More nonexistence results for symmetric pair coverings

A $(v,k,\lambda)$-covering is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$, where $V$ is a $v$-set of points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ (called blocks), such that every unordered pair of points in $V$ is contained in at least $\lambda$ blocks in $\mathcal{B}$. The excess of such a covering is the multigraph on vertex set $V$ in which the edge between vertices $x$ and $y$ has multiplicity $r_{xy}-\lambda$, where $r_{xy}$ is the number of blocks which contain the pair $\{x,y\}$. A covering is symmetric if it has the same number of blocks as points. Bryant et al.(2011) adapted the determinant related arguments used in the proof of the Bruck-Ryser-Chowla theorem to establish the nonexistence of certain symmetric coverings with $2$-regular excesses. Here, we adapt the arguments related to rational congruence of matrices and show that they imply the nonexistence of some cyclic symmetric coverings and of various symmetric coverings with specified excesses.Comment: Submitted on May 22, 2015 to the Journal of Linear Algebra and its Application

On the job rotation problem

The job rotation problem (JRP) is the following: Given an $n \times n$ matrix $A$ over \Re \cup \{\ -\infty\ \}\ and $k \leq n$, find a $k \times k$ principal submatrix of $A$ whose optimal assignment problem value is maximum. No polynomial algorithm is known for solving this problem if $k$ is an input variable. We analyse JRP and present polynomial solution methods for a number of special cases

Parity of the spin structure defined by a quadratic differential

According to the work of Kontsevich-Zorich, the invariant that classifies non-hyperelliptic connected components of the moduli spaces of Abelian differentials with prescribed singularities,is the parity of the spin structure. We show that for the moduli space of quadratic differentials, the spin structure is constant on every stratum where it is defined. In particular this disproves the conjecture that it classifies the non-hyperelliptic connected components of the strata of quadratic differentials with prescribed singularities. An explicit formula for the parity of the spin structure is given.Comment: Published by Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol8/paper12.abs.htm

Counting dimer coverings on self-similar Schreier graphs

We study partition functions for the dimer model on families of finite graphs converging to infinite self-similar graphs and forming approximation sequences to certain well-known fractals. The graphs that we consider are provided by actions of finitely generated groups by automorphisms on rooted trees, and thus their edges are naturally labeled by the generators of the group. It is thus natural to consider weight functions on these graphs taking different values according to the labeling. We study in detail the well-known example of the Hanoi Towers group $H^{(3)}$, closely related to the Sierpi\'nski gasket.Comment: 29 pages. Final version, to appear in European Journal of Combinatoric

A Note on the Sparing Number of Graphs

An integer additive set-indexer is defined as an injective function $f:V(G)\rightarrow 2^{\mathbb{N}_0}$ such that the induced function $g_f:E(G) \rightarrow 2^{\mathbb{N}_0}$ defined by $g_f (uv) = f(u)+ f(v)$ is also injective. An IASI $f$ is said to be a weak IASI if $|g_f(uv)|=max(|f(u)|,|f(v)|)$ for all $u,v\in V(G)$. A graph which admits a weak IASI may be called a weak IASI graph. The set-indexing number of an element of a graph $G$, a vertex or an edge, is the cardinality of its set-labels. The sparing number of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of edges with singleton set-labels, required for a graph $G$ to admit a weak IASI. In this paper, we study the sparing number of certain graphs and the relation of sparing number with some other parameters like matching number, chromatic number, covering number, independence number etc.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitte