Volume of Hypercubes Clipped by Hyperplanes and Combinatorial Identities

There was an elegant expression for the volume of hypercube $[0,1]^n$ clipped by a hyperplane. We generalize the formula to the case of more than one hyperplane. Furthermore we derive several combinatorial identities from the volume expressions of clipped hypercubes

Two Approaches to Sidorenko's Conjecture

Sidorenko's conjecture states that for every bipartite graph $H$ on $\{1,\cdots,k\}$, $\int \prod_{(i,j)\in E(H)} h(x_i, y_j) d\mu^{|V(H)|} \ge \left( \int h(x,y) \,d\mu^2 \right)^{|E(H)|}$ holds, where $\mu$ is the Lebesgue measure on $[0,1]$ and $h$ is a bounded, non-negative, symmetric, measurable function on $[0,1]^2$. An equivalent discrete form of the conjecture is that the number of homomorphisms from a bipartite graph $H$ to a graph $G$ is asymptotically at least the expected number of homomorphisms from $H$ to the Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi random graph with the same expected edge density as $G$. In this paper, we present two approaches to the conjecture. First, we introduce the notion of tree-arrangeability, where a bipartite graph $H$ with bipartition $A \cup B$ is tree-arrangeable if neighborhoods of vertices in $A$ have a certain tree-like structure. We show that Sidorenko's conjecture holds for all tree-arrangeable bipartite graphs. In particular, this implies that Sidorenko's conjecture holds if there are two vertices $a_1, a_2$ in $A$ such that each vertex $a \in A$ satisfies $N(a) \subseteq N(a_1)$ or $N(a) \subseteq N(a_2)$, and also implies a recent result of Conlon, Fox, and Sudakov \cite{CoFoSu}. Second, if $T$ is a tree and $H$ is a bipartite graph satisfying Sidorenko's conjecture, then it is shown that the Cartesian product $T \Box H$ of $T$ and $H$ also satisfies Sidorenko's conjecture. This result implies that, for all $d \ge 2$, the $d$-dimensional grid with arbitrary side lengths satisfies Sidorenko's conjecture.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

On the central levels problem

The \emph{central levels problem} asserts that the subgraph of the $(2m+1)$-dimensional hypercube induced by all bitstrings with at least $m+1-\ell$ many 1s and at most $m+\ell$ many 1s, i.e., the vertices in the middle $2\ell$ levels, has a Hamilton cycle for any $m\geq 1$ and $1\le \ell\le m+1$. This problem was raised independently by Buck and Wiedemann, Savage, Gregor and {\v{S}}krekovski, and by Shen and Williams, and it is a common generalization of the well-known \emph{middle levels problem}, namely the case $\ell=1$, and classical binary Gray codes, namely the case $\ell=m+1$. In this paper we present a general constructive solution of the central levels problem. Our results also imply the existence of optimal cycles through any sequence of $\ell$ consecutive levels in the $n$-dimensional hypercube for any $n\ge 1$ and $1\le \ell \le n+1$. Moreover, extending an earlier construction by Streib and Trotter, we construct a Hamilton cycle through the $n$-dimensional hypercube, $n\geq 2$, that contains the symmetric chain decomposition constructed by Greene and Kleitman in the 1970s, and we provide a loopless algorithm for computing the corresponding Gray code

Resonating singlet valence plaquettes

We consider the simplest generalizations of the valence bond physics of SU(2) singlets to SU(N) singlets that comprise objects with N sites -- these are SU(N) singlet plaquettes with N=3 and N=4 in three spatial dimensions. Specifically, we search for a quantum mechanical liquid of such objects -- a resonating singlet valence plaquette phase that generalizes the celebrated resonating valence bond phase for SU(2) spins. We extend the Rokhsar-Kivelson construction of the quantum dimer model to the simplest SU(4) model for valence plaquette dynamics on a cubic lattice. The phase diagram of the resulting quantum plaquette model is analyzed both analytically and numerically. We find that the ground state is solid everywhere, including at the Rokhsar-Kivelson point where the ground state is an equal amplitude sum. By contrast, the equal amplitude sum of SU(3) singlet triangular plaquettes on the face centered cubic lattice is liquid and thus a candidate for describing a resonating single valence plaquette phase, given a suitably defined local Hamiltonian.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, minor changes, references added, Phys Rev B versio

Tight upper bound on the maximum anti-forcing numbers of graphs

Let $G$ be a simple graph with a perfect matching. Deng and Zhang showed that the maximum anti-forcing number of $G$ is no more than the cyclomatic number. In this paper, we get a novel upper bound on the maximum anti-forcing number of $G$ and investigate the extremal graphs. If $G$ has a perfect matching $M$ whose anti-forcing number attains this upper bound, then we say $G$ is an extremal graph and $M$ is a nice perfect matching. We obtain an equivalent condition for the nice perfect matchings of $G$ and establish a one-to-one correspondence between the nice perfect matchings and the edge-involutions of $G$, which are the automorphisms $\alpha$ of order two such that $v$ and $\alpha(v)$ are adjacent for every vertex $v$. We demonstrate that all extremal graphs can be constructed from $K_2$ by implementing two expansion operations, and $G$ is extremal if and only if one factor in a Cartesian decomposition of $G$ is extremal. As examples, we have that all perfect matchings of the complete graph $K_{2n}$ and the complete bipartite graph $K_{n, n}$ are nice. Also we show that the hypercube $Q_n$, the folded hypercube $FQ_n$ ($n\geq4$) and the enhanced hypercube $Q_{n, k}$ ($0\leq k\leq n-4$) have exactly $n$, $n+1$ and $n+1$ nice perfect matchings respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure