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For a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, define the minimum positive codegree $\delta_i^+(\mathcal{H})$ to be the largest integer $k$ such that every $i$-set which is contained in at least one edge of $\mathcal{H}$ is contained in at least $k$ edges. For $1\le s\le k,t$ and $t\le r$, we prove that for $n$-vertex $t$-intersecting $r$-graphs $\mathcal{H}$ with $\delta_{r-s}^+(\mathcal{H})>{k-1\choose s}$, the unique hypergraph with the maximum number of edges is the hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ consisting of every edge which intersects a set of size $2k-2s+t$ in at least $k-s+t$ vertices provided $n$ is sufficiently large. This generalizes work of Balogh, Lemons, and Palmer who proved this for $s=t=1$, as well as the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem when $k=s$., Comment: 10 pages

We study a tropical linear regression problem consisting in finding the best approximation of a set of points by a tropical hyperplane. We establish a strong duality theorem, showing that the value of this problem coincides with the maximal radius of a Hilbert's ball included in a tropical polyhedron. We also show that this regression problem is polynomial-time equivalent to mean payoff games. We illustrate our results by solving an inverse problem from auction theory. In this setting, a tropical hyperplane represents the set of equilibrium prices. Tropical linear regression allows us to quantify the distance of a market to the set of equilibria, and infer secret preferences of a decision maker.

We study $\gamma$-vectors associated with $h^*$-vectors of symmetric edge polytopes both from a deterministic and a probabilistic point of view. On the deterministic side, we prove nonnegativity of $\gamma_2$ for any graph and completely characterize the case when $\gamma_2 = 0$. The latter also confirms a conjecture by Lutz and Nevo in the realm of symmetric edge polytopes. On the probabilistic side, we show that the $\gamma$-vectors of symmetric edge polytopes of most Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graphs are asymptotically almost surely nonnegative up to any fixed entry. This proves that Gal's conjecture holds asymptotically almost surely for arbitrary unimodular triangulations in this setting., Comment: v2: 30 pages, 4 figures. To appear on SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics

For positive integers $n$ and $m$, consider a multiset of non-empty subsets of $[m]$ such that there is a \textit{unique} partition of these subsets into $n$ partitions of $[m]$. We study the maximum possible size $g(n,m)$ of such a multiset. We focus on the regime $n \leq 2^{m-1}-1$ and show that $g(n,m) \geq \Omega(\frac{nm}{\log_2 n})$. When $n = 2^{cm}$ for any $c \in (0,1)$, this lower bound simplifies to $\Omega(\frac{n}{c})$, and we show a matching upper bound $g(n,m) \leq O(\frac{n}{c}\log_2(\frac{1}{c}))$ that is optimal up to a factor of $\log_2(\frac{1}{c})$. We also compute $g(n,m)$ exactly when $n \geq 2^{m-1} - O(2^{\frac{m}{2}})$., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. Accepted to SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics (SIDMA)

A graph $G$ is said to be $q$-Ramsey for a $q$-tuple of graphs $(H_1,\ldots,H_q)$, denoted by $G\to_q(H_1,\ldots,H_q)$, if every $q$-edge-coloring of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H_i$ in color $i,$ for some $i\in[q]$. Let $s_q(H_1,\ldots,H_q)$ denote the smallest minimum degree of $G$ over all graphs $G$ that are minimal $q$-Ramsey for $(H_1,\ldots,H_q)$ (with respect to subgraph inclusion). The study of this parameter was initiated in 1976 by Burr, Erd\H{o}s and Lov\'asz, who determined its value precisely for a pair of cliques. Over the past two decades the parameter $s_q$ has been studied by several groups of authors, the main focus being on the symmetric case, where $H_i\cong H$ for all $i\in [q]$. The asymmetric case, in contrast, has received much less attention. In this paper, we make progress in this direction, studying asymmetric tuples consisting of cliques, cycles and trees. We determine $s_2(H_1,H_2)$ when $(H_1,H_2)$ is a pair of one clique and one tree, a pair of one clique and one cycle, and when it is a pair of two different cycles. We also generalize our results to multiple colors and obtain bounds on $s_q(C_\ell,\ldots,C_\ell,K_t,\ldots,K_t)$ in terms of the size of the cliques $t$, the number of cycles, and the number of cliques. Our bounds are tight up to logarithmic factors when two of the three parameters are fixed.

