We provide new examples of the asymptotic counting for the number of subsets on groups of given size which are free of certain configurations. These examples include sets without solutions to equations in non-abelian groups, and linear configurations in abelian groups defined from group homomorphisms. The results are obtained by combining the methodology of hypergraph containers joint with arithmetic removal lemmas. As a consequence, random counterparts are presented as well.
We consider the following counting problem related to the card game SET: How many $k$-element SET-free sets are there in an $n$-dimensional SET deck? Through a series of algebraic reformulations and reinterpretations, we show the answer to this question satisfies two polynomiality conditions.
Steiner triple systems form one of the most studied classes of combinatorial designs. Configurations, including subsystems, play a central role in the investigation of Steiner triple systems. With sporadic instances of small systems, ad-hoc algorithms for counting or listing configurations are typically fast enough for practical needs, but with many systems or large systems, the relevance of computational complexity and algorithms of low complexity is highlighted. General theoretical results as well as specific practical algorithms for important configurations are presented.
Motivated by the question of computing the probability of successful power domination by placing k monitors uniformly at random, in this paper we give a recursive formula to count the number of power domination sets of size k in a labeled complete m-ary tree. As a corollary we show that the desired probability can be computed in exponential with linear exponent time.
Let $G=(V(G),E(G))$ be a simple graph. A non-empty set $S\subseteq V (G)$ is a weakly connected dominating set in $G$, if the subgraph obtained from $G$ by removing all edges each joining any two vertices in $V (G)\setminus S$ is connected. In this paper, we consider some graphs and study the number of their weakly connected dominating sets.
Answering several questions of Duffus, Frankl and Rödl, we give asymptotics for the logarithms of (i) the number of maximal antichains in the n-dimensional Boolean algebra and (ii) the numbers of maximal independent sets in the covering graph of the n-dimensional hypercube and certain natural subgraphs thereof. The results in (ii) are implied by more general upper bounds on the numbers of maximal independent sets in regular and biregular graphs. We also mention some stronger possibilities involving actual rather than logarithmic asymptotics.
Counting dominating sets in a graph $G$ is closely related to the neighborhood complex of $G$. We exploit this relation to prove that the number of dominating sets $d(G)$ of a graph is determined by the number of complete bipartite subgraphs of its complement. More precisely, we state the following. Let $G$ be a simple graph of order $n$ such that its complement has exactly $a(G)$ subgraphs isomorphic to $K_{2p,2q}$ and exactly $b(G)$ subgraphs isomorphic to $K_{2p+1,2q+1}$. Then $d(G) = 2^n -1 + 2[a(G)-b(G)]$. We also show some new relations between the domination polynomial and the neighborh…
We consider some problems concerning the maximum number of (strong) dominating sets in a regular graph, and their weighted analogues. Our primary tool is Shearer's entropy lemma. These techniques extend to a reasonably broad class of graph parameters enumerating vertex colorings satisfying conditions on the multiset of colors appearing in (closed) neighborhoods. We also generalize further to enumeration problems for what we call existence homomorphisms. Here our results are substantially less complete, though we do solve some natural problems.
Amongst $d$-regular $r$-uniform hypergraphs on $n$ vertices, which ones have the largest number of independent sets? While the analogous problem for graphs (originally raised by Granville) is now well-understood, it is not even clear what the correct general conjecture ought to be; our goal here is propose such a generalisation. Lending credence to our conjecture, we verify it within the class of `quasi-bipartite' hypergraphs (a generalisation of bipartite graphs that seems natural in this context) by adopting the entropic approach of Kahn.
