Related papers: Transversals in generalized Latin squares

Let m and n be integers, $2 \leq m \leq n$. An m by n array consists of mn cells, arranged in m rows and n columns, and each cell contains exactly one symbol. A transversal of an array consists of m cells, one from each row and no two from…

A $k$-plex in a latin square of order $n$ is a selection of $kn$ entries that includes $k$ representatives from each row and column and $k$ occurrences of each symbol. A $1$-plex is also known as a transversal. It is well known that if $n$…

Let $L(n)$ be the number of Latin squares of order $n$, and let $L^{\textrm{even}}(n)$ and $L^{\textrm{odd}}(n)$ be the number of even and odd such squares, so that $L(n) = L^{\textrm{even}}(n) + L^{\textrm{odd}}(n)$. The Alon-Tarsi…

Aharoni and Berger conjectured that in every proper edge-colouring of a bipartite multigraph by $n$ colours with at least $n+1$ edges of each colour there is a rainbow matching using every colour. This conjecture generalizes a longstanding…

A multi-latin square of order $n$ and index $k$ is an $n\times n$ array of multisets, each of cardinality $k$, such that each symbol from a fixed set of size $n$ occurs $k$ times in each row and $k$ times in each column. A multi-latin…

Let $L$ be an order-$n$ Latin square. For $X, Y, Z \subseteq \{1, ... ,n\}$, let $L(X, Y. Z)$ be the number of triples $i\in X, j\in Y, k\in Z$ such that $L(i,j) = k$. We conjecture that asymptotically almost every Latin square satisfies…

Completing partial latin squares is NP-complete. Motivated by Ryser's theorem for latin rectangles, in 1974, Cruse found conditions that ensure a partial symmetric latin square of order $m$ can be embedded in a symmetric latin square of…

A hypergraph is \textit{bipartite with bipartition $(A, B)$} if every edge has exactly one vertex in $A$, and a matching in such a hypergraph is \textit{$A$-perfect} if it saturates every vertex in $A$. We prove an upper bound on the number…

A Latin array is a matrix of symbols in which no symbol occurs more than once within a row or within a column. A diagonal of an $n\times n$ array is a selection of $n$ cells taken from different rows and columns of the array. The weight of…

Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s and S\'{a}rk\"{o}zy conjectured that every $n\times n$ Latin square has a `cycle-free' partial transversal of size $n-2$. We confirm this conjecture in a strong sense for almost all Latin squares, by showing that as $n…

Consider any dense r-regular quasirandom bipartite graph H with parts of size n and fix a set of r colours. Let L be a random list assignment where each colour is available for each edge of H with probability p. We show that the threshold…

A Latin square of order $n$ is an $n\times n$ matrix in which each row and column contains each of $n$ symbols exactly once. For $\epsilon>0$, we show that with high probability a uniformly random Latin square of order $n$ has no proper…

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for there to exist a latin square of order $n$ containing two subsquares of order $a$ and $b$ that intersect in a subsquare of order $c$. We also solve the case of two disjoint subsquares. We…

In a Latin square, every row can be interpreted as a permutation, and therefore has a parity (even or odd). We prove that in a uniformly random $n\times n$ Latin square, the $n$ row parities are very well approximated by a sequence of $n$…

The chromatic number of a Latin square is the least number of partial transversals which cover its cells. This is just the chromatic number of its associated Latin square graph. Although Latin square graphs have been widely studied as…

In 1975, Stein made a wide generalisation of the Ryser-Brualdi-Stein conjecture on transversals in Latin squares, conjecturing that every equi-$n$-square (an $n\times n$ array filled with $n$ symbols where each symbol appears exactly $n$…

A paper by Cavenagh and Wanless diagnosed the possible intersection of any two transversals of the back circulant Latin square B_n, and used the result to completely determine the spectrum for 2-way k-homogeneous latin trades. We give a…

A critical set in an $n \times n$ array is a set $C$ of given entries, such that there exists a unique extension of $C$ to an $n\times n$ Latin square and no proper subset of $C$ has this property. The cardinality of the largest critical…

An intercalate in a Latin square is a $2\times2$ Latin subsquare. Let $N$ be the number of intercalates in a uniformly random $n\times n$ Latin square. We prove that asymptotically almost surely…

We generalize the notion of orthogonal latin squares to colorings of simple graphs. Two $n$-colorings of a graph are said to be \emph{orthogonal} if whenever two vertices share a color in one coloring they have distinct colors in the other…