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Christos Pelekis

Publications and source records attributed to Christos Pelekis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

An entropic analogue of the MMS conjecture

Let $P=\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\}$ be a multiset consisting of $n\ge 2$ real numbers such that $\sum_{i=1}^{n}x_i=0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^{n}|x_i|>0$, and let $k <n$ be a positive integer. We sample $k$ elements from $P$ without replacement and set $X_P$ be the sum of the elements in our sample. It is shown that the Shannon entropy of $X_P$ satisfies \[ \mathbf{H}(X_P) \ge \mathbf{H}(\text{Ber}(k/n)) \, , \] where $\text{Ber}(k/n)$ is a Bernoulli random variable of mean $k/n$. The result is sharp, and may be seen as an entropic analogue of the Manickam-Miklós-Singhi (MMS) conjecture.

math.CO↗
arXiv2026

On lower bounds for hypergeometric tails

Let $n,k$ be positive integers such that $n\geq k$, and let $H$ be a hypergeometric random variable counting the number of black marbles in a sample without replacement of size $k$ from an urn that contains $i\in \{1,\ldots, n\}$ black and $n - i$ white marbles. It is shown that \[ \mathbb{P}(H \ge \mathbb{E}(H)) \ge k/n\, , \, \text{when} \,\, n\ge 8k \, . \] Furthermore, provided that $1\le \mathbb{E}(H)\le \min\{i,k\}-1$ as well as that $\frac{(n-i)(n-k)}{n}>1$, it is shown that \[ \mathbb{P}(H\ge \mathbb{E}(H)) \,\ge\, \frac{e^{-1/12}}{4\sqrt{2}} \cdot \sqrt{\frac{n-1}{n}} \cdot\frac{ \sqrt{\text{Var}(H)} }{1 + \sqrt{1+ \frac{n-1}{n-k}\cdot\text{Var}(H)}}\, . \] Auxiliary results which may be of independent interest include an upper bound on the tail conditional expectation and a lower bound on the mean absolute deviation of the hypergeometric distribution.

math.PR↗
arXiv2025

Concentration inequalities for the sum in sampling without replacement: an approach via majorization

Let $P=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ be a population consisting of $n\ge 2$ real numbers whose sum is zero, and let $k <n$ be a positive integer. We sample $k$ elements from $P$ without replacement and denote by $X_P$ the sum of the elements in our sample. In this article, using ideas from the theory of majorization, we deduce non-asymptotic lower and upper bounds on the probability that $X_P$ exceeds its expected value.

math.PR↗
arXiv2023

A binomial random multigraph

Fix a positive integer $n$, a real number $p\in (0,1]$, and a (perhaps random) hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ on $[n]$. We introduce and investigate the following random multigraph model, which we denote $\mathbb{G}(n,p\, ; \,\mathcal{H})$: begin with an empty graph on $n$ vertices, which are labelled by the set $[n]$. For every $H\in \mathcal{H}$ choose, independently from previous choices, a doubleton from $H$, say $D = \{i,j\} \subset H$, uniformly at random and then introduce an edge between the vertices $i$ and $j$ in the graph with probability $p$, where each edge is introduced independently of all other edges.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

A note on the network coloring game: A randomized distributed $(Δ+1)$-coloring algorithm

The network coloring game has been proposed in the literature of social sciences as a model for conflict-resolution circumstances. The players of the game are the vertices of a graph with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$. The game is played over rounds, and in each round all players simultaneously choose a color from a set of available colors. Players have local information of the graph: they only observe the colors chosen by their neighbors and do not communicate or cooperate with one another. A player is happy when she has chosen a color that is different from the colors chosen by her neighbors, otherwise she is unhappy, and a configuration of colors for which all players are happy is a proper coloring of the graph. It has been shown in the literature that, when the players adopt a particular greedy randomized strategy, the game reaches a proper coloring of the graph within $O(\log(n))$ rounds, with high probability, provided the number of colors available to each player is at least $Δ+2$. In this note we show that a modification of the aforementioned greedy strategy yields likewise a proper coloring of the graph, provided the number of colors available to each player is at least $Δ+1$, and results in a simple randomized distributed algorithm for the $(Δ+1)$-coloring problem..

cs.DM↗
arXiv2021

Some inequalities on Binomial and Poisson probabilities

Let $S$ and $X$ be independent random variables, assuming values in the set of non-negative integers, and suppose further that both $\mathbb{E}(S)$ and $\mathbb{E}(X)$ are integers satisfying $\mathbb{E}(S)\ge \mathbb{E}(X)$. We establish a sufficient condition for the tail probability $\mathbb{P}(S\ge \mathbb{E}(S))$ to be larger than $\mathbb{P}(S+X\ge \mathbb{E}(S+X))$. We also apply this result to sums of independent binomial and Poisson random variables.

