Turán problems in graphs and hypergraphs

Mantel's theorem says that among all triangle-free graphs of a given order the balanced complete bipartite graph is the unique graph of maximum size. In Chapter 2, we prove an analogue of this result for 3-graphs (3-uniform hy¬pergraphs) together with an associated stability result. Let K− 4 , F5 and F6 be 3-graphs with vertex sets {1, 2,3, 4}, {1, 2,3,4, 5} and {1, 2,3,4, 5, 6} re¬spectively and edge sets E(K−4 ) = {123, 124, 134}, E(F5) = {123, 124, 345}, E(F6) = {123, 124,345, 156} and F = {K4, F6}. For n =6 5 the unique F-free 3-graph of order n and maximum size is the balanced complete tri¬partite 3-graph S3(n). This extends an old result of Bollobas that S3(n) is the unique 3-graph of maximum size with no copy of K− 4 or F5. In 1941, Turán generalised Mantel's theorem to cliques of arbitrary size and then asked whether similar results could be obtained for cliques on hyper-graphs. This has become one of the central unsolved problems in the field of extremal combinatorics. In Chapter 3, we prove that the Turán density of K(3) 5 together with six other induced subgraphs is 3/4. This is analogous to a similar result obtained for K(3) 4 by Razborov. In Chapter 4, we consider various generalisations of the Turán density. For example, we prove that, if the density in C of ¯P3 is x and C is K3-free, then |E(C)| /(n ) ≤ 1/4+(1/4)J1 − (8/3)x. This is motivated by the observation 2 that the extremal graph for K3 is ¯P3-free, so that the upper bound is a natural extension of a stability result for K3. The question how many edges can be deleted from a blow-up of H before it is H-free subject to the constraint that the same proportion of edges are deleted from each connected pair of vertex sets has become known as the Turán density problem. In Chapter 5, using entropy compression supplemented with some analytic methods, we derive an upper bound of 1 − 1/('y(Δ(H) − /3)), where Δ(H) is the maximum degree of H, 3 ≤ 'y < 4 and /3 ≤ 1. The new bound asymptotically approaches the existing best upper bound despite being derived in a completely different way. The techniques used in these results, illustrating their breadth and connec¬tions between them, are set out in Chapter 1

Grafos com poucos cruzamentos e o número de cruzamentos do Kp,q em superfícies topológicas

Orientador: Orlando LeeTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: O número de cruzamentos de um grafo G em uma superfície ? é o menor número de cruzamentos de arestas dentre todos os possíveis desenhos de G em ?. Esta tese aborda dois problemas distintos envolvendo número de cruzamentos de grafos: caracterização de grafos com número de cruzamentos igual a um e determinação do número de cruzamentos do Kp,q em superfícies topológicas. Para grafos com número de cruzamentos um, apresentamos uma completa caracterização estrutural. Também desenvolvemos um algoritmo "prático" para reconhecer estes grafos. Em relação ao número de cruzamentos do Kp,q em superfícies, mostramos que para um inteiro positivo p e uma superfície ? fixos, existe um conjunto finito D(p,?) de desenhos "bons" de grafos bipartidos completos Kp,r (possivelmente variando o r) tal que, para todo inteiro q e todo desenho D de Kp,q, existe um desenho bom D' de Kp,q obtido através de duplicação de vértices de um desenho D'' em D(p,?) tal que o número de cruzamentos de D' é menor ou igual ao número de cruzamentos de D. Em particular, para todo q suficientemente grande, existe algum desenho do Kp,q com o menor número de cruzamentos possível que é obtido a partir de algum desenho de D(p,?) através da duplicação de vértices do mesmo. Esse resultado é uma extensão de outro obtido por Cristian et. al. para esferaAbstract: The crossing number of a graph G in a surface ? is the least amount of edge crossings among all possible drawings of G in ?. This thesis deals with two problems on crossing number of graphs: characterization of graphs with crossing number one and determining the crossing number of Kp,q in topological surfaces. For graphs with crossing number one, we present a complete structural characterization. We also show a "practical" algorithm for recognition of such graphs. For the crossing number of Kp,q in surfaces, we show that for a fixed positive integer p and a fixed surface ?, there is a finite set D(p,?) of good drawings of complete bipartite graphs Kp,r (with distinct values of r) such that, for every positive integer q and every good drawing D of Kp,q, there is a good drawing D' of Kp,q obtained from a drawing D'' of D(p,?) by duplicating vertices of D'' and such that the crossing number of D' is at most the crossing number of D. In particular, for any large enough q, there exists some drawing of Kp,q with fewest crossings which can be obtained from a drawing of D(p,?) by duplicating vertices. This extends a result of Christian et. al. for the sphereDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computação2014/14375-9FAPES

