Bergelson and Tao have recently proved that if G is a D-quasi-random group, and x, g are drawn uniformly and independently from G, then the quadruple (g, x, gx, xg) is roughly equidistributed in the subset of G4 defined by the constraint that the last two coordinates lie in the same conjugacy class. Their proof gives only a qualitative version of this result. The present note gives a rather more elementary proof which improves this to an explicit polynomial bound in D−1.

We consider a variant of the game of Cops and Robbers, called Lazy Cops and Robbers, where at most one cop can move in any round. We investigate the analogue of the cop number for this game, which we call the lazy cop number. Lazy Cops and Robbers was recently introduced by Offner and Ojakian, who provided asymptotic upper and lower bounds on the lazy cop number of the hypercube. By coupling the probabilistic method with a potential function argument, we improve on the existing lower bounds for the lazy cop number of hypercubes.

The purpose of this short problem paper is to raise the following extremal question on set systems: Which set systems of a given size maximise the number of (n + 1)-element chains in the power set $\mathcal{P}$(1,2,. . .,n)? We will show that for each fixed α > 0 there is a family of α2n sets containing (α + o(1))n! such chains, and that this is asymptotically best possible. For smaller set systems we conjecture that a ‘tower of cubes’ construction is extremal. We finish by mentioning briefly a connection to an extremal problem on posets and a variant of our question for the grid graph.

Let H be a k-uniform hypergraph on n vertices where n is a sufficiently large integer not divisible by k. We prove that if the minimum (k − 1)-degree of H is at least ⌊n/k⌋, then H contains a matching with ⌊n/k⌋ edges. This confirms a conjecture of Rödl, Ruciński and Szemerédi [13], who proved that minimum (k − 1)-degree n/k + O(log n) suffices. More generally, we show that H contains a matching of size d if its minimum codegree is d < n/k, which is also best possible.

This special issue is devoted to papers from the meeting on Combinatorics and Probability, held at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut in Oberwolfach from the 14th to 20th April 2013. The lectures at this meeting focused on the common themes of Combinatorics and Discrete Probability, with many of the problems studied originating in Theoretical Computer Science. The lectures, many of which were given by young participants, stimulated fruitful discussions. The fact that the participants work in different and yet related topics, and the open problems session held during the meeting, encouraged interesting discussions and collaborations.

We study the coefficients of algebraic functions ∑n≥0fnzn. First, we recall the too-little-known fact that these coefficients fn always admit a closed form. Then we study their asymptotics, known to be of the type fn ~ CAnnα. When the function is a power series associated to a context-free grammar, we solve a folklore conjecture: the critical exponents α cannot be 1/3 or −5/2; they in fact belong to a proper subset of the dyadic numbers. We initiate the study of the set of possible values for A. We extend what Philippe Flajolet called the Drmota–Lalley–Woods theorem (which states that α=−3/2 when the dependency graph associated to the algebraic system defining the function is strongly connected). We fully characterize the possible singular behaviours in the non-strongly connected case. As a corollary, the generating functions of certain lattice paths and planar maps are not determined by a context-free grammar (i.e., their generating functions are not ℕ-algebraic). We give examples of Gaussian limit laws (beyond the case of the Drmota–Lalley–Woods theorem), and examples of non-Gaussian limit laws. We then extend our work to systems involving non-polynomial entire functions (non-strongly connected systems, fixed points of entire functions with positive coefficients). We give several closure properties for ℕ-algebraic functions. We end by discussing a few extensions of our results (infinite systems of equations, algorithmic aspects).

Coding in a new metric space, called the Enomoto-Katona space, has recently been considered in connection with the study of implication structures of functional dependencies and their generalizations in relational databases. The central problem is the determination of C(n,k,d), the size of an optimal code of length n, weight k, and distance d in the Enomoto-Katona space. The value of C(n,k,d) was known only for some congruence classes of n when (k,d) ∈ {(2,3),(3,5)}. In this paper, we obtain new infinite families of optimal codes in the Enomoto-Katona space and verify a conjecture of Brightwell and Katona in certain instances. In particular, C(n,k, 2k − 1) is determined for all sufficiently large n satisfying either n ≡ 1 mod k and n(n − 1) ≡ 0 mod 2k2, or n ≡ 0 mod k. We also give complete solutions for k = 2 and determine C(n,3,5) for certain congruence classes of n with finite exceptions.