We provide a general framework for computing upper bounds on mixing times of finite Markov chains when its minimal ideal is left zero. Our analysis is based on combining results by Brown and Diaconis with our previous work on stationary distributions of finite Markov chains. Stationary distributions can be computed from the Karnofsky--Rhodes and McCammond expansion of the right Cayley graph of the finite semigroup underlying the Markov chain. Using loop graphs, which are planar graphs consisting of a straight line with attached loops, there are rational expressions for the stationary distribution in the probabilities. From these we obtain bounds on the mixing time. In addition, we provide a new Markov chain on linear extension of a poset with $n$ vertices, inspired by but different from the promotion Markov chain of Ayyer, Klee and the last author. The mixing time of this Markov chain is $O(n \log n)$., 24 pages; 6 figures; v2: incorporated comments from referees

International audience; We uncover a connection between two seemingly unrelated notions: lettericity, from structural graph theory, and geometric griddability, from the world of permutation patterns. Both of these notions capture important structural properties of their respective classes of objects. We prove that these notions are equivalent in the sense that a permutation class is geometrically griddable if and only if the corresponding class of inversion graphs has bounded lettericity.

Halin proved that every minimally $k$-connected graph has a vertex of degree $k$. More generally, does every minimally vertically $k$-connected matroid have a $k$-element cocircuit? Results of Murty and Wong give an affirmative answer when $k \le 3$. We show that every minimally vertically $4$-connected matroid with at least six elements has a $4$-element cocircuit, or a $5$-element cocircuit that contains a triangle, with the exception of a specific non-binary $9$-element matroid. Consequently, every minimally vertically $4$-connected binary matroid with at least six elements has a $4$-element cocircuit., There was an error in the proof of Theorem 1.4. We removed the proof, and replaced Theorem 1.4 with Conjecture 1.6

A matching of a graph is a set of edges without common end vertex. A graph is called 1-planar if it admits a drawing in the plane such that each edge is crossed at most once. Recently, Biedl and Wittnebel proved that every 1-planar graph with minimum degree 3 and $n\geq 7$ vertices has a matching of size at least $\frac{n+12}{7}$, which is tight for some graphs. They also provided tight lower bounds for the sizes of matchings in 1-planar graphs with minimum degree 4 or 5. In this paper, we show that any 1-planar graph with minimum degree 6 and $n \geq 36$ vertices has a matching of size at least $\frac{3n+4}{7}$, and this lower bound is tight. Our result confirms a conjecture posed by Biedl and Wittnebel., 19 pages and 5 figures. To appear in SIAM Discrete Mathematics

Given a simple graph $G$, denote by $\Delta(G)$, $\delta(G)$, and $\chi'(G)$ the maximum degree, the minimum degree, and the chromatic index of $G$, respectively. We say $G$ is \emph{$\Delta$-critical} if $\chi'(G)=\Delta(G)+1$ and $\chi'(H)\le \Delta(G)$ for every proper subgraph $H$ of $G$; and $G$ is \emph{overfull} if $|E(G)|>\Delta \lfloor |V(G)|/2 \rfloor$. Since a maximum matching in $G$ can have size at most $\lfloor |V(G)|/2 \rfloor$, it follows that $\chi'(G) = \Delta(G) +1$ if $G$ is overfull. Conversely, let $G$ be a $\Delta$-critical graph. The well known overfull conjecture of Chetwynd and Hilton asserts that $G$ is overfull provided $\Delta(G) > |V(G)|/3$. In this paper, we show that any $\Delta$-critical graph $G$ is overfull if $\Delta(G) - 7\delta(G)/4\ge(3|V(G)|-17)/4$., Comment: One portion of arXiv:2005.12909 is incorporated into this paper. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2004.00734, arXiv:2103.05171

Bonnet, Kim, Thomass\'{e}, and Watrigant (2020) introduced the twin-width of a graph. We show that the twin-width of an $n$-vertex graph is less than $(n+\sqrt{n\ln n}+\sqrt{n}+2\ln n)/2$, and the twin-width of an $m$-edge graph for a positive $m$ is less than $\sqrt{3m}+ m^{1/4} \sqrt{\ln m} / (4\cdot 3^{1/4}) + 3m^{1/4} / 2$. Conference graphs of order $n$ (when such graphs exist) have twin-width at least $(n-1)/2$, and we show that Paley graphs achieve this lower bound. We also show that the twin-width of the Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi random graph $G(n,p)$ with $1/n\leq p=p(n)\leq 1/2$ is larger than $2p(1-p)n - (2\sqrt{2}+\varepsilon)\sqrt{p(1-p)n\ln n}$ asymptotically almost surely for any positive $\varepsilon$. Lastly, we calculate the twin-width of random graphs $G(n,p)$ with $p\leq c/n$ for a constant $c, Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure

We study the complexity of approximating the partition function $Z_{\mathrm{Ising}}(G; \beta)$ of the Ising model in terms of the relation between the edge interaction $\beta$ and a parameter $\Delta$ which is an upper bound on the maximum degree of the input graph $G$. Following recent trends in both statistical physics and algorithmic research, we allow the edge interaction $\beta$ to be any complex number. Many recent partition function results focus on complex parameters, both because of physical relevance and because of the key role of the complex case in delineating the tractability/intractability phase transition of the approximation problem. In this work we establish both new tractability results and new intractability results. Our tractability results show that $Z_{\mathrm{Ising}}(-; \beta)$ has an FPTAS when $\lvert \beta - 1 \rvert / \lvert \beta + 1 \rvert < \tan(\pi / (4 \Delta - 4))$. The core of the proof is showing that there are no inputs~$G$ that make the partition function $0$ when $\beta$ is in this range. Our result significantly extends the known zero-free region of the Ising model (and hence the known approximation results). Our intractability results show that it is $\mathrm{\#P}$-hard to multiplicatively approximate the norm and to additively approximate the argument of $Z_{\mathrm{Ising}}(-; \beta)$ when $\beta \in \mathbb{C}$ is an algebraic number such that $\beta \not \in \mathbb{R} \cup \{i,-i\}$ and $\lvert \beta - 1\rvert / \lvert \beta + 1 \rvert > 1 / \sqrt{\Delta - 1}$. These are the first results to show intractability of approximating $Z_{\mathrm{Ising}}(-, \beta)$ on bounded degree graphs with complex $\beta$. Moreover, we demonstrate situations in which zeros of the partition function imply hardness of approximation in the Ising model., Comment: 49 pages, 9 figures On last update: we fixed some typos and updated the references

Spanning trees are a representative example of linear matroid bases that are efficiently countable. Perfect matchings of Pfaffian bipartite graphs are a countable example of common bases of two matrices. Generalizing these two examples, Webb (2004) introduced the notion of Pfaffian pairs as a pair of matrices for which counting of their common bases is tractable via the Cauchy-Binet formula. This paper studies counting on linear matroid problems extending Webb's work. We first introduce "Pfaffian parities" as an extension of Pfaffian pairs to the linear matroid parity problem, which is a common generalization of the linear matroid intersection problem and the matching problem. We enumerate combinatorial examples of Pfaffian pairs and parities. The variety of the examples illustrates that Pfaffian pairs and parities serve as a unified framework of efficiently countable discrete structures. Based on this framework, we derive celebrated counting theorems, such as Kirchhoff's matrix-tree theorem, Tutte's directed matrix-tree theorem, the Pfaffian matrix-tree theorem, and the Lindstr\"om-Gessel-Viennot lemma. Our study then turns to algorithmic aspects. We observe that the fastest randomized algorithms for the linear matroid intersection and parity problems by Harvey (2009) and Cheung-Lau-Leung (2014) can be derandomized for Pfaffian pairs and parities. We further present polynomial-time algorithms to count the number of minimum-weight solutions on weighted Pfaffian pairs and parities. Our algorithms make use of Frank's weight splitting lemma for the weighted matroid intersection problem and the algebraic optimality criterion of the weighted linear matroid parity problem given by Iwata-Kobayashi (2017).

For all integers $k,d$ such that $k \geq 3$ and $k/2\leq d \leq k-1$, let $n$ be a sufficiently large integer {\rm(}which may not be divisible by $k${\rm)} and let $s\le \lfloor n/k\rfloor-1$. We show that if $H$ is a $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices with $\delta_{d}(H)>\binom{n-d}{k-d}-\binom{n-d-s+1}{k-d}$, then $H$ contains a matching of size $s$. This improves a recent result of Lu, Yu, and Yuan and also answers a question of K\"uhn, Osthus, and Townsend. In many cases, our result can be strengthened to $s\leq \lfloor n/k\rfloor$, which then covers the entire possible range of $s$. On the other hand, there are examples showing that the result does not hold for certain $n, k, d$ and $s= \lfloor n/k\rfloor$., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1507.02362

For a positive integer $r$ and graphs $G$ and $H$, we denote by $G+H$ the disjoint union of $G$ and $H$, and by $rH$ the union of $r$ mutually disjoint copies of $H$. Also, we say $G$ is $H$-free if $H$ is not isomorphic to an induced subgraph of $G$. We use $P_t$ to denote the path on $t$ vertices. For a fixed positive integer $k$, the List-$k$-Coloring Problem is to decide, given a graph $G$ and a list $L(v)\subseteq \{1,\ldots,k\}$ of colors assigned to each vertex $v$ of $G$, whether $G$ admits a proper coloring $\phi$ with $\phi(v)\in L(v)$ for every vertex $v$ of $G$, and the $k$-Coloring Problem is the List-$k$-Coloring Problem restricted to instances with $L(v)=\{1,\ldots, k\}$ for every vertex $v$ of $G$. We prove that for every positive integer $r$, the List-$5$-Coloring Problem restricted to $rP_3$-free graphs can be solved in polynomial time. Together with known results, this gives a complete dichotomy for the complexity of the List-$5$-Coloring Problem restricted to $H$-free graphs: For every graph $H$, assuming P$\neq$NP, the List-$5$-Coloring Problem restricted to $H$-free graphs can be solved in polynomial time if and only if $H$ is an induced subgraph of either $rP_3$ or $P_5+rP_1$ for some positive integer $r$. As a hardness counterpart, we also show that the $k$-Coloring Problem restricted to $rP_4$-free graphs is NP-complete for all $k\geq 5$ and $r\geq 2$., Comment: Accepted manuscript, see DOI for journal version