Counting Schreier Sets Under Neighborhood Conditions
UC San Diego（加州大学圣迭戈分校）；Washington and Lee University（华盛顿与李大学）；University of Akron（阿克伦大学）；University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；Williams College（威廉姆斯学院）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；University of Cincinnati Blue Ash（辛辛那提大学布卢什校区）
Counting perfect edge dominating sets: extremal results and linear-time algorithms
Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento（圣马丁国立大学）；Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas（国家科学研究委员会）；Instituto de Cálculo and Departamento de Computación, Universidad de Buenos Aires（布宜诺斯艾利斯大学计算系与计算研究所）；Instituto de Cálculo and Departamento de Matemática, Universidad de Buenos Aires（布宜诺斯艾利斯大学数学系与计算研究所）
In this short survey article, we present an elementary, yet quite powerful, method of enumerating independent sets in graphs. This method was first employed more than three decades ago by Kleitman and Winston and has subsequently been used numerous times by many researchers in various contexts. Our presentation of the method is illustrated with several applications of it to `real-life' combinatorial problems. In particular, we derive bounds on the number of independent sets in regular graphs, sum-free subsets of $\{1, \ldots, n\}$, and $C_4$-free graphs and give a short proof of an analogue of…
Instituto de Computação, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro（里约热内卢联邦大学计算研究所）；Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Instituto de Ciencias（圣达菲国立大学科学研究所）；CONICET（阿根廷国家科学研究委员会）；Departamento de Computación, Universidad de Buenos Aires（布宜诺斯艾利斯大学计算机科学系）；Instituto de Computação, Universidade Federal Fluminense（弗鲁米嫩塞联邦大学计算研究所）
The notion of a Riordan graph was introduced recently, and it is a far-reaching generalization of the well-known Pascal graphs and Toeplitz graphs. However, apart from a certain subclass of Toeplitz graphs, nothing was known on independent sets in Riordan graphs. In this paper, we give exact enumeration and lower and upper bounds for the number of independent sets for various classes of Riordan graphs. Remarkably, we offer a variety of methods to solve the problems that range from the structural decomposition theorem to methods in combinatorics on words. Some of our results are valid for any g…
After defining convex near-polygons, a formula enumerating the number of triangulations of such configurations is derived in terms of edge-polynomials. The paper describes also a transfer-matrix approach for computing quantities related to triangulations.
We prove a tight upper bound on the independence polynomial (and total number of independent sets) of cubic graphs of girth at least 5. The bound is achieved by unions of the Heawood graph, the point/line incidence graph of the Fano plane. We also give a tight lower bound on the total number of independent sets of triangle-free cubic graphs. This bound is achieved by unions of the Petersen graph. We conjecture that in fact all Moore graphs are extremal for the scaled number of independent sets in regular graphs of a given minimum girth, maximizing this quantity if their girth is even and minim…
In this paper, we count the number of independent sets of a type of graph $G(\mathcal{A},q)$ associated to some hyperplane arrangement $\mathcal{A}$, which is a generalization of the construction of graphical arrangements. We show that when the parameters of $\mathcal{A}$ satisfy certain conditions, the number of independent sets of the disjoint union $G(\mathcal{A},q_1)\cup\cdots\cup G(\mathcal{A},q_s)$ depends only on the coefficients of $\mathcal{A}$ and the total number of vertices $\sum_i q_i$ when $q_i$'s are powers of large enough prime numbers. In addition it is independent of the coef…
Ajtai, Komlós, and Szemerédi proved that for sufficiently large $t$ every triangle-free graph with $n$ vertices and average degree $t$ has an independent set of size at least $\frac{n}{100t}\log{t}$. We extend this by proving that the number of independent sets in such a graph is at least \[ 2^{(1/2400)\frac{n}{t}\log^2{t}}. \] This result is sharp for infinitely many $t,n$ apart from the constant. An easy consequence of our result is that there exists $c'>0$ such that every $n$-vertex triangle-free graph has at least \[ 2^{c'\sqrt n \log n} \] independent sets. We conjecture that the exponent…
Motivated by representation theory we exhibit an interior structure to Catalan sequences and many generalisations thereof. Certain of these coincide with well known (but heretofore isolated) structures. The remainder are new.
For c in [0,1] let P_n(c) denote the set of n-vertex perfect graphs with density c and C_n(c) the set of n-vertex graphs without induced C_5 and with density c. We show that log|P_n(c)|/binom{n}{2}=log|C_n(c)|/binom{n}{2}=h(c)+o(1) with h(c)=1/2 if 1/4<c<3/4 and h(c)=H(|2c-1|)/2 otherwise, where H is the binary entropy function. Further, we use this result to deduce that almost all graphs in C_n(c) have homogenous sets of linear size. This answers a question raised by Loebl, Reed, Scott, Thomason, and Thomassé [Almost all H-free graphs have the Erdős-Hajnal property] in the case of forbidden i…
In an abelian group G, a more sums than differences (MSTD) set is a subset A of G such that |A+A|>|A-A|. We provide asymptotics for the number of MSTD sets in finite abelian groups, extending previous results of Nathanson. The proof contains an application of a recently resolved conjecture of Alon and Kahn on the number of independent sets in a regular graph.
We obtain box-counting estimates for the pinned distance sets of (dense subsets of) planar discrete Ahlfors-regular sets of exponent $s>1$. As a corollary, we improve upon a recent result of Orponen, by showing that if $A$ is Ahlfors-regular of dimension $s>1$, then almost all pinned distance sets of $A$ have lower box-counting dimension $1$. We also show that if $A,B\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ have Hausdorff dimension $>1$ and $A$ is Ahlfors-regular, then the set of distances between $A$ and $B$ has modified lower box-counting dimension $1$, which taking $B=A$ improves Orponen's result in a differen…
Origami, where two-dimensional sheets are folded into complex structures, is proving to be rich with combinatorial and geometric structure, most of which remains to be fully understood. In this paper we consider \emph{flat origami}, where the sheet of material is folded into a two-dimensional object, and consider the mountain (convex) and valley (concave) creases made by such foldings, called a \emph{MV assignment} of the crease pattern. We establish a method to, given a flat-foldable crease pattern $C$ under certain conditions, create a planar graph $C^*$ whose 3-colorings are in one-to-one c…
Given a linear equation $\mathcal{L}$, a set $A$ of integers is $\mathcal{L}$-free if $A$ does not contain any `non-trivial' solutions to $\mathcal{L}$. This notion incorporates many central topics in combinatorial number theory such as sum-free and progression-free sets. In this paper we initiate the study of (parameterised) complexity questions involving $\mathcal{L}$-free sets of integers. The main questions we consider involve deciding whether a finite set of integers $A$ has an $\mathcal{L}$-free subset of a given size, and counting all such $\mathcal{L}$-free subsets. We also raise a num…
Galvin showed that for all fixed $δ$ and sufficiently large $n$, the $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree $δ$ that admits the most independent sets is the complete bipartite graph $K_{δ,n-δ}$. He conjectured that except perhaps for some small values of $t$, the same graph yields the maximum count of independent sets of size $t$ for each possible $t$. Evidence for this conjecture was recently provided by Alexander, Cutler, and Mink, who showed that for all triples $(n,δ, t)$ with $t\geq 3$, no $n$-vertex {\em bipartite} graph with minimum degree $δ$ admits more independent sets of size $t$ than…
Parallel Diffusion is a variant of Chip-Firing introduced in 2018 by Duffy et al. In Parallel Diffusion, chips move from places of high concentration to places of low concentration through a discrete-time process. At each time step, every vertex sends a chip to each of its poorer neighbours, allowing for some vertices to perhaps fall into debt (represented by negative stack sizes). In their recent paper, Long and Narayanan proved a conjecture from the original paper by Duffy et al. that every Parallel Diffusion process eventually, after some pre-period, exhibits periodic behaviour. With this r…
We show that a simple Markov chain, the Glauber dynamics, can efficiently sample independent sets almost uniformly at random in polynomial time for graphs in a certain class. The class is determined by boundedness of a new graph parameter called bipartite pathwidth. This result, which we prove for the more general hardcore distribution with fugacity $λ$, can be viewed as a strong generalisation of Jerrum and Sinclair's work on approximately counting matchings, that is, independent sets in line graphs. The class of graphs with bounded bipartite pathwidth includes claw-free graphs, which general…
In this paper we give an algorithm for counting the number of all independent sets in a given graph which works in time $O^*(1.1394^n)$ for subcubic graphs and in time $O^*(1.2369^n)$ for general graphs, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the instance graph, and polynomial space. The result comes from combining two well known methods "Divide and Conquer" and "Measure and Conquer". We introduce this new concept of Divide, Measure and Conquer method and expect it will find applications in other problems. The algorithm of Björklund, Husfeldt and Koivisto for graph colouring with our algorithm…
New conjectures are proposed on the numbers of FPL configurations pertaining to certain types of link patterns. Making use of the Razumov and Stroganov Ansatz, these conjectures are based on the analysis of the ground state of the Temperley-Lieb chain, for periodic boundary conditions and so-called ``identified connectivities'', up to size $2n=22$.
