,T_m\}$ of not-necessarily distinct tournaments on a common vertex set $V$, an $m$-edge directed graph $\mathcal{D}$ with vertices in $V$ is called a $\mathbf{T}$-transversal if there exists a bijection $\phi\colon E(\mathcal{D})\to [m]$ such that $e\in E(T_{\phi(e)})$ for all $e\in E(\mathcal{D})$. We prove that for sufficiently large $m$ with $m=|V|-1$, there exists a $\mathbf{T}$-transversal Hamilton path. Moreover, if $m=|V|$ and at least $m-1$ of the tournaments $T_1,\ldots,T_m$ are assumed to be strongly connected, then there is a $\mathbf{T}$-transversal Hamilton cycle. In our proof, we utilize a novel way of partitioning tournaments which we dub $\mathbf{H}$-partition.

Authors:Haiyan Guo, Bo Zhou

Abstract: The distance spectrum of a connected graph is the spectrum of its distance matrix. We characterize those bicyclic graphs and split graphs whose second largest distance eigenvalues belong to the interval $(-\infty,-\frac{1}{2})$. Any such graph is chordal.

Authors:Ruiting Zhang, Huiqing Liu, Yibo Li

Abstract: The Sombor index $SO(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the sum of the edge weights $\sqrt{d^2_G(u)+d^2_G(v)}$ of all edges $uv$ of $G$, where $d_G(u)$ denotes the degree of the vertex $u$ in $G$. A connected graph $G = (V ,E)$ is called a quasi-tree, if there exists $u\in V (G)$ such that $G-u$ is a tree. Denote $\mathscr{Q}(n,k)$=\{$G$: $G$ is a quasi-tree graph of order $n$ with $G-u$ being a tree and $d_G(u)=k$\}. In this paper, we determined the maximum, the second maximum and the third maximum Sombor indices of all quasi-tree graphs in $\mathscr{Q}(n,k)$, respectively. Moreover, we characterized their corresponding extremal graphs, respectively.

Authors:Nicolas Jacon LMR, Cédric Lecouvey IDP

Abstract: We present a new combinatorial and conjectural algorithm for computing the Mullineux involution for the symmetric group and its Hecke algebra. This algorithm is built on a conjectural property of crystal isomorphisms which can be rephrased in a purely combinatorial way.

Authors:Arpita Ghosh

Abstract: The notion of combinatorially rich set was first introduced by V. Bergelson and D. Glasscock. The goal of this paper is to study these subsets in the setting of adequate partial semigroups and describes its connection with the other concepts of large sets.

Authors:Kevin Hendrey, Sergey Norin, Raphael Steiner, Jérémie Turcotte

Abstract: Motivated by Hadwiger's conjecture, we study the problem of finding the densest possible $t$-vertex minor in graphs of average degree at least $t-1$. We show that if $G$ has average degree at least $t-1$, it contains a minor on $t$ vertices with at least $(\sqrt{2}-1-o(1))\binom{t}{2}$ edges. We show that this cannot be improved beyond $\left(\frac{3}{4}+o(1)\right)\binom{t}{2}$. Finally, for $t\leq 6$ we exactly determine the number of edges we are guaranteed to find in the densest $t$-vertex minor in graphs of average degree at least $t-1$.

Authors:Emily Heath, Shira Zerbib

Abstract: Recently, Alon introduced the notion of an $H$-code for a graph $H$: a collection of graphs on vertex set $[n]$ is an $H$-code if it contains no two members whose symmetric difference is isomorphic to $H$. Let $D_{H}(n)$ denote the maximum possible cardinality of an $H$-code, and let $d_{H}(n)=D_{H}(n)/2^{n \choose 2}$. Alon observed that a lower bound on $d_{H}(n)$ can be obtained by attaining an upper bound on the number of colors needed to edge-color $K_n$ so that every copy of $H$ has an odd color class. Motivated by this observation, we define $g(G,H)$ to be the minimum number of colors needed to edge-color a graph $G$ so that every copy of $H$ has an odd color class. We prove $g(K_n,K_5) \le n^{o(1)}$ and $g(K_{n,n}, C_4) \le \frac{t}{2(t-1)}n+o(n)$ for all odd integers $t\geq 5$. The first result shows $d_{K_5}(n) \ge \frac{1}{n^{o(1)}}$ and was obtained independently in arXiv:2306.14682.