We study the lattice width of lattice-free polyhedra given by $\mathbf{A}\mathbf{x}\leq\mathbf{b}$ in terms of $\Delta(\mathbf{A})$, the maximal $n\times n$ minor in absolute value of $\mathbf{A}\in\mathbb{Z}^{m\times n}$. Our main contribution is to link the lattice width of lattice-free polyhedra to the height of Hilbert bases and to the diameter of finite abelian groups. This leads to a bound on the lattice width of lattice-free pyramids which solely depends on $\Delta(\mathbf{A})$ provided a conjecture regarding the height of Hilbert bases holds. Further, we exploit a combination of techniques to obtain novel bounds on the lattice width of simplices. A second part of the paper is devoted to a study of the above mentioned Hilbert basis conjecture. We give a complete characterization of the Hilbert basis if $\Delta(\mathbf{A}) = 2$ which implies the conjecture in that case and prove its validity for simplicial cones.

In this paper we consider a variant of the well-known Achlioptas process for graphs adapted to monotone Boolean functions. Fix a number of choices $r\in \mathbb N$ and a sequence of increasing functions $(f_n)_{n\ge 1}$ such that, for every $n\ge 1$, $f_n:\{0,1\}^n\mapsto \{0,1\}$. Given $n$ bits which are all initially equal to 0, at each step $r$ 0-bits are sampled uniformly at random and are proposed to an agent. Then, the agent selects one of the proposed bits and turns it from 0 to 1 with the goal to reach the preimage of 1 as quickly as possible. We nearly characterize the conditions under which an acceleration by a factor of $r(1+o(1))$ is possible, and underline the wide applicability of our results by giving examples from the fields of Boolean functions and graph theory.

Let $n$ be a sufficiently large integer with $n\equiv 0\pmod 4$ and let $F_i \subseteq{[n]\choose 4}$ where $i\in [n/4]$. We show that if each vertex of $F_i$ is contained in more than ${n-1\choose 3}-{3n/4\choose 3}$ edges, then $\{F_1, \ldots ,F_{n/4}\}$ admits a rainbow matching, i.e., a set of $n/4$ edges consisting of one edge from each $F_i$. This generalizes a deep result of Khan on perfect matchings in 4-uniform hypergraphs., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2004.12561

The class of quasi-graphic matroids, recently introduced by Geelen, Gerards, and Whittle, is minor closed and contains both the class of lifted-graphic matroids and the class of frame matroids, each of which generalises the class of graphic matroids. In this paper, we prove that the matroids $U_{3,7}$ and $U_{4,7}$ are the only $9$-connected excluded minors for the class of quasi-graphic matroids.

We present an explicit connected spanning structure that appears in a random graph just above the connectivity threshold with high probability., 16 pages

RNA molecules are single-stranded analogues of DNA that can fold into various structures which influence their biological function within the cell. RNA structures can be modelled combinatorially in terms of a certain type of graph called an RNA diagram. In this paper we introduce a new poset of RNA diagrams $\mathcal{B}^r_{f,k}$, $r\ge 0$, $k \ge 1$ and $f \ge 3$, which we call the Penner-Waterman poset, and, using results from the theory of multitriangulations, we show that this is a pure poset of rank $k(2f-2k+1)+r-f-1$, whose geometric realization is the join of a simplicial sphere of dimension $k(f-2k)-1$ and an $\left((f+1)(k-1)-1\right)$-simplex in case $r=0$. As a corollary for the special case $k=1$, we obtain a result due to Penner and Waterman concerning the topology of the space of RNA secondary structures. These results could eventually lead to new ways to investigate landscapes of RNA $k$-noncrossing structures.

Given any graph $H$, a graph $G$ is said to be $q$-Ramsey for $H$ if every coloring of the edges of $G$ with $q$ colors yields a monochromatic subgraph isomorphic to $H$. Further, such a graph $G$ is said to be minimal $q$-Ramsey for $H$ if additionally no proper subgraph $G'$ of $G$ is $q$-Ramsey for $H$. In 1976, Burr, Erd\H{o}s, and Lov\'asz initiated the study of the parameter $s_q(H)$, defined as the smallest minimum degree among all minimal $q$-Ramsey graphs for $H$. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining how many vertices of degree $s_q(H)$ a minimal $q$-Ramsey graph for $H$ can contain. Specifically, we seek to identify graphs for which a minimal $q$-Ramsey graph can contain arbitrarily many such vertices. We call a graph satisfying this property $s_q$-abundant. Among other results, we prove that every cycle is $s_q$-abundant for any integer $q\geq 2$. We also discuss the cases when $H$ is a clique or a clique with a pendant edge, extending previous results of Burr et al. and Fox et al. To prove our results and construct suitable minimal Ramsey graphs, we develop certain new gadget graphs, called pattern gadgets, which generalize and extend earlier constructions that have proven useful in the study of minimal Ramsey graphs. These new gadgets might be of independent interest.

