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Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science |
Vol. 19 no. 3
1. Inkdots as advice for finite automata
We examine inkdots placed on the input string as a way of providing advice to finite automata, and establish the relations between this model and the previously studied models of advised finite automata. The existence of an infinite hierarchy of classes of languages that can be recognized with the help of increasing numbers of inkdots as advice is shown. The effects of different forms of advice on the succinctness of the advised machines are examined. We also study randomly placed inkdots as advice to probabilistic finite automata, and demonstrate the superiority of this model over its deterministic version. Even very slowly growing amounts of space can become a resource of meaningful use if the underlying advised model is extended with access to secondary memory, while it is famously known that such small amounts of space are not useful for unadvised one-way Turing machines.
Section:
Automata, Logic and Semantics
2. Tight Euler tours in uniform hypergraphs - computational aspects
By a tight tour in a $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ we mean any sequence of its vertices $(w_0,w_1,\ldots,w_{s-1})$ such that for all $i=0,\ldots,s-1$ the set $e_i=\{w_i,w_{i+1}\ldots,w_{i+k-1}\}$ is an edge of $H$ (where operations on indices are computed modulo $s$) and the sets $e_i$ for $i=0,\ldots,s-1$ are pairwise different. A tight tour in $H$ is a tight Euler tour if it contains all edges of $H$. We prove that the problem of deciding if a given $3$-uniform hypergraph has a tight Euler tour is NP-complete, and that it cannot be solved in time $2^{o(m)}$ (where $m$ is the number of edges in the input hypergraph), unless the ETH fails. We also present an exact exponential algorithm for the problem, whose time complexity matches this lower bound, and the space complexity is polynomial. In fact, this algorithm solves a more general problem of computing the number of tight Euler tours in a given uniform hypergraph.
Section:
Analysis of Algorithms
3. Stammering tableaux
The PASEP (Partially Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process) is a probabilistic model of moving particles, which is of great interest in combinatorics, since it appeared that its partition function counts some tableaux. These tableaux have several variants such as permutations tableaux, alternative tableaux, tree- like tableaux, Dyck tableaux, etc. We introduce in this context certain excursions in Young's lattice, that we call stammering tableaux (by analogy with oscillating tableaux, vacillating tableaux, hesitating tableaux). Some natural bijections make a link with rook placements in a double staircase, chains of Dyck paths obtained by successive addition of ribbons, Laguerre histories, Dyck tableaux, etc.
Section:
Combinatorics
4. Post-surjectivity and balancedness of cellular automata over groups
We discuss cellular automata over arbitrary finitely generated groups. We call a cellular automaton post-surjective if for any pair of asymptotic configurations, every pre-image of one is asymptotic to a pre-image of the other. The well known dual concept is pre-injectivity: a cellular automaton is pre-injective if distinct asymptotic configurations have distinct images. We prove that pre-injective, post-surjective cellular automata are reversible. Moreover, on sofic groups, post-surjectivity alone implies reversibility. We also prove that reversible cellular automata over arbitrary groups are balanced, that is, they preserve the uniform measure on the configuration space.
Section:
Automata, Logic and Semantics
5. Irreversible 2-conversion set in graphs of bounded degree
An irreversible $k$-threshold process (also a $k$-neighbor bootstrap percolation) is a dynamic process on a graph where vertices change color from white to black if they have at least $k$ black neighbors. An irreversible $k$-conversion set of a graph $G$ is a subset $S$ of vertices of $G$ such that the irreversible $k$-threshold process starting with $S$ black eventually changes all vertices of $G$ to black. We show that deciding the existence of an irreversible 2-conversion set of a given size is NP-complete, even for graphs of maximum degree 4, which answers a question of Dreyer and Roberts. Conversely, we show that for graphs of maximum degree 3, the minimum size of an irreversible 2-conversion set can be computed in polynomial time. Moreover, we find an optimal irreversible 3-conversion set for the toroidal grid, simplifying constructions of Pike and Zou.
Section:
Graph Theory
6. Refined Enumeration of Corners in Tree-like Tableaux
Tree-like tableaux are certain fillings of Ferrers diagrams originally introduced by Aval et al., which are in simple bijections with permutation tableaux coming from Postnikov's study of totally nonnegative Grassmanian and alternative tableaux introduced by Viennot. In this paper, we confirm two conjectures of Gao et al. on the refined enumeration of non-occupied corners in tree-like tableaux and symmetric tree-like tableaux via intermediate structures of alternative tableaux, linked partitions, type $B$ alternative tableaux and type $B$ linked partitions.