Authors:Zishen Qu, Douglas B. West

Abstract: Given a nonnegative integer weight $f(v)$ for each vertex $v$ in a multigraph $G$, an {\it $f$-bounded subgraph} of $G$ is a multigraph $H$ contained in $G$ such that $d_H(v)\le f(v)$ for all $v\in V(G)$. Using Tutte's $f$-Factor Theorem, we give a new proof of the min-max relation for the maximum size of an $f$-bounded subgraph of $G$. When $f(v)=1$ for all $v$, the formula reduces to the classical Tutte--Berge Formula for the maximum size of a matching.

Authors:Nathan Keller, Noam Lifshitz, Omri Marcus

Abstract: For a function $f$ on the hypercube $\{0,1\}^n$ with Fourier expansion $f=\sum_{S\subseteq[n]}\hat f(S)\chi_S$, the hypercontractive inequality for the noise operator allows bounding norms of $T_\rho f=\sum_S\rho^{|S|}\hat f(S)\chi_S$ in terms of norms of $f$. If $f$ is Boolean-valued, the level-$d$ inequality allows bounding the norm of $f^{=d}=\sum_{|S|=d}\hat f(S)\chi_S$ in terms of $E[f]$. These two inequalities play a central role in analysis of Boolean functions and its applications. While both inequalities hold in a sharp form when the hypercube is endowed with the uniform measure, they do not hold for more general discrete product spaces. Finding a `natural' generalization was a long-standing open problem. In [P. Keevash et al., Global hypercontractivity and its applications, J. Amer. Math. Soc., to appear], a hypercontractive inequality for this setting was presented, that holds for functions which are `global' -- namely, are not significantly affected by a restriction of a small set of coordinates. This hypercontractive inequality is not sharp, which precludes applications to the symmetric group $S_n$ and to other settings where sharpness of the bound is crucial. Also, no level-$d$ inequality for global functions over general discrete product spaces is known. We obtain sharp versions of the hypercontractive inequality and of the level-$d$ inequality for this setting. Our inequalities open the way for diverse applications to extremal set theory and to group theory. We demonstrate this by proving quantitative bounds on the size of intersecting families of sets and vectors under weak symmetry conditions and by describing numerous applications to the study of functions on $S_n$ -- including hypercontractivity and level-$d$ inequalities, character bounds, variants of Roth's theorem and of Bogolyubov's lemma, and diameter bounds, that were obtained using our techniques.

Authors:Jeremy Chizewer

Abstract: A sunflower with $r$ petals is a collection of $r$ sets over a ground set $X$ such that every element in $X$ is in no set, every set, or exactly one set. Erd\H{o}s and Rado \cite{er} showed that a family of sets of size $n$ contains a sunflower if there are more than $n!(r-1)^n$ sets in the family. Alweiss et al. \cite{alwz} and subsequently, Rao \cite{rao} improved this bound to $(O(r \log(rn))^n$. We study the case where the pairwise intersections of the set family are restricted. In particular, we improve the best-known bound for set families when the size of the pairwise intersections of any two sets is in a set $L$. We also present a new bound for the special case when the set $L$ is the nonnegative integers less than or equal to $d$ using the techniques of Alweiss et al. \cite{alwz}.

Authors:Greta Panova

Abstract: Algebraic Combinatorics originated in Algebra and Representation Theory, studying their discrete objects and integral quantities via combinatorial methods which have since developed independent and self-contained lives and brought us some beautiful formulas and combinatorial interpretations. The flagship hook-length formula counts the number of Standard Young Tableaux, which also gives the dimension of the irreducible Specht modules of the Symmetric group. The elegant Littlewood-Richardson rule gives the multiplicities of irreducible GL-modules in the tensor products of GL-modules. Such formulas and rules have inspired large areas of study and development beyond Algebra and Combinatorics, becoming applicable to Integrable Probability and Statistical Mechanics, and Computational Complexity Theory. We will see what lies beyond the reach of such nice product formulas and combinatorial interpretations and enter the realm of Computational Complexity Theory, that could formally explain the beauty we see and the difficulties we encounter in finding further formulas and ``combinatorial interpretations''. A 85-year-old such problem asks for a positive combinatorial formula for the Kronecker coefficients of the Symmetric group, another one pertains to the plethysm coefficients of the General Linear group. In the opposite direction, the study of Kronecker and plethysm coefficients leads to the disproof of the wishful approach of Geometric Complexity Theory (GCT) towards the resolution of the algebraic P vs NP Millennium problem, the VP vs VNP problem. In order to make GCT work and establish computational complexity lower bounds, we need to understand representation theoretic multiplicities in further detail, possibly asymptotically.

Authors:Loïc Foissy, Pierre-Louis Giscard, Cécile Mammez

Abstract: We show that the chronological removal of cycles from a walk on a graph, known as Lawler's loop-erasing procedure, generates a preLie co-algebra on the vector space spanned by the walks. In addition, we prove that the tensor and symmetric algebras of graph walks are graded Hopf algebras, provide their antipodes explicitly and recover the preLie co-algebra from a brace coalgebra on the tensor algebra of graph walks. Finally we exhibit sub-Hopf algebras associated to particular types of walks.

Authors:Weizhen Chen, Meng Ji, Yaping Mao, Meiqin Wei

Abstract: The $k$-edge-colored bipartite Gallai-Ramsey number $\operatorname{bgr}_k(G:H)$ is defined as the minimum integer $n$ such that $n^2\geq k$ and for every $N\geq n$, every edge-coloring (using all $k$ colors) of complete bipartite graph $K_{N,N}$ contains a rainbow copy of $G$ or a monochromatic copy of $H$. In this paper, we first study the structural theorem on the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ with no rainbow copy of $K_{1,3}$. Next, we utilize the results to prove the exact values of $\operatorname{bgr}_{k}(P_4: H)$, $\operatorname{bgr}_{k}(P_5: H)$, $\operatorname{bgr}_{k}(K_{1,3}: H)$, where $H$ is a various union of cycles and paths and stars.

Authors:Anton Bernshteyn, Abhishek Dhawan

Abstract: We show that every Borel graph $G$ of subexponential growth has a Borel proper edge-coloring with $\Delta(G) + 1$ colors. We deduce this from a stronger result, namely that an $n$-vertex (finite) graph $G$ of subexponential growth can be properly edge-colored using $\Delta(G) + 1$ colors by an $O(\log^\ast n)$-round deterministic distributed algorithm in the $\mathsf{LOCAL}$ model, where the implied constants in the $O(\cdot)$ notation are determined by a bound on the growth rate of $G$.

Authors:Paul Barry

Abstract: We use the link between Jacobi continued fractions and the generating functions of certain moment sequences to study some simple transformations on them. In particular, we define and study a transformation that is appropriate for the study of spidernet graphs and their moments, and the free Meixner law.

Authors:Emily Heath, Ryan R. Martin, Chris Wells

Abstract: How many copies of a fixed odd cycle, $C_{2m+1}$, can a planar graph contain? We answer this question asymptotically for $m\in\{2,3,4\}$ and prove a bound which is tight up to a factor of $3/2$ for all other values of $m$. This extends the prior results of Cox--Martin and Lv et al. on the analogous question for even cycles. Our bounds result from a reduction to the following maximum likelihood question: which probability mass $\mu$ on the edges of some clique maximizes the probability that $m$ edges sampled independently from $\mu$ form either a cycle or a path?

Authors:Jing Wang, Zhenyu Ni, Liying Kang, Yi-zheng Fan

Abstract: The edge blow-up of a graph $G$, denoted by $G^{p+1}$, is obtained by replacing each edge of $G$ with a clique of order $p+1$, where the new vertices of the cliques are all distinct. Yuan [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B, 152 (2022) 379-398] determined the range of the Tur\'{a}n numbers for edge blow-up of all bipartite graphs and the exact Tur\'{a}n numbers for edge blow-up of all non-bipartite graphs. In this paper we prove that the graphs with the maximum spectral radius in an $n$-vertex graph without any copy of edge blow-up of star forests are the extremal graphs for edge blow-up of star forests when $n$ is sufficiently large.

Authors:Lixiang Chen, Changjiang Bu

Abstract: It is well-known that the spectral radius of a connected uniform hypergraph is an eigenvalue of the hypergraph. However, its algebraic multiplicity remains unknown. In this paper, we use the Poisson Formula and matching polynomials to determine the algebraic multiplicity of the spectral radius of a uniform hypertree.

Authors:Matteo Cati, Dmitrii V. Pasechnik

Abstract: Hadamard matrices are $(-1, +1)$ square matrices with mutually orthogonal rows. The Hadamard conjecture states that Hadamard matrices of order $n$ exist whenever $n$ is $1$, $2$, or a multiple of $4$. However, no construction is known that works for all values of $n$, and for some orders no Hadamard matrix has yet been found. Given the many practical applications of these matrices, it would be useful to have a way to easily check if a construction for a Hadamard matrix of order $n$ exists, and in case to create it. This project aimed to address this, by implementing constructions of Hadamard and skew Hadamard matrices to cover all known orders less than or equal to $1000$ in SageMath, an open-source mathematical software. Furthermore, we implemented some additional mathematical objects, such as complementary difference sets and T-sequences, which were not present in SageMath but are needed to construct Hadamard matrices. This also allows to verify the correctness of the results given in the literature; within the $n\leq 1000$ range, just one order, $292$, of a skew Hadamard matrix claimed to have a known construction, required a fix.

