458 research outputs found
A Geometric Theory for Hypergraph Matching
We develop a theory for the existence of perfect matchings in hypergraphs
under quite general conditions. Informally speaking, the obstructions to
perfect matchings are geometric, and are of two distinct types: 'space
barriers' from convex geometry, and 'divisibility barriers' from arithmetic
lattice-based constructions. To formulate precise results, we introduce the
setting of simplicial complexes with minimum degree sequences, which is a
generalisation of the usual minimum degree condition. We determine the
essentially best possible minimum degree sequence for finding an almost perfect
matching. Furthermore, our main result establishes the stability property:
under the same degree assumption, if there is no perfect matching then there
must be a space or divisibility barrier. This allows the use of the stability
method in proving exact results. Besides recovering previous results, we apply
our theory to the solution of two open problems on hypergraph packings: the
minimum degree threshold for packing tetrahedra in 3-graphs, and Fischer's
conjecture on a multipartite form of the Hajnal-Szemer\'edi Theorem. Here we
prove the exact result for tetrahedra and the asymptotic result for Fischer's
conjecture; since the exact result for the latter is technical we defer it to a
subsequent paper.Comment: Accepted for publication in Memoirs of the American Mathematical
Society. 101 pages. v2: minor changes including some additional diagrams and
passages of expository tex
Exact Covers via Determinants
Given a k-uniform hypergraph on n vertices, partitioned in k equal parts such
that every hyperedge includes one vertex from each part, the k-dimensional
matching problem asks whether there is a disjoint collection of the hyperedges
which covers all vertices. We show it can be solved by a randomized polynomial
space algorithm in time O*(2^(n(k-2)/k)). The O*() notation hides factors
polynomial in n and k.
When we drop the partition constraint and permit arbitrary hyperedges of
cardinality k, we obtain the exact cover by k-sets problem. We show it can be
solved by a randomized polynomial space algorithm in time O*(c_k^n), where
c_3=1.496, c_4=1.642, c_5=1.721, and provide a general bound for larger k.
Both results substantially improve on the previous best algorithms for these
problems, especially for small k, and follow from the new observation that
Lovasz' perfect matching detection via determinants (1979) admits an embedding
in the recently proposed inclusion-exclusion counting scheme for set covers,
despite its inability to count the perfect matchings
Outlaw distributions and locally decodable codes
Locally decodable codes (LDCs) are error correcting codes that allow for
decoding of a single message bit using a small number of queries to a corrupted
encoding. Despite decades of study, the optimal trade-off between query
complexity and codeword length is far from understood. In this work, we give a
new characterization of LDCs using distributions over Boolean functions whose
expectation is hard to approximate (in~~norm) with a small number of
samples. We coin the term `outlaw distributions' for such distributions since
they `defy' the Law of Large Numbers. We show that the existence of outlaw
distributions over sufficiently `smooth' functions implies the existence of
constant query LDCs and vice versa. We give several candidates for outlaw
distributions over smooth functions coming from finite field incidence
geometry, additive combinatorics and from hypergraph (non)expanders.
We also prove a useful lemma showing that (smooth) LDCs which are only
required to work on average over a random message and a random message index
can be turned into true LDCs at the cost of only constant factors in the
parameters.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the proceedings of
ITCS 201
Hypergraph matchings and designs
We survey some aspects of the perfect matching problem in hypergraphs, with
particular emphasis on structural characterisation of the existence problem in
dense hypergraphs and the existence of designs.Comment: 19 pages, for the 2018 IC
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