Transversals of additive Latin squares

LetA={a ₁, …,a _k} andB={b ₁, …,b _k} be two subsets of an Abelian groupG, k≤|G|. Snevily conjectured that, whenG is of odd order, there is a permutationπ ∈S _ksuch that the sums α _i +b _i , 1≤i≤k, are pairwise different. Alon showed that the conjecture is true for groups of prime order, even whenA is a sequence ofk<|G| elements, i.e., by allowing repeated elements inA. In this last sense the result does not hold for other Abelian groups. With a new kind of application of the polynomial method in various finite and infinite fields we extend Alon’s result to the groups (ℤ _p ) ^a and in the casek<p, and verify Snevily’s conjecture for every cyclic group of odd order. Supported by Hungarian research grants OTKA F030822 and T029759. Supported by the Catalan Research Council under grant 1998SGR00119. Partially supported by the Hungarian Research Foundation (OTKA), grant no. T029132.     

Exterior algebras and two conjectures on finite abelian groups

Let G be a finite abelian group with |G| > 1. Let a ₁, …, a _k be k distinct elements of G and let b ₁, …, b _k be (not necessarily distinct) elements of G, where k is a positive integer smaller than the least prime divisor of |G|. We show that there is a permutation π on {1, …,k} such that a ₁ b _π(1), …, a _k b _π(k) are distinct, provided that any other prime divisor of |G| (if there is any) is greater than k!. This in particular confirms the Dasgupta-Károlyi-Serra-Szegedy conjecture for abelian p-groups. We also pose a new conjecture involving determinants and characters, and show that its validity implies Snevily’s conjecture for abelian groups of odd order. Our methods involve exterior algebras and characters.     

A proof of snevily’s conjecture

We prove Snevily’s conjecture, which states that for any positive integer k and any two k-element subsets {a ₁, …, a _k } and {b ₁, …, b _k } of a finite abelian group of odd order there exists a permutation π ∈ S _k such that all sums a _i + b _π(i) (i ∈ [1, k]) are pairwise distinct.     

A Neighborhood Condition for Graphs to Have [a, b]-Factors II

 Let a, b, m, and t be integers such that 1≤a<b and 1≤t≤⌉(b−m+1)/a⌉. Suppose that G is a graph of order |G| and H is any subgraph of G with the size |E(H)|=m. Then we prove that G has an [a,b]-factor containing all the edges of H if the minimum degree is at least a, |G|>((a+b)(t(a+b−1)−1)+2m)/b, and |N _G (x ₁)∪⋯ ∪N _G (x _t )|≥(a|G|+2m)/(a+b) for every independent set {x ₁,…,x _t }⊆V(G). This result is best possible in some sense and it is an extension of the result of H. Matsuda (A neighborhood condition for graphs to have [a,b]-factors, Discrete Mathematics 224 (2000) 289–292). Received: October, 2001 Final version received: September 17, 2002 RID="*" ID="*" This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists, 13740084, 2001     

OD-characterization of Almost Simple Groups Related to U3（5）

Let G be a finite group with order ｜G｜=p1^α1p2^α2……pk^αk, where p1 〈 p2 〈……〈 Pk are prime numbers. One of the well-known simple graphs associated with G is the prime graph （or Gruenberg- Kegel graph） denoted .by г（G） （or GK（G））. This graph is constructed as follows： The vertex set of it is π（G） = {p1,p2,…,pk} and two vertices pi, pj with i≠j are adjacent by an edge （and we write pi - pj） if and only if G contains an element of order pipj. The degree deg（pi） of a vertex pj ∈π（G） is the number of edges incident on pi. We define D（G） ：= （deg（p1）, deg（p2）,..., deg（pk））, which is called the degree pattern of G. A group G is called k-fold OD-characterizable if there exist exactly k non- isomorphic groups H such that ｜H｜ = ｜G｜ and D（H） = D（G）. Moreover, a 1-fold OD-characterizable group is simply called OD-characterizable. Let L ：= U3（5） be the projective special unitary group. In this paper, we classify groups with the same order and degree pattern as an almost simple group related to L. In fact, we obtain that L and L.2 are OD-characterizable; L.3 is 3-fold OD-characterizable; L.S3 is 6-fold OD-characterizable.     

