Quantum communication complexity of symmetric predicates

We completely (that is, up to a logarithmic factor) characterize the bounded-error quantum communication complexity of every predicate $f(x,y)$ depending only on $|x\cap y|$ ($x,y\subseteq [n]$). Namely, for a predicate $D$ on $\{0,1,...,n\}$ let \ell_0(D)\df \max\{\ell : 1\leq\ell\leq n/2\land D(\ell)\not\equiv D(\ell-1)\} and \ell_1(D)\df \max\{n-\ell : n/2\leq\ell < n\land D(\ell)\not\equiv D(\ell+1)\}. Then the bounded-error quantum communication complexity of $f_D(x,y) = D(|x\cap y|)$ is equal (again, up to a logarithmic factor) to $\sqrt{n\ell_0(D)}+\ell_1(D)$. In particular, the complexity of the set disjointness predicate is $\Omega(\sqrt n)$. This result holds both in the model with prior entanglement and without it.Comment: 20 page

On the Fon-der-Flaass Interpretation of Extremal Examples for Turan's (3,4)-problem

In 1941, Turan conjectured that the edge density of any 3-graph without independent sets on 4 vertices (Turan (3,4)-graph) is >= 4/9(1-o(1)), and he gave the first example witnessing this bound. Brown (1983) and Kostochka (1982) found many other examples of this density. Fon-der-Flaass (1988) presented a general construction that converts an arbitrary $\vec C_4$-free orgraph $\Gamma$ into a Turan (3,4)-graph. He observed that all Turan-Brown-Kostochka examples result from his construction, and proved the bound >= 3/7(1-o(1)) on the edge density of any Turan (3,4)-graph obtainable in this way. In this paper we establish the optimal bound 4/9(1-o(1)) on the edge density of any Turan (3,4)-graph resulting from the Fon-der-Flaass construction under any of the following assumptions on the undirected graph $G$ underlying the orgraph $\Gamma$: 1. $G$ is complete multipartite; 2. The edge density of $G$ is >= (2/3-epsilon) for some absolute constant epsilon>0. We are also able to improve Fon-der-Flaass's bound to 7/16(1-o(1)) without any extra assumptions on $\Gamma$

Diameter of Polyhedra: Limits of Abstraction

We investigate the diameter of a natural abstraction of the $1$-skeleton of polyhedra. Even if this abstraction is more general than other abstractions previously studied in the literature, known upper bounds on the diameter of polyhedra continue to hold here. On the other hand, we show that this abstraction has its limits by providing an almost quadratic lower bound

On the Number of Pentagons in Triangle-Free Graphs

Using the formalism of flag algebras, we prove that every triangle-free graph $G$ with $n$ vertices contains at most $(n/5)^5$ cycles of length five. Moreover, the equality is attained only when $n$ is divisible by five and $G$ is the balanced blow-up of the pentagon. We also compute the maximal number of pentagons and characterize extremal graphs in the non-divisible case provided $n$ is sufficiently large. This settles a conjecture made by Erd\H{o}s in 1984.Comment: 16 pages, accepted to Journal of Combinatorial Theory Ser.