An update on the middle levels problem

The middle levels problem is to find a Hamilton cycle in the middle levels, M_{2k+1}, of the Hasse diagram of B_{2k+1} (the partially ordered set of subsets of a 2k+1-element set ordered by inclusion). Previously, the best result was that M_{2k+1} is Hamiltonian for all positive k through k=15. In this note we announce that M_{33} and M_{35} have Hamilton cycles. The result was achieved by an algorithmic improvement that made it possible to find a Hamilton path in a reduced graph of complementary necklace pairs having 129,644,790 vertices, using a 64-bit personal computer.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Gray code order for Lyndon words

International audienceAt the 4th Conference on Combinatorics on Words, Christophe Reutenauer posed the question of whether the dual reflected order yields a Gray code on the Lyndon family. In this paper we give a positive answer. More precisely, we present an O(1)-average-time algorithm for generating length n binary pre-necklaces, necklaces and Lyndon words in Gray code order

Partitioning de Bruijn Graphs into Fixed-Length Cycles for Robot Identification and Tracking

We propose a new camera-based method of robot identification, tracking and orientation estimation. The system utilises coloured lights mounted in a circle around each robot to create unique colour sequences that are observed by a camera. The number of robots that can be uniquely identified is limited by the number of colours available, $q$, the number of lights on each robot, $k$, and the number of consecutive lights the camera can see, $\ell$. For a given set of parameters, we would like to maximise the number of robots that we can use. We model this as a combinatorial problem and show that it is equivalent to finding the maximum number of disjoint $k$-cycles in the de Bruijn graph $\text{dB}(q,\ell)$. We provide several existence results that give the maximum number of cycles in $\text{dB}(q,\ell)$ in various cases. For example, we give an optimal solution when $k=q^{\ell-1}$. Another construction yields many cycles in larger de Bruijn graphs using cycles from smaller de Bruijn graphs: if $\text{dB}(q,\ell)$ can be partitioned into $k$-cycles, then $\text{dB}(q,\ell)$ can be partitioned into $tk$-cycles for any divisor $t$ of $k$. The methods used are based on finite field algebra and the combinatorics of words.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Discrete Applied Mathematic