Classes of graphs that exclude a tree and a clique and are not vertex ramsey

A class of graphs is vertex Ramsey if for allH there existsG such that for all partitions of the vertices ofG into two parts, one of the parts contains an induced copy ofH. Forb (T,K) is the class of graphs that induce neitherT norK. LetT(k, r) be the tree with radiusr such that each nonleaf is adjacent tok vertices farther from the root than itself. Gyárfás conjectured that for all treesT and cliquesK, there exists an integerb such that for allG in Forb(T,K), the chromatic number ofG is at mostb. Gyárfás' conjecture implies a weaker conjecture of Sauer that for all treesT and cliquesK, Forb(T,K) is not vertex Ramsey. We use techniques developed for attacking Gyárfás' conjecture to prove that for allq, r and sufficiently largek, Forb(T(k,r),K _q ) is not vertex Ramsey.Research partially supported by Office of Naval Research grant N00014-90-J-1206.     

The outer-distance of nodes in random trees

The outer-distance of a nodeu in a rooted treeT _n is the height of the subtree determined byu and all nodesv such thatu is on the path joiningv and the root ofT. We show that the expected outer-distance of nodes of treesT _n in certain families is asymptotic toB logn where the constantB depends on .     

k-regular factors and semi-k-regular factors in bipartite graphs

LetG be a graph, andk1 an integer. LetU be a subset ofV(G), and letF be a spanning subgraph ofG such that deg _F (x)=k for allx V(G)–U. If deg _F (x)k for allxU, thenF is called an upper semi-k-regular factor with defect setU, and if deg _F (x)k for allxU, thenF is called a lower semi-k-regular factor with defect setU. Now letG=(X, Y;E(G)) be a bipartite graph with bipartition (X,Y) such that X=Yk+2. We prove the following two results.(1) Suppose that for each subsetU ₁X such that U ₁=max{k+1, X+1/2},G has an upper semi-k-regular factor with defect setU ₁Y, and for each subsetU ₂Y such that U ₂=max{k+1, X+1/2},G has an upper semi-k-regular factor with defect setXU ₂. ThenG has ak-factor.(2) Suppose that for each subsetU ₁X such that U ₁=X–1/k+1,G has a lower semi-k-regular factor with defect setU ₁Y, and for each subsetU ₂Y such that U ₂=X–1/k+1,G has a lower semi-k-regular factor with defect setXU ₂. ThenG has ak-factor.     

Some Ramsey-Turán type results for hypergraphs

To everyk-graphG let(G) be the minimal real number such that for every>0 andn>n ₀(,G) everyk-graphH withn vertices and more than (+) ( ) edges contains a copy ofG. The real number (G) is defined in the same way adding the constraint that all independent sets of vertices inH have sizeo(n). Answering a problem of Erds and Sós it is shown that there exist infinitely manyk-graphs with 0<(G)<(G) for everyk3. It is worth noting that we were unable to find a singleG with the above property.This paper was written while the authors were visiting AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974.     

On construction ofk-wise independent random variables

A 0–1probability space is a probability space (, 2,P), where the sample space -{0, 1} ⁿ for somen. A probability space isk-wise independent if, whenY _i is defined to be theith coordinate or the randomn-vector, then any subset ofk of theY _i 's is (mutually) independent, and it is said to be a probability spacefor p ₁,p ₂, ...,p _n ifP[Y _i =1]=p _i .We study constructions ofk-wise independent 0–1 probability spaces in which thep _i 's are arbitrary. It was known that for anyp ₁,p ₂, ...,p _n , ak-wise independent probability space of size always exists. We prove that for somep ₁,p ₂, ...,p _n [0,1],m(n,k) is a lower bound on the size of anyk-wise independent 0–1 probability space. For each fixedk, we prove that everyk-wise independent 0–1 probability space when eachp _i =k/n has size (n _k ). For a very large degree of independence —k=[n], for >1/2- and allp _i =1/2, we prove a lower bound on the size of . We also give explicit constructions ofk-wise independent 0–1 probability spaces.This author was supported in part by NSF grant CCR 9107349.This research was supported in part by the Israel Science Foundation administered by the lsrael Academy of Science and Humanities and by a grant of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology.     

