Completion and deficiency problems

Given a partial Steiner triple system (STS) of order $n$, what is the order of the smallest complete STS it can be embedded into? The study of this question goes back more than 40 years. In this paper we answer it for relatively sparse STSs, showing that given a partial STS of order $n$ with at most $r \le \varepsilon n^2$ triples, it can always be embedded into a complete STS of order $n+O(\sqrt{r})$, which is asymptotically optimal. We also obtain similar results for completions of Latin squares and other designs. This suggests a new, natural class of questions, called deficiency problems. Given a global spanning property $\mathcal{P}$ and a graph $G$, we define the deficiency of the graph $G$ with respect to the property $\mathcal{P}$ to be the smallest positive integer $t$ such that the join $G\ast K_t$ has property $\mathcal{P}$. To illustrate this concept we consider deficiency versions of some well-studied properties, such as having a $K_k$-decomposition, Hamiltonicity, having a triangle-factor and having a perfect matching in hypergraphs. The main goal of this paper is to propose a systematic study of these problems; thus several future research directions are also given

Cover 3-uniform hypergraphs by vertex-disjoint tight paths

Let $H$ be an $n$-vertex 3-graph such that every pair of vertices is in at least $n/3+o(n)$ edges. We show that $H$ contains two vertex-disjoint tight paths whose union covers the vertex set of $H$. The quantity two here is best possible and the degree condition is asymptotically best possible.Comment: 16 page

Graphs with few spanning substructures

In this thesis, we investigate a number of problems related to spanning substructures of graphs. The first few chapters consider extremal problems related to the number of forest-like structures of a graph. We prove that one can find a threshold graph which contains the minimum number of spanning pseudoforests, as well as rooted spanning forests, amongst all graphs on n vertices and e edges. This has left the open question of exactly which threshold graphs have the minimum number of these spanning substructures. We make progress towards this question in particular cases of spanning pseudoforests. The final chapter takes on a different flavor---we determine the complexity of a problem related to Hamilton cycles in hypergraphs. Dirac\u27s theorem states that graphs with minimum degree at least half the size of the vertex set are guaranteed to have a Hamilton cycle. In 1993, Karpinksi, Dahlhaus, and Hajnal proved that for any c\u3c1/2, the problem of determining whether a graph with minimum degree at least cn has a Hamilton cycle is NP-complete. The analogous problem in hypergraphs, for both a Dirac-type condition and complexity, are just as interesting. We prove that for classes of hypergraphs with certain minimum vertex degree conditions, the problem of determining whether or not they contain an l-Hamilton cycle is NP-complete. Advisor: Professor Jamie Radcliff

Dirac-type conditions for spanning bounded-degree hypertrees

We prove that for fixed $k$, every $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices and of minimum codegree at least $n/2+o(n)$ contains every spanning tight $k$-tree of bounded vertex degree as a sub\-graph. This generalises a well-known result of Koml\'os, S\'ark\"ozy and Szemer\'edi for graphs. Our result is asymptotically sharp. We also prove an extension of our result to hypergraphs that satisfy some weak quasirandomness conditions

Resilience for Loose Hamilton Cycles

We study the emergence of loose Hamilton cycles in subgraphs of random hypergraphs. Our main result states that the minimum $d$-degree threshold for loose Hamiltonicity relative to the random $k$-uniform hypergraph $H_k(n,p)$ coincides with its dense analogue whenever $p \geq n^{- (k-1)/2+o(1)}$. The value of $p$ is approximately tight for $d>(k+1)/2$. This is particularly interesting because the dense threshold itself is not known beyond the cases when $d \geq k-2$.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figure