We consider log-convex sequences that satisfy an additional constraint imposed on their rate of growth. We call such sequences log-balanced. It is shown that all such sequences satisfy a pair of double inequalities. Sufficient conditions for log-balancedness are given for the case when the sequence satisfies a two- (or more-) term linear recurrence. It is shown that many combinatorially interesting sequences belong to this class, and, as a consequence, that the above-mentioned double inequalities are valid for all of them.
A classical result by Pachner states that two $d$-dimensional combinatorial manifolds with boundary are PL homeomorphic if and only they can be connected by a sequence of shellings and inverse shellings. We prove that for balanced, i.e., properly $(d + 1)$-colored, manifolds such a sequence can be chosen such that balancedness is preserved in each step. As a key ingredient we establish that any two balanced PL homeomorphic combinatorial manifolds with the same boundary are connected by a sequence of basic cross-flips, as was shown recently by Izmestiev, Klee and Novik for balanced manifolds wi…
We introduce a notion of cross-flips: local moves that transform a balanced (i.e., properly $(d+1)$-colored) triangulation of a combinatorial $d$-manifold into another balanced triangulation. These moves form a natural analog of bistellar flips (also known as Pachner moves). Specifically, we establish the following theorem: any two balanced triangulations of a closed combinatorial $d$-manifold can be connected by a sequence of cross-flips. Along the way we prove that for every $m \geq d+2$ and any closed combinatorial $d$-manifold $M$, two $m$-colored triangulations of $M$ can be connected by …
We combinatorially prove that the number $R(n,k)$ of permutations of length $n$ having $k$ runs is a log-concave sequence in $k$, for all $n$. We also give a new combinatorial proof for the log-concavity of the Eulerian numbers.
The purpose of this note is to explain that the combinatorial local log-concavity conjecture introduced by Gross, Mansour, Tucker and Wang (Eur. J. Comb. 52, 207-222, 2016) in fact follows from a result of Stanley (Eur. J. Comb. 32 (6), 937-943, 2011).
This paper is devoted to the study of the log-convexity of combinatorial sequences. We show that the log-convexity is preserved under componentwise sum, under binomial convolution, and by the linear transformations given by the matrices of binomial coefficients and Stirling numbers of two kinds. We develop techniques for dealing with the log-convexity of sequences satisfying a three-term recurrence. We also introduce the concept of $q$-log-convexity and establish the connection with linear transformations preserving the log-convexity. As applications of our results, we prove the log-convexity …
Two general methods for establishing the logarithmic behavior of recursively defined sequences of real numbers are presented. One is the interlacing method, and the other one is based on calculus. Both methods are used to prove logarithmic behavior of some combinatorially relevant sequences, such as Motzkin and Schröder numbers, sequences of values of some classic orthogonal polynomials, and many others. The calculus method extends also to two- (or more-) indexed sequences.
We show that there is a constant $c$ such that any colouring of the cube $[3]^n$ in $c \log \log n$ colours contains a monochromatic combinatorial line.
We revisit multipass pairing heaps and path-balanced binary search trees (BSTs), two classical algorithms for data structure maintenance. The pairing heap is a simple and efficient "self-adjusting" heap, introduced in 1986 by Fredman, Sedgewick, Sleator, and Tarjan. In the multipass variant (one of the original pairing heap variants described by Fredman et al.) the minimum item is extracted via repeated pairing rounds in which neighboring siblings are linked. Path-balanced BSTs, proposed by Sleator (Subramanian, 1996), are a natural alternative to Splay trees (Sleator and Tarjan, 1983). In a p…
A sequence $\{z_n\}_{n\geq0}$ is called ratio log-convex in the sense that the ratio sequence $\{\frac{z_{n+1}}{z_n}\}_{n\geq0}$ is log-convex. Based on a three-term recurrence for sequences, we develop techniques for dealing with the ratio log-convexity of ratio sequences. As applications, we prove that the ratio sequences of numbers, including the derangement numbers, the Motzkin numbers, the Fine numbers, Franel numbers and the Domb numbers are ratio log-convex, respectively. Finally, we not only prove that the sequence of derangement numbers is asymptotically infinitely log-monotonic, but …
Using calculus we show how to prove some combinatorial inequalities of the type log-concavity or log-convexity. It is shown by this method that binomial coefficients and Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds are log-concave, and that Motzkin numbers and secondary structure numbers of rank 1 are log-convex. In fact, we prove via calculus a much stronger result that a natural continuous ``patchwork'' (i.e. corresponding dynamical systems) of Motzkin numbers and secondary structures recursions are increasing functions. We indicate how to prove asymptotically the log-convexity for general…
Consider a graph G with an assignment of costs to vertices. Even if G and all its subgraphs admit balanced separators of sublinear size, G may only admit a balanced separator of sublinear cost after deleting a small set Z of exceptional vertices. We improve the bound on |Z| from O(log |V(G)|) to O(log log...log |V(G)|), for any fixed number of iterations of the logarithm.