Additive latin transversals

We prove that for every odd primep, everyk≤p and every two subsets A={a ₁, …,a _k } andB={b ₁, …,b _k } of cardinalityk each ofZ _p , there is a permutationπ ∈S _k such that the sumsa _i +b _π(i) (inZ _p ) are pairwise distinct. This partially settles a question of Snevily. The proof is algebraic, and implies several related results as well. Research supported in part by a State of New Jersey grant and by the Hermann Minkowski Minerva Center for Geometry at Tel Aviv University.     

Disjoint homotopic paths and trees in a planar graph

In this paper we describe a polynomial-time algorithm for the following problem:given: a planar graphG embedded in ℝ², a subset {I ₁, …,I _p} of the faces ofG, and pathsC ₁, …,C _k inG, with endpoints on the boundary ofI ₁ ∪ … ∪I _p; find: pairwise disjoint simple pathsP ₁, …,P _k inG so that, for eachi=1, …,k, P _i is homotopic toC _i in the space ℝ²\(I ₁ ∪ … ∪I _p). Moreover, we prove a theorem characterizing the existence of a solution to this problem. Finally, we extend the algorithm to disjoint homotopic trees. As a corollary we derive that, for each fixedp, there exists a polynormial-time algorithm for the problem:given: a planar graphG embedded in ℝ² and pairwise disjoint setsW ₁, …,W _k of vertices, which can be covered by the boundaries of at mostp faces ofG;find: pairwise vertex-disjoint subtreesT ₁, …,T _k ofG whereT _i (i=1, …, k).     

On the Schur multipliers of finite p-groups of given coclass

In this paper we obtain bounds for the order and exponent of the Schur multiplier of a p-group of given coclass. These are further improved for p-groups of maximal class. In particular, we prove that if G is p-group of maximal class, then |H ₂(G, ℤ)| < |G| and expH ₂(G, ℤ) ≤ expG. The bound for the order can be improved asymptotically.     

Omega subgroups of powerful <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-groups

Let G be a powerful finite p-group. In this note, we give a short elementary proof of the following facts for all i ≥ 0: (i) exp Ω_i(G) ≤ p ⁱ for odd p, and expΩ_i(G) ≤ 2 ⁱ⁺¹ for p = 2; (ii) the index |G: G ^{p i}| coincides with the number of elements of G of order at most p ⁱ. Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, grant MTM2004-04665, partly with FEDER funds, and by the University of the Basque Country, grant UPV05/99.     

How Close to Regular Must a Semicomplete Multipartite Digraph Be to Secure Hamiltonicity?

 Let D be a semicomplete multipartite digraph, with partite sets V ₁, V ₂,…, V _c, such that |V ₁|≤|V ₂|≤…≤|V _c|. Define f(D)=|V(D)|−3|V _c|+1 and . We define the irregularity i(D) of D to be max|d ⁺(x)−d ⁻(y)| over all vertices x and y of D (possibly x=y). We define the local irregularity i _l(D) of D to be max|d ⁺(x)−d ⁻(x)| over all vertices x of D and we define the global irregularity of D to be i _g(D)=max{d ⁺(x),d ⁻(x) : x∈V(D)}−min{d ⁺(y),d ⁻(y) : y∈V(D)}. In this paper we show that if i _g(D)≤g(D) or if i _l(D)≤min{f(D), g(D)} then D is Hamiltonian. We furthermore show how this implies a theorem which generalizes two results by Volkmann and solves a stated problem and a conjecture from [6]. Our result also gives support to the conjecture from [6] that all diregular c-partite tournaments (c≥4) are pancyclic, and it is used in [9], which proves this conjecture for all c≥5. Finally we show that our result in some sense is best possible, by giving an infinite class of non-Hamiltonian semicomplete multipartite digraphs, D, with i _g(D)=i(D)=i _l(D)=g(D)+?≤f(D)+1. Revised: September 17, 1998     

