组合数学

Ballantine--Beck--Feigon--Maurischat introduced the subsum polynomial \[ \operatorname{sp}(\lambda,x):=\prod_i (1+x^{\lambda_i}) \] attached to an integer partition $\lambda$, and studied rational functions obtained by summing reciprocals…

Let $[n]$ (resp. $V$) be an $n$-element set (resp. $n$-dimensional vector space over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$), and $\binom{[n]}{k}$ (resp. $\genfrac{[}{]}{0pt}{}{V}{k}$) denote the set of all $k$-subsets of $[n]$ (resp.…

We introduce an affine version of Tic-Tac-Toe played on the finite affine space $\mathbb{F}_q^m$. Two players alternately claim points, and the first player to occupy all points of an affine subspace of dimension $n$ wins. We call this the…

A graph $G=(V,E)$ is word-representable if there exists a word $w$ over the alphabet $V$ such that letters $x$ and $y$ alternate in $w$ if and only if $xy\in E$. For integers $n>k>0 $, the shift graph $G(n,k)$ is the graph whose vertex set…

We generalize the results and conjectures of Tam\'{a}s Lengyel, showing that the \textsc{nim}-values of a large class of two-dimensional subtraction-transfer games are periodic. These are impartial, normal-play games with two piles of…

We prove that asymptotically almost all vectorial functions over finite fields have trivial extended-affine stabilizers. As a consequence, the number of EA-equivalence classes is asymptotically equal to the naive estimate, namely the total…

The Second Neighborhood Conjecture of Seymour asserts that every oriented graph contains a vertex~$v$ satisfying $|\Npp(v)|\ge|\Np(v)|$. We introduce \emph{Pisa graphs} -- strongly connected oriented graphs~$D$ with $\Delta(D)=\max_{v\in…

In the space of equioriented type $A$ quiver representations, we define subvarieties called "open quiver loci" by placing strict rank conditions on the maps within representations. The closures of these subvarieties are the quiver loci,…

A pair of graphs $(\Gamma,\Sigma)$ is called unstable if their direct product $\Gamma\times\Sigma$ admits automorphisms not from $\mathrm{Aut}(\Gamma)\times\mathrm{Aut}(\Sigma)$, and such automorphisms are said to be unexpected. The…

We study the category of graded Hopf algebras that are free noncommutative, cocommutative, graded and connected from the perspective of the sequences of dimensions of the graded pieces. We show that a Hopf algebra exists with a given…

A quadrangle in the Euclidean plane is called $n$-self-affine if it has a dissection into $n$ affine images of itself. All convex quadrangles are known to be $n$-self-affine for every $n \ge 5$. The only $2$-self-affine convex quadrangles…

Whitney proved that 3-connected planar graphs admit a unique embedding on the sphere. In contrast, Enami investigated embeddings of 3-connected cubic planar graphs on non-spherical surfaces with non-negative Euler characteristic. He…

We call progressive paths and rushed paths two families of Dyck paths studied by Asinowski and Jelinek, which have the same enumerating sequence (OEIS entry A287709). We present a bijection proving this fact. Rushed paths turn out to be in…

For affine Coxeter groups of affine types $\tilde D$ and $\tilde B$, we model the interval $[1,c]_T$ in the absolute order by symmetric noncrossing partitions of an annulus with one or two double points. In type $\tilde B$ (and…

The minimum number of bicliques needed to cover the edge set of the complete graph on $n$ vertices is $\lceil \log_2 n \rceil$. The Graham-Pollak theorem states that at least $n-1$ bicliques are required to partition the edge set of the…

Let $R$ be a commutative ring and $n\geq1$ and $p\geq0$ two integers. Let $h_{k,\ i}$ be an element of $R$ for all $k\in\mathbb Z$ and $i\in [n]$. For any $\alpha\in\mathbb Z^n$, we define \[ t_{\alpha}:=\det\begin{pmatrix} h_{\alpha_1+1,\…

We define the grove polynomials, a set-valued extension of forest polynomials. We show that they are $K$-theoretically dual to the quasisymmetric Schubert cells which pave the quasisymmetric flag variety, in the same way that Grothendieck…

Let $G$ be a simple connected graph on $n$ vertices, and let $\lambda_1(G),\lambda_2(G),\ldots,\lambda_n(G)$ be the eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix $A(G)$. For $p>0$, define the $p$-energy of $G$ by $\mathcal E_p(G)=\sum_{i=1}^n…

This paper studies the Manickam-Mikl\'os-Singhi (MMS) property for graphs and hypergraphs. Using the structural characterisation of the $2$-uniform case, we construct new families of regular graphs with the MMS property. We then analyse the…

We prove that all lattice path matroids are Ehrhart positive. This unifies and generalizes numerous results on the Ehrhart positivity of matroids developed over the last two decades. We rely on our previous work on the positivity of order…