Section:
Combinatorics
7. On path-cycle decompositions of triangle-free graphs
In this work, we study conditions for the existence of length-constrained path-cycle decompositions, that is, partitions of the edge set of a graph into paths and cycles of a given minimum length. Our main contribution is the characterization of the class of all triangle-free graphs with odd distance at least $3$ that admit a path-cycle decomposition with elements of length at least $4$. As a consequence, it follows that Gallai's conjecture on path decomposition holds in a broad class of sparse graphs.
Section:
Graph Theory
8. Circular Separation Dimension of a Subclass of Planar Graphs
A pair of non-adjacent edges is said to be separated in a circular ordering of vertices, if the endpoints of the two edges do not alternate in the ordering. The circular separation dimension of a graph $G$, denoted by $\pi^\circ(G)$, is the minimum number of circular orderings of the vertices of $G$ such that every pair of non-adjacent edges is separated in at least one of the circular orderings. This notion is introduced by Loeb and West in their recent paper. In this article, we consider two subclasses of planar graphs, namely $2$-outerplanar graphs and series-parallel graphs. A $2$-outerplanar graph has a planar embedding such that the subgraph obtained by removal of the vertices of the exterior face is outerplanar. We prove that if $G$ is $2$-outerplanar then $\pi^\circ(G) = 2$. We also prove that if $G$ is a series-parallel graph then $\pi^\circ(G) \leq 2$.
Section:
Graph Theory
9. Tight upper bound on the maximum anti-forcing numbers of graphs
Let $G$ be a simple graph with a perfect matching. Deng and Zhang showed that the maximum anti-forcing number of $G$ is no more than the cyclomatic number. In this paper, we get a novel upper bound on the maximum anti-forcing number of $G$ and investigate the extremal graphs. If $G$ has a perfect matching $M$ whose anti-forcing number attains this upper bound, then we say $G$ is an extremal graph and $M$ is a nice perfect matching. We obtain an equivalent condition for the nice perfect matchings of $G$ and establish a one-to-one correspondence between the nice perfect matchings and the edge-involutions of $G$, which are the automorphisms $\alpha$ of order two such that $v$ and $\alpha(v)$ are adjacent for every vertex $v$. We demonstrate that all extremal graphs can be constructed from $K_2$ by implementing two expansion operations, and $G$ is extremal if and only if one factor in a Cartesian decomposition of $G$ is extremal. As examples, we have that all perfect matchings of the complete graph $K_{2n}$ and the complete bipartite graph $K_{n, n}$ are nice. Also we show that the hypercube $Q_n$, the folded hypercube $FQ_n$ ($n\geq4$) and the enhanced hypercube $Q_{n, k}$ ($0\leq k\leq n-4$) have exactly $n$, $n+1$ and $n+1$ nice perfect matchings respectively.
Section:
Graph Theory
10. Binary Codes and Period-2 Orbits of Sequential Dynamical Systems
Let $[K_n,f,\pi]$ be the (global) SDS map of a sequential dynamical system (SDS) defined over the complete graph $K_n$ using the update order $\pi\in S_n$ in which all vertex functions are equal to the same function $f\colon\mathbb F_2^n\to\mathbb F_2^n$. Let $\eta_n$ denote the maximum number of periodic orbits of period $2$ that an SDS map of the form $[K_n,f,\pi]$ can have. We show that $\eta_n$ is equal to the maximum number of codewords in a binary code of length $n-1$ with minimum distance at least $3$. This result is significant because it represents the first interpretation of this fascinating coding-theoretic sequence other than its original definition.
Section:
Combinatorics
11. A sufficient condition for a balanced bipartite digraph to be hamiltonian
We describe a new type of sufficient condition for a balanced bipartite digraph to be hamiltonian. Let $D$ be a balanced bipartite digraph and $x,y$ be distinct vertices in $D$. $\{x, y\}$ dominates a vertex $z$ if $x\rightarrow z$ and $y\rightarrow z$; in this case, we call the pair $\{x, y\}$ dominating. In this paper, we prove that a strong balanced bipartite digraph $D$ on $2a$ vertices contains a hamiltonian cycle if, for every dominating pair of vertices $\{x, y\}$, either $d(x)\ge 2a-1$ and $d(y)\ge a+1$ or $d(x)\ge a+1$ and $d(y)\ge 2a-1$. The lower bound in the result is sharp.
Section:
Graph Theory
12. Witness structures and immediate snapshot complexes
In this paper we introduce and study a new family of combinatorial simplicial complexes, which we call immediate snapshot complexes. Our construction and terminology is strongly motivated by theoretical distributed computing, as these complexes are combinatorial models of the standard protocol complexes associated to immediate snapshot read/write shared memory communication model. In order to define the immediate snapshot complexes we need a new combinatorial object, which we call a witness structure. These objects are indexing the simplices in the immediate snapshot complexes, while a special operation on them, called ghosting, describes the combinatorics of taking simplicial boundary. In general, we develop the theory of witness structures and use it to prove several combinatorial as well as topological properties of the immediate snapshot complexes.
