Sharp Bounds on Geometric Permutations of Pairwise Disjoint Balls in R d

We prove that the maximum number of geometric permutations, induced by line transversals to a collection of n pairwise disjoint balls in \R ^d , is Θ (n ^d-1 ) . This improves substantially the upper bound of O(n ^2d-2 ) known for general convex sets [9]. We show that the maximum number of geometric permutations of a sufficiently large collection of pairwise disjoint unit disks in the plane is two, improving the previous upper bound of three given in [5]. Received September 21, 1998, and in revised form March 14, 1999.     

A Constant Bound for Geometric Permutations of Disjoint Unit Balls

Abstract. We prove that a set of n disjoint unit balls in R ^d admits at most four distinct geometric permutations, or line transversals, thus settling a long-standing conjecture in combinatorial geometry. The constant bound significantly improves upon the Θ (n ^d-1 ) bound for disjoint balls of unrestricted radii.     

A Constant Bound for Geometric Permutations of Disjoint Unit Balls

   Abstract. We prove that a set of n disjoint unit balls in R ^d admits at most four distinct geometric permutations, or line transversals, thus settling a long-standing conjecture in combinatorial geometry. The constant bound significantly improves upon the Θ (n ^d-1 ) bound for disjoint balls of unrestricted radii.     

The different ways of stabbing disjoint convex sets

We construct a family ofn disjoint convex set in ^d having (n/(d–1)) ^d–1 geometric permutations. As well, we complete the enumeration problem for geometric permutations of families of disjoint translates of a convex set in the plane, settle the case for cubes in ^d , and construct a family ofd+1 translates in ^d admitting (d+1)!/2 geometric permutations.This research was partly supported by NSERC Grants A3062, A5137, and A8761.     

Some results concerning cryptographically significant mappings over GF(2<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript>)

In this paper we investigate the existence of permutation polynomials of the form F(x) = x ^d  + L(x) over GF(2 ⁿ ), L being a linear polynomial. The results we derive have a certain impact on the long-term open problem on the nonexistence of APN permutations over GF(2 ⁿ ), when n is even. It is shown that certain choices of exponent d cannot yield APN permutations for even n. When n is odd, an infinite class of APN permutations may be derived from Gold mapping x ³ in a recursive manner, that is starting with a specific APN permutation on GF(2 ^k ), k odd, APN permutations are derived over GF(2 ^k+2i ) for any i ≥ 1. But it is demonstrated that these classes of functions are simply affine permutations of the inverse coset of the Gold mapping x ³. This essentially excludes the possibility of deriving new EA-inequivalent classes of APN functions by applying the method of Berveglieri et al. (approach proposed at Asiacrypt 2004, see [3]) to arbitrary APN functions.     

Shortest string containing all permutations

In this paper, we consider the problem of constructing a shortest string of {1,2,…,n} containing all permutations on n elements as subsequences. For example, the string 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 contains the 6 (=3!) permutations of {1,2,3} and no string with less than 7 digits contains all the six permutations. Note that a given permutation, such as 1 2 3, does not have to be consecutive but must be from left to right in the string.We shall first give a rule for constructing a string of {1,2,…,n} of infinite length and the show that the leftmost n²?2n+4 digits of the string contain all the n! permutations (for n≥3). We conjecture that the number of digits f(n) = n²?2n+4 (for n≥3) is the minimum.Then we study a new function F(n,k) which is the minimum number of digits required for a string of n digits to contain all permutations of i digits, i≤k. We conjecture that F(n,k) = k(n?1) for 4≤k ≤n?1.     

Motion Planning for Multiple Robots

We study the motion-planning problem for pairs and triples of robots operating in a shared workspace containing n obstacles. A standard way to solve such problems is to view the collection of robots as one composite robot, whose number of degrees of freedom is d , the sum of the numbers of degrees of freedom of the individual robots. We show that it is sufficient to consider a constant number of robot systems whose number of degrees of freedom is at most d-1 for pairs of robots, and d-2 for triples. (The result for a pair assumes that the sum of the number of degrees of freedom of the robots constituting the pair reduces by at least one if the robots are required to stay in contact; for triples a similar assumption is made. Moreover, for triples we need to assume that a solution with positive clearance exists.) We use this to obtain an O(n ^d ) time algorithm to solve the motion-planning problem for a pair of robots; this is one order of magnitude faster than what the standard method would give. For a triple of robots the running time becomes O(n ^d-1 ) , which is two orders of magnitude faster than the standard method. We also apply our method to the case of a collection of bounded-reach robots moving in a low-density environment. Here the running time of our algorithm becomes O(n log n) both for pairs and triples. Received August 10, 1998, and in revised form February 17, 1999.     

The Number of Steps in the Robinson-Schensted Algorithm

Suppose that a permutation σ ∈ S _n is chosen at random (n is large) and the Robinson-Schensted algorithm is applied to compute the associated Young diagram. Then for almost all permutations the number of bumping operations performed by the algorithm is about (128/27π²)n ^3/2, and the number of comparison operations is about (64/27π²)n ^3/2 log₂ n.__________Translated from Funktsional’nyi Analiz i Ego Prilozheniya, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 82–86, 2005Original Russian Text Copyright © by D. Romik     

Traversing a Set of Points with a Minimum Number of Turns

Given a finite set of points S in ℝ ^d , consider visiting the points in S with a polygonal path which makes a minimum number of turns, or equivalently, has the minimum number of segments (links). We call this minimization problem the minimum link spanning path problem. This natural problem has appeared several times in the literature under different variants. The simplest one is that in which the allowed paths are axis-aligned. Let L(S) be the minimum number of links of an axis-aligned path for S, and let G _n ^d be an n×…×n grid in ℤ ^d . Kranakis et al. (Ars Comb. 38:177–192, 1994) showed that L(G _n ²)=2n−1 and and conjectured that, for all d≥3, We prove the conjecture for d=3 by showing the lower bound for L(G _n ³). For d=4, we prove that For general d, we give new estimates on L(G _n ^d ) that are very close to the conjectured value. The new lower bound of improves previous result by Collins and Moret (Inf. Process. Lett. 68:317–319, 1998), while the new upper bound of differs from the conjectured value only in the lower order terms. For arbitrary point sets, we include an exact bound on the minimum number of links needed in an axis-aligned path traversing any planar n-point set. We obtain similar tight estimates (within 1) in any number of dimensions d. For the general problem of traversing an arbitrary set of points in ℝ ^d with an axis-aligned spanning path having a minimum number of links, we present a constant ratio (depending on the dimension d) approximation algorithm. Work by A. Dumitrescu was partially supported by NSF CAREER grant CCF-0444188. Work by F. Hurtado was partially supported by projects MECMTM2006-01267 and Gen. Cat. 2005SGR00692. Work by P. Valtr was partially supported by the project 1M0545 of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.     

Momentopes, the Complexity of Vector Partitioning, and Davenport—Schinzel Sequences

The computational complexity of the partition problem , which concerns the partitioning of a set of n vectors in d -space into p parts so as to maximize an objective function which is convex on the sum of vectors in each part, is determined by the number of vertices of the corresponding p-partition polytope defined to be the convex hull in (d\times p) -space of all solutions. In this article, introducing and using the class of Momentopes , we establish the lower bound v _p,d (n)=Ω(n^ \lfloor (d-1)/2 \rfloor p ) on the maximum number of vertices of any p -partition polytope of a set of n points in d -space, which is quite compatible with the recent upper bound v _p,d (n)=O(n ^d(p-1)-1 ) , implying the same bound on the complexity of the partition problem. We also discuss related problems on the realizability of Davenport—Schinzel sequences and describe some further properties of Momentopes. Received April 4, 2001, and in revised form October 3, 2001. Online publication February 28, 2002.     

Multivariate Regression Depth

   Abstract. The regression depth of a hyperplane with respect to a set of n points in \Real ^d is the minimum number of points the hyperplane must pass through in a rotation to vertical. We generalize hyperplane regression depth to k -flats for any k between 0 and d-1 . The k=0 case gives the classical notion of center points. We prove that for any k and d , deep k -flats exist, that is, for any set of n points there always exists a k -flat with depth at least a constant fraction of n . As a consequence, we derive a linear-time (1+ɛ) -approximation algorithm for the deepest flat. We also show how to compute the regression depth in time O(n ^d-2 +nlog n) when 1≤ k≤ d-2 .     

Milnor K-theory of rings,higher Chow groups and applications

If R is a smooth semi-local algebra of geometric type over an infinite field, we prove that the Milnor K-group K ^M _n (R) surjects onto the higher Chow group CH ⁿ (R , n) for all n≥0. Our proof shows moreover that there is an algorithmic way to represent any admissible cycle in CH ⁿ (R , n) modulo equivalence as a linear combination of “symbolic elements” defined as graphs of units in R. As a byproduct we get a new and entirely geometric proof of results of Gabber, Kato and Rost, related to the Gersten resolution for the Milnor K-sheaf. Furthermore it is also shown that in the semi-local PID case we have, under some mild assumptions, an isomorphism. Some applications are also given. Oblatum 17-XII-1998 & 1-X-2001?Published online: 18 January 2002     

A random construction for permutation codes and the covering radius

We analyse a probabilistic argument that gives a semi-random construction for a permutation code on n symbols with distance n − s and size Θ(s!(log n)^1/2), and a bound on the covering radius for sets of permutations in terms of a certain frequency parameter.      

Cycle structure of autotopisms of quasigroups and latin squares

An autotopism of a Latin square is a triple (α, β, γ) of permutations such that the Latin square is mapped to itself by permuting its rows by α, columns by β, and symbols by γ. Let Atp(n) be the set of all autotopisms of Latin squares of order n. Whether a triple (α, β, γ) of permutations belongs to Atp(n) depends only on the cycle structures of α, β, and γ. We establish a number of necessary conditions for (α, β, γ) to be in Atp(n), and use them to determine Atp(n) for n?17. For general n, we determine if (α, α, α)∈Atp(n) (that is, if αis an automorphism of some quasigroup of order n), provided that either αhas at most three cycles other than fixed points or that the non‐fixed points of α are in cycles of the same length. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs     

Local approximations and intrinsic characterization of spaces of smooth functions on regular subsets of ℝn

We give an intrinsic characterization of the restrictions of Sobolev (?ⁿ ), Triebel–Lizorkin (?ⁿ ) and Besov (?ⁿ ) spaces to regular subsets of ?ⁿ via sharp maximal functions and local approximations. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Decreasing Subsequences in Permutations and Wilf Equivalence for Involutions

In a recent paper, Backelin, West and Xin describe a map φ^* that recursively replaces all occurrences of the pattern k... 21 in a permutation σ by occurrences of the pattern (k−1)... 21 k. The resulting permutation φ^*(σ) contains no decreasing subsequence of length k. We prove that, rather unexpectedly, the map φ^* commutes with taking the inverse of a permutation. In the BWX paper, the definition of φ^* is actually extended to full rook placements on a Ferrers board (the permutations correspond to square boards), and the construction of the map φ^* is the key step in proving the following result. Let T be a set of patterns starting with the prefix 12... k. Let T′ be the set of patterns obtained by replacing this prefix by k... 21 in every pattern of T. Then for all n, the number of permutations of the symmetric group _n that avoid T equals the number of permutations of _n that avoid T′. Our commutation result, generalized to Ferrers boards, implies that the number of involutions of _n that avoid T is equal to the number of involutions of _n avoiding T′, as recently conjectured by Jaggard. Both authors were partially supported by the European Commission's IHRP Programme, grant HPRN-CT-2001-00272, “Algebraic Combinatorics in Europe”     

Embedding Tree Metrics into Low-Dimensional Euclidean Spaces

We consider embedding metrics induced by trees into Euclidean spaces with a restricted number of dimensions. We show that any weighted tree T with n vertices and L leaves can be embedded into d -dimensional Euclidean space with ? (L ^1/(d-1) ) distortion. Furthermore, we exhibit an embedding with almost the same distortion which can be computed efficiently. This distortion substantially improves the previous best upper bound of \tilde O (n ^2/d ) and almost matches the best known lower bound of Ω(L ^1/d ) . Received August 17, 1999, and in revised form January 25, 2000.     

Forbidden Families of Geometric Permutations in ℝd

A geometric permutation induced by a transversal line of a finite family ℱ of disjoint convex sets in ℝ^d is the order in which the transversal meets the members of the family. We prove that for each natural k, each family of k permutations is realizable (as a family of geometric permutations of some ℱ) in ℝ^d for d ≥ 2k – 1, but there is a family of k permutations which is non-realizable in ℝ^d for d ≤ 2k – 2.     

The bias of three pseudo-random shuffles

Three schemes for shuffling a deck ofn cards are studied, each involving a random choice from [n] ⁿ . The shuffles favor some permutations over others sincen! does not dividen ⁿ . The probabilities that the shuffles lead to some simple permutations, for instance cycles left and right and the identity, are calculated. Some inequalities are obtained which lead to information about the least and most likely permutations. Numbers of combinatorial interest occur, notably the Catalan numbers and the Bell numbers.     

Pipes, Cigars, and Kreplach: the Union of Minkowski Sums in Three Dimensions

Let Ω be a set of pairwise-disjoint polyhedral obstacles in R ³ with a total of n vertices, and let B be a ball in R ³. We show that the combinatorial complexity of the free configuration space F of B amid Ω:, i.e., (the closure of) the set of all placements of B at which B does not intersect any obstacle, is O(n ^2+ε ), for any ε >0; the constant of proportionality depends on ε. This upper bound almost matches the known quadratic lower bound on the maximum possible complexity of F . The special case in which Ω is a set of lines is studied separately. We also present a few extensions of this result, including a randomized algorithm for computing the boundary of F whose expected running time is O(n ^2+ε ). Received July 6, 1999, and in revised form April 25, 2000. Online publication August 18, 2000.