The Ising antiferromagnet is an important statistical physics model with close connections to the {\sc Max Cut} problem. Combining spatial mixing arguments with the method of moments and the interpolation method, we pinpoint the replica symmetry breaking phase transition predicted by physicists. Additionally, we rigorously establish upper bounds on the {\sc Max Cut} of random regular graphs predicted by Zdeborov\'a and Boettcher [Journal of Statistical Mechanics 2010]. As an application we prove that the information-theoretic threshold of the disassortative stochastic block model on random regular graphs coincides with the Kesten-Stigum bound.

The genus of the binomial random graph $G(n,p)$ is well understood for a wide range of $p=p(n)$. Recently, the study of the genus of the random bipartite graph $G(n_1,n_2,p)$, with partition classes of size $n_1$ and $n_2$, was initiated by Mohar and Ying, who showed that when $n_1$ and $n_2$ are comparable in size and $p=p(n_1,n_2)$ is significantly larger than $(n_1n_2)^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ the genus of the random bipartite graph has a similar behaviour to that of the binomial random graph. In this paper we show that there is a threshold for planarity of the random bipartite graph at $p=(n_1n_2)^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ and investigate the genus close to this threshold, extending the results of Mohar and Ying. It turns out that there is qualitatively different behaviour in the case where $n_1$ and $n_2$ are comparable, when whp the genus is linear in the number of edges, than in the case where $n_1$ is asymptotically smaller than $n_2$, when whp the genus behaves like the genus of a sparse random graph $G(n_1,q)$ for an appropriately chosen $q=q(p,n_1,n_2)$., Comment: 20 pages, added remark 4.15 and fixed small errors

We say that a pure $d$-dimensional simplicial complex $\Delta$ on $n$ vertices is shelling completable if $\Delta$ can be realized as the initial sequence of some shelling of $\Delta_{n-1}^{(d)}$, the $d$-skeleton of the $(n-1)$-dimensional simplex. A well-known conjecture of Simon posits that any shellable complex is shelling completable. In this note we prove that vertex decomposable complexes are shelling completable. In fact we show that if $\Delta$ is a vertex decomposable complex then there exists an ordering of its ground set $V$ such that adding the revlex smallest missing $(d+1)$-subset of $V$ results in a complex that is again vertex decomposable. We explore applications to matroids, shifted complexes, as well as $k$-vertex decomposable complexes. We also show that if $\Delta$ is a $d$-dimensional complex on at most $d+3$ vertices then the notions of shellable, vertex decomposable, shelling completable, and extendably shellable are all equivalent., Comment: 13 pages; v2: Fixed some typos and other minor revisions, expanded Remark 3.8

A rank-$r$ integer matrix $A$ is $\Delta$-modular if the determinant of each $r \times r$ submatrix has absolute value at most $\Delta$. The class of $1$-modular, or unimodular, matrices is of fundamental significance in both integer programming theory and matroid theory. A 1957 result of Heller shows that the maximum number of nonzero, pairwise non-parallel rows of a rank-$r$ unimodular matrix is ${r + 1 \choose 2}$. We prove that, for each sufficiently large integer $r$, the maximum number of nonzero, pairwise non-parallel rows of a rank-$r$ $2$-modular matrix is ${r + 2 \choose 2} - 2$.

In 1967, Erd\H{o}s asked for the greatest chromatic number, $f(n)$, amongst all $n$-vertex, triangle-free graphs. An observation of Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal together with Shearer's classical upper bound for the off-diagonal Ramsey number $R(3, t)$ shows that $f(n)$ is at most $(2 \sqrt{2} + o(1)) \sqrt{n/\log n}$. We improve this bound by a factor $\sqrt{2}$, as well as obtaining an analogous bound on the list chromatic number which is tight up to a constant factor. A bound in terms of the number of edges that is similarly tight follows, and these results confirm a conjecture of Cames van Batenburg, de Joannis de Verclos, Kang, and Pirot., Comment: 13 pages. This version contains minor revisions and a bound in terms of genus that follows from our main results

We introduce a new variant of quantitative Helly-type theorems: the minimal \emph{"homothetic distance"} of the intersection of a family of convex sets to the intersection of a subfamily of a fixed size. As an application, we establish the following quantitative Helly-type result for the \emph{diameter}. If $K$ is the intersection of finitely many convex bodies in $\mathbb{R}^d$, then one can select $2d$ of these bodies whose intersection is of diameter at most $(2d)^3\mathrm{diam}(K)$. The best previously known estimate, due to Brazitikos, is $c d^{11/2}$. Moreover, we confirm that the multiplicative factor $c d^{1/2}$ conjectured by B\'ar\'any, Katchalski and Pach cannot be improved., Comment: Some typos fixed

We show that a matchstick graph with $n$ vertices has no more than $3n-c\sqrt{n-1/4}$ edges, where $c=\frac12(\sqrt{12} + \sqrt{2\pi\sqrt{3}})$. The main tools in the proof are the Euler formula, the isoperimetric inequality, and an upper bound for the number of edges in terms of $n$ and the number of non-triangular faces. We also find a sharp upper bound for the number of triangular faces in a matchstick graph., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Let $D$ be a digraph, let $p \geq 1$ be an integer, and let $f: V(D) \to \mathbb{N}_0^p$ be a vector function with $f=(f_1,f_2,\ldots,f_p)$. We say that $D$ has an $f$-partition if there is a partition $(D_1,D_2,\ldots,D_p)$ into induced subdigraphs of $D$ such that for all $i \in [1,p]$, the digraph $D_i$ is weakly $f_i$-degenerate, that is, in every non-empty subdigraph $D'$ of $D_i$ there is a vertex $v$ such that $\min\{d_{D'}^+(v), d_{D'}^-(v)\} < f_i(v)$. In this paper, we prove that the condition $f_1(v) + f_2(v) + \ldots + f_p(v) \geq \max \{d_D^+(v),d_D^-(v)\}$ for all $v \in V(D)$ is almost sufficient for the existence of an $f$-partition and give a full characterization of the bad pairs $(D,f)$. Moreover, we describe a polynomial time algorithm that (under the previous conditions) either verifies that $(D,f)$ is a bad pair or finds an $f$-partition. Among other applications, this leads to a generalization of Brooks' Theorem as well as the list-version of Brooks' Theorem for digraphs, where a coloring of digraph is a partition of the digraph into acyclic induced subdigraphs. We furthermore obtain a result bounding the $s$-degenerate chromatic number of a digraph in terms of the maximum of maximum in-degree and maximum out-degree.

We develop three approaches of combinatorial flavour to study the structure of minimal codes and cutting blocking sets in finite geometry, each of which has a particular application. The first approach uses techniques from algebraic combinatorics, describing the supports in a linear code via the Alon-F\"uredi Theorem and the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. The second approach combines methods from coding theory and statistics to compare the mean and variance of the nonzero weights in a minimal code. Finally, the third approach regards minimal codes as cutting blocking sets and studies these using the theory of spreads in finite geometry. Applying and combining these approaches with each other, we derive several new bounds and constraints on the parameters of minimal codes. Moreover, we obtain two new constructions of cutting blocking sets of small cardinality in finite projective spaces. In turn, these allow us to give explicit constructions of minimal codes having short length for the given field and dimension., Comment: 27 pages

Given an edge-coloured graph, we say that a subgraph is rainbow if all of its edges have different colours. Let $\operatorname{ex}(n,H,$rainbow-$F)$ denote the maximal number of copies of $H$ that a properly edge-coloured graph on $n$ vertices can contain if it has no rainbow subgraph isomorphic to $F$. We determine the order of magnitude of $\operatorname{ex}(n,C_s,$rainbow-$C_t)$ for all $s,t$ with $s\not =3$. In particular, we answer a question of Gerbner, M\'esz\'aros, Methuku and Palmer by showing that $\operatorname{ex}(n,C_{2k},$rainbow-$C_{2k})$ is $\Theta(n^{k-1})$ if $k\geq 3$ and $\Theta(n^2)$ if $k=2$. We also determine the order of magnitude of $\operatorname{ex}(n,P_\ell,$rainbow-$C_{2k})$ for all $k,\ell\geq 2$, where $P_\ell$ denotes the path with $\ell$ edges., Comment: 14 pages

We give a counterexample to the conjecture of Martin and Thatte that two balanced rooted binary leaf-labelled trees on $n$ leaves have a maximum agreement subtree (MAST) of size at least $n^{\frac{1}{2}}$. In particular, we show that for any $c>0$, there exist two balanced rooted binary leaf-labelled trees on $n$ leaves such that any MAST for these two trees has size less than $c n^{\frac{1}{2}}$. We also improve the lower bound of the size of such a MAST to $n^{\frac{1}{6}}$.

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices of independence number $\alpha(G)$ such that every induced subgraph of $G$ on $n-k$ vertices has an independent set of size at least $\alpha(G) - \ell$. What is the largest possible $\alpha(G)$ in terms of $n$ for fixed $k$ and $\ell$? We show that $\alpha(G) \le n/2 + C_{k, \ell}$, which is sharp for $k-\ell \le 2$. We also use this result to determine new values of the Erd\H{o}s--Rogers function., Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures

For an integer $k \geq 2$, an ordered $k$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}=(H,0$ such that $$\overline{R}(\mathcal{H},\mathcal{H}) \leq 2^{O(n^{2-\varepsilon})}.$$ In fact, we prove this upper bound for the number $\overline{R}(\mathcal{G},\mathcal{K}^{(3)}_3(n))$, where $\mathcal{G}$ is an ordered 3-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $d$ and $\mathcal{K}^{(3)}_3(n)$ is the ordered complete tripartite hypergraph with consecutive color classes of size $n$. We show that this bound is not far from the truth by proving $\overline{R}(\mathcal{H},\mathcal{K}^{(3)}_3(n)) \geq 2^{Ω(n\log{n})}$ for some fixed ordered $3$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$., 16 pages

We prove that seminormality of cut polytopes is equivalent to normality. This settles two conjectures regarding seminormality of cut polytopes.