Successions in integer partitions

A partition of an integer n is a representation n=a ₁+a ₂+⋅⋅⋅+a _k , with integer parts 1≤a ₁≤a ₂≤…≤a _k . For any fixed positive integer p, a p-succession in a partition is defined to be a pair of adjacent parts such that a _i+1−a _i =p. We find generating functions for the number of partitions of n with no p-successions, as well as for the total number of such successions taken over all partitions of n. In the process, various interesting partition identities are derived. In addition, the Hardy-Ramanujan asymptotic formula for the number of partitions is used to obtain an asymptotic estimate for the average number of p-successions in the partitions of n. This material is based upon work supported by the National Research Foundation under grant number 2053740.     

Uniform estimates for order statistics and Orlicz functions

We establish uniform estimates for order statistics: Given a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables ξ ₁, … , ξ _n and a vector of scalars x = (x ₁, … , x _n ), and 1 ≤ k ≤ n, we provide estimates for \mathbb E   k-min_{1 ￡ i ￡ n} |x_ix_i|{\mathbb E \, \, k-{\rm min}_{1\leq i\leq n} |x_{i}\xi _{i}|} and \mathbb E k-max_{1 ￡ i ￡ n}|x_ix_i|{\mathbb E\,k-{\rm max}_{1\leq i\leq n}|x_{i}\xi_{i}|} in terms of the values k and the Orlicz norm ||y_x||_M{\|y_x\|_M} of the vector y _x  = (1/x ₁, … , 1/x _n ). Here M(t) is the appropriate Orlicz function associated with the distribution function of the random variable |ξ ₁|, G(t) = \mathbb P ({ |x₁| ￡ t}){G(t) =\mathbb P \left(\left\{ |\xi_1| \leq t\right\}\right)}. For example, if ξ ₁ is the standard N(0, 1) Gaussian random variable, then G(t) = ?{\tfrac2p}ò₀^t e^-\fracs22ds {G(t)= \sqrt{\tfrac{2}{\pi}}\int_{0}^t e^{-\frac{s^{2}}{2}}ds }  and M(s)=?{\tfrac2p}ò₀^se^-\frac12t2dt{M(s)=\sqrt{\tfrac{2}{\pi}}\int_{0}^{s}e^{-\frac{1}{2t^{2}}}dt}. We would like to emphasize that our estimates do not depend on the length n of the sequence.     

Algebras whose equivalence relations are congruences

It is proved that all the equivalence relations of a universal algebra A are its congruences if and only if either |A| ≤ 2 or every operation f of the signature is a constant (i.e., f(a ₁ , . . . , a _n ) = c for some c ∈ A and all the a ₁ , . . . , a _n ∈ A) or a projection (i.e., f(a ₁ , . . . , a _n ) = a _i for some i and all the a ₁ , . . . , a _n ∈ A). All the equivalence relations of a groupoid G are its right congruences if and only if either |G| ≤ 2 or every element a ∈ G is a right unit or a generalized right zero (i.e., x _a  = y _a for all x, y ∈ G). All the equivalence relations of a semigroup S are right congruences if and only if either |S| ≤ 2 or S can be represented as S = A∪B, where A is an inflation of a right zero semigroup, and B is the empty set or a left zero semigroup, and ab = a, ba = a ² for a ∈ A, b ∈ B. If G is a groupoid of 4 or more elements and all the equivalence relations of it are right or left congruences, then either all the equivalence relations of the groupoid G are left congruences, or all of them are right congruences. A similar assertion for semigroups is valid without the restriction on the number of elements.     