We investigate the number of sets of words that can be formed from a finite alphabet, counted by the total length of the words in the set. An explicit expression for the counting sequence is derived from the generating function, and asymptotics for large alphabet respectively large total word length are discussed. Moreover, we derive a Gaussian limit law for the number of words in a random finite language.
The paper deals with a problem of Additive Combinatorics. Let ${\mathbf G}$ be a finite abelian group of order $N$. We prove that the number of subset triples $A,B,C\subset {\mathbf G}$ such that for any $x\in A$, $y\in B$ and $z\in C$ one has $x+y\ne z$ equals $$ 3\cdot 4^N+N3^{N+1} + O((3-c_*)^N) $$ for some absolute constant $c_*>0$. This provides a tight estimate for the number of independent sets in a special 3-uniform linear hypergraph and gives a support for the natural conjecture concerning the maximal possible number of independent sets in such hypergraphs on $n$ vertices.
One of the major problems in combinatorics is to determine the number of $r$-uniform hypergraphs ($r$-graphs) on $n$ vertices which are free of certain forbidden structures. This problem dates back to the work of Erdős, Kleitman and Rothschild, who showed that the number of $K_r$-free graphs on $n$ vertices is $2^{\text{ex}(n,K_r)+o(n^2)}$. Their work was later extended to forbidding graphs as induced subgraphs by Prömel and Steger. Here, we consider one of the most basic counting problems for $3$-graphs. Let $E_1$ be the $3$-graph with $4$ vertices and $1$ edge. What is the number of induced …
We determine the computational complexity of approximately counting and sampling independent sets of a given size in bounded-degree graphs. That is, we identify a critical density $α_c(Δ)$ and provide (i) for $α< α_c(Δ)$ randomized polynomial-time algorithms for approximately sampling and counting independent sets of given size at most $αn$ in $n$-vertex graphs of maximum degree $Δ$; and (ii) a proof that unless NP=RP, no such algorithms exist for $α>α_c(Δ)$. The critical density is the occupancy fraction of the hard core model on the complete graph $K_{Δ+1}$ at the uniqueness threshold on the…
In this paper we present a method for producing asymptotic estimates for the number of integers in a given S having only ``small'' prime factors. The conditions that need to be verified are simpler than those required by other methods, and we apply our result to give an easy proof of a result which says that dense subsets A and B of {1,2,...,x} always produce asymptotically the expected number of x^r - smooth sums a+b, where a in A and b in B. Recall that a number n is said to be y-smooth if all its prime divisors are at most y.
A numerical set $S$ with Frobenius number $g$ is a set of integers with $\min(S) = 0$ and $\max(\Zbb - S)=g$, and its atom monoid is $A(S) = \setpres{n \in \Zbb}{$n+s \in S$ for all $s \in S$}$. Let $γ_g$ be the number of numerical sets $S$ having $A(S) = \set{0} \cup (g,\infty)$ divided by the total number of numerical sets with Frobenius number $g$. We show that the sequence $\set{γ_g}$ is decreasing and converges to a number $γ_\infty \approx .4844$ (with accuracy to within $.0050$). We also examine the singularities of the generating function for $\set{γ_g}$. Parallel results are obtained …
For a finite abstract simplicial complex G with n sets, define the n x n matrix K(x,y) which is the number of subsimplices in the intersection of x and y. We call it the counting matrix of G. Similarly as the connection matrix L which is L(x,y)=1 if x and y intersect and 0 else, the counting matrix K is unimodular. Actually, K is always in SL(n,Z). The inverse of K has the Green function entries K^(-1)(x,y)=w(x) w(y) |W^+(x) intersected W^+y|, where W^+(x) is the star of x, the sets in G which contain x and w(x)=(-1)^dim(x). The matrix K is always positive definite. The spectra of K and K^(-1)…
By implementing algorithmic versions of Sapozhenko's graph container methods, we give new algorithms for approximating the number of independent sets in bipartite graphs. Our first algorithm applies to $d$-regular, bipartite graphs satisfying a weak expansion condition: when $d$ is constant, and the graph is a bipartite $Ω( \log^2 d/d)$-expander, we obtain an FPTAS for the number of independent sets. Previously such a result for $d>5$ was known only for graphs satisfying the much stronger expansion conditions of random bipartite graphs. The algorithm also applies to weighted independent sets: …
A k-stable c-coloured Candy Crush grid is a weak proper c-colouring of a particular type of k-uniform hypergraph. In this paper we introduce a fully polynomial randomised approximation scheme (FPRAS) which counts the number of k-stable c-coloured Candy Crush grids of a given size (m, n) for certain values of c and k. We implemented this algorithm on Matlab, and found that in a Candy Crush grid with7 available colours there are approximately 4.3*10^61 3-stable colourings. (Note that, typical Candy Crush games are played with 6 colours and our FPRAS is not guaranteed to work in expected polynomi…
Let $G$ be a triangle-free graph with $n$ vertices and average degree $t$. We show that $G$ contains at least \[ e^{(1-n^{-1/12})\frac{1}{2}\frac{n}{t}\ln t (\frac{1}{2}\ln t-1)} \] independent sets. This improves a recent result of the first and third authors \cite{countingind}. In particular, it implies that as $n \to \infty$, every triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices has at least $e^{(c_1-o(1)) \sqrt{n} \ln n}$ independent sets, where $c_1 = \sqrt{\ln 2}/4 = 0.208138..$. Further, we show that for all $n$, there exists a triangle-free graph with $n$ vertices which has at most $e^{(c_2+o(1))\…
In this paper we study sum-free sets of order $m$ in finite Abelian groups. We prove a general theorem on 3-uniform hypergraphs, which allows us to deduce structural results in the sparse setting from stability results in the dense setting. As a consequence, we determine the typical structure and asymptotic number of sum-free sets of order $m$ in Abelian groups $G$ whose order is divisible by a prime $q$ with $q \equiv 2 \pmod 3$, for every $m \ge C(q) \sqrt{n \log n}$, thus extending and refining a theorem of Green and Ruzsa. In particular, we prove that almost all sum-free subsets of size $m…
The number of maximal independent sets of the n-cycle graph C_n is known to be the nth term of the Perrin sequence. The action of the automorphism group of C_n on the family of these maximal independent sets partitions this family into disjoint orbits, which represent the non-isomorphic (i.e., defined up to a rotation and a reflection) maximal independent sets. We provide exact formulas for the total number of orbits and the number of orbits having a given number of isomorphic representatives. We also provide exact formulas for the total number of unlabeled (i.e., defined up to a rotation) max…
We give upper and lower bounds on the maximum and minimum number of geometric configurations of various kinds present (as subgraphs) in a triangulation of $n$ points in the plane. Configurations of interest include \emph{convex polygons}, \emph{star-shaped polygons} and \emph{monotone paths}. We also consider related problems for \emph{directed} planar straight-line graphs.
Delone sets of finite local complexity in Euclidean space are investigated. We show that such a set has patch counting and topological entropy 0 if it has uniform cluster frequencies and is pure point diffractive. We also note that the patch counting entropy is 0 whenever the repetitivity function satisfies a certain growth restriction.
Jerrum, Sinclair and Vigoda (2004) showed that the permanent of any square matrix can be estimated in polynomial time. This computation can be viewed as approximating the partition function of edge-weighted matchings in a bipartite graph. Equivalently, this may be viewed as approximating the partition function of vertex-weighted independent sets in the line graph of a bipartite graph. Line graphs of bipartite graphs are perfect graphs, and are known to be precisely the class of (claw, diamond, odd hole)-free graphs. So how far does the result of Jerrum, Sinclair and Vigoda extend? We first sho…
Synchronization in networks of interconnected oscillators is a fascinating phenomenon that appear naturally in many independent fields of science and engineering. A substantial amount of work has been devoted to understanding all possible synchronization configurations on a given network. In this setting, a key problem is to determine the total number of such configurations. Through an algebraic formulation, for tree and cycle graphs, we provide an upper bound on this number using the birationally invariant intersection index of a system of rational functions on a toric variety.
