arXiv subjects

Balázs Keszegh

Publications and source records attributed to Balázs Keszegh.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Spanners in Planar Domains via Steiner Spanners and non-Steiner Tree Covers

We study spanners in planar domains, including polygonal domains, polyhedral terrain, and planar metrics. Previous work showed that for any constant $ε\in (0,1)$, one could construct a $(2+ε)$-spanner with $O(n\log(n))$ edges (SICOMP 2019), and there is a lower bound of $Ω(n^2)$ edges for any $(2-ε)$-spanner (SoCG 2015). The main open question is whether a linear number of edges suffices and the stretch can be reduced to $2$. We resolve this problem by showing that for stretch $2$, one needs $Ω(n\log n)$ edges, and for stretch $2+ε$ for any fixed $ε\in (0,1)$, $O(n)$ edges are sufficient. Our lower bound is the first super-linear lower bound for stretch $2$. En route to achieve our result, we introduce the problem of constructing non-Steiner tree covers for metrics, which is a natural variant of the well-known Steiner point removal problem for trees (SODA 2001). Given a tree and a set of terminals in the tree, our goal is to construct a collection of a small number of dominating trees such that for every two points, at least one tree in the collection preserves their distance within a small stretch factor. Here, we identify an unexpected threshold phenomenon around $2$ where a sharp transition from $n$ trees to $Θ(\log n)$ trees and then to $O(1)$ trees happens. Specifically, (i) for stretch $ 2-ε$, one needs $Ω(n)$ trees; (ii) for stretch $2$, $Θ(\log n)$ tree is necessary and sufficient; and (iii) for stretch $2+ε$, a constant number of trees suffice. Furthermore, our lower bound technique for the non-Steiner tree covers of stretch $2$ has further applications in proving lower bounds for two related constructions in tree metrics: reliable spanners and locality-sensitive orderings. Our lower bound for locality-sensitive orderings matches the best upper bound (STOC 2022).

cs.CG↗

arXiv2023

Saturation problems about forbidden $0$-$1$ submatrices

A $0$-$1$ matrix $M$ is saturating for a $0$-$1$ matrix $P$ if $M$ does not contain a submatrix that can be turned into $P$ by changing some $1$ entries to $0$ entries, and changing an arbitrary $0$ to $1$ in $M$ introduces such a submatrix in $M$. In saturation problems for $0$-$1$ matrices we are interested in estimating the minimum number of $1$ entries in an $m \times n$ matrix that is saturating for $P$, in terms of $m$ and $n$. In other words, we wish to give good estimates for the saturation function of $P$. Recently, Brualdi and Cao initiated the study of saturation problems in the context of $0$-$1$ matrices. We extend their work in several directions. We prove that every $0$-$1$ forbidden matrix has its saturation function either in $Θ(1)$ or $Θ(n)$ in the case when we restrict ourselves to square saturating matrices. Then we give a partial answer to a question posed by Brualdi and Cao about the saturation function of $J_k$, which is obtained from the identity matrix $I_k$ by putting the first row after the last row. Furthermore, we exhibit a $5\times 5$ permutation matrix with the saturation function bounded from the above by a fixed constant. We complement this result by identifying large classes of $0$-$1$ matrices with linear saturation function. Finally, we completely resolve the related semisaturation problem as far as the constant vs. linear dichotomy is concerned.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

The maximum size of adjacency-crossing graphs

An adjacency-crossing graph is a graph that can be drawn such that every two edges that cross the same edge share a common endpoint. We show that the number of edges in an $n$-vertex adjacency-crossing graph is at most $5n-10$. If we require the edges to be drawn as straight-line segments, then this upper bound becomes $5n-11$. Both of these bounds are tight. The former result also follows from a very recent and independent work of Cheong et al.\cite{cheong2023weakly} who showed that the maximum size of weakly and strongly fan-planar graphs coincide. By combining this result with the bound of Kaufmann and Ueckerdt\cite{KU22} on the size of strongly fan-planar graphs and results of Brandenburg\cite{Br20} by which the maximum size of adjacency-crossing graphs equals the maximum size of fan-crossing graphs which in turn equals the maximum size of weakly fan-planar graphs, one obtains the same bound on the size of adjacency-crossing graphs. However, the proof presented here is different, simpler and direct.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