Extremal problems on counting combinatorial structures

The fast developing field of extremal combinatorics provides a diverse spectrum of powerful tools with many applications to economics, computer science, and optimization theory. In this thesis, we focus on counting and coloring problems in this field. The complete balanced bipartite graph on $n$ vertices has \floor{n^2/4} edges. Since all of its subgraphs are triangle-free, the number of (labeled) triangle-free graphs on $n$ vertices is at least 2^{\floor{n^2/4}}. This was shown to be the correct order of magnitude in a celebrated paper Erd\H{o}s, Kleitman, and Rothschild from 1976, where the authors furthermore proved that almost all triangle-free graphs are bipartite. In Chapters 2 and 3 we study analogous problems for triangle-free graphs that are maximal with respect to inclusion. In Chapter 2, we solve the following problem of Paul Erd\H{o}s: Determine or estimate the number of maximal triangle-free graphs on $n$ vertices. We show that the number of maximal triangle-free graphs is at most $2^{n^2/8+o(n^2)}$, which matches the previously known lower bound. Our proof uses among other tools the Ruzsa-Szemer\'{e}di Triangle Removal Lemma and recent results on characterizing of the structure of independent sets in hypergraphs. This is a joint work with J\'{o}zsef Balogh. In Chapter 3, we investigate the structure of maximal triangle-free graphs. We prove that almost all maximal triangle-free graphs admit a vertex partition $(X, Y)$ such that $G[X]$ is a perfect matching and $Y$ is an independent set. Our proof uses the Ruzsa-Szemer\'{e}di Removal Lemma, the Erd\H{o}s-Simonovits stability theorem, and recent results of Balogh-Morris-Samotij and Saxton-Thomason on the characterization of the structure of independent sets in hypergraphs. The proof also relies on a new bound on the number of maximal independent sets in triangle-free graphs with many vertex-disjoint $P_3$'s, which is of independent interest. This is a joint work with J\'{o}zsef Balogh, Hong Liu, and Maryam Sharifzadeh. In Chapte 4, we seek families in posets with the smallest number of comparable pairs. Given a poset $P$, a family \F\subseteq P is \emph{centered} if it is obtained by `taking sets as close to the middle layer as possible'. A poset $P$ is said to have the \emph{centeredness property} if for any $M$, among all families of size $M$ in $P$, centered families contain the minimum number of comparable pairs. Kleitman showed that the Boolean lattice $\{0,1\}^n$ has the centeredness property. It was conjectured by Noel, Scott, and Sudakov, and by Balogh and Wagner, that the poset $\{0,1,\ldots,k\}^n$ also has the centeredness property, provided $n$ is sufficiently large compared to $k$. We show that this conjecture is false for all $k\geq 2$ and investigate the range of $M$ for which it holds. Further, we improve a result of Noel, Scott, and Sudakov by showing that the poset of subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ has the centeredness property. Several open problems are also given. This is a joint result with J\'{o}zsef Balogh and Adam Zsolt Wagner. In Chapter 5, we consider a graph coloring problem. Kim and Park have found an infinite family of graphs whose squares are not chromatic-choosable. Xuding Zhu asked whether there is some $k$ such that all $k$-th power graphs are chromatic-choosable. We answer this question in the negative: we show that there is a positive constant $c$ such that for any $k$ there is a family of graphs $G$ with $\chi(G^k)$ unbounded and $\chi_{\ell}(G^k)\geq c \chi(G^k) \log \chi(G^k)$. We also provide an upper bound, $\chi_{\ell}(G^k)1$. This is a joint work with Nicholas Kosar, Benjamin Reiniger, and Elyse Yeager

Extremal Problems on the Hypercube

PhDThe hypercube, Qd, is a natural and much studied combinatorial object, and we discuss various extremal problems related to it. A subgraph of the hypercube is said to be (Qd; F)-saturated if it contains no copies of F, but adding any edge forms a copy of F. We write sat(Qd; F) for the saturation number, that is, the least number of edges a (Qd; F)-saturated graph may have. We prove the upper bound sat(Qd;Q2) < 10 2d, which strongly disproves a conjecture of Santolupo that sat(Qd;Q2) = �� 1 4 + o(1) d2d��1. We also prove upper bounds on sat(Qd;Qm) for general m.Given a down-set A and an up-set B in the hypercube, Bollobás and Leader conjectured a lower bound on the number of edge-disjoint paths between A and B in the directed hypercube. Using an unusual form of the compression argument, we confirm the conjecture by reducing the problem to a the case of the undirected hypercube. We also prove an analogous conjecture for vertex-disjoint paths using the same techniques, and extend both results to the grid. Additionally, we deal with subcube intersection graphs, answering a question of Johnson and Markström of the least r = r(n) for which all graphs on n vertices may be represented as subcube intersection graph where each subcube has dimension exactly r. We also contribute to the related area of biclique covers and partitions, and study relationships between various parameters linked to such covers and partitions. Finally, we study topological properties of uniformly random simplicial complexes, employing a characterisation due to Korshunov of almost all down-sets in the hypercube as a key tool