Circular choosability

International audienceWe study circular choosability, a notion recently introduced by Mohar and by Zhu. First, we provide a negative answer to a question of Zhu about circular cliques. We next prove that cch(G) = O(ch(G) + ln |V(G)|) for every graph G. We investigate a generalisation of circular choosability, the circular f-choosability, where f is a function of the degrees. We also consider the circular choice number of planar graphs. Mohar asked for the value of τ := sup {cch(G) : G is planar}, and we prove that 68, thereby providing a negative answer to another question of Mohar. We also study the circular choice number of planar and outerplanar graphs with prescribed girth, and graphs with bounded density

Combinatorial nullstellensatz and its applications

In 1999, Noga Alon proved a theorem, which he called the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, that gives an upper bound to the number of zeros of a multivariate polynomial. The theorem has since seen heavy use in combinatorics, and more specifically in graph theory. In this thesis we will give an overview of the theorem, and of how it has since been applied by various researchers. Finally, we will provide an attempt at a proof utilizing a generalized version of the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz of the GM-MDS Conjecture