We initiate the study of applying the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to the DP-coloring of graphs even though, as is well-known, the Alon-Tarsi theorem does not apply to DP-coloring. We define the notion of good covers of prime order which allows us to apply the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to DP-coloring. We apply these tools to DP-coloring of the cones of certain bipartite graphs and uniquely 3-colorable graphs. We also extend a result of Akbari, Mirrokni, and Sadjad (2006) on unique list colorability to the context of DP-coloring. We establish a sufficient algebraic condition for a graph $G$ to satisfy $χ_{DP}(G) \leq 3$, and we completely determine the DP-chromatic number of squares of all cycles.
The long-standing Erdős-Faber-Lovász conjecture states that every $n$-uniform linear hypergaph with $n$ edges has a proper vertex-coloring using $n$ colors. In this paper we propose an algebraic framework to the problem and formulate a corresponding stronger conjecture. Using the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we reduce the Erdős-Faber-Lovász conjecture to the existence of non-zero coefficients in certain polynomials. These coefficients are in turn related to the number of orientations with prescribed in-degree sequences of some auxiliary graphs. We prove the existence of certain orientations,…
We discuss here some computational aspects of the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz argument. Our main result shows that the order of magnitude of the symmetry group associated with permutations of the variables in algebraic constraints, determines the performance of algorithms naturally deduced from Alon's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz arguments. Finally we present a primal-dual polynomial constructions for certifying the existence or the non-existence of solutions to combinatorial problems.
In this note we give an extended version of Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, with weaker assumption on nonvanishing monomial. We also present an application of our result in a situation where the original theorem does not seem to work.
We revisit a well-known family of polynomial ideals encoding the problem of graph-$k$-colorability. Our paper describes how the inherent combinatorial structure of the ideals implies several interesting algebraic properties. Specifically, we provide lower bounds on the difficulty of computing Gröbner bases and Nullstellensatz certificates for the coloring ideals of general graphs. For chordal graphs, however, we explicitly describe a Gröbner basis for the coloring ideal, and provide a polynomial-time algorithm.
By a well-known theorem of Thomassen and a planar graph depicted by Voigt, we know that every planar graph is $5$-choosable, and the bound is tight. In 1999, Lam, Xu and Liu reduced $5$ to $4$ on $C_4$-free planar graphs. In the paper, by applying the famous Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we design an effective algorithm to deal with list coloring problems. At the same time, we prove that a planar graph $G$ is $4$-choosable if any two $4$-cycles having distance at least $5$ in $G$, which extends the result of Lam et al.
We interpret the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz of Noga Alon as a multidimensional residue formula, describe some consequences of this interpretation and related open problems.
Applying techniques similar to Combinatorial Nullstellensatz we prove a lower estimate of $|f(A,B)|$ for finite subsets $A$, $B$ of a field, and polynomial $f(x,y)$ of the form $f(x,y)=g(x)+yh(x)$, where degree of $g$ is greater then degree of $h$.
We present new generalizations of Olson's theorem and of a consequence of Alon's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. These enable us to extend some of their combinatorial applications with conditions modulo primes to conditions modulo prime powers. We analyze computational search problems corresponding to these kinds of combinatorial questions and we prove that the problem of finding degree-constrained subgraphs modulo $2^d$ such as $2^d$-divisible subgraphs and the search problem corresponding to the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz over $\mathbb{F}_2$ belong to the complexity class Polynomial Parity…
Systems of polynomial equations over the complex or real numbers can be used to model combinatorial problems. In this way, a combinatorial problem is feasible (e.g. a graph is 3-colorable, hamiltonian, etc.) if and only if a related system of polynomial equations has a solution. In the first part of this paper, we construct new polynomial encodings for the problems of finding in a graph its longest cycle, the largest planar subgraph, the edge-chromatic number, or the largest k-colorable subgraph. For an infeasible polynomial system, the (complex) Hilbert Nullstellensatz gives a certificate tha…
Systems of polynomial equations over an algebraically-closed field K can be used to concisely model many combinatorial problems. In this way, a combinatorial problem is feasible (e.g., a graph is 3-colorable, hamiltonian, etc.) if and only if a related system of polynomial equations has a solution over K. In this paper, we investigate an algorithm aimed at proving combinatorial infeasibility based on the observed low degree of Hilbert's Nullstellensatz certificates for polynomial systems arising in combinatorics and on large-scale linear-algebra computations over K. We report on experiments ba…
Using polynomial equations to model combinatorial problems has been a popular tool both in computational combinatorics as well as an approach to proving new theorems. In this paper, we look at several combinatorics problems modeled by systems of polynomial equations satisfying special properties. If the equations are infeasible, Hilbert's Nullstellensatz gives a certificate of this fact. These certificates have been studied and exhibit combinatorial meaning. In this paper, we generalize some known results and show that the Nullstellensatz certificate can be viewed as enumerating combinatorial …
In a seminal paper, De Loera et. al introduce the algorithm NulLA (Nullstellensatz Linear Algebra) and use it to measure the difficulty of determining if a graph is not 3-colorable. The crux of this relies on a correspondence between 3-colorings of a graph and solutions to a certain system of polynomial equations over a field $\mathbb{k}$. In this article, we give a new direct combinatorial characterization of graphs that can be determined to be non-3-colorable in the first iteration of this algorithm when $\mathbb{k}=GF(2)$. This greatly simplifies the work of De Loera et. al, as we express t…
As starting point, we formulate a corollary to the Quantitative Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. This corollary does not require the consideration of any coefficients of polynomials, only evaluations of polynomial functions. In certain situations, our corollary is more directly applicable and more ready-to-go than the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz itself. It is also of interest from a numerical point of view. We use it to explain a well-known connection between the sign of 1-factorizations (edge colorings) and the List Edge Coloring Conjecture. For efficient calculations and a better understandi…
An \emph{additive coloring} of a graph $G$ is an assignment of positive integers $\{1,2,...,k\}$ to the vertices of $G$ such that for every two adjacent vertices the sums of numbers assigned to their neighbors are different. The minimum number $k$ for which there exists an additive coloring of $G$ is denoted by $η(G)$. We prove that $η(G)\leqslant 468$ for every planar graph $G$. This improves a previous bound $η(G)\leqslant 5544$ due to Norin. The proof uses Combinatorial Nullstellensatz and coloring number of planar hypergrahs. We also demonstrate that $η(G)\leqslant 36$ for 3-colorable plan…
The main result of this paper is a coefficient formula that sharpens and generalizes Alon and Tarsi's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, which provides some information about the polynomial map $P|_{\X_1\times...\times\X_n}$ when only incomplete information about the polynomial $P(X_1,...c,X_n)$ is given. In a very general working frame, the grid points $x\in\X_1\times\...b\times\X_n$ which do not vanish under an algebraic solution -- a certain describing polynomial $P(X_1,...c,X_n)$ -- correspond to the explicit solutions of a problem. As a consequence of the coefficient formula, we prove that th…
Alon's combinatorial Nullstellensatz, and in particular the resulting nonvanishing criterion is one of the most powerful algebraic tools in combinatorics, with many important applications. In this paper we extend the nonvanishing theorem in two directions. We prove a version allowing multiple points. Also, we establish a variant which is valid over arbitrary commutative rings, not merely over subrings of fields. As an application, we prove extensions of the theorem of Alon and Füredi on hyperplane coverings of discrete cubes.
In this paper, we consider the following problem: what is the minimum number of affine hyperplanes in $\mathbb{R}^n$, such that all the vertices of $\{0, 1\}^n \setminus \{\vec{0}\}$ are covered at least $k$ times, and $\vec{0}$ is uncovered? The $k=1$ case is the well-known Alon-Füredi theorem which says a minimum of $n$ affine hyperplanes is required, proved by the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. We develop an analogue of the Lubell-Yamamoto-Meshalkin inequality for subset sums, and completely solve the fractional version of this problem, which also provides an asymptotic answer to the integr…
We generalize a parity result of Fleishner and Stiebitz that being combined with Alon--Tarsi polynomial method allowed them to prove that a 4-regular graph formed by a Hamiltonian cycle and several disjoint triangles is always 3-choosable. Also we present a modification of polynomial method and show how it gives slightly more combinatorial information about colourings than direct application of Alon's Combinatorial Nullstellensatz.
As an application of the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we give a short polynomial proof of the q-analogue of Dyson's conjecture formulated by Andrews and first proved by Zeilberger and Bressoud.
The distinguishing number of a graph $G$, denoted $D(G)$, is the minimum number of colors needed to produce a coloring of the vertices of $G$ so that every nontrivial isomorphism interchanges vertices of different colors. A list assignment $L$ on a graph $G$ is a function that assigns each vertex of $G$ a set of colors. An $L$-coloring of $G$ is a coloring in which each vertex is colored with a color from $L(v)$. The list distinguishing number of $G$, denoted $D_{\ell}(G)$ is the minimum $k$ such that every list assignment $L$ that assigns a list of size at least $k$ to every vertex permits a …
We study the chromatic quasisymmetric class function of a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid. Given a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid $H$, and an $H$-structure $h$ on a set $N$, there are proper colorings of $h$, generalizing graph colorings and poset partitions. We show that the automorphism group of $h$ acts on the set of proper colorings. The chromatic quasisymmetric class function enumerates the fixed points of this action, weighting each coloring with a monomial. For the Hopf monoid of graphs this invariant generalizes Stanley's chromatic symmetric function and specializes to the o…
Greedy Coloring and Simple Exponential Strengthenings of Brooks-Type Theorems
University of Utah（犹他大学）；CNRS, ENS de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, LIP UMR 5668（法国国家科学研究中心，里昂高等师范学院，克洛德·贝尔纳里昂第一大学）；ENS de Lyon, LIP UMR 5668（里昂高等师范学院）
We generalize the notion of a coloring complex of a graph to linearized combinatorial Hopf monoids. We determine when a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid has such a construction, and discover some inequalities that are satisfied by the quasisymmetric function invariants associated to the combinatorial Hopf monoid. We show that the collection of all such coloring complexes forms a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid, which is the terminal object in the category of combinatorial Hopf monoids with convex characters. We also study several examples of combinatorial Hopf monoids.
In this article, we use the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to give new proofs of the Cauchy-Davenport, the Dias da Silva-Hamidoune and to generalize a previous addition theorem of the author. Precisely, this last result proves that for a set A $\subset$ Fp such that A $\cap$ (--A) = $\emptyset$ the cardinality of the set of subsums of at least $α$ pairwise distinct elements of A is: |$Σ$$α$(A)| $\ge$ min (p, |A|(|A| + 1)/2 -- $α$($α$ + 1)/2 + 1) , the only cases previously known were $α$ $\in$ {0, 1}. The Combinatorial Nullstellensatz is used, for the first time, in a direct and in a reverse wa…
The Kneser conjecture (1955) was proved by Lovász (1978) using the Borsuk-Ulam theorem; all subsequent proofs, extensions and generalizations also relied on Algebraic Topology results, namely the Borsuk-Ulam theorem and its extensions. Only in 2000, Matoušek provided the first combinatorial proof of the Kneser conjecture. Here we provide a hypergraph coloring theorem, with a combinatorial proof, which has as special cases the Kneser conjecture as well as its extensions and generalization by (hyper)graph coloring theorems of Dol'nikov, Alon-Frankl-Lovász, Sarkaria, and Kriz. We also give a comb…
The paper deals with an algorithmic problem concerning combinatorial game theory. Here we introduce and analyze a continuous generalization of Chip Game from the work of Duraj, Gutowski and Kozik. The general Chip game was introduced by Aslam and Dhagat to model on-line type problems on hypergraph coloring.
In an undirected graph $G$, a conflict-free coloring with respect to open neighborhoods (denoted by CFON coloring) is an assignment of colors to the vertices such that every vertex has a uniquely colored vertex in its open neighborhood. The minimum number of colors required for a CFON coloring of $G$ is the CFON chromatic number of $G$, denoted by $χ_{ON}(G)$. The decision problem that asks whether $χ_{ON}(G) \leq k$ is NP-complete. We obtain the following results: * Bodlaender, Kolay and Pieterse [WADS 2019] showed the upper bound $χ_{ON}(G)\leq {\sf fvs}(G)+3$, where ${\sf fvs}(G)$ denotes t…
For a given graph $H$ we define $ρ(H)$ to be the minimum order of a graph $G$ such that every proper vertex coloring of $G$ contains a rainbow induced subgraph isomorphic to $H$. We give upper and lower bounds for $ρ(H)$, compute the exact value for some classes of graphs, and consider an interesting combinatorial problem connected with computation of $ρ(H)$ for paths. This research is motivated by some ideas in on-line graph coloring algorithms.
We consider the problem of coloring a 3-colorable graph in polynomial time using as few colors as possible. We present a combinatorial algorithm getting down to $\tO(n^{4/11})$ colors. This is the first combinatorial improvement of Blum's $\tO(n^{3/8})$ bound from FOCS'90. Like Blum's algorithm, our new algorithm composes nicely with recent semi-definite approaches. The current best bound is $O(n^{0.2072})$ colors by Chlamtac from FOCS'07. We now bring it down to $O(n^{0.2038})$ colors.
