Upper bounds for the diameter and height of graphs of convex polyhedra

Let Δ(d, n) be the maximum diameter of the graph of ad-dimensional polyhedronP withn-facets. It was conjectured by Hirsch in 1957 that Δ(d, n) depends linearly onn andd. However, all known upper bounds for Δ(d, n) were exponential ind. We prove a quasi-polynomial bound Δ(d, n)≤n ^{2 logd+3}. LetP be ad-dimensional polyhedron withn facets, let ϕ be a linear objective function which is bounded onP and letv be a vertex ofP. We prove that in the graph ofP there exists a monotone path leading fromv to a vertex with maximal ϕ-value whose length is at most . This research was supported in part by a BSF grant, by a GIF grant, and by ONR-N00014-91-C0026.     

Worst-case minimum rectilinear steiner trees in all dimensions

It is proved that the length of the longest possible minimum rectilinear Steiner tree ofn points in the unitd-cube is asymptotic toβ _dn^(d−1)/d , whereβ _d is a constant that depends on the dimensiond≥2. A method of Chung and Graham (1981) is generalized to dimensiond to show that 1≤β _d≤d4^(1−d)/d . In addition to replicating Chung and Graham's exact determination ofβ ₂=1, this generalization yields new bounds such as 1≤β ₃<1.191 and .     

Equipartition of mass distributions by hyperplanes

We consider the problem of determining the smallest dimensiond=Δ(j, k) such that, for anyj mass distributions inR ^d , there arek hyperplanes so that each orthant contains a fraction 1/2 ^k of each of the masses. The case Δ(1,2)=2 is very well known. The casek=1 is answered by the ham-sandwich theorem with Δ(j, 1)=j. By using mass distributions on the moment curve the lower bound Δ(j, k)≥j(2 ^k −1)/k is obtained. We believe this is a tight bound. However, the only general upper bound that we know is Δ(j, k)≤j2 ^k−1. We are able to prove that Δ(j, k)=⌈j(^2k−1/k⌉ for a few pairs (j, k) ((j, 2) forj=3 andj=2 ⁿ withn≥0, and (2, 3)), and obtain some nontrivial bounds in other cases. As an intermediate result of independent interest we prove a Borsuk-Ulam-type theorem on a product of balls. The motivation for this work was to determine Δ(1, 4) (the only case forj=1 in which it is not known whether Δ(1,k)=k); unfortunately the approach fails to give an answer in this case (but we can show Δ(1, 4)≤5). This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-9118874.     

Some upper bounds for the diameters of convex polytopes

Δ(d, n) is defined to be the maximum diameter of ad-polytope withn-facets. The main results of the work are an evaluation of Δ(4, 10) and Δ(5, 11). Also, improved upper bounds are found for Δ(6, 13) and Δ(7,14).     

Sausages are good packings

LetB ^d be thed-dimensional unit ball and, for an integern, letC _n ={x ¹,...,x ⁿ } be a packing set forB ^d , i.e.,|x ⁱ −x ^j |≥2, 1≤i<j≤n. We show that for every a dimensiond(ρ) exists such that, ford≥d(ρ),V(conv(C _n )+ρB ^d )≥V(conv(S _n )+ρB ^d ), whereS _n is a “sausage” arrangement ofn balls, holds. This gives considerable improvement to Fejes Tóth's “sausage” conjecture in high dimensions. Further, we prove that, for every convex bodyK and ρ<1/32d ⁻²,V(conv(C _n )+ρK)≥V(conv(S _n )+ρK), whereC _n is a packing set with respect toK andS _n is a minimal “sausage” arrangement ofK, holds.     

Cobordism independence of Grassmann manifolds

This note proves that, forF = ℝ, ℂ or ℍ, the bordism classes of all non-bounding Grassmannian manifoldsG _k(F ^n+k), withk <n and having real dimensiond, constitute a linearly independent set in the unoriented bordism group N _d regarded as a ℤ₂-vector space.     