The depth of a trie has been deeply studied when the source which produces the words is a simple source (a memoryless source or a Markov chain). When a source is simple but not an unbiased memoryless source, the expectation and the variance are both of logarithmic order and their dominant terms involve characteristic objects of the source, for instance the entropy. Moreover, there is an asymptotic Gaussian law, even though the speed of convergence towards the Gaussian law has not yet been precisely estimated. The present paper describes a ‘natural’ class of general sources, which does not contain any simple source, where the depth of a random trie, built on a set of words independently drawn from the source, has the same type of probabilistic behaviour as for simple sources: the expectation and the variance are both of logarithmic order and there is an asymptotic Gaussian law. There are precise asymptotic expansions for the expectation and the variance, and the speed of convergence toward the Gaussian law is optimal. The paper first provides analytical conditions on the Dirichlet series of probabilities of a general source under which this Gaussian law can be derived: a pole-free region where the series is of polynomial growth. In a second step, the paper focuses on sources associated with dynamical systems, called dynamical sources, where the Dirichlet series of probabilities is expressed with the transfer operator of the dynamical system. Then, the paper extends results due to Dolgopyat, already generalized by Baladi and Vallée, and shows that the previous analytical conditions are fulfilled for ‘most’ dynamical sources, provided that they ‘strongly differ’ from simple sources. Finally, the present paper describes a class of sources not containing any simple source, where the trie depth has the same type of probabilistic behaviour as for simple sources, even with more precise estimates.

In this paper we study the following problem.

Discrete partitioning problem (DPP). Let $\mathbb{F}_q$Pn denote the n-dimensional finite projective space over $\mathbb{F}_q$. For positive integer k ⩽ n, let {Ai}i = 1N be a partition of ($\mathbb{F}_q$Pn)k such that:

1. (1) for all i ⩽ N, Ai = ∏j=1kAji (partition into product sets),

2. (2) for all i ⩽ N, there is a (k − 1)-dimensional subspace Li ⊆ $\mathbb{F}_q$Pn such that Ai ⊆ (Li)k.

DPP arises in an approach that we propose for proving lower bounds for the query complexity of generating random points from convex bodies. It is also related to other partitioning problems in combinatorics and complexity theory. We conjecture an asymptotically optimal partition for DPP and show that it is optimal in two cases: when the dimension is low (k = n = 2) and when the factors of the parts are structured, namely factors of a part are close to being a subspace. These structured partitions arise naturally as partitions induced by query algorithms. Our problem does not seem to be directly amenable to previous techniques for partitioning lower bounds such as rank arguments, although rank arguments do lie at the core of our techniques.

Estimating numerically the spectral radius of a random walk on a non-amenable graph is complicated, since the cardinality of balls grows exponentially fast with the radius. We propose an algorithm to get a bound from below for this spectral radius in Cayley graphs with finitely many cone types (including for instance hyperbolic groups). In the genus 2 surface group, it improves by an order of magnitude the previous best bound, due to Bartholdi.

A central result in extremal set theory is the celebrated theorem of Sperner from 1928, which gives the size of the largest family of subsets of [n] not containing a 2-chain, F1 ⊂ F2. Erdős extended this theorem to determine the largest family without a k-chain, F1 ⊂ F2 ⊂ . . . ⊂ Fk. Erdős and Katona, followed by Kleitman, asked how many chains must appear in families with sizes larger than the corresponding extremal bounds.

In 1966, Kleitman resolved this question for 2-chains, showing that the number of such chains is minimized by taking sets as close to the middle level as possible. Moreover, he conjectured the extremal families were the same for k-chains, for all k. In this paper, making the first progress on this problem, we verify Kleitman's conjecture for the families whose size is at most the size of the k + 1 middle levels. We also characterize all extremal configurations.

Suppose a binary string x = x1 . . . xn is being broadcast repeatedly over a faulty communication channel. Each time, the channel delivers a fixed number m of the digits (m < n) with the lost digits chosen uniformly at random and the order of the surviving digits preserved. How large does m have to be to reconstruct the message?

Over 50 years ago, Erdős and Gallai conjectured that the edges of every graph on n vertices can be decomposed into O(n) cycles and edges. Among other results, Conlon, Fox and Sudakov recently proved that this holds for the random graph G(n, p) with probability approaching 1 as n → ∞. In this paper we show that for most edge probabilities G(n, p) can be decomposed into a union of n/4 + np/2 + o(n) cycles and edges w.h.p. This result is asymptotically tight.

We study sum-free sets in sparse random subsets of even-order abelian groups. In particular, we determine the sharp threshold for the following property: the largest such set is contained in some maximum-size sum-free subset of the group. This theorem extends recent work of Balogh, Morris and Samotij, who resolved the case G = ℤ2n, and who obtained a weaker threshold (up to a constant factor) in general.