We provide a detailed study of topological and combinatorial properties of sectionable tournaments. This class forms an inductively constructed family of tournaments grounded over simply disconnected tournaments, those tournaments whose fundamental groups of acyclic complexes are non-trivial. When $T$ is a sectionable tournament, we fully describe the cell-structure of its acyclic complex $Acy(T)$ by using the adapted machinery of discrete Morse theory for acyclic complexes of tournaments. In the combinatorial side, we demonstrate that the dimension of the complex $Acy(T)$ has a role to play. …
The aim of this paper is to generalize the notion of the coloring complex of a graph to hypergraphs. We present three different interpretations of those complexes -- a purely combinatorial one and two geometric ones. It is shown, that most of the properties, which are known to be true for coloring complexes of graphs, break down in this more general setting, e.g., Cohen-Macaulayness and partitionabilty. Nevertheless, we are able to provide bounds for the $f$- and $h$-vectors of those complexes which yield new bounds on chromatic polynomials of hypergraphs. Moreover, it is shown that the colori…
This thesis is basically devoted to matroids -- fundamental structure of combinatorial optimization -- though some of our results concern simplicial complexes, or Euclidean spaces. We study old and new problems for these structures, with combinatorial, algebraic, and topological flavor.
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…
A foundation is laid for a theory of combinatorial groupoids, allowing us to use concepts like ``holonomy'', ``parallel transport'', ``bundles'', ``combinatorial curvature'' etc. in the context of simplicial (polyhedral) complexes, posets, graphs, polytopes and other combinatorial objects. A new, holonomy-type invariant for cubical complexes is introduced, leading to a combinatorial ``Theorema Egregium'' for cubical complexes non-embeddable into cubical lattices. Parallel transport of Hom-complexes and maps is used as a tool for extending Babson-Kozlov-Lovasz graph coloring results to more gen…
For each strongly connected finite-dimensional (pure) simplicial complex we construct a finite group, the group of projectivities of the complex, which is a combinatorial but not a topological invariant. This group is studied for combinatorial manifolds and, in particular, for polytopal simplicial spheres. The results are applied to a coloring problem for simplicial (or, dually, simple) polytopes which arises in the area of toric algebraic varieties.
We give a very short self-contained combinatorial proof of the Babson-Kozlov conjecture, by presenting a cochain whose coboundary is the desired power of the characteristic class.
Let G be a combinatorial graph with vertices V and edges E. A proper coloring of G is an assignment of colors to the vertices such that no edge connects two vertices of the same color. These are the colorings considered in the famous Four Color Theorem. It turns out that the number of proper colorings of G using t colors is a polynomial in t, called the chromatic polynomial of G. This polynomial has many wonderful properties. It also has the surprising habit of appearing in contexts which, a priori, have nothing to do with graph coloring. We will survey three such instances involving acyclic o…
The number of proper $q$-colorings of a graph $G$, denoted by $P_G(q)$, is an important graph parameter that plays fundamental role in graph theory, computational complexity theory and other related fields. We study an old problem of Linial and Wilf to find the graphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges which maximize this parameter. This problem has attracted much research interest in recent years, however little is known for general $m,n,q$. Using analytic and combinatorial methods, we characterize the asymptotic structure of extremal graphs for fixed edge density and $q$. Moreover, we disprove …
We show how to couple phase-oscillators on a graph so that collective dynamics "searches" for the coloring of that graph as it relaxes toward the dynamical equilibrium. This translates a combinatorial optimization problem (graph coloring) into a functional optimization problem (finding and evaluating the global minimum of dynamical non-equilibrium potential, done by the natural system's evolution). Using a sample of graphs, we show that our method can serve as a viable alternative to the traditional combinatorial algorithms. Moreover, we show that, with the same computational cost, our method …
Coloring games are combinatorial games where the players alternate painting uncolored vertices of a graph one of $k > 0$ colors. Each different ruleset specifies that game's coloring constraints. This paper investigates six impartial rulesets (five new), derived from previously-studied graph coloring schemes, including proper map coloring, oriented coloring, 2-distance coloring, weak coloring, and sequential coloring. For each, we study the outcome classes for special cases and general computational complexity. In some cases we pay special attention to the Grundy function.
A general (convex) polytope $P\subset\mathbb R^d$ and its edge-graph $G_P$ can have very distinct symmetry properties. We construct a coloring (of the vertices and edges) of the edge-graph so that the combinatorial symmetry group of the colored edge-graph is isomorphic (in a natural way) to $\mathrm{Aut}_{\mathrm{GL}}(P)$, the group of linear symmetries of the polytope. We also construct an analogous coloring for $\mathrm{Aut}_{\mathrm{O}}(P)$, the group of orthogonal symmetries of $P$.
We study a combinatorial coloring game between two players, Spoiler and Algorithm, who alternate turns. First, Spoiler places a new token at a vertex in $G$, and Algorithm responds by assigning a color to the new token. Algorithm must ensure that tokens on the same or adjacent vertices receive distinct colors. Spoiler must ensure that the token graph (in which two tokens are adjacent if and only if their distance in $G$ is at most $1$) has chromatic number at most $w$. Algorithm wants to minimize the number of colors used, and Spoiler wants to force as many colors as possible. Let $f(w,G)$ be …