Many triangulated spheres

Lets(d, n) be the number of triangulations withn labeled vertices ofS ^d–1, the (d–1)-dimensional sphere. We extend a construction of Billera and Lee to obtain a large family of triangulated spheres. Our construction shows that logs(d, n)C ₁(d)n ^[(d–1)/2], while the known upper bound is logs(d, n)C ₂(d)n ^[d/2] logn.Letc(d, n) be the number of combinatorial types of simpliciald-polytopes withn labeled vertices. (Clearly,c(d, n)s(d, n).) Goodman and Pollack have recently proved the upper bound: logc(d, n)d(d+1)n logn. Combining this upper bound forc(d, n) with our lower bounds fors(d, n), we obtain, for everyd5, that lim _n(c(d, n)/s(d, n))=0. The cased=4 is left open. (Steinitz's fundamental theorem asserts thats(3,n)=c(3,n), for everyn.) We also prove that, for everyb4, lim _d(c(d, d+b)/s(d, d+b))=0. (Mani proved thats(d, d+3)=c(d, d+3), for everyd.)Lets(n) be the number of triangulated spheres withn labeled vertices. We prove that logs(n)=2^{0.69424n(1+o(1))}. The same asymptotic formula describes the number of triangulated manifolds withn labeled vertices.Research done, in part, while the author visited the mathematics research center at AT&T Bell Laboratories.     

Algorithms for ham-sandwich cuts

Given disjoint setsP ₁,P ₂, ...,P _d inR ^d withn points in total, ahamsandwich cut is a hyperplane that simultaneously bisects theP _i . We present algorithms for finding ham-sandwich cuts in every dimensiond>1. Whend=2, the algorithm is optimal, having complexityO(n). For dimensiond>2, the bound on the running time is proportional to the worst-case time needed for constructing a level in an arrangement ofn hyperplanes in dimensiond−1. This, in turn, is related to the number ofk-sets inR ^d−1 . With the current estimates, we get complexity close toO(n ^3/2 ) ford=3, roughlyO(n ^8/3 ) ford=4, andO(n ^d−1−a(d) ) for somea(d)>0 (going to zero asd increases) for largerd. We also give a linear-time algorithm for ham-sandwich cuts inR ³ when the three sets are suitably separated. A preliminary version of the results of this paper appeared in [16] and [17]. Part of this research by J. Matoušek was done while he was visiting the School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and part of his work on this paper was supported by a Humboldt Research Fellowship. W. Steiger expresses gratitude to the NSF DIMACS Center at Rutgers, and his research was supported in part by NSF Grants CCR-8902522 and CCR-9111491.     

The d-Step Conjecture and Gaussian Elimination

The d-step conjecture is one of the fundamental open problems concerning the structure of convex polytopes. Let Δ (d,n) denote the maximum diameter of a graph of a d-polytope that has n facets. The d-step conjecture Δ (d,2d) = d is proved equivalent to the following statement: For each ``general position' real matrix M there are two matrices drawn from a finite group matrices isomorphic to the symmetric group on d letters, such that has the Gaussian elimination factorization L ^-1 U in which L and U are lower triangular and upper triangular matrices, respectively, that have positive nontriangular elements. If #(M) is the number of pairs giving a positive L ^-1 U factorization, then #(M) equals the number of d-step paths between two vertices of an associated Dantzig figure. One consequence is that #(M)≤ d!. Numerical experiments all satisfied #(M) ≥ 2 ^d-1 , including examples attaining equality for 3 ≤ d ≤ 15. The inequality #(M) ≥ 2 ^d-1 is proved for d=3. For d≥ 4, examples with #(M) =2 ^d-1 exhibit a large variety of combinatorial types of associated Dantzig figures. These experiments and other evidence suggest that the d-step conjecture may be true in all dimensions, in the strong form #(M) ≥ 2 ^d-1 . Received April 10, 1995, and in revised form August 23, 1995.     

Curves with infinitely many points of fixed degree

Thed-th symmetric productC ^(d) of a curveC defined over a fieldK is closely related to the set of points ofC of degree ≤d. IfK is a number field, then a conjecture of Lang [Hi] proved by Faltings [Fa2] implies ifC ^(d) (K) is an infinite set, then there is aK-rational covering ofC → ℙ _|K ¹ of degree ≤2d. As an application one gets that for fixed fieldK and fixedd there are only finitely many primes ι such that the set of all elliptic curves defined over some extensionsL ofK with [L∶K]≤d and withL-rational isogeny of degree ι is infinite.     