The lattice size $\operatorname{ls}_{\Delta}(P)$ of a lattice polygon $P$ with respect to the standard simplex $\Delta$ was introduced and studied by Castryck and Cools in the context of simplification of the defining equation of an algebraic curve. Earlier, Schicho provided an "onion skins" algorithm for mapping a lattice polygon $P$ into a small integer multiple of the standard simplex, based on passing successively to the convex hull of the interior lattice points of $P$. Castryck and Cools showed that this algorithm computes the lattice size of $P$. In this paper we show that for a plane convex body $P$ a reduced basis of $\mathbb{Z}^2$ computes the lattice size. This provides a lattice reduction algorithm for computing the lattice size, which works for any convex body $P\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ and outperforms the "onion skins" algorithm in the case when $P$ is a lattice polygon., Comment: The main result and the arguments have been reformulated in terms of lattice reduction. The results now apply to arbitrary convex bodies in $\mathbb{R}^2$, rather than lattice polygons as in the previous version

For $d\in\{5,6\}$, we classify arrangements of $d + 2$ points in $\mathbf{RP}^{d-1}$ for which the minimum distance is as large as possible. To do so, we leverage ideas from matrix and convex analysis to determine the best possible codes that contain equiangular lines, and we introduce a notion of approximate Positivstellensatz certificates that promotes numerical approximations of Stengle's Positivstellensatz certificates to honest certificates., Comment: code included in ancillary files

In this paper we show examples for applications of the Bombieri-Lang conjecture in additive combinatorics, giving bounds on the cardinality of sumsets of squares and higher powers of integers. Using similar methods we give bounds on the sum-product problem for matchings., Comment: 14 pages

A $t$-bar visibility representation of a graph assigns each vertex up to $t$ horizontal bars in the plane so that two vertices are adjacent if and only if some bar for one vertex can see some bar for the other via an unobstructed vertical channel of positive width. The least $t$ such that $G$ has a $t$-bar visibility representation is the bar visibility number of $G$, denoted by $b(G)$. For the complete bipartite graph $K_{m,n}$, the lower bound $b(K_{m,n})\ge\lceil{\frac{mn+4}{2m+2n}}\rceil$ from Euler's Formula is well known. We prove that equality holds., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

Let $P_G(k)$ be the number of proper $k$-colorings of a finite simple graph $G$. Tomescu's conjecture, which was recently solved by Fox, He, and Manners, states that $P_G(k) \le k!(k-1)^{n-k}$ for all connected graphs $G$ on $n$ vertices with chromatic number $k\geq 4$. In this paper, we study the same problem with the additional constraint that $G$ is $\ell$-connected. For $2$-connected graphs $G$, we prove a tight bound \[ P_G(k) \le (k-1)!((k-1)^{n-k+1} + (-1)^{n-k}), \] and show that equality is only achieved if $G$ is a $k$-clique with an ear attached. For $\ell \ge 3$, we prove an asymptotically tight upper bound \[ P_G(k) \le k!(k-1)^{n-\ell - k + 1} + O((k-2)^n), \] and provide a matching lower bound construction. For the ranges $k \geq \ell$ or $\ell \geq (k-2)(k-1)+1$ we further find the unique graph maximizing $P_G(k)$. We also consider generalizing $\ell$-connected graphs to connected graphs with minimum degree $\delta$.

We give a natural sufficient condition for an intersection graph of compact convex sets in R^d to have a balanced separator of sublinear size. This condition generalizes several previous results on sublinear separators in intersection graphs. Furthermore, the argument used to prove the existence of sublinear separators is based on a connection with generalized coloring numbers which has not been previously explored in geometric settings., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures

Clustering is one of the fundamental tasks in data analytics and machine learning. In many situations, different clusterings of the same data set become relevant. For example, different algorithms for the same clustering task may return dramatically different solutions. We are interested in applications in which one clustering has to be transformed into another; e.g., when a gradual transition from an old solution to a new one is required. In this paper, we devise methods for constructing such a transition based on linear programming and network theory. We use a so-called clustering-difference graph to model the desired transformation and provide methods for decomposing the graph into a sequence of elementary moves that accomplishes the transformation. These moves are equivalent to the edge directions, or circuits, of the underlying partition polytopes. Therefore, in addition to a conceptually new metric for measuring the distance between clusterings, we provide new bounds on the circuit diameter of these partition polytopes.

