On Large Systems of Sets with No Large Weak Δ-subsystems

weak Δ-system if the cardinality of the intersection of any two sets is the same. We elaborate a construction by R?dl and Thoma [9] and show that for large n, there exists a family ℱ of subsets of without weak Δ-systems of size 3 with . Received: October 1, 1997     

On Small Blocking Sets

Received: August 5, 1997     

The Number of M-Sequences and f-Vectors

M -sequences (a.k.a. f-vectors for multicomplexes or O-sequences) in terms of the number of variables and a maximum degree. In particular, it is shown that the number of M-sequences for at most 2 variables are powers of two and for at most 3 variables are Bell numbers. We give an asymptotic estimate of the number of M-sequences when the number of variables is fixed. This leads to a new lower bound for the number of polytopes with few vertices. We also prove a similar recursive formula for the number of f-vectors for simplicial complexes. Keeping the maximum degree fixed we get the number of M-sequences and the number of f-vectors for simplicial complexes as polynomials in the number of variables and it is shown that these numbers are asymptotically equal. Received: February 28, 1996/Revised: February 26, 1998     

Self-Converse and Oriented Graphs among the Third Parts of Nearly Complete Digraphs

H into t isomorphic parts is generalized so that either a remainder R or a surplus S, both of the numerically smallest possible size, are allowed. The sets of such nearly parts are defined to be the floor class and the ceiling class , respectively. We restrict ourselves to the case of nearly third parts of , the complete digraph, with . Then if , else and . The existence of nearly third parts which are oriented graphs and/or self-converse digraphs is settled in the affirmative for all or most n's. Moreover, it is proved that floor classes with distinct R's can have a common member. The corresponding result on the nearly third parts of the complete 2-fold graph is deduced. Furthermore, also if . Received: September 12, 1994/Revised: Revised November 3, 1995     

NOTE Spectral Characterization of Tree-Width-Two Graphs

) of a graph G, similar in spirit to his now-classical invariant . He showed that is minor-monotone and is related to the tree-width la(G) of G: and, moreover, , i.e. G is a forest. We show that and give the corresponding forbidden-minor and ear-decomposition characterizations. Received October 9, 1997/Revised July 27, 1999     

Concentration of Multivariate Polynomials and Its Applications

are independent random variables which take values either 0 or 1, and Y is a multi-variable polynomial in 's with positive coefficients. We give a condition which guarantees that Y concentrates strongly around its mean even when several variables could have a large effect on Y. Some applications will be discussed. Received March 29, 1999     

Note – Uncrossing a Family of Set-Pairs

Frank and Jordán [1] proved an important min-max result on covering a crossing family of set-pairs. As an application, among others they can solve the unweighted node-connectivity augmentation problem for directed graphs in polynomial time. In this paper, we show how to solve the dual packing problem in polynomial time. To decompose a fractional dual optimum as a convex combination of integer vertices, besides the ellipsoid method, we use a polynomial-time algorithm for uncrossing a family of set-pairs. Our main result is this uncrossing algorithm. Received November 9, 1998 / Revised October 18, 1999     

The Combinatorics of Biased Riffle Shuffles

Received: September 23, 1997     

A Two-Spheres Problem on Homogeneous Trees

m , n two relatively prime natural numbers, if a complex valued function f on a homogeneous tree satisfies the mean value property for all spheres of radius m and all spheres of radius n, then f is harmonic. Received: November 27, 1995/Revised: Revised March 16, 1998     

Bicliques in Graphs I: Bounds on Their Number

Bicliques are inclusion-maximal induced complete bipartite subgraphs in graphs. Upper bounds on the number of bicliques in bipartite graphs and general graphs are given. Then those classes of graphs where the number of bicliques is polynomial in the vertex number are characterized, provided the class is closed under induced subgraphs. Received January 27, 1997     

On the Relation Between Two Minor-Monotone Graph Parameters

, where μ and λ are minor-monotone graph invariants introduced by Colin de Verdière [3] and van der Holst, Laurent, and Schrijver [5]. It is also shown that a graph G exists with . The graphs G with maximal planar complement and , characterised by Kotlov, Lovász, and Vempala, are shown to be forbidden minors for . Received: June 13, 1997     

The Distance-regular Graphs with Intersection Number and with an Eigenvalue

and with an eigenvalue . Received: October 2, 1995/Revised: Revised November 26, 1997     

Erdős–Ko–Rado and Hilton–Milner Type Theorems for Intersecting Chains in Posets

t -intersecting k-chains in posets using the kernel method. These results are common generalizations of the original EKR and HM theorems, and our earlier results for intersecting k-chains in the Boolean algebra. For intersecting k-chains in the c-truncated Boolean algebra we also prove an exact EKR type theorem (for all n) using the shift method. An application of the general theorem gives a similar result for t-intersecting chains if n is large enough. Received November 20, 1997     

Extremal Set Systems with Weakly Restricted Intersections

Received: March 17, 1997?Revised: November 16, 1998     

Ups and Downs of First Order Sentences on Random Graphs

whenever is a fixed positive irrational. This raises the question what zero-one valued functions on the positive irrationals arise as the limit probability of a first order sentence on these graphs. Here we prove two necessary conditions on these functions, a number-theoretic and a complexity condition. We hope to prove in a subsequent paper that these conditions together with two simpler and previously proved conditions are also sufficient and thus they constitute a characterization. Received October 2, 1998     

Exact Bounds for Judicious Partitions of Graphs

has a bipartite subgraph of size at least . We show that every graph of size has a bipartition in which the Edwards bound holds, and in addition each vertex class contains at most edges. This is exact for complete graphs of odd order, which we show are the only extremal graphs without isolated vertices. We also give results for partitions into more than two classes. Received: December 27, 1996/Revised: Revised June 10, 1998     

On a Degree Property of Cross-Intersecting Families

Motivated by some applications in computational complexity, Razborov and Vereshchagin proved a degree bound for cross-intersecting families in [1]. We sharpen this result and show that our bound is best possible by constructing appropriate families. We also consider the case of cross-t-intersecting families. Received October 28, 1999     

Perfect Matchings in ε-Regular Graphs and the Blow-Up Lemma

G on vertex set , , with density d>2ε and all vertex degrees not too far from d, has about as many perfect matchings as a corresponding random bipartite graph, i.e. about . In this paper we utilize that result to prove that with probability quickly approaching one, a perfect matching drawn randomly from G is spread evenly, in the sense that for any large subsets of vertices and , the number of edges of the matching spanned between S and T is close to |S||T|/n (c.f. Lemma 1). As an application we give an alternative proof of the Blow-up Lemma of Komlós, Sárk?zy and Szemerédi [10]. Received: December 5, 1997