Quasi-randomness and the distribution of copies of a fixed graph

We show that if a graph G has the property that all subsets of vertices of size n/4 contain the “correct” number of triangles one would expect to find in a random graph G(n, 1/2), then G behaves like a random graph, that is, it is quasi-random in the sense of Chung, Graham, and Wilson [6]. This answers positively an open problem of Simonovits and Sós [10], who showed that in order to deduce that G is quasi-random one needs to assume that all sets of vertices have the correct number of triangles. A similar improvement of [10] is also obtained for any fixed graph other than the triangle, and for any edge density other than 1/2. The proof relies on a theorem of Gottlieb [7] in algebraic combinatorics, concerning the rank of set inclusion matrices.     

Counting proofs in propositional logic

We give a procedure for counting the number of different proofs of a formula in various sorts of propositional logic. This number is either an integer (that may be 0 if the formula is not provable) or infinite. Research described in this paper is supported by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant NN206 356236.     

Two-point concentration in random geometric graphs

A random geometric graph G _n is constructed by taking vertices X ₁,…,X _n ∈ℝ ^d at random (i.i.d. according to some probability distribution ν with a bounded density function) and including an edge between X _i and X _j if ‖X _i -X _j ‖ < r where r = r(n) > 0. We prove a conjecture of Penrose ([14]) stating that when r=r(n) is chosen such that nr ^d = o(lnn) then the probability distribution of the clique number ω(G _n ) becomes concentrated on two consecutive integers and we show that the same holds for a number of other graph parameters including the chromatic number χ(G _n ). The author was partially supported by EPSRC, the Department of Statistics, Bekkerla-Bastide fonds, Dr. Hendrik Muller’s Vaderlandsch fonds, and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.     

Parameterized partition relations on the real numbers

We consider several kinds of partition relations on the set of real numbers and its powers, as well as their parameterizations with the set of all infinite sets of natural numbers, and show that they hold in some models of set theory. The proofs use generic absoluteness, that is, absoluteness under the required forcing extensions. We show that Solovay models are absolute under those forcing extensions, which yields, for instance, that in these models for every well ordered partition of there is a sequence of perfect sets whose product lies in one piece of the partition. Moreover, for every finite partition of there is and a sequence of perfect sets such that the product lies in one piece of the partition, where is the set of all infinite subsets of X. The proofs yield the same results for Borel partitions in ZFC, and for more complex partitions in any model satisfying a certain degree of generic absoluteness. This work was supported by the research projects MTM 2005-01025 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education and 2005SGR-00738 of the Generalitat de Catalunya. A substantial part of the work was carried out while the second-named author was ICREA Visiting Professor at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica in Bellaterra (Barcelona), and also during the first-named author’s stays at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas and the California Institute of Technology. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by these institutions.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript>-free subgraphs of random graphs revisited

In Combinatorica 17(2), 1997, Kohayakawa, ?uczak and Rödl state a conjecture which has several implications for random graphs. If the conjecture is true, then, for example, an application of a version of Szemerédi’s regularity lemma for sparse graphs yields an estimation of the maximal number of edges in an H-free subgraph of a random graph G _{n, p} . In fact, the conjecture may be seen as a probabilistic embedding lemma for partitions guaranteed by a version of Szemerédi’s regularity lemma for sparse graphs. In this paper we verify the conjecture for H = K ₄, thereby providing a conceptually simple proof for the main result in the paper cited above.     

Spectral norm of random matrices

In this paper, we present a new upper bound for the spectral norm of symmetric random matrices with independent (but not necessarily identical) entries. Our results improve an earlier result of Füredi and Komlós. Research supported by an NSF CAREER award and by an Alfred P. Sloan fellowship.     

The complexity of the Specht modules corresponding to hook partitions

We show that the complexity of the Specht module corresponding to any hook partition is the p-weight of the partition. We calculate the variety and the complexity of the signed permutation modules. Let E _s be a representative of the conjugacy class containing an elementary abelian p-subgroup of a symmetric group generated by s disjoint p-cycles. We give formulae for the generic Jordan types of signed permutation modules restricted to E _s and of Specht modules corresponding to hook partitions μ restricted to E _s where s is the p-weight of μ.      

The minimum degree threshold for perfect graph packings

Let H be any graph. We determine up to an additive constant the minimum degree of a graph G which ensures that G has a perfect H-packing (also called an H-factor). More precisely, let δ(H,n) denote the smallest integer k such that every graph G whose order n is divisible by |H| and with δ(G)≥k contains a perfect H-packing. We show that

Independent systems of representatives in weighted graphs

The following conjecture may have never been explicitly stated, but seems to have been floating around: if the vertex set of a graph with maximal degree Δ is partitioned into sets V _i of size 2Δ, then there exists a coloring of the graph by 2Δ colors, where each color class meets each V _i at precisely one vertex. We shall name it the strong 2Δ-colorability conjecture. We prove a fractional version of this conjecture. For this purpose, we prove a weighted generalization of a theorem of Haxell, on independent systems of representatives (ISR’s). En route, we give a survey of some recent developments in the theory of ISR’s. The research of the first author was supported by grant no 780/04 from the Israel Science Foundation, and grants from the M. & M. L. Bank Mathematics Research Fund and the fund for the promotion of research at the Technion. The research of the third author was supported by the Sacta-Rashi Foundation.     

Note on limits of finite graphs

We prove that for any weakly convergent sequence of finite graphs with bounded vertex degrees, there exists a topological limit graphing.     

When does the giant component bring unsatisfiability?

We study random constraint satisfaction problems using the wide class of models introduced by the author [36], which includes various forms of random SAT and other well-studied problems. We determine precisely which of these models remain almost surely satisfiable when the number of clauses is increased beyond the point at which a giant component appears in the underlying constraint hypergraph. This work is supported by an NSERC Research Grant and a Sloan Research Fellowship. Much of this work was done while the author was a Visiting Researcher at Microsoft Research.     

Birth control for giants

The standard Erdős-Rényi model of random graphs begins with n isolated vertices, and at each round a random edge is added. Parametrizing n/2 rounds as one time unit, a phase transition occurs at time t = 1 when a giant component (one of size constant times n) first appears. Under the influence of statistical mechanics, the investigation of related phase transitions has become an important topic in random graph theory. We define a broad class of graph evolutions in which at each round one chooses one of two random edges {v ₁, v ₂}, {v ₃, v ₄} to add to the graph. The selection is made by examining the sizes of the components of the four vertices. We consider the susceptibility S(t) at time t, being the expected component size of a uniformly chosen vertex. The expected change in S(t) is found which produces in the limit a differential equation for S(t). There is a critical time t _c so that S(t) → ∞ as t approaches t _c from below. We show that the discrete random process asymptotically follows the differential equation for all subcritical t < t _c . Employing classic results of Cramér on branching processes we show that the component sizes of the graph in the subcritical regime have an exponential tail. In particular, the largest component is only logarithmic in size. In the supercritical regime t > t _c we show the existence of a giant component, so that t = t _c may be fairly considered a phase transition. Computer aided solutions to the possible differential equations for susceptibility allow us to establish lower and upper bounds on the extent to which we can either delay or accelerate the birth of the giant component. Research supported by the Australian Research Council, the Canada Research Chairs Program and NSERC. Research partly carried out while the author was at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne.     

The distribution of the root degree of a random permutation

Given a permutation ω of {1, …, n}, let R(ω) be the root degree of ω, i.e. the smallest (prime) integer r such that there is a permutation σ with ω = σ ^r . We show that, for ω chosen uniformly at random, R(ω) = (lnlnn − 3lnlnln n + O ^p (1))⁻¹ lnn, and find the limiting distribution of the remainder term. Research supported in part by NSF grants CCR-0225610, DMS-0505550 and ARO grant W911NF-06-1-0076. Research supported by NSF grant DMS-0406024.     

Log canonical thresholds of binomial ideals

We prove that the log canonical thresholds of a large class of binomial ideals, such as complete intersection binomial ideals and the defining ideals of space monomial curves, are computable by linear programming. Dedicated to Professor Toshiyuki Katsura on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday     

Coloring even-faced graphs in the torus and the Klein bottle

We prove that a triangle-free graph drawn in the torus with all faces bounded by even walks is 3-colorable if and only if it has no subgraph isomorphic to the Cayley graph C(Z ₁₃; 1,5). We also prove that a non-bipartite quadrangulation of the Klein bottle is 3-colorable if and only if it has no non-contractible separating cycle of length at most four and no odd walk homotopic to a non-contractible two-sided simple closed curve. These results settle a conjecture of Thomassen and two conjectures of Archdeacon, Hutchinson, Nakamoto, Negami and Ota. Institute for Theoretical Computer Science is supported as project 1M0545 by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic. The author was visiting Georgia Institute of Technology as a Fulbright scholar in the academic year 2005/06. Partially supported by NSF Grants No. DMS-0200595 and DMS-0354742.     

Note making a <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript>-free graph bipartite

We show that every K ₄-free graph G with n vertices can be made bipartite by deleting at most n ²/9 edges. Moreover, the only extremal graph which requires deletion of that many edges is a complete 3-partite graph with parts of size n/3. This proves an old conjecture of P. Erdős. Research supported in part by NSF CAREER award DMS-0546523, NSF grant DMS-0355497, USA-Israeli BSF grant, and by an Alfred P. Sloan fellowship.     

On a graph property generalizing planarity and flatness

We introduce a topological graph parameter σ(G), defined for any graph G. This parameter characterizes subgraphs of paths, outerplanar graphs, planar graphs, and graphs that have a flat embedding as those graphs G with σ(G)≤1,2,3, and 4, respectively. Among several other theorems, we show that if H is a minor of G, then σ(H)≤σ(G), that σ(K _n )=n−1, and that if H is the suspension of G, then σ(H)=σ(G)+1. Furthermore, we show that μ(G)≤σ(G) + 2 for each graph G. Here μ(G) is the graph parameter introduced by Colin de Verdière in [2].     

Partitions of large Rado graphs

Let κ be a cardinal which is measurable after generically adding many Cohen subsets to κ and let be the κ-Rado graph. We prove, for 2 ≤ m < ω, that there is a finite value such that the set [κ] ^m can be partitioned into classes such that for any coloring of any of the classes C _i in fewer than κ colors, there is a copy of in such that is monochromatic. It follows that , that is, for any coloring of with fewer than κ colors there is a copy of such that has at most colors. On the other hand, we show that there are colorings of such that if is any copy of then for all , and hence . We characterize as the cardinality of a certain finite set of types and obtain an upper and a lower bound on its value. In particular, and for m > 2 we have where r _m is the corresponding number of types for the countable Rado graph. Research of M. Džamonja and J. A. Larson were partially supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and research of W. J. Mitchell was partly supported by grant number DMS 0400954 from the United States National Science Foundation.     

A note on a spanning 3-tree

A tree T is called a k-tree, if the maximum degree of T is at most k. In this paper, we prove that if G is an n-connected graph with independence number at most n + m + 1 (n≥1,n≥m≥0), then G has a spanning 3-tree T with at most m vertices of degree 3.