Convex Hull Thrackles

A \emph{thrackle} is a graph drawn in the plane so that every pair of its edges meet exactly once, either at a common end vertex or in a proper crossing. Conway's thrackle conjecture states that the number of edges is at most the number of vertices. It is known that this conjecture holds for linear thrackles, i.e., when the edges are drawn as straight line segments. We consider \emph{convex hull thrackles}, a recent generalization of linear thrackles from segments to convex hulls of subsets of points. We prove that if the points are in convex position then the number of convex hulls is at most the number of vertices, but in general there is a construction with one more convex hull. On the other hand, we prove that the number of convex hulls is always at most twice the number of vertices.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

A new discrete theory of pseudoconvexity

Recently geometric hypergraphs that can be defined by intersections of pseudohalfplanes with a finite point set were defined in a purely combinatorial way. This led to extensions of earlier results about points and halfplanes to pseudohalfplanes, including polychromatic colorings and discrete Helly-type theorems about pseudohalfplanes. Here we continue this line of research and introduce the notion of convex sets of such pseudohalfplane hypergraphs. In this context we prove several results corresponding to classical results about convexity, namely Helly's Theorem, Carathéodory's Theorem, Kirchberger's Theorem, Separation Theorem, Radon's Theorem and the Cup-Cap Theorem. These results imply the respective results about pseudoconvex sets in the plane defined using pseudohalfplanes. It turns out that most of our results can be also proved using oriented matroids and topological affine planes (TAPs) but our approach is different from both of them. Compared to oriented matroids, our theory is based on a linear ordering of the vertex set which makes our definitions and proofs quite different and perhaps more elementary. Compared to TAPs, which are continuous objects, our proofs are purely combinatorial and again quite different in flavor. Altogether, we believe that our new approach can further our understanding of these fundamental convexity results.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

Cooperation in Combinatorial Search

In the game theoretical approach of the basic problem in Combinatorial Search an adversary thinks of a defective element $d$ of an $n$-element pool $X$, and the questioner needs to find $x$ by asking questions of type is $d\in Q$? for certain subsets $Q$ of $X$. We study cooperative versions of this problem, where there are multiple questioners, but not all of them learn the answer to the queries. We consider various models that differ in how it is decided who gets to ask the next query, who obtains the answer to the query, and who needs to know the defective element by the end of the process.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

On graphs that contain exactly k copies of a subgraph, and a related problem in search theory

We study $\mathrm{exa}_k(n,F)$, the largest number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph $G$ that contains exactly $k$ copies of a given subgraph $F$. The case $k=0$ is the Turán number $\mathrm{ex}(n,F)$ that is among the most studied parameters in extremal graph theory. We show that for any $F$ and $k$, $\mathrm{exa}_k(n,F)=(1+o(1))\mathrm{ex}(n,F))$ and determine the exact values of $\mathrm{exa}_k(n,K_3)$ and $\mathrm{exa}_1(n,K_r)$ for $n$ large enough. We also explore a connection to the following well-known problem in search theory. We are given a graph of order $n$ that consists of an unknown copy of $F$ and some isolated vertices. We can ask pairs of vertices as queries, and the answer tells us whether there is an edge between those vertices. Our goal is to describe the graph using as few queries as possible. Aigner and Triesch in 1990 showed that the number of queries needed is at least $\binom{n}{2}-\mathrm{exa}_1(n,F)$. Among other results we show that the number of queries that were answered NO is at least $\binom{n}{2}-\mathrm{exa}_1(n,F)$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

On the number of hyperedges in the hypergraph of lines and pseudo-discs

Consider the hypergraph whose vertex set is a family of $n$ lines in general position in the plane, and whose hyperedges are induced by intersections with a family of pseudo-discs. We prove that the number of $t$-hyperedges is bounded by $O_t(n^2)$ and that the total number of hyperedges is bounded by $O(n^3)$. Both bounds are tight.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Induced and non-induced poset saturation problems

A subfamily $\mathcal{G}\subseteq \mathcal{F}\subseteq 2^{[n]}$ of sets is a non-induced (weak) copy of a poset $P$ in $\mathcal{F}$ if there exists a bijection $i:P\rightarrow \mathcal{G}$ such that $p\le_P q$ implies $i(p)\subseteq i(q)$. In the case where in addition $p\le_P q$ holds if and only if $i(p)\subseteq i(q)$, then $\mathcal{G}$ is an induced (strong) copy of $P$ in $\mathcal{F}$. We consider the minimum number $sat(n,P)$ [resp.\ $sat^*(n,P)$] of sets that a family $\mathcal{F}\subseteq 2^{[n]}$ can have without containing a non-induced [induced] copy of $P$ and being maximal with respect to this property, i.e., the addition of any $G\in 2^{[n]}\setminus \mathcal{F}$ creates a non-induced [induced] copy of $P$. We prove for any finite poset $P$ that $sat(n,P)\le 2^{|P|-2}$, a bound independent of the size $n$ of the ground set. For induced copies of $P$, there is a dichotomy: for any poset $P$ either $sat^*(n,P)\le K_P$ for some constant depending only on $P$ or $sat^*(n,P)\ge \log_2 n$. We classify several posets according to this dichotomy, and also show better upper and lower bounds on $sat(n,P)$ and $sat^*(n,P)$ for specific classes of posets. Our main new tool is a special ordering of the sets based on the colexicographic order. It turns out that if $P$ is given, processing the sets in this order and adding the sets greedily into our family whenever this does not ruin non-induced [induced] $P$-freeness, we tend to get a small size non-induced [induced] $P$-saturating family.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Coloring directed hypergraphs

Inspired by earlier results about proper and polychromatic coloring of hypergraphs, we investigate such colorings of directed hypergraphs, that is, hypergraphs in which the vertices of each hyperedge is partitioned into two parts, a tail and a head. We present a conjecture of D. Pálvölgyi and the author, which states that directed hypergraphs with a certain restriction on their pairwise intersections can be colored with two colors. Besides other contributions, our main result is a proof of this conjecture for $3$-uniform directed hypergraphs. This result can be phrased equivalently such that if a $3$-uniform directed hypergraph avoids a certain directed hypergraph with two hyperedges, then it admits a proper $2$-coloring. Previously, only extremal problems regarding the maximum number of edges of directed hypergraphs that avoid a certain hyperedge were studied.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

The number of tangencies between two families of curves

We prove that the number of tangencies between the members of two families, each of which consists of $n$ pairwise disjoint curves, can be as large as $Ω(n^{4/3})$. We show that from a conjecture about forbidden $0$-$1$ matrices it would follow that this bound is sharp for doubly-grounded families. We also show that if the curves are required to be $x$-monotone, then the maximum number of tangencies is $Θ(n\log n)$, which improves a result by Pach, Suk, and Treml. Finally, we also improve the best known bound on the number of tangencies between the members of a family of at most $t$-intersecting curves.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Saturation of Ordered Graphs

Recently, the saturation problem of $0$-$1$ matrices gained a lot of attention. This problem can be regarded as a saturation problem of ordered bipartite graphs. Motivated by this, we initiate the study of the saturation problem of ordered and cyclically ordered graphs. We prove that dichotomy holds also in these two cases, i.e., for a (cyclically) ordered graph its saturation function is either bounded or linear. We also determine the order of magnitude for large classes of (cyclically) ordered graphs, giving infinite many examples exhibiting both possible behaviours, answering a problem of Pálvölgyi. In particular, in the ordered case we define a natural subclass of ordered matchings, the class of linked matchings, and we start their systematic study, concentrating on linked matchings with at most three links and prove that many of them have bounded saturation function. In both the ordered and cyclically ordered case we also consider the semisaturation problem, where dichotomy holds as well and we can even fully characterize the graphs that have bounded semisaturation function.

math.CO↗

arXiv2021

Discrete Helly-type theorems for pseudohalfplanes

We prove discrete Helly-type theorems for pseudohalfplanes, which extend recent results of Jensen, Joshi and Ray about halfplanes. Among others we show that given a family of pseudohalfplanes $\cal H$ and a set of points $P$, if every triple of pseudohalfplanes has a common point in $P$ then there exists a set of at most two points that hits every pseudohalfplane of $\cal H$. We also prove that if every triple of points of $P$ is contained in a pseudohalfplane of $\cal H$ then there are two pseudohalfplanes of $\cal H$ that cover all points of $P$. To prove our results we regard pseudohalfplane hypergraphs, define their extremal vertices and show that these behave in many ways as points on the boundary of the convex hull of a set of points. Our methods are purely combinatorial. In addition we determine the maximal possible chromatic number of the regarded hypergraph families.

