Efficient Removal Lemmas for Matrices

The authors and Fischer recently proved that any hereditary property of two-dimensional matrices (where the row and column order is not ignored) over a finite alphabet is testable with a constant number of queries, by establishing an (ordered) matrix removal lemma, which states the following: If a matrix is far from satisfying some hereditary property, then a large enough constant-size random submatrix of it does not satisfy the property with probability at least 9/10. Here being far from the property means that one needs to modify a constant fraction of the entries of the matrix to make it satisfy the property. However, in the above general removal lemma, the required size of the random submatrix grows very fast as a function of the distance of the matrix from satisfying the property. In this work we establish much more efficient removal lemmas for several special cases of the above problem. In particular, we show the following: If an epsilon-fraction of the entries of a binary matrix M can be covered by pairwise-disjoint copies of some (s x t) matrix A, then a delta-fraction of the (s x t)-submatrices of M are equal to A, where delta is polynomial in epsilon. We generalize the work of Alon, Fischer and Newman [SICOMP\u2707] and make progress towards proving one of their conjectures. The proofs combine their efficient conditional regularity lemma for matrices with additional combinatorial and probabilistic ideas

Graph Theory

This workshop focused on recent developments in graph theory. These included in particular recent breakthroughs on nowhere-zero flows in graphs, width parameters, applications of graph sparsity in algorithms, and matroid structure results

Deleting and Testing Forbidden Patterns in Multi-Dimensional Arrays

Understanding the local behaviour of structured multi-dimensional data is a fundamental problem in various areas of computer science. As the amount of data is often huge, it is desirable to obtain sublinear time algorithms, and specifically property testers, to understand local properties of the data. We focus on the natural local problem of testing pattern freeness: given a large $d$-dimensional array $A$ and a fixed $d$-dimensional pattern $P$ over a finite alphabet, we say that $A$ is $P$-free if it does not contain a copy of the forbidden pattern $P$ as a consecutive subarray. The distance of $A$ to $P$-freeness is the fraction of entries of $A$ that need to be modified to make it $P$-free. For any $\epsilon \in [0,1]$ and any large enough pattern $P$ over any alphabet, other than a very small set of exceptional patterns, we design a tolerant tester that distinguishes between the case that the distance is at least $\epsilon$ and the case that it is at most $a_d \epsilon$, with query complexity and running time $c_d \epsilon^{-1}$, where $a_d < 1$ and $c_d$ depend only on $d$. To analyze the testers we establish several combinatorial results, including the following $d$-dimensional modification lemma, which might be of independent interest: for any large enough pattern $P$ over any alphabet (excluding a small set of exceptional patterns for the binary case), and any array $A$ containing a copy of $P$, one can delete this copy by modifying one of its locations without creating new $P$-copies in $A$. Our results address an open question of Fischer and Newman, who asked whether there exist efficient testers for properties related to tight substructures in multi-dimensional structured data. They serve as a first step towards a general understanding of local properties of multi-dimensional arrays, as any such property can be characterized by a fixed family of forbidden patterns

Graph Theory

Graph theory is a rapidly developing area of mathematics. Recent years have seen the development of deep theories, and the increasing importance of methods from other parts of mathematics. The workshop on Graph Theory brought together together a broad range of researchers to discuss some of the major new developments. There were three central themes, each of which has seen striking recent progress: the structure of graphs with forbidden subgraphs; graph minor theory; and applications of the entropy compression method. The workshop featured major talks on current work in these areas, as well as presentations of recent breakthroughs and connections to other areas. There was a particularly exciting selection of longer talks, including presentations on the structure of graphs with forbidden induced subgraphs, embedding simply connected 2-complexes in 3-space, and an announcement of the solution of the well-known Oberwolfach Problem

Combinatorics

This is the report on the Oberwolfach workshop on Combinatorics, held 1–7 January 2006. Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics studying families of mainly, but not exclusively, finite or countable structures – discrete objects. The discrete objects considered in the workshop were graphs, set systems, discrete geometries, and matrices. The programme consisted of 15 invited lectures, 18 contributed talks, and a problem session focusing on recent developments in graph theory, coding theory, discrete geometry, extremal combinatorics, Ramsey theory, theoretical computer science, and probabilistic combinatorics

Combinatorics

Combinatorics is a fundamental mathematical discipline which focuses on the study of discrete objects and their properties. The current workshop brought together researchers from diverse fields such as Extremal and Probabilistic Combinatorics, Discrete Geometry, Graph theory, Combiantorial Optimization and Algebraic Combinatorics for a fruitful interaction. New results, methods and developments and future challenges were discussed. This is a report on the meeting containing abstracts of the presentations and a summary of the problem session

Multicoloured Random Graphs: Constructions and Symmetry

This is a research monograph on constructions of and group actions on countable homogeneous graphs, concentrating particularly on the simple random graph and its edge-coloured variants. We study various aspects of the graphs, but the emphasis is on understanding those groups that are supported by these graphs together with links with other structures such as lattices, topologies and filters, rings and algebras, metric spaces, sets and models, Moufang loops and monoids. The large amount of background material included serves as an introduction to the theories that are used to produce the new results. The large number of references should help in making this a resource for anyone interested in beginning research in this or allied fields.Comment: Index added in v2. This is the first of 3 documents; the other 2 will appear in physic