Related papers: Minimal blocking sets in PG(n,2) and covering grou…

Consider the complete convex geometric graph on $2m$ vertices, $CGG(2m)$, i.e., the set of all boundary edges and diagonals of a planar convex $2m$-gon $P$. In [C. Keller and M. Perles, On the Smallest Sets Blocking Simple Perfect Matchings…

Given a $\{ 0, 1, \ast \}$-matrix $M$, a minimal $M$-obstruction is a digraph $D$ such that $D$ is not $M$-partitionable, but every proper induced subdigraph of $D$ is. In this note we present a list of all the $M$-obstructions for every $2…

A minimal separating set in a connected topological space $X$ is a subset $L \subset X$ with the property that $X \setminus L$ is disconnected, but if $L^{\prime}$ is a proper subset of $L$, then $X \setminus L^{\prime}$ is connected. Such…

That is, given a compact set $B \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ (the boundary) and a subgroup $L$ of the \v{C}ech homology group $\check{H}_{d-1}(B;G)$ of dimension $d$ over some commutative group $G$, we find a compact set $E \supset B$ such that…

Given a graph $G=(V,E)$, $S\subseteq V$ is a dominating set if every $v\in V\setminus S$ is adjacent to an element of $S$. The Minimum Dominating Set problem asks for a dominating set with minimum cardinality. It is well known that its…

We improve the status of the problem of determining minimum-sized percolating sets in $a \times b \times c$ grids under the $3$-neighbour process. Using several new constructions, we show that optimal percolating sets exist whenever…

Let $({\bf U},{\bf S},d)$ be an instance of Set Cover Problem, where ${\bf U}=\{u_1,...,u_n\}$ is a $n$ element ground set, ${\bf S}=\{S_1,...,S_m\}$ is a set of $m$ subsets of ${\bf U}$ satisfying $\bigcup_{i=1}^m S_i={\bf U}$ and $d$ is a…

Let m be a positive integer and A an elementary abelian group of order q^r with r greater than or equal to 2 acting on a finite q'-group G. We show that if for some integer d such that 2^{d} is less than or equal to (r-1) the dth derived…

A $2-(v,k,\lambda)$ directed design (or simply a $2-(v,k,\lambda)DD$) is super-simple if its underlying $2-(v,k,2\lambda)BIBD$ is super-simple, that is, any two blocks of the $BIBD$ intersect in at most two points. A $2-(v,k,\lambda)DD$ is…

A set of proper subgroups is a covering for a group if its union is the whole group. The minimal number of subgroups needed to cover $G$ is called the covering number of $G$, denoted by $\sigma(G)$. Determining $\sigma(G)$ is an open…

A point set $M$ in $m$-dimensional Euclidean space is called an integral point set if all the distances between the elements of $M$ are integers, and $M$ is not situated on an $(m-1)$-dimensional hyperplane. We improve the linear lower…

Let G be a complete convex geometric graph on 2m vertices, and let F be a family of subgraphs of G. A blocker for F is a set of edges, of smallest possible size, that meets every element of F. In [C. Keller and M. A. Perles, On the smallest…

In this note we prove that for any compact subset $S$ of a Busemann surface $({\mathcal S},d)$ (in particular, for any simple polygon with geodesic metric) and any positive number $\delta$, the minimum number of closed balls of radius…

A primary covering of a finite group $G$ is a family of proper subgroups of $G$ whose union contains the set of elements of $G$ having order a prime power. We denote with $\sigma_0(G)$ the smallest size of a primary covering of $G$, and…

We consider finite dimensional representations of the dihedral group $D_{2p}$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic two where $p$ is an odd integer and study the degrees of generating and separating polynomials in the…

A finite $p$-group $G$ is called \textit{powerful} if either $p$ is odd and $[G,G]\subseteq G^p$ or $p=2$ and $[G,G]\subseteq G^4$. A {\em{cover}} for a group is a collection of subgroups whose union is equal to the entire group. We will…

A set $S\subseteq V$ of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a dominating set if each vertex has a neighbor in $S$ or belongs to $S$. Dominating Set is the problem of deciding, given a graph $G$ and an integer $k\geq 1$, if $G$ has a dominating set of size…

We establish a lower bound theorem for the number of $k$-faces ($1\le k\le d-2$) in a $d$-dimensional polytope $P$ (abbreviated as a $d$-polytope) with $2d+2$ vertices, extending the previously known case for $k=1$. We identify all…

Blocking semiovals and the determination of their (minimum) sizes constitute one of the central research topics in finite projective geometry. In this article we introduce the concept of blocking set with the $r_\infty$-property in a finite…

We study embeddings of $\mathrm{PSL}_2(p^a)$ into exceptional groups $G(p^b)$ for $G=F_4,E_6,{}^2\!E_6,E_7$, and $p$ a prime with $a,b$ positive integers. With a few possible exceptions, we prove that any almost simple group with socle…