Combinatorics (math.CO)

Abstract: We study a matrix analog of the Erd\H{o}s-Falconer distance problems in vector spaces over finite fields. There arises an interesting analysis of certain quadratic matrix Gauss sums.

Abstract: Nested canalization (NC) is a property of Boolean functions which has been recently extended to multivalued functions. We study the effect of the Van Ham mapping (from multivalued to Boolean functions) on this property. We introduce the class of softly nested canalizing (SNC) multivalued functions, and prove that the Van Ham mapping sends SNC multivalued functions to NC Boolean functions. Since NC multivalued functions are SNC, this preservation property holds for NC multivalued functions as well. We also study the relevance of SNC functions in the context of gene regulatory network modelling.

Abstract: Let $\cal C$ be a set of curves in the plane such that no three curves in $\cal C$ intersect at a single point and every pair of curves in $\cal C$ intersect at exactly one point which is either a crossing or a touching point. According to a conjecture of J\'anos Pach the number of pairs of curves in $\cal C$ that touch each other is $O(|{\cal C}|)$. We prove this conjecture for $x$-monotone curves.

Abstract: This text is dedicated to Jacques Tits's ideas on geometry over F1, the field with one element. In a first part, we explain how thin Tits geometries surface as rational point sets over the Krasner hyperfield, which links these ideas to combinatorial flag varieties in the sense of Borovik, Gelfand and White and F1-geometry in the sense of Connes and Consani. A completely novel feature is our approach to algebraic groups over F1 in terms of an alteration of the very concept of a group. In the second part, we study an incidence-geometrical counterpart of (epimorphisms to) thin Tits geometries; we introduce and classify all F1-structures on 3-dimensional projective spaces over finite fields. This extends recent work of Thas and Thas on epimorphisms of projective planes (and other rank 2 buildings) to thin planes.

Abstract: A $4$-general set in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ is a set of points of ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ spanning the whole ${\rm PG}(n,q)$ and such that no four of them are on a plane. Such a pointset is said to be complete if it is not contained in a larger $4$-general set of ${\rm PG}(n, q)$. In this paper upper and lower bounds for the size of the largest and the smallest complete $4$-general set in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$, respectively, are investigated. Complete $4$-general sets in ${\rm PG}(n,q)$, $q \in \{3,4\}$, whose size is close to the theoretical upper bound are provided. Further results are also presented, including a description of the complete $4$-general sets in projective spaces of small dimension over small fields and the construction of a transitive $4$-general set of size $3(q + 1)$ in ${\rm PG}(5, q)$, $q \equiv 1 \pmod{3}$.

Abstract: Given a 3-uniform hypergraph H, its 2-intersection graph G has for vertex set the hyperedges of H and ee' is an edge of G whenever e and e' have exactly two common vertices in H. Di Marco et al. prove that deciding wether a graph G is the 2-intersection graph of a 3-uniform hypergraph is NP-complete. The main problems we study concern the class of claw-free graphs. We show that the recognition problem remains NP-complete when G is claw-free graphs but becomes polynomial if in addition G is triangulated.

Abstract: Two graphs are of the same topological type if they can be mutually embedded into each other topologically. We show that there are exactly $\aleph_1$ distinct topological types of countable trees. In general, for any infinite cardinal $\kappa$ there are exactly $\kappa^+$ distinct topological types of trees of size $\kappa$. This solves a problem of van der Holst from 2005.

Abstract: A $d$-dimensional bar-and-joint framework $(G,p)$ with underlying graph $G$ is called universally rigid if all realizations of $G$ with the same edge lengths, in all dimensions, are congruent to $(G,p)$. A graph $G$ is said to be generically universally rigid in $\mathbb{R}^d$ if every $d$-dimensional generic framework $(G,p)$ is universally rigid. In this paper we focus on the case $d=1$. We give counterexamples to a conjectured characterization of generically universally rigid graphs from R. Connelly (2011). We also introduce two new operations that preserve the universal rigidity of generic frameworks, and the property of being not universally rigid, respectively. One of these operations is used in the analysis of one of our examples, while the other operation is applied to obtain a lower bound on the size of generically universally rigid graphs. This bound gives a partial answer to a question from T. Jord\'an and V-H. Nguyen (2015).

Abstract: A graph is said to be nearly complete bipartite if it can be obtained by deleting a set of independent edges from a complete bipartite graph. The nonorientable genus of such graphs is known except in a few cases where the sizes of the partite classes differ by at most one, and a maximum matching is deleted. We resolve these missing cases using three classic tools for constructing genus embeddings of the complete bipartite graphs: current graphs, diamond sums, and the direct rotation systems of Ringel.

Abstract: A graph $G$ is equitably $k$-choosable if, for every $k$-uniform list assignment $L$, $G$ is $L$-colorable and each color appears on at most $\left\lceil |V(G)|/k\right\rceil$ vertices. Equitable list-coloring was introduced by Kostochka, Pelsmajer, and West in 2003. They conjectured that a connected graph $G$ with $\Delta(G)\geq 3$ is equitably $\Delta(G)$-choosable, as long as $G$ is not complete or $K_{d,d}$ for odd $d$. In this paper, we use a discharging argument to prove their conjecture for the infinite family of prism graphs.

Abstract: This paper concerns all-to-all network routing on regular digraphs. In previous work we focused on efficient routing in highly symmetric digraphs with low diameter for fixed degree. Here, we show that every connected regular digraph has an all-to-all routing scheme and associated schedule with no waiting. In fact, this routing scheme becomes more efficient as the diameter goes down with respect to the degree and number of vertices. Lastly, we examine the simple scheduling algorithm called ``farthest-distance-first'' and prove that it yields optimal schedules for all-to-all communication in networks of interest, including Kautz graphs.

Abstract: For positive integers $n,r,s$ with $r > s$, the set-coloring Ramsey number $R(n;r,s)$ is the minimum $N$ such that if every edge of the complete graph $K_N$ receives a set of $s$ colors from a palette of $r$ colors, then there is a subset of $n$ vertices where all of the edges between them receive a common color. If $n$ is fixed and $\frac{s}{r}$ is less than and bounded away from $1-\frac{1}{n-1}$, then $R(n;r,s)$ is known to grow exponentially in $r$, while if $\frac{s}{r}$ is greater than and bounded away from $1-\frac{1}{n-1}$, then $R(n;r,s)$ is bounded. Here we prove bounds for $R(n;r,s)$ in the intermediate range where $\frac{s}{r}$ is close to $1 - \frac{1}{n-1}$ by establishing a connection to the maximum size of error-correcting codes near the zero-rate threshold.

Abstract: Combinatorial enumeration of various RNA secondary structures and protein contact maps, is of great interest for both combinatorists and computational biologists. Enumeration of protein contact maps has considerable difficulties due to the significant higher vertex degree than that of RNA secondary structures. The state of art maximum vertex degree in previous works is two. This paper proposes a solution for counting stacks in protein contact maps with arbitrary vertex degree upper bound. By establishing bijection between such general stacks and $m$-regular $\Lambda$-avoiding $DLU$ paths, and counting the paths using theories of pattern avoiding lattice paths, we obtain a unified system of equations for generating functions of general stacks. We also show that previous enumeration results for RNA secondary structures and protein contact maps can be derived from the unified equation system as special cases.

Abstract: Let $A_1, \ldots ,A_m$ and $B_1, \ldots ,B_m$ be subsets of $[n]$ and let $t$ be a non-negative integer with the following property: $|A_i \cap B_i|\leq t$ for each $i$ and $|A_i\cap B_j|>t$ whenever $i< j$. Then $m\leq 2^{n-t}$. Our proof uses Lov\'asz' tensor product method. We prove the following skew version of Bollob\'as' Theorem. Let $A_1, \ldots ,A_m$ and $B_1, \ldots ,B_m$ be finite sets of $[n]$ satisfying the conditions $A_i \cap B_i =\emptyset$ for each $i$ and $A_i\cap B_j\ne \emptyset$ for each $i< j$. Then $$ \sum_{i=1}^m \frac{1}{{|A_i|+|B_i| \choose |A_i|}}\leq n+1. $$ Both upper bounds are sharp.

Abstract: In a continuous-time quantum walk on a network of qubits, pretty good state transfer is the phenomenon of state transfer between two vertices with fidelity arbitrarily close to 1. We construct families of graphs to demonstrate that there is no bound on the size of a set of vertices that admit pretty good state transfer between any two vertices of the set.