The step Sidorenko property and non-norming edge-transitive graphs

Sidorenko's Conjecture asserts that every bipartite graph H has the Sidorenko property, i.e., a quasirandom graph minimizes the density of H among all graphs with the same edge density. We study a stronger property, which requires that a quasirandom multipartite graph minimizes the density of H among all graphs with the same edge densities between its parts; this property is called the step Sidorenko property. We show that many bipartite graphs fail to have the step Sidorenko property and use our results to show the existence of a bipartite edge-transitive graph that is not weakly norming; this answers a question of Hatami [Israel J. Math. 175 (2010), 125-150].Comment: Minor correction on page

The step Sidorenko property and non-norming edge-transitive graphs

Sidorenko's Conjecture asserts that every bipartite graph H has the Sidorenko property, i.e., a quasirandom graph minimizes the density of H among all graphs with the same edge density. We study a stronger property, which requires that a quasirandom multipartite graph minimizes the density of H among all graphs with the same edge densities between its parts; this property is called the step Sidorenko property. We show that many bipartite graphs fail to have the step Sidorenko property and use our results to show the existence of a bipartite edge-transitive graph that is not weakly norming; this answers a question of Hatami [Israel J. Math. 175 (2010), 125-150]

Cut distance identifying graphon parameters over weak* limits

The theory of graphons comes with the so-called cut norm and the derived cut distance. The cut norm is finer than the weak* topology. Dole\v{z}al and Hladk\'y [Cut-norm and entropy minimization over weak* limits, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 137 (2019), 232-263] showed, that given a sequence of graphons, a cut distance accumulation graphon can be pinpointed in the set of weak* accumulation points as a minimizer of the entropy. Motivated by this, we study graphon parameters with the property that their minimizers or maximizers identify cut distance accumulation points over the set of weak* accumulation points. We call such parameters cut distance identifying. Of particular importance are cut distance identifying parameters coming from subgraph densities, t(H,*). This concept is closely related to the emerging field of graph norms, and the notions of the step Sidorenko property and the step forcing property introduced by Kr\'al, Martins, Pach and Wrochna [The step Sidorenko property and non-norming edge-transitive graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 162 (2019), 34-54]. We prove that a connected graph is weakly norming if and only if it is step Sidorenko, and that if a graph is norming then it is step forcing. Further, we study convexity properties of cut distance identifying graphon parameters, and find a way to identify cut distance limits using spectra of graphons. We also show that continuous cut distance identifying graphon parameters have the "pumping property", and thus can be used in the proof of the the Frieze-Kannan regularity lemma.Comment: 48 pages, 3 figures. Correction when treating disconnected norming graphs, and a new section 3.2 on index pumping in the regularity lemm

Finite reflection groups and graph norms

Given a graph $H$ on vertex set $\{1,2,\cdots, n\}$ and a function $f:[0,1]^2 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, define \begin{align*} \|f\|_{H}:=\left\vert\int \prod_{ij\in E(H)}f(x_i,x_j)d\mu^{|V(H)|}\right\vert^{1/|E(H)|}, \end{align*} where $\mu$ is the Lebesgue measure on $[0,1]$. We say that $H$ is norming if $\|\cdot\|_H$ is a semi-norm. A similar notion $\|\cdot\|_{r(H)}$ is defined by $\|f\|_{r(H)}:=\||f|\|_{H}$ and $H$ is said to be weakly norming if $\|\cdot\|_{r(H)}$ is a norm. Classical results show that weakly norming graphs are necessarily bipartite. In the other direction, Hatami showed that even cycles, complete bipartite graphs, and hypercubes are all weakly norming. We demonstrate that any graph whose edges percolate in an appropriate way under the action of a certain natural family of automorphisms is weakly norming. This result includes all previously known examples of weakly norming graphs, but also allows us to identify a much broader class arising from finite reflection groups. We include several applications of our results. In particular, we define and compare a number of generalisations of Gowers' octahedral norms and we prove some new instances of Sidorenko's conjecture.Comment: 29 page

Left-cut-percolation and induced-Sidorenko bigraphs

A Sidorenko bigraph is one whose density in a bigraphon $W$ is minimized precisely when $W$ is constant. Several techniques of the literature to prove the Sidorenko property consist of decomposing (typically in a tree decomposition) the bigraph into smaller building blocks with stronger properties. One prominent such technique is that of $N$-decompositions of Conlon--Lee, which uses weakly H\"{o}lder (or weakly norming) bigraphs as building blocks. In turn, to obtain weakly H\"{o}lder bigraphs, it is typical to use the chain of implications reflection bigraph $\implies$ cut-percolating bigraph $\implies$ weakly H\"{o}lder bigraph. In an earlier result by the author with Razborov, we provided a generalization of $N$-decompositions, called reflective tree decompositions, that uses much weaker building blocks, called induced-Sidorenko bigraphs, to also obtain Sidorenko bigraphs. In this paper, we show that "left-sided" versions of the concepts of reflection bigraph and cut-percolating bigraph yield a similar chain of implications: left-reflection bigraph $\implies$ left-cut-percolating bigraph $\implies$ induced-Sidorenko bigraph. We also show that under mild hypotheses, the "left-sided" analogue of the weakly H\"{o}lder property (which is also obtained via a similar chain of implications) can be used to improve bounds on another result of Conlon--Lee that roughly says that bigraphs with enough vertices on the right side of each realized degree have the Sidorenko property.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figure