Authors:Samvel Kh. Darbinyan

Abstract: In this paper we prove the following new sufficient condition for a digraph to be Hamiltonian: {\it Let $D$ be a 2-strong digraph of order $n\geq 9$. If $n-1$ vertices of $D$ have degrees at least $n+k$ and the remaining vertex has degree at least $n-k-4$, where $k$ is a non-negative integer, then $D$ is Hamiltonian}. This is an extension of Ghouila-Houri's theorem for 2-strong digraphs and is a generalization of an early result of the author (DAN Arm. SSR (91(2):6-8, 1990). The obtained result is best possible in the sense that for $k=0$ there is a digraph of order $n=8$ (respectively, $n=9$) with the minimum degree $n-4=4$ (respectively, with the minimum $n-5=4$) whose $n-1$ vertices have degrees at least $n-1$, but it is not Hamiltonian. We also give a new sufficient condition for a 3-strong digraph to be Hamiltonian-connected.

Authors:Sizhong Zhou, Zhiren Sun, Yuli Zhang

Abstract: For a nonnegative integer $k$, a graph $G$ is said to be $k$-factor-critical if $G-Q$ admits a perfect matching for any $Q\subseteq V(G)$ with $|Q|=k$. In this article, we prove spectral radius conditions for the existence of $k$-factor-critical graphs. Our result generalises one previous result on perfect matchings of graphs. Furthermore, we claim that the bounds on spectral radius in Theorem 3.1 are sharp.

Authors:Kunle Adegoke, Robert Frontczak, Taras Goy

Abstract: Using a simple transformation, we obtain much simpler forms for some series involving binomial coefficients $\binom{3n}n$ derived by Necdet Batir. New evaluations are given; and connections with Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio are established. Finally, we derive some Fibonacci and Lucas series involving the reciprocals of $\binom{3n}{n}$.

Authors:Swastik Kopparty, Vishvajeet N

Abstract: We study the problem of extracting randomness from somewhere-random sources, and related combinatorial phenomena: partition analogues of Shearer's lemma on projections. A somewhere-random source is a tuple $(X_1, \ldots, X_t)$ of (possibly correlated) $\{0,1\}^n$-valued random variables $X_i$ where for some unknown $i \in [t]$, $X_i$ is guaranteed to be uniformly distributed. An $extracting$ $merger$ is a seeded device that takes a somewhere-random source as input and outputs nearly uniform random bits. We study the seed-length needed for extracting mergers with constant $t$ and constant error. We show: $\cdot$ Just like in the case of standard extractors, seedless extracting mergers with even just one output bit do not exist. $\cdot$ Unlike the case of standard extractors, it $is$ possible to have extracting mergers that output a constant number of bits using only constant seed. Furthermore, a random choice of merger does not work for this purpose! $\cdot$ Nevertheless, just like in the case of standard extractors, an extracting merger which gets most of the entropy out (namely, having $\Omega$ $(n)$ output bits) must have $\Omega$ $(\log n)$ seed. This is the main technical result of our work, and is proved by a second-moment strengthening of the graph-theoretic approach of Radhakrishnan and Ta-Shma to extractors. In contrast, seed-length/output-length tradeoffs for condensing mergers (where the output is only required to have high min-entropy), can be fully explained by using standard condensers. Inspired by such considerations, we also formulate a new and basic class of problems in combinatorics: partition analogues of Shearer's lemma. We show basic results in this direction; in particular, we prove that in any partition of the $3$-dimensional cube $[0,1]^3$ into two parts, one of the parts has an axis parallel $2$-dimensional projection of area at least $3/4$.

Authors:Gal Beniamini, Nir Lavee, Nati Linial

Abstract: A permutation $\pi \in \mathbb{S}_n$ is $k$-balanced if every permutation of order $k$ occurs in $\pi$ equally often, through order-isomorphism. In this paper, we explicitly construct $k$-balanced permutations for $k \le 3$, and every $n$ that satisfies the necessary divisibility conditions. In contrast, we prove that for $k \ge 4$, no such permutations exist. In fact, we show that in the case $k \ge 4$, every $n$-element permutation is at least $\Omega_n(n^{k-1})$ far from being $k$-balanced. This lower bound is matched for $k=4$, by a construction based on the Erd\H{o}s-Szekeres permutation.

Authors:Davide Bolognini, Antonio Macchia, Giancarlo Rinaldo, Francesco Strazzanti

Abstract: Several algebraic properties of a binomial edge ideal $J_G$ can be interpreted in terms of combinatorial properties of its associated graph $G$. In particular, the so-called cut-point sets of a graph $G$, special sets of vertices that disconnect $G$ in a minimal way, play an important role since they are in bijection with the minimal prime ideals of $J_G$. In this paper we establish the first graph-theoretical characterization of binomial edge ideals $J_G$ satisfying Serre's condition $(S_2)$ by proving that this is equivalent to having $G$ accessible, which means that $J_G$ is unmixed and the cut-point sets of $G$ form an accessible set system. The proof relies on the combinatorial structure of the Stanley-Reisner simplicial complex of a multigraded generic initial ideal of $J_G$, whose facets can be described in terms of cut-point sets. Another key step in the proof consists in proving the equivalence between accessibility and strong accessibility for the collection of cut sets of $G$ with $J_G$ unmixed. This result, interesting on its own, provides the first relevant class of set systems for which the previous two notions are equivalent.

Authors:Antonio Pasini

Abstract: In this paper we consider a family of projective embeddings of the geometry $\Gamma = A_{n,\{1,n\}}(F)$ of point-hyperplanes flags of the projective geometry $\Sigma = PG(n,F)$. The natural embedding $\varepsilon_{mathrm{nat}}$ is one of them. It maps every point-hyperplane flag $(p,H)$ of $\Sigma$ onto the vector-line $\langle x\otimes\xi\rangle$, where $x$ is a representative vector of $p$ and $\xi$ is a linear functional describing $H$. The other embeddings have been discovered by Thas and Van Maldeghem (2000) for the case $n = 2$ and later generalized to any $n$ by De Schepper, Schillewaert and Van Maldeghem (2023). They are obtained as twistings of $\varepsilon_{\mathrm{nat}}$ by non-trivial automorphisms of $F$. Explicitly, for $\sigma\in Aut(F)\setminus\{\mathrm{id}_F\}$, the twisting $\varepsilon_\sigma$ of $\varepsilon_{\mathrm{nat}}$ by $\sigma$ maps $(p,H)$ onto $\langle x\sigma\otimes \xi\rangle$. We shall prove that, when $|Aut(F)| > 1$ a geometric hyperplane $\cal H$ of $\Gamma$ arises from $\varepsilon_{\mathrm{nat}}$ and one of its twistings or from two distinct twistings of $\varepsilon_{\mathrm{nat}}$ if and only if ${\cal H} = \{(p,H)\in \Gamma \mid p\in A \mbox{ or } a \in H\}$ for a possibly non-incident point-hyperplane pair $(a,A)$ of $\Sigma$. We call these hyperplanes quasi-singular hyperplanes. With the help of this result we shall prove that if $|Aut(F)| > 1$ then $\Gamma$ admits no absolutely universal embedding.

Authors:Daniele Bartoli, Martino Borello, Giuseppe Marino

Abstract: Saturating sets are combinatorial objects in projective spaces over finite fields that have been intensively investigated in the last three decades. They are related to the so-called covering problem of codes in the Hamming metric. In this paper, we consider the recently introduced linear version of such sets, which is, in turn, related to the covering problem in the rank metric. The main questions in this context are how small the rank of a saturating linear set can be and how to construct saturating linear sets of small rank. Recently, Bonini, Borello, and Byrne provided a lower bound on the rank of saturating linear sets in a given projective space, which is shown to be tight in some cases. In this paper, we provide construction of saturating linear sets meeting the lower bound and we develop a link between the saturating property and the scatteredness of linear sets. The last part of the paper is devoted to show some parameters for which the bound is not tight.

Authors:Zhi Li, Liuquan Wang

Abstract: We prove a number of new Rogers-Ramanujan type identities involving double, triple and quadruple sums. They were discovered after an extensive search using Maple. The main idea of proofs is to reduce them to some known identities in the literature. This is achieved by direct summation or the constant term method. We also obtain some new single-sum identities as consequences.

