More Like this

1. On a Traveling Salesman Problem for Points in the Unit Cube

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-024-01257-w  

   Balogh, József; Clemen, Felix Christian; Dumitrescu, Adrian (September 2024, Algorithmica)

   Abstract LetXbe ann-element point set in thek-dimensional unit cube$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$where$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. According to an old result of Bollobás and Meir (Oper Res Lett 11:19–21, 1992) , there exists a cycle (tour)$$x_1, x_2, \ldots , x_n$$ $x_1,x_2,\dots ,x_n$through thenpoints, such that$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} \le c_k$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}\le c_k$, where$$|x-y|$$ $|x-y|$is the Euclidean distance betweenxandy, and$$c_k$$ $c_k$is an absolute constant that depends only onk, where$$x_{n+1} \equiv x_1$$ $x_{n+1}\equiv x_1$. From the other direction, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$and$$n \ge 2$$ $n\ge 2$, there existnpoints in$$[0,1]^k$$ ${[0,1]}^k$, such that their shortest tour satisfies$$\left( \sum _{i=1}^n |x_i - x_{i+1}|^k \right) ^{1/k} = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ ${\left({\sum }_{i=1}^n,{|x_i-x_{i+1}|}^k\right)}^{1/k}=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$. For the plane, the best constant is$$c_2=2$$ $c_2=2$and this is the only exact value known. Bollobás and Meir showed that one can take$$c_k = 9 \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=9{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$for every$$k \ge 3$$ $k\ge 3$and conjectured that the best constant is$$c_k = 2^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=2^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$, for every$$k \ge 2$$ $k\ge 2$. Here we significantly improve the upper bound and show that one can take$$c_k = 3 \sqrt{5} \left( \frac{2}{3} \right) ^{1/k} \cdot \sqrt{k}$$ $c_k=3\sqrt{5}{\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)}^{1/k}·\sqrt{k}$or$$c_k = 2.91 \sqrt{k} \ (1+o_k(1))$$ $c_k=2.91\sqrt{k}(1+o_k\left(1\right))$. Our bounds are constructive. We also show that$$c_3 \ge 2^{7/6}$$ $c_3\ge 2^{7/6}$, which disproves the conjecture for$$k=3$$ $k=3$. Connections to matching problems, power assignment problems, related problems, including algorithms, are discussed in this context. A slightly revised version of the Bollobás–Meir conjecture is proposed. 

   more » « less
2. L-Systems and the Lovász Number

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00493-025-00136-4  

   Linz, William (April 2025, Combinatorica)

   Abstract Given integers$$n> k > 0$$ $n>k>0$, and a set of integers$$L \subset [0, k-1]$$ $L\subset [0,k-1]$, anL-systemis a family of sets$$\mathcal {F}\subset \left( {\begin{array}{c}[n]\\ k\end{array}}\right) $$ $F\subset \left(\begin{array}{c}\left[n\right]\\ k\end{array}\right)$such that$$|F \cap F'| \in L$$ $|F\cap F^{\prime }|\in L$for distinct$$F, F'\in \mathcal {F}$$ $F,F^{\prime }\in F$.L-systems correspond to independent sets in a certain generalized Johnson graphG(n, k, L), so that the maximum size of anL-system is equivalent to finding the independence number of the graphG(n, k, L). TheLovász number$$\vartheta (G)$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)$is a semidefinite programming approximation of the independence number$$\alpha $$ $\alpha$of a graphG. In this paper, we determine the leading order term of$$\vartheta (G(n, k, L))$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right(n,k,L\left)\right)$of any generalized Johnson graph withkandLfixed and$$n\rightarrow \infty $$ $n\to \infty$. As an application of this theorem, we give an explicit construction of a graphGonnvertices with a large gap between the Lovász number and the Shannon capacityc(G). Specifically, we prove that for any$$\epsilon > 0$$ $ϵ>0$, for infinitely manynthere is a generalized Johnson graphGonnvertices which has ratio$$\vartheta (G)/c(G) = \Omega (n^{1-\epsilon })$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)/c\left(G\right)=\Omega \left(n^{1-ϵ}\right)$, which improves on all known constructions. The graphGa fortiorialso has ratio$$\vartheta (G)/\alpha (G) = \Omega (n^{1-\epsilon })$$ $\vartheta \left(G\right)/\alpha \left(G\right)=\Omega \left(n^{1-ϵ}\right)$, which greatly improves on the best known explicit construction. 

   more » « less
3. Block mapping class groups and their finiteness properties

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10711-025-00985-9  

   Aramayona, J; Aroca, J; Cumplido, M; Skipper, R; Wu, X (April 2025, Geometriae Dedicata)