On a problem of Erdős and Lovász: Random lines in a projective plane

Letn(k) be the least size of an intersecting family ofk-sets with cover numberk, and let _k denote any projective plane of orderk–1.Theorem There is a constant A such that ifH is a random set ofm Aklogk lines from _k then P_r(H<)0(k).Corollary If there exists a _k thenn(k)=O(klogk). These statements were conjectured by P. Erds and L. Lovász in 1973.Supported in part by NSF-DMS87-83558 and AFOSR grants 89-0066, 89-0512 and 90-0008     

Call routing and the ratcatcher

Suppose we expect there to bep(ab) phone calls between locationsa andb, all choices ofa, b from some setL of locations. We wish to design a network to optimally handle these calls. More precisely, a routing tree is a treeT with set of leavesL, in which every other vertex has valency 3. It has congestion <k if for every edgee ofT, there are fewer thank calls which will be routed alonge, that is, between locationa, b in different components ofT/e. Deciding if there is a routing tree with congestion <k is NP-hard, but if the pairsab, withp(ab)>0 form the edges of a planar graphG, there is an efficient, strongly polynomial algorithm.This is because the problem is equivalent to deciding if a ratcatcher can corner a rat loose in the walls of a house with floor planG, wherep(ab) is a thickness of the wallab. The ratcatcher carries a noisemaker of powerk, and the rat will not move through any wall in which the noise level is too high (determined by the total thickness of the intervening walls between this one and the noisemaker).It follows that branch-width is polynomially computable for planar graphs—that too is NP-hard for general graphs.This research was performed under a consulting agreement with Bellcore.     

The normalized matching property from the generalized Macaulay theorem

IfA is a family ofk-element subsets of a finite setM having elements of several different types (i.e., amultiset) and A is the set of all (k–1)-element subsets ofM obtainable by removing a single element ofM from a single member ofA, then, according to the well known normalized matching condition, the density ofA among thek-element subsets ofM never exceeds the density of A among the (k–1)-element subsets ofM. We show that this useful fact can be regarded as yet another corollary of the generalized Macaulay theorem.     

On a theorem of lovász on covers inr-partite hypergraphs

A theorem of Lovász asserts that (H)/*(H)r/2 for everyr-partite hypergraphH (where and * denote the covering number and fractional covering number respectively). Here it is shown that the same upper bound is valid for a more general class of hypergraphs: those which admit a partition (V ₁, ...,V _k ) of the vertex set and a partitionp ₁+...+p _k ofr such that |eV _i |p _i r/2 for every edgee and every 1ik. Moreover, strict inequality holds whenr>2, and in this form the bound is tight. The investigation of the ratio /* is extended to some other classes of hypergraphs, defined by conditions of similar flavour. Upper bounds on this ratio are obtained fork-colourable, stronglyk-colourable and (what we call)k-partitionable hypergraphs.Supported by grant HL28438 at MIPG, University of Pennsylvania, and by the fund for the promotion of research at the Technion.This author's research was supported by the fund for the promotion of research at the Technion.     

Convex Embeddings and Bisections of 3-Connected Graphs1

Given two disjoint subsets T ₁ and T ₂ of nodes in an undirected 3-connected graph G = (V, E) with node set V and arc set E, where and are even numbers, we show that V can be partitioned into two sets V ₁ and V ₂ such that the graphs induced by V ₁ and V ₂ are both connected and holds for each j = 1,2. Such a partition can be found in time. Our proof relies on geometric arguments. We define a new type of convex embedding of k-connected graphs into real space R ^k-1 and prove that for k = 3 such an embedding always exists. ¹ A preliminary version of this paper with title Bisecting Two Subsets in 3-Connected Graphs appeared in the Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation, ISAAC 99, (A. Aggarwal, C. P. Rangan, eds.), Springer LNCS 1741, 425&ndash;434, 1999.     

Some remarks on factoriality of certain hypersurfaces in \mathbb{P}^4

Let V be a reduced and irreducible hypersurface of degree k 3. In this paper we prove that if the singular locus of V consists of ₂ ordinary double points, ₃ ordinary triple points and if ₂ + 4₃ < (k – 1)², then any smooth surface contained in V is a complete intersection on V.Received: 7 January 2004     

The complexity of a class of infinite graphs

IfG _k is the family of countable graphs with nok vertex (or edge) disjoint circuits (1<k<) then there is a countableG _k G _k such that every member ofG _k is an (induced) subgraph of some member ofG _k , but no finiteG _k suffices.     

A mixed version of Menger's theorem

An(a, b)-n-fan means a union ofn internally disjoint paths. Menger's theorem states that a graphG has an(a, b)-n-fan if and only ifG isn-connected betweena andb. We show thatG contains edge-disjoint(a, b)-n-fans if and only if for anyk withk0min{n–1, |V(G)|–2} and for any subsetX ofV(G)-{a, b} with cardinalityk, G-X is (n-k)-edge-connected betweena andb.     

Packing directed circuits fractionally

LetG be a digraph, and letk1, such that no fractional packing of directed circuits ofG has value >k, when every vertex is given capacity 1. We prove there is a set ofO (k logk logk) vertices meeting all directed circuits ofG.     