We prove that if G is a graph without 3-cycles and 4-cycles, then the discrete cubical homology of G is trivial in dimension d, for all d\ge 2. We also construct a sequence { G_d } of graphs such that this homology is non-trivial in dimension d for d\ge 1. Finally, we show that the discrete cubical homology induced by certain coverings of G equals the ordinary singular homology of a 2-dimensional cell complex built from G, although in general it differs from the discrete cubical homology of the graph as a whole., Minor changes, background information added

Given a large graph H, does the binomial random graph G(n, p) contain a copy of H as an induced subgraph with high probability? This classical question has been studied extensively for various graphs H, going back to the study of the independence number of G(n, p) by Erdos and Bollobas and by Matula in 1976. In this paper we prove an asymptotically best possible result for induced matchings by showing that if C/n

We completely characterize the faces of the root polytope $\tilde Q_G = \text{conv}\{\mathbf 0, \mathbf e_i - \mathbf e_j\: (i,j) \in E(G)\}$ combinatorially. Our results specialize to state of the art results in a straightforward way., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. v2: corrected proof of lemma 3.19

Motivated by the problem of bounding the number of iterations of the Simplex algorithm we investigate the possible lengths of monotone paths followed by the Simplex method inside the oriented graphs of polyhedra (oriented by the objective function). We consider both the shortest and the longest monotone paths and estimate the monotone diameter and height of polyhedra. Our analysis applies to transportation polytopes, matroid polytopes, matching polytopes, shortest-path polytopes, and the TSP, among others. We begin by showing that combinatorial cubes have monotone and Bland pivot height bounded by their dimension and that in fact all monotone paths of zonotopes are no larger than the number of edge directions of the zonotope. We later use this to show that several polytopes have polynomial-size pivot height, for all pivot rules. In contrast, we show that many well-known combinatorial polytopes have exponentially-long monotone paths. Surprisingly, for some famous pivot rules, e.g., greatest improvement and steepest edge, these same polytopes have polynomial-size simplex paths., Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures

Let $B_n^{(k)}$ be the book graph which consists of $n$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ all sharing a common $K_k$, and let $C_m$ be a cycle of length $m$. In this paper, we first determine the exact value of $r(B_n^{(2)}, C_m)$ for $\frac{8}{9}n+112\le m\le \lceil\frac{3n}{2}\rceil+1$ and $n \geq 1000$. This answers a question of Faudree, Rousseau and Sheehan (Cycle--book Ramsey numbers, {\it Ars Combin.,} {\bf 31} (1991), 239--248) in a stronger form when $m$ and $n$ are large. Building upon this exact result, we are able to determine the asymptotic value of $r(B_n^{(k)}, C_n)$ for each $k \geq 3$. Namely, we prove that for each $k \geq 3$, $r(B_n^{(k)}, C_n)= (k+1+o_k(1))n.$ This extends a result due to Rousseau and Sheehan (A class of Ramsey problems involving trees, {\it J.~London Math.~Soc.,} {\bf 18} (1978), 392--396)., Comment: Journal Ref. SIAM J. Discrete Math

We study covering numbers and local covering numbers with respect to difference graphs and complete bipartite graphs. In particular we show that in every cover of a Young diagram with $\binom{2k}{k}$ steps with generalized rectangles there is a row or a column in the diagram that is used by at least $k+1$ rectangles, and prove that this is best-possible. This answers two questions by Kim, Martin, Masa{\v{r}}{\'\i}k, Shull, Smith, Uzzell, and Wang (Europ. J. Comb. 2020), namely: - What is the local complete bipartite cover number of a difference graph? - Is there a sequence of graphs with constant local difference graph cover number and unbounded local complete bipartite cover number? We add to the study of these local covering numbers with a lower bound construction and some examples. Following Kim \emph{et al.}, we use the results on local covering numbers to provide lower and upper bounds for the local dimension of partially ordered sets of height~2. We discuss the local dimension of some posets related to Boolean lattices and show that the poset induced by the first two layers of the Boolean lattice has local dimension $(1 + o(1))\log_2\log_2 n$. We conclude with some remarks on covering numbers for digraphs and Ferrers dimension., Comment: Parts of this paper have previously been reported in arXiv submission arXiv:1902.08223

We introduce a class of posets, which includes both ribbon posets (skew shapes) and $d$-complete posets, such that their number of linear extensions is given by a determinant of a matrix whose entries are products of hook lengths. We also give $q$-analogues of this determinantal formula in terms of the major index and inversion statistics. As applications, we give families of tree posets whose numbers of linear extensions are given by generalizations of Euler numbers, we draw relations to Naruse-Okada's positive formulas for the number of linear extensions of skew $d$-complete posets, and we give polynomiality results analogous to those of descent polynomials by Diaz-L\'opez, Harris, Insko, Omar, and Sagan., Comment: 26 pages, 26 figures; v2: minor additions based on comments