Partitioning edge-coloured complete graphs into monochromatic cycles and paths

A conjecture of Erd\H{o}s, Gy\'arf\'as, and Pyber says that in any edge-colouring of a complete graph with r colours, it is possible to cover all the vertices with r vertex-disjoint monochromatic cycles. So far, this conjecture has been proven only for r = 2. In this paper we show that in fact this conjecture is false for all r > 2. In contrast to this, we show that in any edge-colouring of a complete graph with three colours, it is possible to cover all the vertices with three vertex-disjoint monochromatic paths, proving a particular case of a conjecture due to Gy\'arf\'as. As an intermediate result we show that in any edge-colouring of the complete graph with the colours red and blue, it is possible to cover all the vertices with a red path, and a disjoint blue balanced complete bipartite graph.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure

Large Cross-free sets in Steiner triple systems

A {\em cross-free} set of size $m$ in a Steiner triple system $(V,{\cal{B}})$ is three pairwise disjoint $m$-element subsets $X_1,X_2,X_3\subset V$ such that no $B\in {\cal{B}}$ intersects all the three $X_i$-s. We conjecture that for every admissible $n$ there is an STS$(n)$ with a cross-free set of size $\lfloor{n-3\over 3}\rfloor$ which if true, is best possible. We prove this conjecture for the case $n=18k+3$, constructing an STS$(18k+3)$ containing a cross-free set of size $6k$. We note that some of the $3$-bichromatic STSs, constructed by Colbourn, Dinitz and Rosa, have cross-free sets of size close to $6k$ (but cannot have size exactly $6k$). The constructed STS$(18k+3)$ shows that equality is possible for $n=18k+3$ in the following result: in every $3$-coloring of the blocks of any Steiner triple system STS$(n)$ there is a monochromatic connected component of size at least $\lceil{2n\over 3}\rceil+1$ (we conjecture that equality holds for every admissible $n$). The analogue problem can be asked for $r$-colorings as well, if r-1 \equiv 1,3 \mbox{ (mod 6)} and $r-1$ is a prime power, we show that the answer is the same as in case of complete graphs: in every $r$-coloring of the blocks of any STS$(n)$, there is a monochromatic connected component with at least ${n\over r-1}$ points, and this is sharp for infinitely many $n$.Comment: Journal of Combinatorial Designs, 201

Problems and memories

I state some open problems coming from joint work with Paul Erd\H{o}sComment: This is a paper form of the talk I gave on July 5, 2013 at the centennial conference in Budapest to honor Paul Erd\H{o}

Covering complete partite hypergraphs by monochromatic components

A well-known special case of a conjecture attributed to Ryser states that k-partite intersecting hypergraphs have transversals of at most k-1 vertices. An equivalent form was formulated by Gy\'arf\'as: if the edges of a complete graph K are colored with k colors then the vertex set of K can be covered by at most k-1 sets, each connected in some color. It turned out that the analogue of the conjecture for hypergraphs can be answered: Z. Kir\'aly proved that in every k-coloring of the edges of the r-uniform complete hypergraph K^r (r >= 3), the vertex set of K^r can be covered by at most $\lceil k/r \rceil$ sets, each connected in some color. Here we investigate the analogue problem for complete r-uniform r-partite hypergraphs. An edge coloring of a hypergraph is called spanning if every vertex is incident to edges of any color used in the coloring. We propose the following analogue of Ryser conjecture. In every spanning (r+t)-coloring of the edges of a complete r-uniform r-partite hypergraph, the vertex set can be covered by at most t+1 sets, each connected in some color. Our main result is that the conjecture is true for 1 <= t <= r-1. We also prove a slightly weaker result for t >= r, namely that t+2 sets, each connected in some color, are enough to cover the vertex set. To build a bridge between complete r-uniform and complete r-uniform r-partite hypergraphs, we introduce a new notion. A hypergraph is complete r-uniform (r,l)-partite if it has all r-sets that intersect each partite class in at most l vertices. Extending our results achieved for l=1, we prove that for any r >= 3, 2 <= l = 1+r-l, in every spanning k-coloring of the edges of a complete r-uniform (r,l)-partite hypergraph, the vertex set can be covered by at most 1+\lfloor \frac{k-r+\ell-1}{\ell}\rfloor sets, each connected in some color.Comment: 14 page

Rainbow matchings in bipartite multigraphs

Suppose that $k$ is a non-negative integer and a bipartite multigraph $G$ is the union of $$N=\left\lfloor \frac{k+2}{k+1}n\right\rfloor -(k+1)$$ matchings $M_1,\dots,M_N$, each of size $n$. We show that $G$ has a rainbow matching of size $n-k$, i.e. a matching of size $n-k$ with all edges coming from different $M_i$'s. Several choices of parameters relate to known results and conjectures

On Directed Feedback Vertex Set parameterized by treewidth

We study the Directed Feedback Vertex Set problem parameterized by the treewidth of the input graph. We prove that unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails, the problem cannot be solved in time $2^{o(t\log t)}\cdot n^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$ on general directed graphs, where $t$ is the treewidth of the underlying undirected graph. This is matched by a dynamic programming algorithm with running time $2^{\mathcal{O}(t\log t)}\cdot n^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$. On the other hand, we show that if the input digraph is planar, then the running time can be improved to $2^{\mathcal{O}(t)}\cdot n^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$.Comment: 20