Generalised morphisms of k-graphs: k-morphs

In a number of recent papers, (k+l)-graphs have been constructed from k-graphs by inserting new edges in the last l dimensions. These constructions have been motivated by C*-algebraic considerations, so they have not been treated systematically at the level of higher-rank graphs themselves. Here we introduce k-morphs, which provide a systematic unifying framework for these various constructions. We think of k-morphs as the analogue, at the level of k-graphs, of C*-correspondences between C*-algebras. To make this analogy explicit, we introduce a category whose objects are k-graphs and whose morphisms are isomorphism classes of k-morphs. We show how to extend the assignment \Lambda \mapsto C*(\Lambda) to a functor from this category to the category whose objects are C*-algebras and whose morphisms are isomorphism classes of C*-correspondences.Comment: 27 pages, four pictures drawn with Tikz. Version 2: title changed and numerous minor corrections and improvements. This version to appear in Trans. Amer. Math. So

Packing k-partite k-uniform hypergraphs

Let $G$ and $H$ be $k$-graphs ($k$-uniform hypergraphs); then a perfect $H$-packing in $G$ is a collection of vertex-disjoint copies of $H$ in $G$ which together cover every vertex of $G$. For any fixed $H$ let $\delta(H, n)$ be the minimum $\delta$ such that any $k$-graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with minimum codegree $\delta(G) \geq \delta$ contains a perfect $H$-packing. The problem of determining $\delta(H, n)$ has been widely studied for graphs (i.e. $2$-graphs), but little is known for $k \geq 3$. Here we determine the asymptotic value of $\delta(H, n)$ for all complete $k$-partite $k$-graphs $H$, as well as a wide class of other $k$-partite $k$-graphs. In particular, these results provide an asymptotic solution to a question of R\"odl and Ruci\'nski on the value of $\delta(H, n)$ when $H$ is a loose cycle. We also determine asymptotically the codegree threshold needed to guarantee an $H$-packing covering all but a constant number of vertices of $G$ for any complete $k$-partite $k$-graph $H$.Comment: v2: Updated with minor corrections. Accepted for publication in Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series

The degree-diameter problem for sparse graph classes

The degree-diameter problem asks for the maximum number of vertices in a graph with maximum degree $\Delta$ and diameter $k$. For fixed $k$, the answer is $\Theta(\Delta^k)$. We consider the degree-diameter problem for particular classes of sparse graphs, and establish the following results. For graphs of bounded average degree the answer is $\Theta(\Delta^{k-1})$, and for graphs of bounded arboricity the answer is \Theta(\Delta^{\floor{k/2}}), in both cases for fixed $k$. For graphs of given treewidth, we determine the the maximum number of vertices up to a constant factor. More precise bounds are given for graphs of given treewidth, graphs embeddable on a given surface, and apex-minor-free graphs

k --Universal Finite Graphs

This paper investigates the class of k-universal finite graphs, a local analog of the class of universal graphs, which arises naturally in the study of finite variable logics. The main results of the paper, which are due to Shelah, establish that the class of k-universal graphs is not definable by an infinite disjunction of first-order existential sentences with a finite number of variables and that there exist k-universal graphs with no k-extendible induced subgraphs