   Abstract Given$$g \in \mathbb N \cup \{0, \infty \}$$ $g\in N\cup \{0,\infty \}$, let$$\Sigma _g$$ ${\Sigma }_g$denote the closed surface of genusgwith a Cantor set removed, if$$g<\infty $$ $g<\infty$; or the blooming Cantor tree, when$$g= \infty $$ $g=\infty$. We construct a family$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$of subgroups of$${{\,\textrm{Map}\,}}(\Sigma _g)$$ $\text{Map}\left({\Sigma }_g\right)$whose elements preserve ablock decompositionof$$\Sigma _g$$ ${\Sigma }_g$, andeventually like actlike an element ofH, whereHis a prescribed subgroup of the mapping class group of the block. The group$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$surjects onto an appropriate symmetric Thompson group of Farley–Hughes; in particular, it answers positively. Our main result asserts that$$\mathfrak B(H)$$ $B\left(H\right)$is of type$$F_n$$ $F_n$if and only ifHis. As a consequence, for every$$g\in \mathbb N \cup \{0, \infty \}$$ $g\in N\cup \{0,\infty \}$and every$$n\ge 1$$ $n\ge 1$, we construct a subgroup$$G <{{\,\textrm{Map}\,}}(\Sigma _g)$$ $G<\text{Map}\left({\Sigma }_g\right)$that is of type$$F_n$$ $F_n$but not of type$$F_{n+1}$$ $F_{n+1}$, and which contains the mapping class group of every compact surface of genus$$\le g$$ $\le g$and with non-empty boundary. 

   more » « less
4. Ramanujan’s partition generating functions modulo $$\ell $$

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11139-025-01241-0  

   Bringmann, Kathrin; Craig, William; Ono, Ken (November 2025, The Ramanujan Journal)

   Abstract For the partition functionp(n), Ramanujan proved the striking identities$$\begin{aligned} \begin{aligned} \mathcal {P}_5(q):=\sum _{n\ge 0} p(5n+4)q^n&=5\prod _{n\ge 1} \frac{\left( q^5;q^5\right) _{\infty }^5}{(q;q)_{\infty }^6},\\ \mathcal {P}_{7}(q):=\sum _{n\ge 0} p(7n+5)q^n&=7\prod _{n\ge 1}\frac{\left( q^7;q^7\right) _{\infty }^3}{(q;q)_{\infty }^4}+49q \prod _{n\ge 1}\frac{\left( q^7;q^7\right) _{\infty }^7}{(q;q)_{\infty }^8}, \end{aligned} \end{aligned}$$ $\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{cc}{P}_5\left(q\right):=\sum _{n\ge 0}p(5n+4)q^n& =5\prod _{n\ge 1}\frac{{\left(q^5,;,q^5\right)}_{\infty }^5}{{(q;q)}_{\infty }^6},\\ P_7\left(q\right):=\sum _{n\ge 0}p(7n+5)q^n& =7\prod _{n\ge 1}\frac{{\left(q^7,;,q^7\right)}_{\infty }^3}{{(q;q)}_{\infty }^4}+49q\prod _{n\ge 1}\frac{{\left(q^7,;,q^7\right)}_{\infty }^7}{{(q;q)}_{\infty }^8},\end{array}\end{array}$where$$(q;q)_{\infty }:=\prod _{n\ge 1}(1-q^n).$$ ${(q;q)}_{\infty }:={\prod }_{n\ge 1}(1-q^n).$As these identities imply his celebrated congruences modulo 5 and 7, it is natural to seek, for primes$$\ell \ge 5,$$ $\ell \ge 5,$closed form expressions of the power series$$ \mathcal {P}_{\ell }(q):=\sum _{n\ge 0} p(\ell n-\delta _{\ell })q^n\pmod {\ell }, $$ $P_{\ell }\left(q\right):=\sum _{n\ge 0}p(\ell n-{\delta }_{\ell })q^n(mod\ell ),$where$$\delta _{\ell }:=\frac{\ell ^2-1}{24}.$$ ${\delta }_{\ell }:=\frac{{\ell }^2-1}{24}.$In this paper, we prove that$$ \mathcal {P}_{\ell }(q)\equiv c_{\ell } \dfrac{\mathcal {T}_{\ell }(q)}{\left( q^\ell ; q^\ell \right) _\infty } \pmod {\ell }, $$ $P_{\ell }\left(q\right)\equiv c_{\ell }\frac{T_{\ell }\left(q\right)}{{\left(q^{\ell },;,q^{\ell }\right)}_{\infty }}(mod\ell ),$where$$c_{\ell }\in \mathbb Z$$ $c_{\ell }\in Z$is explicit and$${\mathcal {T}}_{\ell }(q)$$ $T_{\ell }\left(q\right)$is the generating function for the Hecke traces of$$\ell $$ $\ell$-ramified values of special Dirichlet series for weight$$\ell -1$$ $\ell -1$cusp forms on$$\textrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)$$ ${\text{SL}}_2\left(Z\right)$. This is a new proof of Ramanujan’s congruences modulo 5, 7, and 11, as there are no nontrivial cusp forms of weight 4, 6, and 10. 

   more » « less
5. Packing edge disjoint cliques in graphs

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00493-025-00184-w  

   Balogh, József; Wigal, Michael C (October 2025, Combinatorica)

   Abstract Let$$r \ge 3$$ $r\ge 3$be fixed andGbe ann-vertex graph. A long-standing conjecture of Győri states that if$$e(G) = t_{r-1}(n) + k$$ $e\left(G\right)=t_{r-1}\left(n\right)+k$, where$$t_{r-1}(n)$$ $t_{r-1}\left(n\right)$denotes the number of edges of the Turán graph onnvertices and$$r - 1$$ $r-1$parts, thenGhas at least$$(2 - o(1))k/r$$ $(2-o(1\left)\right)k/r$edge disjointr-cliques. We prove this conjecture. 

   more » « less