Section:
Distributed Computing and Networking
13. Periodic balanced binary triangles
A binary triangle of size $n$ is a triangle of zeroes and ones, with $n$ rows, built with the same local rule as the standard Pascal triangle modulo $2$. A binary triangle is said to be balanced if the absolute difference between the numbers of zeroes and ones that constitute this triangle is at most $1$. In this paper, the existence of balanced binary triangles of size $n$, for all positive integers $n$, is shown. This is achieved by considering periodic balanced binary triangles, that are balanced binary triangles where each row, column or diagonal is a periodic sequence.
Section:
Combinatorics
14. Self-Stabilizing Disconnected Components Detection and Rooted Shortest-Path Tree Maintenance in Polynomial Steps
We deal with the problem of maintaining a shortest-path tree rooted at some process r in a network that may be disconnected after topological changes. The goal is then to maintain a shortest-path tree rooted at r in its connected component, V_r, and make all processes of other components detecting that r is not part of their connected component. We propose, in the composite atomicity model, a silent self-stabilizing algorithm for this problem working in semi-anonymous networks, where edges have strictly positive weights. This algorithm does not require any a priori knowledge about global parameters of the network. We prove its correctness assuming the distributed unfair daemon, the most general daemon. Its stabilization time in rounds is at most 3nmax+D, where nmax is the maximum number of non-root processes in a connected component and D is the hop-diameter of V_r. Furthermore, if we additionally assume that edge weights are positive integers, then it stabilizes in a polynomial number of steps: namely, we exhibit a bound in O(maxi nmax^3 n), where maxi is the maximum weight of an edge and n is the number of processes.
Section:
Distributed Computing and Networking
15. Parabolic Catalan numbers count flagged Schur functions and their appearances as type A Demazure characters (key polynomials)
Fix an integer partition lambda that has no more than n parts. Let beta be a weakly increasing n-tuple with entries from {1,..,n}. The flagged Schur function indexed by lambda and beta is a polynomial generating function in x_1, .., x_n for certain semistandard tableaux of shape lambda. Let pi be an n-permutation. The type A Demazure character (key polynomial, Demazure polynomial) indexed by lambda and pi is another such polynomial generating function. Reiner and Shimozono and then Postnikov and Stanley studied coincidences between these two families of polynomials. Here their results are sharpened by the specification of unique representatives for the equivalence classes of indexes for both families of polynomials, extended by the consideration of more general beta, and deepened by proving that the polynomial coincidences also hold at the level of the underlying tableau sets. Let R be the set of lengths of columns in the shape of lambda that are less than n. Ordered set partitions of {1,..,n} with block sizes determined by R, called R-permutations, are used to describe the minimal length representatives for the parabolic quotient of the nth symmetric group specified by the set {1,..,n-1}\R. The notion of 312-avoidance is generalized from n-permutations to these set partitions. The R-parabolic Catalan number is defined to be the number of these. Every flagged Schur function arises as a Demazure polynomial. Those Demazure polynomials are precisely indexed by the R-312-avoiding […]
Section:
Combinatorics
16. Three matching intersection property for matching covered graphs
In connection with Fulkerson's conjecture on cycle covers, Fan and Raspaud proposed a weaker conjecture: For every bridgeless cubic graph $G$, there are three perfect matchings $M_1$, $M_2$, and $M_3$ such that $M_1\cap M_2 \cap M_3=\emptyset$. We call the property specified in this conjecture the three matching intersection property (and 3PM property for short). We study this property on matching covered graphs. The main results are a necessary and sufficient condition and its applications to characterization of special graphs, such as the Halin graphs and 4-regular graphs.
Section:
Graph Theory
17. Total Domination, Connected Vertex Cover and Steiner Tree with Conflicts
Total dominating set, connected vertex cover and Steiner tree are well-known graph problems. Despite the fact that they are NP-complete to optimize, it is easy (even trivial) to find solutions, regardless of their size. In this paper, we study a variant of these problems by adding conflicts, that are pairs of vertices that cannot be both in a solution. This new constraint leads to situations where it is NP-complete to decide if there exists a solution avoiding conflicts. This paper proposes NP-completeness proofs of the existence of a solution for different restricted classes of graphs and conflicts, improving recent results. We also propose polynomial time constructions in several restricted cases and we introduce a new parameter, the stretch, to capture the locality of the conflicts.
Section:
Graph Theory