In this paper, we present monotone sequences of lower and upper bounds on the Perron value of a nonngeative matrix, and we study their strict monotonicity. Using those sequences, we provide two combinatorial applications. One is to improve bounds on Perron values of rooted trees in combinatorial settings, in order to find characteristic sets of trees. The other is to generate log-concave and log-convex sequences through the monotone sequences.
Let the Bessel number of the second kind B(n,k) be the number of set partitions of [n] into k blocks of size one or two, and let the Bessel number of the first kind b(n,k) be a certain coefficient in n-th Bessel polynomial. In this paper, we show that Bessel numbers satisfy two properties of Stirling numbers: The two kinds of Bessel numbers are related by inverse formulas, and both Bessel numbers of the first kind and the second kind form log-concave sequences. By constructing sign-reversing involutions, we prove the inverse formulas. We review Krattenthaler's injection for the log-concavity o…
We introduce the notion of infinitely log-monotonic sequences. By establishing a connection between completely monotonic functions and infinitely log-monotonic sequences, we show that the sequences of the Bernoulli numbers, the Catalan numbers and the central binomial coefficients are infinitely log-monotonic. In particular, if a sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ is log-monotonic of order two, then it is ratio log-concave in the sense that the sequence $\{a_{n+1}/a_{n}\}_{n\geq 0}$ is log-concave. Furthermore, we prove that if a sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\geq k}$ is ratio log-concave, then the sequence $…
We study combinatorial Dyson Schwinger equations, expressed in the Hopf algebra of words with a quasi shuffle product. We map them into an algebra of polynomials in one indeterminate L and show that the leading log expansion one obtains with such a mapping are simple power law like expression
We establish a total lexicographical order on the set of Motzkin words. Elements are ordered similarly to Natural Numbers in accordance with known rules (axioms). As a result, we were able to obtain arithmetic and logical operations on the elements of the ordered sequence, Motzkin Row. This sequence consists of balanced brackets without leading zeros, with the exception of the initial word "0". It is the word "0" as well as the alphabetical symbol "0" that are analogues of numeric zero in the corresponding operations. Logical operations allow you to navigate Motzkin Row. Operations on words ar…
Toric log del Pezzo surfaces correspond to convex lattice polygons containing the origin in their interior and having only primitive vertices. An upper bound on the volume and on the number of boundary lattice points of these polygons is derived in terms of the index l. Techniques for classifying these polygons are also described: a direct classification for index two is given, and a classification for all l<17 is obtained.
We study the deterministic query complexity of Boolean functions on slices of the hypercube. The $k^{th}$ slice $\binom{[n]}{k}$ of the hypercube $\{0,1\}^n$ is the set of all $n$-bit strings with Hamming weight $k$. We show that there exists a function on the balanced slice $\binom{[n]}{n/2}$ requiring $n - O(\log \log n)$ queries. We give an explicit function on the balanced slice requiring $n - O(\log n)$ queries based on independent sets in Johnson graphs. On the weight-2 slice, we show that hard functions are closely related to Ramsey graphs. Further we describe a simple way of transformi…
Let $Q_{n,d}$ denote the random combinatorial matrix whose rows are independent of one another and such that each row is sampled uniformly at random from the subset of vectors in $\{0,1\}^n$ having precisely $d$ entries equal to $1$. We present a short proof of the fact that $\Pr[\det(Q_{n,d})=0] = O\left(\frac{n^{1/2}\log^{3/2} n}{d}\right)=o(1)$, whenever $d=ω(n^{1/2}\log^{3/2} n)$. In particular, our proof accommodates sparse random combinatorial matrices in the sense that $d = o(n)$ is allowed. We also consider the singularity of deterministic integer matrices $A$ randomly perturbed by a s…
In a previous paper, we studied an overpartition analogue of Gaussian polynomials as the generating function for overpartitions fitting inside an $m \times n$ rectangle. Here, we add one more parameter counting the number of overlined parts, obtaining a two-parameter generalization $\overline{m+n \brack n}_{q,t}$ of Gaussian polynomials, which is also a $(q,t)$-analogue of Delannoy numbers. First we obtain finite versions of classical $q$-series identities such as the $q$-binomial theorem and the Lebesgue identity, as well as two-variable generalizations of classical identities involving Gauss…
We prove the hard Lefschetz theorem and the Hodge-Riemann relations for a commutative ring associated to an arbitrary matroid M. We use the Hodge-Riemann relations to resolve a conjecture of Heron, Rota, and Welsh that postulates the log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of M. We furthermore conclude that the f-vector of the independence complex of a matroid forms a log-concave sequence, proving a conjecture of Mason and Welsh for general matroids.
We consider the allocation of $m$ balls into $n$ bins with incomplete information. In the classical Two-Choice process a ball first queries the load of two randomly chosen bins and is then placed in the least loaded bin. In our setting, each ball also samples two random bins but can only estimate a bin's load by sending binary queries of the form "Is the load at least the median?" or "Is the load at least 100?". For the lightly loaded case $m=O(n)$, Feldheim and Gurel-Gurevich (2021) showed that with one query it is possible to achieve a maximum load of $O(\sqrt{\log n/\log \log n})$, and pose…