Restricted sumsets and a conjecture of Lev

LetA, B, S be finite subsets of an abelian groupG. Suppose that the restricted sumsetC={α+b: α ∈A, b ∈B, and α − b ∉S} is nonempty and somec∈C can be written asa+b witha∈A andb∈B in at mostm ways. We show that ifG is torsion-free or elementary abelian, then |C|≥|A|+|B|−|S|−m. We also prove that |C|≥|A|+|B|−2|S|−m if the torsion subgroup ofG is cyclic. In the caseS={0} this provides an advance on a conjecture of Lev. This author is responsible for communications, and supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 10425103) and the Key Program of NSF (No. 10331020) in China.     

On Cycle Sequences

. For each vertex v in a graph G, the maximum length of a cycle which passes through v is called the cycle number of v, denoted by c(v). A sequence a ₁,a ₂,…,a _n of nonnegative integers is called a cycle sequence of a graph G if the vertices of G can be labeled as v ₁,v ₂,…,v _n such that a _i =c(v _i ) for 1≤i≤n. We give some sufficient and necessary conditions for a sequence to be a cycle sequence. We can thereby derive a polynomial time procedure for recognizing cycle sequences. Received: July 14, 1997 Final version received: June 15, 1998     

Insertible vertices,neighborhood intersections,and hamiltonicity

Let G be a simple undirected graph of order n. For an independent set S ? V(G) of k vertices, we define the k neighborhood intersections S_i = {v ? V(G)&#92;S|N(v) ∩ S| = i}, 1 ≦ i ≦ k, with s_i = |S_i|. Using the concept of insertible vertices and the concept of neighborhood intersections, we prove the following theorem.     

On Brauer’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>)-problem for blocks with metacyclic defect groups of odd order

Let G be a finite group, and suppose that B is a p-block of G with defect group D. Let k(B) denote the number of ordinary irreducible characters in B. It was conjectured by Brauer that k(B) ≤ |D|. In this paper, we will prove Brauer’s inequality in the case that D is metacyclic and p is odd.     

Greedy Drawings of Triangulations

Greedy Routing is a class of routing algorithms in which the packets are forwarded in a manner that reduces the distance to the destination at every step. In an attempt to provide theoretical guarantees for a class of greedy routing algorithms, Papadimitriou and Ratajczak (Theor. Comput. Sci. 344(1):3–14, 2005) came up with the following conjecture:

Any 3-connected planar graph can be drawn in the plane such that for every pair of vertices s and t a distance decreasing path can be found. A path s=v ₁,v ₂,…,v _k =t in a drawing is said to be distance decreasing if ‖v _i −t‖<‖v _i−1−t‖,2≤i≤k where ‖…‖ denotes the Euclidean distance.

We settle this conjecture in the affirmative for the case of triangulations.     

Small prime solutions of a pair of linear equations in five prime variables

Assume an additional congruent condition on the coefficients. We prove that the pair 5 of linear equations ∑j=1^5 αλjpj = bλ （λ= 1, 2） has solutions in primes pj satisfying pj 〈〈 （｜b1｜＋｜b2｜＋1） maxλ,j ｜αλj｜^2318＋ε. This improves the exponent 79680 without assuming the additional condition of the second author＇s.     

Grunsky inequalities and quasiconformal extension

The Grunsky coefficient inequalities play a crucial role in various problems and are intrinsically connected with the integrable holomorphic quadratic differentials having only zeros of even order. For the functions with quasi-conformal extensions, the Grunsky constant ℵ(f) and the extremal dilatationk(f) are related by ℵ(f)≤k(f). In 1985, Jürgen Moser conjectured that any univalent functionf(z)=z+b ₀+b ₁ z ⁻¹+… on Δ*={|z|>1} can be approximated locally uniformly by functions with ℵ(f)<k(f). In this paper, we prove a theorem confirming Moser’s conjecture, which sheds new light on the features of Grunsky coefficients. In memory of Jürgen Moser The research was supported by the RiP program of the Volkswagen-Stiftung in the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach.