Tiling, spectrality and aperiodicity of connected sets

Let $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be a set of finite measure. The periodic tiling conjecture suggests that if $\Omega$ tiles $\mathbb{R}^d$ by translations then it admits at least one periodic tiling. Fuglede's conjecture suggests that $\Omega$ admits an orthogonal basis of exponential functions if and only if it tiles $\mathbb{R}^d$ by translations. Both conjectures are known to be false in sufficiently high dimensions, with all the so-far-known counterexamples being highly disconnected. On the other hand, both conjectures are known to be true for convex sets. In this work we study these conjectures for connected sets. We show that the periodic tiling conjecture, as well as both directions of Fuglede's conjecture are false for connected sets in sufficiently high dimensions.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

Tutte's 5-Flow Conjecture for Highly Cyclically Connected Cubic Graphs

In 1954, Tutte conjectured that every bridgeless graph has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. Let $\omega$ be the minimum number of odd cycles in a 2-factor of a bridgeless cubic graph. Tutte's conjecture is equivalent to its restriction to cubic graphs with $\omega \geq 2$. We show that if a cubic graph $G$ has no edge cut with fewer than ${5/2} \omega - 1$ edges that separates two odd cycles of a minimum 2-factor of $G$, then $G$ has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. This implies that if a cubic graph $G$ is cyclically $n$-edge connected and $n \geq {5/2} \omega - 1$, then $G$ has a nowhere-zero 5-flow

On a conjecture of Brouwer involving the connectivity of strongly regular graphs

In this paper, we study a conjecture of Andries E. Brouwer from 1996 regarding the minimum number of vertices of a strongly regular graph whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components. We show that strongly regular graphs constructed from copolar spaces and from the more general spaces called $\Delta$-spaces are counterexamples to Brouwer's Conjecture. Using J.I. Hall's characterization of finite reduced copolar spaces, we find that the triangular graphs $T(m)$, the symplectic graphs $Sp(2r,q)$ over the field $\mathbb{F}_q$ (for any $q$ prime power), and the strongly regular graphs constructed from the hyperbolic quadrics $O^{+}(2r,2)$ and from the elliptic quadrics $O^{-}(2r,2)$ over the field $\mathbb{F}_2$, respectively, are counterexamples to Brouwer's Conjecture. For each of these graphs, we determine precisely the minimum number of vertices whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components. While we are not aware of an analogue of Hall's characterization theorem for $\Delta$-spaces, we show that complements of the point graphs of certain finite generalized quadrangles are point graphs of $\Delta$-spaces and thus, yield other counterexamples to Brouwer's Conjecture. We prove that Brouwer's Conjecture is true for many families of strongly regular graphs including the conference graphs, the generalized quadrangles $GQ(q,q)$ graphs, the lattice graphs, the Latin square graphs, the strongly regular graphs with smallest eigenvalue -2 (except the triangular graphs) and the primitive strongly regular graphs with at most 30 vertices except for few cases. We leave as an open problem determining the best general lower bound for the minimum size of a disconnecting set of vertices of a strongly regular graph, whose removal disconnects the graph into non-singleton components.Comment: 25 pages, 1 table; accepted to JCTA; revised version contains a new section on copolar and Delta space

Constructing highly arc transitive digraphs using a layerwise direct product

We introduce a construction of highly arc transitive digraphs using a layerwise direct product. This product generalizes some known classes of highly arc transitive digraphs but also allows to construct new such. We use the product to obtain counterexamples to a conjecture by Cameron, Praeger and Wormald on the structure of certain highly arc transitive digraphs.Comment: 16 page

Concordance of Zp×ZpZ_p\times\Z_p actions on S4S^4

We consider locally linear Z_p x Z_p actions on the four-sphere. We present simple constructions of interesting examples, and then prove that a given action is concordant to its linear model if and only if a single surgery obstruction taking to form of an Arf invariant vanishes. We discuss the behavior of this invariant under various connected-sum operations, and conclude with a brief discussion of the existence of actions which are not concordant to their linear models