English

Coloring the cube with rainbow cycles

Combinatorics 2012-12-10 v1

Abstract

For every even positive integer k4k\ge 4 let f(n,k)f(n,k) denote the minimim number of colors required to color the edges of the nn-dimensional cube QnQ_n, so that the edges of every copy of kk-cycle CkC_k receive kk distinct colors. Faudree, Gy\'arf\'as, Lesniak and Schelp proved that f(n,4)=nf(n,4)=n for n=4n=4 or n>5n>5. We consider larger kk and prove that if k0k \equiv 0 (mod 4), then there are positive constants c1,c2c_1, c_2 depending only on kk such that c1nk/4<f(n,k)<c2nk/4.c_1n^{k/4} < f(n,k) < c_2 n^{k/4}. Our upper bound uses an old construction of Bose and Chowla of generalized Sidon sets. For k2k \equiv 2 (mod 4), the situation seems more complicated. For the smallest case k=6 we show that nf(n,6)<n1+o(1).n \le f(n, 6) < n^{1+o(1)}. The upper bound is obtained from Behrend's construction of a subset of the integers with no three term arithmetic progression.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1212.1646,
  title  = {Coloring the cube with rainbow cycles},
  author = {Dhruv Mubayi and Randall Stading},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.1646},
  year   = {2012}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T22:50:25.943Z