Efficient winning strategies in random-turn Maker-Breaker games

We consider random-turn positional games, introduced by Peres, Schramm, Sheffield and Wilson in 2007. A $p$-random-turn positional game is a two-player game, played the same as an ordinary positional game, except that instead of alternating turns, a coin is being tossed before each turn to decide the identity of the next player to move (the probability of Player I to move is $p$). We analyze the random-turn version of several classical Maker-Breaker games such as the game Box (introduced by Chv\'atal and Erd\H os in 1987), the Hamilton cycle game and the $k$-vertex-connectivity game (both played on the edge set of $K_n$). For each of these games we provide each of the players with a (randomized) efficient strategy which typically ensures his win in the asymptotic order of the minimum value of $p$ for which he typically wins the game, assuming optimal strategies of both players.Comment: 20 page

A Note on the Minimum Number of Edges in Hypergraphs with Property O

An oriented $k$-uniform hypergraph is said to have Property O if for every linear order of the vertex set, there is some edge oriented consistently with the linear order. Recently Duffus, Kay and R\"{o}dl investigated the minimum number $f(k)$ of edges in a $k$-uniform hypergaph with Property O. They proved that $k! \leq f(k) \leq (k^2 \ln k) k!$, where the upper bound holds for $k$ sufficiently large. In this short note we improve their upper bound by a factor of $k \ln k$, showing that $f(k) \le \left(\lfloor \frac{k}{2} \rfloor +1 \right) k! - \lfloor \frac{k}{2} \rfloor (k-1)!$ for every $k\geq 3$. We also show that their lower bound is not tight. Furthermore, Duffus, Kay and R\"{o}dl also studied the minimum number $n(k)$ of vertices in a $k$-uniform hypergaph with Property O. For $k=3$ they showed $n(3) \in \{6,7,8,9\}$, and asked for the precise value of $n(3)$. Here we show $n(3)=6$.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Goldberg's Conjecture is true for random multigraphs

In the 70s, Goldberg, and independently Seymour, conjectured that for any multigraph $G$, the chromatic index $\chi'(G)$ satisfies $\chi'(G)\leq \max \{\Delta(G)+1, \lceil\rho(G)\rceil\}$, where $\rho(G)=\max \{\frac {e(G[S])}{\lfloor |S|/2\rfloor} \mid S\subseteq V \}$. We show that their conjecture (in a stronger form) is true for random multigraphs. Let $M(n,m)$ be the probability space consisting of all loopless multigraphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, in which $m$ pairs from $[n]$ are chosen independently at random with repetitions. Our result states that, for a given $m:=m(n)$, $M\sim M(n,m)$ typically satisfies $\chi'(G)=\max\{\Delta(G),\lceil\rho(G)\rceil\}$. In particular, we show that if $n$ is even and $m:=m(n)$, then $\chi'(M)=\Delta(M)$ for a typical $M\sim M(n,m)$. Furthermore, for a fixed $\varepsilon>0$, if $n$ is odd, then a typical $M\sim M(n,m)$ has $\chi'(M)=\Delta(M)$ for $m\leq (1-\varepsilon)n^3\log n$, and $\chi'(M)=\lceil\rho(M)\rceil$ for $m\geq (1+\varepsilon)n^3\log n$.Comment: 26 page

Packing, counting and covering Hamilton cycles in random directed graphs

A Hamilton cycle in a digraph is a cycle that passes through all the vertices, where all the arcs are oriented in the same direction. The problem of finding Hamilton cycles in directed graphs is well studied and is known to be hard. One of the main reasons for this is that there is no general tool for finding Hamilton cycles in directed graphs comparable to the so-called Posá ‘rotation-extension’ technique for the undirected analogue. Let D(n, p) denote the random digraph on vertex set [n], obtained by adding each directed edge independently with probability p. Here we present a general and a very simple method, using known results, to attack problems of packing and counting Hamilton cycles in random directed graphs, for every edge-probability p > logC(n)/n. Our results are asymptotically optimal with respect to all parameters and apply equally well to the undirected case

Shotgun assembly of random graphs

In the graph shotgun assembly problem, we are given the balls of radius $r$ around each vertex of a graph and asked to reconstruct the graph. We study the shotgun assembly of the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph $\mathcal G(n,p)$ from a wide range of values of $r$. We determine the threshold for reconstructibility for each $r\geq 3$, extending and improving substantially on results of Mossel and Ross for $r=3$. For $r=2$, we give upper and lower bounds that improve on results of Gaudio and Mossel by polynomial factors. We also give a sharpening of a result of Huang and Tikhomirov for $r=1$.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figure