Subspaces ofl p N of small codimension

In this paper the structure of subspaces and quotients ofl _p ^N of dimension very close toN is studied, for 1≤p≤∞. In particular, the maximal dimensionk=k(p, m, N) so that an arbitrarym-dimensional subspaceX ofl _p ^N contains a good copy ofl _p ^k , is investigated form=N−o(N). In several cases the obtained results are sharp.     

Computation of betti numbers of monomial ideals associated with stacked polytopes

LetP(v, d) be a stackedd-polytope withv vertices, δ(P(v, d)) the boundary complex ofP(v, d), andk[Δ(P(v, d))] =A/I _Δ(P(v,d)) the Stanley-Reisner ring of Δ(P(v,d)) over a fieldk. We compute the Betti numbers which appear in a minimal free resolution ofk[Δ(P(v,d))] overA, and show that every Betti number depends only onv andd and is independent of the base fieldk. We also show that the Betti number sequences above are unimodal.     

Cutting hyperplane arrangements

We consider a collectionH ofn hyperplanes in E ^d (where the dimensiond is fixed). An ε-cutting forH is a collection of (possibly unbounded)d-dimensional simplices with disjoint interors, which cover all E ^d and such that the interior of any simplex is intersected by at mostεn hyperplanes ofH. We give a deterministic algorithm for finding a (1/r)-cutting withO(r ^d ) simplices (which is asymptotically optimal). Forr≤n ^1−σ, where δ>0 is arbitrary but fixed, the running time of this algorithm isO(n(logn) ^O(1) r ^d−1). In the plane we achieve a time boundO(nr) forr≤n ^1−δ, which is optimal if we also want to compute the collection of lines intersecting each simplex of the cutting. This improves a result of Agarwal, and gives a conceptually simpler algorithm. For ann point setX⊆E ^d and a parameterr, we can deterministically compute a (1/r)-net of sizeO(rlogr) for the range space (X, {X ϒ R; R is a simplex}), In timeO(n(logn) ^O(1) r ^d−1 +r ^O(1)). The size of the (1/r)-net matches the best known existence result. By a simple transformation, this allows us to find ε-nets for other range spaces usually encountered in computational geometry. These results have numerous applications for derandomizing algorithms in computational geometry without affecting their running time significantly. A preliminary version of this paper appeared inProceedings of the Sixth ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry, Berkeley, 1990, pp. 1–9. Work on this paper was supported by DIMACS Center.     

Low distortion euclidean embeddings of trees

We consider the problem of embedding a certain finite metric space to the Euclidean space, trying to keep the bi-Lipschitz constant as small as possible. We introduce the notationc ₂(X, d) for the least distortion with which the metric space (X, d) may be embedded in a Euclidean space. It is known that if (X, d) is a metric space withn points, thenc ₂(X, d)≤0(logn) and the bound is tight. LetT be a tree withn vertices, andd be the metric induced by it. We show thatc ₂(T, d)≤0(log logn), that is we provide an embeddingf of its vertices to the Euclidean space, such thatd(x, y)≤‖f(x)−f(y) ‖≤c log lognd(x, y) for some constantc. Supported in part by grants from the Israeli Academy of Sciences and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation. Supported in part by NSF under grants CCR-9215293 and by DIMACS, which is supported by NSF grant STC-91-19999 and by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.     

Distributions of Points in <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis> Dimensions and Large <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Point Simplices

We consider a variant of Heilbronn’s triangle problem by investigating for a fixed dimension d≥2 and for integers k≥2 with k≤d distributions of n points in the d-dimensional unit cube [0,1] ^d , such that the minimum volume of the simplices, which are determined by (k+1) of these n points is as large as possible. Denoting by Δ _k,d (n), the supremum of this minimum volume over all distributions of n points in [0,1] ^d , we show that c _k,d ⋅(log n)^1/(d−k+1)/n ^k/(d−k+1)≤Δ _k,d (n)≤c _k,d ′/n ^k/d for fixed 2≤k≤d, and, moreover, for odd integers k≥1, we show the upper bound Δ _k,d (n)≤c _k,d ″/n ^{k/d+(k−1)/(2d(d−1))}, where c _k,d ,c _k,d ′,c _k,d ″>0 are constants. A preliminary version of this paper appeared in COCOON ’05.     