Total Variation Distance for Poisson Subset Numbers

Let n be an integer and A₀,..., A_k random subsets of {1,..., n} of fixed sizes a₀,..., a_k, respectively chosen independently and uniformly. We provide an explicit and easily computable total variation bound between the distance from the random variable , the size of the intersection of the random sets, to a Poisson random variable Z with intensity λ = EW. In particular, the bound tends to zero when λ converges and for all j = 0,..., k, showing that W has an asymptotic Poisson distribution in this regime. Received February 24, 2005     

Simple minimum coverings ofK n with copies ofK 4 −e

Summary AK ₄–e design of ordern is a pair (S, B), whereB is an edge-disjoint decomposition ofK _n (the complete undirected graph onn vertices) with vertex setS, into copies ofK ₄–e, the graph on four vertices with five edges. It is well-known [1] thatK ₄–e designs of ordern exist for alln 0 or 1 (mod 5),n 6, and that if (S, B) is aK ₄–e design of ordern then |B| =n(n – 1)/10.Asimple covering ofK _n with copies ofK ₄–e is a pair (S, C) whereS is the vertex set ofK _n andC is a collection of edge-disjoint copies ofK ₄–e which partitionE(K_n)P, for some . Asimple minimum covering ofK _n (SMCK _n) with copies ofK ₄–e is a simple covering whereP consists of as few edges as possible. The collection of edgesP is called thepadding. Thus aK ₄–e design of ordern isSMCK _n with empty padding.We show that forn 3 or 8 (mod 10),n 8, the padding ofSMCK _n consists of two edges and that forn 2, 4, 7 or 9 (mod 10),n 9, the padding consists of four edges. In each case, the padding may be any of the simple graphs with two or four edges respectively. The smaller cases need separate treatment:SMCK ₅ has four possible paddings of five edges each,SMCK ₄ has two possible paddings of four edges each andSMCK ₇ has eight possible paddings of four edges each.The recursive arguments depend on two essential ingredients. One is aK ₄–e design of ordern with ahole of sizek. This is a triple (S, H, B) whereB is an edge-disjoint collection of copies ofK ₄–e which partition the edge set ofK _n\K_k, whereS is the vertex set ofK _n, and is the vertex set ofK _k. The other essential is acommutative quasigroup with holes. Here we letX be a set of size 2n 6, and letX = {x ₁, x₂, ..., x_n} be a partition ofX into 2-element subsets, calledholes of size two. Then a commutative quasigroup with holesX is a commutative quasigroup (X, ) such that for each holex _i X, (x_i, ) is a subquasigroup. Such quasigroups exist for every even order 2n 6 [4].     

The minimum independence number for designs

Fort=2,3 andk2t–1 we prove the existence oft–(n,k,) designs with independence numberC _,k n ^{(k–t)/(k–1)} (ln n) ^1/(k–1) . This is, up to the constant factor, the best possible.Some other related results are considered.Supported by NSF Grant DMS-9011850     

Induced operators on symmetry classes of tensors

LetV be ann-dimensional inner product space,T _i ,i=1,...,k, k linear operators onV, H a subgroup ofS _m (the symmetric group of degreem), a character of degree 1 andT a linear operator onV. Denote byK(T) the induced operator ofT onV (H), the symmetry class of tensors associated withH and . This note is concerned with the structure of the setK _{, m} ^H (T₁,...,T_k) consisting of all numbers of the form traceK(T ₁ U ₁...T _k U _k ) whereU _i ,i=1,...k vary over the group of all unitary operators onV. For V=ⁿ or ⁿ, it turns out thatK _{, m} ^H (T₁,...,T_k) is convex whenm is not a multiple ofn. Form=n, there are examples which show that the convexity of _{, m} ^H (T₁,...,T_k) depends onH and .The author wishes to express his thanks to Dr. Yik-Hoi Au-Yeung for his valuable advice and encouragement.     

Graph products and monochromatic multiplicities

Arcane two-edge-colourings of complete graphs were described in [13], in which there are significantly fewer monochromaticK _r 's than in a random colouring (so disproving a conjecture of Erds [2]). Jagger, ovíek and Thomason [7] showed that the same colourings have fewer monochromaticG's than do random colourings for any graphG containingK ₄.The purpose of this note is to point out that these colourings are not as obscure as might appear. There is in fact a large, natural and easily described class of colourings of the above kind; the specific examples used in [13] and [7] fall into this class.     

On depth first search strees inm-out digraphs

We consider depth first search (DFS for short) trees in a class of random digraphs: am-out model. Let _i be thei ^th vertex encountered by DFS andL(i, m, n) be the height of _i in the corresponding DFS tree. We show that ifi/n asn, then there exists a constanta(,m), to be defined later, such thatL(i, m, n)/n converges in probability toa(,m) asn. We also obtain results concerning the number of vertices and the number of leaves in a DFS tree.