Authors:Anna Felikson, Oleg Karpenkov, Khrystyna Serhiyenko, Pavel Tumarkin

Abstract: We explore a three-dimensional counterpart of the Farey tessellation and its relations to Penner's lambda lengths and $SL_2$-tilings. In particular, we prove a three-dimensional version of Ptolemy relation, and generalise results of Ian Short to classify tame $SL_2$-tilings over Eisenstein integers in terms of pairs of paths in the 3D Farey graph.

Authors:Huy Truong, Pietro Poggi-Corradini

Abstract: One of the main properties of modulus on graphs is Fulkerson duality. In this paper, we study Fulkerson duality for spanning tree modulus. We introduce a new notion of Beurling partition, and we identify two important ones, which correspond to the notion of strength and maximum denseness of an arbitrary graph. These special partitions, also give rise to two deflation processes that reveal a hierarchical structure for general graphs. Finally, while Fulkerson duality for spanning tree families can be deduced from a well-known result in combinatorics due to Chopra, we give an alternative approach based on a result of Nash-Williams and Tutte.

Authors:Yukio Takahashi, Francesc A. Muntaner-Batle, Rikio Ichishima

Abstract: A graph $G$ is called edge-magic if there exists a bijective function $f:V\left(G\right) \cup E\left(G\right)\rightarrow \left\{1, 2, \ldots , \left\vert V\left( G\right) \right\vert +\left\vert E\left( G\right) \right\vert \right\}$ such that $f\left(u\right) + f\left(v\right) + f\left(uv\right)$ is a constant (called the valence of $f$) for each $uv\in E\left( G\right) $. If $f\left(V \left(G\right)\right) =\left\{1, 2, \ldots , \left\vert V\left( G\right) \right\vert \right\}$, then $G$ is called a super edge-magic graph. A stronger version of edge-magic and super edge-magic graphs appeared when the concepts of perfect edge-magic and perfect super edge-magic graphs were introduced. The super edge-magic deficiency $ \mu_{s}\left(G\right)$ of a graph $G$ is defined to be either the smallest nonnegative integer $n$ with the property that $G \cup nK_{1}$ is super edge-magic or $+ \infty$ if there exists no such integer $n$. On the other hand, the edge-magic deficiency $ \mu\left(G\right)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest nonnegative integer $n$ for which $G\cup nK_{1}$ is edge-magic, being $ \mu\left(G\right)$ always finite. In this paper, the concepts of (super) edge-magic deficiency are generalized using the concepts of perfect (super) edge-magic graphs. This naturally leads to the study of the valences of edge-magic and super edge-magic labelings. We present some general results in this direction and study the perfect (super) edge-magic deficiency of the star $K_{1,n}$.

Authors:Guanglong Yu, Lin Sun

Abstract: For a $hypergraph$ $\mathcal{G}=(V, E)$ consisting of a nonempty vertex set $V=V(\mathcal{G})$ and an edge set $E=E(\mathcal{G})$, its $adjacency$ $matrix$ $\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}}=[(\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}})_{ij}]$ is defined as $(\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}})_{ij}=\sum_{e\in E_{ij}}\frac{1}{|e| - 1}$, where $E_{ij} = \{e \in E \, |\, i, j \in e\}$.The $spectral$ $radius$ of a hypergraph $\mathcal{G}$, denoted by $\rho(\mathcal {G})$, is the maximum modulus among all eigenvalues of $\mathcal {A}_{\mathcal{G}}$. In this paper, among all $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) unicyclic hypergraphs with fixed number of vertices, the hypergraphs with the maximum and the second the maximum spectral radius are completely determined, respectively.

Authors:P Vanchinathan, Kevinsam B

Abstract: For an odd prime power $q$ satisfying $q\equiv 1\pmod 3$ we construct totally $2(q-1) $ permutation polyomials, all giving involutory permutations with exactly $ 1+ \frac{q-1}3$ fixed points. Among them $(q-1)$ polynomials are trinomials, and the rest are 6-term polynomials.

Authors:Markus Kuba, Alois Panholzer

Abstract: We consider a card guessing game with complete feedback. A ordered deck of n cards labeled 1 up to n is riffle-shuffled exactly one time. Then, the goal of the game is to maximize the number of correct guesses of the cards, where one after another a single card is drawn from the top, and shown to the guesser until no cards remain. Improving earlier results, we provide a limit law for the number of correct guesses. As a byproduct, we relate the number of correct guesses in this card guessing game to the number of correct guesses under a two-color card guessing game with complete feedback. Using this connection to two-color card guessing, we can also show a limiting distribution result for the first occurrence of a pure luck guess.