Propertyf −1(S) =g −1(S) for entire and meromorphicP-adic functions

LetW be an algebraically closed filed of characteristic zero, letK be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, complete for an ultrametric absolute value, and letA(K) (resp. ℳ(K)) be the set of entire (resp. meromorphic) functions inK. For everyn≥7, we show that the setS _n(b) of zeros of the polynomialx ⁿ−b (b≠0) is such that, iff, g ∈W[x] or iff, g ∈A(K), satisfyf ⁻¹(S _n(b))=g ⁻¹(S _n(b)), thenf ⁿ=g ⁿ. For everyn≥14, we show thatS _n(b) is such that iff, g ∈W({tx}) or iff, g ∈ ℳ(K) satisfyf ⁻¹(S _n(b))=g ⁻¹(S _n(b)), then eitherf ⁿ=g ⁿ, orfg is a constant. Analogous properties are true for complex entire and meromorphic functions withn≥8 andn≥15, respectively. For everyn≥9, we show that the setY _n(c) of zeros of the polynomial , (withc≠0 and 1) is an ursim ofn points forW[x], and forA(K). For everyn≥16, we show thatY _n(c) is an ursim ofn points forW(x), and for ℳ(K). We follow a method based on thep-adic Nevanlinna Theory and use certain improvement of a lemma obtained by Frank and Reinders.     

Upper bound theorems for homology manifolds

In this paper we prove the Upper Bound Conjecture (UBC) for some classes of (simplicial) homology manifolds: we show that the UBC holds for all odd-dimensional homology manifolds and for all 2k-dimensional homology manifolds Δ such that β _k (Δ)⩽Σ{β _i (Δ):i ≠k-2,k,k+2 and 1 ⩽i⩽2k-1}, where β _i (Δ) are reduced Betti numbers of Δ. (This condition is satisfied by 2k-dimensional homology manifolds with Euler characteristic χ≤2 whenk is even or χ≥2 whenk is odd, and for those having vanishing middle homology.) We prove an analog of the UBC for all other even-dimensional homology manifolds. Kuhnel conjectured that for every 2k-dimensional combinatorial manifold withn vertices, . We prove this conjecture for all 2k-dimensional homology manifolds withn vertices, wheren≥4k+3 orn≤3k+3. We also obtain upper bounds on the (weighted) sum of the Betti numbers of odd-dimensional homology manifolds.     

On the general additive divisor problem

We obtain a new upper bound for the sum Σ _h≤H Δ _k (N, h) when 1 ≤ H ≤ N, k ∈ ℕ, k ≥ 3, where Δ _k (N, h) is the (expected) error term in the asymptotic formula for Σ _N<n≤2N d _k (n)d _k (n + h), and d _k (n) is the divisor function generated by ζ(s) ^k . When k = 3, the result improves, for H ≥ N ^1/2, the bound given in a recent work of Baier, Browning, Marasingha and Zhao, who dealt with the case k = 3.     

On the Stanley depth of squarefree Veronese ideals

Let K be a field and S=K[x ₁,…,x _n ]. In 1982, Stanley defined what is now called the Stanley depth of an S-module M, denoted sdepth (M), and conjectured that depth (M)≤sdepth (M) for all finitely generated S-modules M. This conjecture remains open for most cases. However, Herzog, Vladoiu and Zheng recently proposed a method of attack in the case when M=I/J with J⊂I being monomial S-ideals. Specifically, their method associates M with a partially ordered set. In this paper we take advantage of this association by using combinatorial tools to analyze squarefree Veronese ideals in S. In particular, if I _n,d is the squarefree Veronese ideal generated by all squarefree monomials of degree d, we show that if 1≤d≤n<5d+4, then sdepth (I _n,d )=⌊(n−d)/(d+1)⌋+d, and if d≥1 and n≥5d+4, then d+3≤sdepth (I _n,d )≤⌊(n−d)/(d+1)⌋+d.     

A generalization of a result of Dembowski and Wagner

The famous Dembowski-Wagner theorem gives various characterizations of the classical geometric 2-design PG _n-1(n, q) among all 2-designs with the same parameters. One of the characterizations requires that all lines have size q + 1. It was conjectured [2] that this is also true for the designs PG _d (n, q) with 2 ≤ d ≤  n − 1. We establish this conjecture, hereby improving various previous results.