In this paper we prove that two local conditions involving the degrees and co-degrees in a graph can be used to determine whether a given vertex partition is Frieze–Kannan regular. With a more refined version of these two local conditions we provide a deterministic algorithm that obtains a Frieze–Kannan regular partition of any graph G in time O(|V(G)|2).

Hajnal and Szemerédi proved that every graph G with |G| = ks and δ(G)⩾ k(s − 1) contains k disjoint s-cliques; moreover this degree bound is optimal. We extend their theorem to directed graphs by showing that every directed graph $\vv G$ with |$\vv G$| = ks and δ($\vv G$) ⩾ 2k(s − 1) − 1 contains k disjoint transitive tournaments on s vertices, where δ($\vv G$)= minv∈V($\vv G$)d−(v)+d+(v). Our result implies the Hajnal–Szemerédi theorem, and its degree bound is optimal. We also make some conjectures regarding even more general results for multigraphs and partitioning into other tournaments. One of these conjectures is supported by an asymptotic result.

We establish an improved upper bound for the number of incidences between m points and n circles in three dimensions. The previous best known bound, originally established for the planar case and later extended to any dimension ≥ 2, is O*(m2/3n2/3 + m6/11n9/11 + m + n), where the O*(⋅) notation hides polylogarithmic factors. Since all the points and circles may lie on a common plane (or sphere), it is impossible to improve the bound in ℝ3 without first improving it in the plane.

Nevertheless, we show that if the set of circles is required to be ‘truly three-dimensional’ in the sense that no sphere or plane contains more than q of the circles, for some q ≪ n, then for any ϵ > 0 the bound can be improved to

\[ O\bigl(m^{3/7+\eps}n^{6/7} + m^{2/3+\eps}n^{1/2}q^{1/6} + m^{6/11+\eps}n^{15/22}q^{3/22} + m + n\bigr). \]

We present several extensions and applications of the new bound.

1. (i) For the special case where all the circles have the same radius, we obtain the improved bound O(m5/11+ϵn9/11 + m2/3+ϵn1/2q1/6 + m + n).

2. (ii) We present an improved analysis that removes the subpolynomial factors from the bound when m = O(n3/2−ϵ) for any fixed ϵ < 0.

3. (iii) We use our results to obtain the improved bound O(m15/7) for the number of mutually similar triangles determined by any set of m points in ℝ3.

We describe a general framework for realistic analysis of sorting algorithms, and we apply it to the average-case analysis of three basic sorting algorithms (QuickSort, InsertionSort, BubbleSort). Usually the analysis deals with the mean number of key comparisons, but here we view keys as words produced by the same source, which are compared via their symbols in lexicographic order. The ‘realistic’ cost of the algorithm is now the total number of symbol comparisons performed by the algorithm, and, in this context, the average-case analysis aims to provide estimates for the mean number of symbol comparisons used by the algorithm. For sorting algorithms, and with respect to key comparisons, the average-case complexity of QuickSort is asymptotic to 2n log n, InsertionSort to n2/4 and BubbleSort to n2/2. With respect to symbol comparisons, we prove that their average-case complexity becomes Θ (n log2n), Θ(n2), Θ (n2 log n). In these three cases, we describe the dominant constants which exhibit the probabilistic behaviour of the source (namely entropy and coincidence) with respect to the algorithm.

We say that a (di)graph G has a perfect H-packing if there exists a set of vertex-disjoint copies of H which cover all the vertices in G. The seminal Hajnal–Szemerédi theorem characterizes the minimum degree that ensures a graph G contains a perfect Kr-packing. In this paper we prove the following analogue for directed graphs: Suppose that T is a tournament on r vertices and G is a digraph of sufficiently large order n where r divides n. If G has minimum in- and outdegree at least (1−1/r)n then G contains a perfect T-packing.

In the case when T is a cyclic triangle, this result verifies a recent conjecture of Czygrinow, Kierstead and Molla [4] (for large digraphs). Furthermore, in the case when T is transitive we conjecture that it suffices for every vertex in G to have sufficiently large indegree or outdegree. We prove this conjecture for transitive triangles and asymptotically for all r ⩾ 3. Our approach makes use of a result of Keevash and Mycroft [10] concerning almost perfect matchings in hypergraphs as well as the Directed Graph Removal Lemma [1, 6].

We show that the diameter diam(Gn) of a random labelled connected planar graph with n vertices is equal to n1/4+o(1), in probability. More precisely, there exists a constant c > 0 such that

$$ P(\D(G_n)\in(n^{1/4-\e},n^{1/4+\e}))\geq 1-\exp(-n^{c\e}) $$