Two Remarks on Graph Norms

For a graph H, its homomorphism density in graphs naturally extends to the space of two-variable symmetric functions W in Lp, p≥e(H), denoted by t(H, W). One may then define corresponding functionals ∥W∥H:=|t(H,W)|1/e(H) and ∥W∥r(H):=t(H,|W|)1/e(H), and say that H is (semi-)norming if ∥⋅∥H is a (semi-)norm and that H is weakly norming if ∥⋅∥r(H) is a norm. We obtain two results that contribute to the theory of (weakly) norming graphs. Firstly, answering a question of Hatami, who estimated the modulus of convexity and smoothness of ∥⋅∥H, we prove that ∥⋅∥r(H) is neither uniformly convex nor uniformly smooth, provided that H is weakly norming. Secondly, we prove that every graph H without isolated vertices is (weakly) norming if and only if each component is an isomorphic copy of a (weakly) norming graph. This strong factorisation result allows us to assume connectivity of H when studying graph norms. In particular, we correct a negligence in the original statement of the aforementioned theorem by Hatami

On graph norms for complex-valued functions

For any given graph $H$, one may define a natural corresponding functional $\|.\|_H$ for real-valued functions by using homomorphism density. One may also extend this to complex-valued functions, once $H$ is paired with a $2$-edge-colouring $\alpha$ to assign conjugates. We say that $H$ is real-norming (resp. complex-norming) if $\|.\|_H$ (resp. $\|.\|_{H,\alpha}$ for some $\alpha$) is a norm on the vector space of real-valued (resp. complex-valued) functions. These generalise the Gowers octahedral norms, a widely used tool in extremal combinatorics to quantify quasirandomness. We unify these two seemingly different notions of graph norms in real- and complex-valued settings. Namely, we prove that $H$ is complex-norming if and only if it is real-norming and simply call the property norming. Our proof does not explicitly construct a suitable $2$-edge-colouring $\alpha$ but obtains its existence and uniqueness, which may be of independent interest. As an application, we give various example graphs that are not norming. In particular, we show that hypercubes are not norming, which resolves the last outstanding problem posed in Hatami's pioneering work on graph norms.Comment: 33 page

Finite reflection groups and graph norms

Given a graph H on vertex set {1, 2, · · · , n} and a function f : [0, 1]2 → R, define kfkH := Z Y ij∈E(H) f(xi , xj )dµ|V (H)| 1/|E(H)| , where µ is the Lebesgue measure on [0, 1]. We say that H is norming if k·kH is a semi-norm. A similar notion k·kr(H) is defined by kfkr(H) := k|f|kH and H is said to be weakly norming if k·kr(H) is a norm. Classical results show that weakly norming graphs are necessarily bipartite. In the other direction, Hatami showed that even cycles, complete bipartite graphs, and hypercubes are all weakly norming. We demonstrate that any graph whose edges percolate in an appropriate way under the action of a certain natural family of automorphisms is weakly norming. This result includes all previously known examples of weakly norming graphs, but also allows us to identify a much broader class arising from finite reflection groups. We include several applications of our results. In particular, we define and compare a number of generalisations of Gowers’ octahedral norms and we prove some new instances of Sidorenko’s conjectur

Theory of combinatorial limits and extremal combinatorics

In the past years, techniques from different areas of mathematics have been successfully applied in extremal combinatorics problems. Examples include applications of number theory, geometry and group theory in Ramsey theory and analytical methods to different problems in extremal combinatorics. By providing an analytic point of view of many discrete problems, the theory of combinatorial limits led to substantial results in many areas of mathematics and computer science, in particular in extremal combinatorics. In this thesis, we explore the connection between combinatorial limits and extremal combinatorics. In particular, we prove that extremal graph theory problemsmay have unique optimal solutions with arbitrarily complex structure, study a property closely related to Sidorenko's conjecture, one of the most important open problems in extremal combinatorics, and prove a 30-year old conjecture of Gyori and Tuza regarding decomposing the edges of a graph into triangles and edges

Sidorenko's conjecture for blow-ups

A celebrated conjecture of Sidorenko and Erdős-Simonovits states that, for all bipartite graphs H, quasirandom graphs contain asymptotically the minimum number of copies of H taken over all graphs with the same order and edge density. This conjecture has attracted considerable interest over the last decade and is now known to hold for a broad range of bipartite graphs, with the overall trend saying that a graph satisfies the conjecture if it can be built from simple building blocks such as trees in a certain recursive fashion. Our contribution here, which goes beyond this paradigm, is to show that the conjecture holds for any bipartite graph H with bipartition A ∪ B where the number of vertices in B of degree k satisfies a certain divisibility condition for each k. As a corollary, we have that for every bipartite graph H with bipartition A ∪ B, there is a positive integer p such that the blow-up H_(A)^(p) formed by taking p vertex-disjoint copies of H and gluing all copies of A along corresponding vertices satisfies the conjecture. Another way of viewing this latter result is that for every bipartite H there is a positive integer p such that an L^(p)-version of Sidorenko's conjecture holds for H