Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Regularity method in hypergraphs with no 4-cycles in their links

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, September 26, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Ayush BasuEmory University

The regularity method for graphs has been well studied for dense graphs, i.e., graphs on $n$ vertices with $\Omega(n^2)$ edges. However, applying it to sparse graphs, i.e., those with $o(n^2)$ edges seems to be a harder problem. In the mid 2010s, the regularity method was extended to dense subgraphs of random graphs thus resolving the KŁR conjecture. Later, in another direction, Conlon, Fox, Sudakov and Zhao proved a removal lemma for $C_5$ in graphs that do not contain any $C_4$ (such graphs on $n$ vertices can contain at most $n^{3/2}$ edges). In this talk, we will consider a similar problem for sparse $3$-uniform hypergraphs. In particular, we consider an application of the regularity method to $3$-uniform hypergraphs whose vertices do not contain $C_4$ in their links and satisfy an additional boundedness condition. This is joint work with Vojtěch Rödl and Mathias Schacht.

Turán's theorem for Dowling geometries

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Donggyu KimGeorgia Institute of Technology

The rank-$n$ Dowling geometry $Q_n(\Gamma)$ is a matroid associated with a graph edge-labeled by elements of the finite group $\Gamma$. We determine the maximum size of an $N$-free submatroid of $Q_n(\Gamma)$ for various choices of $N$, including subgeometries $Q_m(\Gamma')$, lines $U_{2,\ell}$, and graphic matroids $M(H)$. When the group $\Gamma$ is trivial and $N=M(K_t)$, this problem reduces to Tur\'{a}n's classical result in extremal graph theory. We show that when $\Gamma$ is nontrivial, a complex dependence on $\Gamma$ emerges, even when $N=M(K_4)$.

This is joint work with Rutger Campbell and Jorn van der Pol.

ε-series by Logan Post, Jasper Seabold, and Adri Wessels

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, September 5, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Logan Post, Jasper Seabold, and Adri WesselsGeorgia Tech

Three fifteen-minute talks by local speakers.

Logan Post: Almost all even-parity binary words are shuffle squares

Jasper Seabold: Using Grid Graphs to Study Hypergraph Ramsey Questions

Adri Wessels: 

Braid Group Presentations and Triangulations of the Permutohedron

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, April 25, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
1214 in the U A Whitaker Biomedical Engr. building
Speaker
Colin DefantHarvard University

Using the theory of total linear stability for Dynkin quivers and an interplay between the Bruhat order and the noncrossing partition lattice, we define a family of triangulations of the permutohedron indexed by Coxeter elements.  Each triangulation is constructed to give an explicit homotopy between two complexes (the Salvetti complex and the Bessis--Brady--Watt complex) associated to two different presentations of the corresponding braid group (the standard Artin presentation and Bessis's dual presentation).  Our triangulations have several notable combinatorial properties. In addition, they refine similar Bruhat interval polytope decompositions of Knutson, Sanchez, and Sherman-Bennett. This is based on joint work with Melissa Sherman-Bennett and Nathan Williams. 

Rational values of the weak saturation limit

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, April 18, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Ruben AscoliGeorgia Institute of Technology

Given a graph $F$, a graph $G$ is weakly $F$-saturated if all non-edges of $G$ can be added in some order so that each new edge introduces a copy of $F$. The weak saturation number $wsat(n,F)$ is the minimum number of edges in a weakly $F$-saturated graph on $n$ vertices. Bollobás initiated the study of weak saturation in 1968 to study percolation processes, which originated in biology and have applications in physics and computer science. It was shown by Alon that for each $F$, there is a constant $w_F$ such that $wsat(n,F) = w_F n + o(n)$. We characterize all possible rational values of $w_F$, proving in particular that $w_F$ can equal any rational number at least $3/2$. The techniques involve a combination of random and deterministic constructions and structural methods. Joint work with Xiaoyu He.

Hypergraph Random Turán Problems and Sidorenko conjecture

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, April 11, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skilles 005
Speaker
Jiaxi NieGeorgia Institute of Technology

Given an $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, the random Turán number $\mathrm{ex}(G^r_{n,p},H)$ is the maximum number of edges in an $H$-free subgraph of $G^r_{n,p}$, where $G^r_{n,p}$ is the Erdős-Rényi random hypergraph with parameter $p$. In the case when $H$ is not r-partite, the problem has been essentially solved independently by Conlon-Gowers and Schacht. In the case when $H$ is $r$-partite, the degenerate case, only some sporadic results are known.

The Sidorenko conjecture is a notorious problem in extremal combinatorics. It is known that its hypergraph analog is not true. Recently, Conlon, Lee, and Sidorenko discovered a relation between the Sidorenko conjecture and the Turán problem. 

 In this talk, we introduce some recent results on the degenerate random Turan problem and its relation to the hypergraph analog of the Sidorenko conjecture.

Universality for graphs of bounded degeneracy

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, March 28, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Anita LiebenauUNSW Sydney

What is the smallest number of edges that a graph can have if it contains all $D$-degenerate graphs on $n$ vertices as subgraphs? A counting argument shows that this number is at least of order $n^{2−1/D}$, assuming n is large enough. We show that this is tight up to a polylogarithmic factor.

Joint work with Peter Allen and Julia Böttcher.

Information Theory in Scientific Domains

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, March 14, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Bill KayPacific Northwest National Labs

In this talk, the speaker will present three applications of information theory in applied spaces. No background on information theory, hypergraphs, or RF signals analysis will be assumed. Bill Kay is a pure mathematician in combinatorics by training who now lives in an applied space at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The independence number of H-free hypergraphs

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, February 21, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Xiaoyu HeGeorgia Institute of Technology

It is a fundamental question in Ramsey theory to determine the smallest possible independence number of an H-free hypergraph on n vertices. In the case of graphs, the problem was famously solved for H=K3 by Kim and for H=K4 (up to a logarithmic factor) by Mattheus-Verstraete in 2023. Even C4 and K5 remain wide open. We study the problem for 3-uniform hypergraphs and conjecture a full classification: the minimum independence number is poly(n) if and only if H is contained in the iterated blowup of the single-edge hypergraph. We prove this conjecture for all H with at most two tightly connected components. Based on joint work with Conlon, Fox, Gunby, Mubayi, Suk, Verstraete, and Yu.

Uniform set systems with small VC-dimension and the Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem

Series
Combinatorics Seminar
Time
Friday, February 14, 2025 - 15:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Chi Hoi (Kyle) YipGeorgia Institute of Technology

Let $d\geq 2$, and $n\geq 2d+2$. Frankl and Pach initiated the study of the maximum size of a $(d+1)$-uniform set system in $[n]$ with VC-dimension at most $d$. The best-known upper bound is essentially $\binom{n}{d}$, and the best-known lower bound is $\binom{n-1}{d} + \binom{n-4}{d-2}$. In this talk, I will discuss some recent improvements on the upper bound and some interesting connections between this problem and the celebrated Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem. In particular, I will discuss our conjecture, which can be viewed as a generalization of the EKR as well as an "uniform version" of the disproved Erdős--Frankl--Pach conjecture, and highlight some of our partial progress. Joint work with Ting-Wei Chao, Zixiang Xu, and Shengtong Zhang.

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