math.CO↗

arXiv2021

On tangencies among planar curves with an application to coloring L-shapes

We prove that there are $O(n)$ tangencies among any set of $n$ red and blue planar curves in which every pair of curves intersects at most once and no two curves of the same color intersect. If every pair of curves may intersect more than once, then it is known that the number of tangencies could be super-linear. However, we show that a linear upper bound still holds if we replace tangencies by pairwise disjoint connecting curves that all intersect a certain face of the arrangement of red and blue curves. The latter result has an application for the following problem studied by Keller, Rok and Smorodinsky [Disc.\ Comput.\ Geom.\ (2020)] in the context of \emph{conflict-free coloring} of \emph{string graphs}: what is the minimum number of colors that is always sufficient to color the members of any family of $n$ \emph{grounded L-shapes} such that among the L-shapes intersected by any L-shape there is one with a unique color? They showed that $O(\log^3 n)$ colors are always sufficient and that $Ω(\log n)$ colors are sometimes necessary. We improve their upper bound to $O(\log^2 n)$.

math.CO↗

arXiv2021

Coloring Delaunay-Edges and their Generalizations

We consider geometric hypergraphs whose vertex set is a finite set of points (e.g., in the plane), and whose hyperedges are the intersections of this set with a family of geometric regions (e.g., axis-parallel rectangles). A typical coloring problem for such geometric hypergraphs asks, given an integer $k$, for the existence of an integer $m=m(k)$, such that every set of points can be $k$-colored such that every hyperedge of size at least $m$ contains points of different (or all $k$) colors. We generalize this notion by introducing coloring of \emph{$t$-subsets} of points such that every hyperedge that contains enough points contains $t$-subsets of different (or all) colors. In particular, we consider all $t$-subsets and $t$-subsets that are themselves hyperedges. The latter, with $t=2$, is equivalent to coloring the edges of the so-called \emph{Delaunay-graph}. In this paper we study colorings of Delaunay-edges with respect to halfplanes, pseudo-disks, axis-parallel and bottomless rectangles, and also discuss colorings of $t$-subsets of geometric and abstract hypergraphs, and connections between the standard coloring of vertices and coloring of $t$-subsets of vertices.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

Aligned plane drawings of the generalized Delaunay-graphs for pseudo-disks

We study general Delaunay-graphs, which are natural generalizations of Delaunay triangulations to arbitrary families, in particular to pseudo-disks. We prove that for any finite pseudo-disk family and point set, there is a plane drawing of their Delaunay-graph such that every edge lies inside every pseudo-disk that contains its endpoints.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2020

Two-coloring triples such that in each color class every element is missed at least once

We give a characterization of finite sets of triples of elements (e.g., positive integers) that can be colored with two colors such that for every element $i$ in each color class there exists a triple which does not contain $i$. We give a linear (in the number of triples) time algorithm to decide if such a coloring exists and find one if it does. We also consider generalizations of this result and an application to a matching problem, which motivated this study. Finally, we show how these results translate to results about colorings of hypergraphs in which the degree of every vertex is $k$ less than the number of hyperedges.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

Combinatorics in the exterior algebra and the Bollobás Two Families Theorem

We investigate the combinatorial structure of subspaces of the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional real vector space, working in parallel with the extremal combinatorics of hypergraphs. Using initial monomials, projections of the underlying vector space onto subspaces, and the interior product, we find analogues of local and global LYM inequalities, the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem, and the Ahlswede-Khachatrian bound for $t$-intersecting hypergraphs. Using these tools, we prove a new extension of the Two Families Theorem of Bollobás, giving a weighted bound for subspace configurations satisfying a skew cross-intersection condition. We also verify a recent conjecture of Gerbner, Keszegh, Methuku, Abhishek, Nagy, Patkós, Tompkins, and Xiao on pairs of set systems satisfying both an intersection and a cross-intersection condition.

math.CO↗