math.PR↗
arXiv2021

A Fragile multi-CPR Game

A Fragile CPR Game is an instance of a resource sharing game where a common-pool resource, which is prone to failure due to overuse, is shared among several players. Each player has a fixed initial endowment and is faced with the task of investing in the common-pool resource without forcing it to fail. The return from the common-pool resource is subject to uncertainty and is perceived by the players in a prospect-theoretic manner. It is shown in [A.~R.~Hota, S.~Garg, S.~Sundaram, \textit{Fragility of the commons under prospect-theoretic risk attitudes}, Games and Economic Behavior \textbf{98} (2016) 135--164.] that, under some mild assumptions, a Fragile CPR Game admits a unique Nash equilibrium. In this article we investigate an extended version of a Fragile CPR Game, in which players are allowed to share multiple common-pool resources that are also prone to failure due to overuse. We refer to this game as a Fragile multi-CPR Game. Our main result states that, under some mild assumptions, a Fragile multi-CPR Game admits a Generalized Nash equilibrium. Moreover, we show that, when there are more players than common-pool resources, the set consisting of all Generalized Nash equilibria of a Fragile multi-CPR Game is of Lebesgue measure zero.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2021

A limit theorem for small cliques in inhomogeneous random graphs

The theory of graphons comes with a natural sampling procedure, which results in an inhomogeneous variant of the Erdős--Rényi random graph, called $W$-random graphs. We prove, via the method of moments, a limit theorem for the number of $r$-cliques in such random graphs. We show that, whereas in the case of dense Erdős--Rényi random graphs the fluctuations are normal of order $n^{r-1}$, the fluctuations in the setting of $W$-random graphs may be of order $0, n^{r-1}$, or $n^{r-0.5}$. Furthermore, when the fluctuations are of order $n^{r-0.5}$ they are normal, while when the fluctuations are of order $n^{r-1}$ they exhibit either normal or a particular type of chi-square behavior whose parameters relate to spectral properties of $W$. These results can also be deduced from a general setting [Janson and Nowicki, PTRF 1991], based on the projection method. In addition to providing alternative proofs, our approach makes direct links to the theory of graphons.

math.CO↗
arXiv2020

Optimizing stakes in simultaneous bets

We want to find the convex combination $S$ of iid Bernoulli random variables that maximizes $\textbf{P}(S\geq t)$ for a given threshold~$t$. Csóka conjectured that such an $S$ is an average if $t\geq p$, where $p$ is the success probability of the Bernoulli random variables. We prove this conjecture for a range of $p$ and $t$.

math.PR↗
arXiv2020

A Turán-type theorem for large-distance graphs in Euclidean spaces, and related isodiametric problems

Given a measurable set $A\subset \mathbb R^d$ we consider the "large-distance graph" $\mathcal{G}_A$, on the ground set $A$, in which each pair of points from $A$ whose distance is bigger than 2 forms an edge. We consider the problems of maximizing the $2d$-dimensional Lebesgue measure of the edge set as well as the $d$-dimensional Lebesgue measure of the vertex set of a large-distance graph in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space that contains no copies of a complete graph on $k$ vertices. The former problem may be seen as a continuous analogue of Turán's classical graph theorem, and the latter as a graph-theoretic analogue of the classical isodiametric problem. Our main result yields an analogue of Mantel's theorem for large-distance graphs. Our approach employs an isodiametric inequality in an annulus, which might be of independent interest.

math.CO↗
arXiv2019

On $k$-antichains in the unit $n$-cube

A \emph{chain} in the unit $n$-cube is a set $C\subset [0,1]^n$ such that for every $\mathbf{x}=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ and $\mathbf{y}=(y_1,\ldots,y_n)$ in $C$ we either have $x_i\le y_i$ for all $i\in [n]$, or $x_i\ge y_i$ for all $i\in [n]$. We consider subsets, $A$, of the unit $n$-cube $[0,1]^n$ that satisfy \[ \text{card}(A \cap C) \le k, \, \text{ for all chains } \, C \subset [0,1]^n \, , \] where $k$ is a fixed positive integer. We refer to such a set $A$ as a $k$-antichain. We show that the $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of a $k$-antichain in $[0,1]^n$ is at most $kn$ and that the bound is asymptotically sharp. Moreover, we conjecture that there exist $k$-antichains in $[0,1]^n$ whose $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure equals $kn$ and we verify the validity of this conjecture when $n=2$.

math.CA↗
arXiv2019

A continuous analogue of Erdős' $k$-Sperner theorem

A \emph{chain} in the unit $n$-cube is a set $C\subset [0,1]^n$ such that for every $\mathbf{x}=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ and $\mathbf{y}=(y_1,\ldots,y_n)$ in $C$ we either have $x_i\le y_i$ for all $i\in [n]$, or $x_i\ge y_i$ for all $i\in [n]$. We show that the $1$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of a chain in the unit $n$-cube is at most $n$, and that the bound is sharp. Given this result, we consider the problem of maximising the $n$-dimensional Lebesgue measure of a measurable set $A\subset [0,1]^n$ subject to the constraint that it satisfies $\mathcal{H}^1(A\cap C) \le κ$ for all chains $C\subset [0,1]^n$, where $κ$ is a fixed real number from the interval $(0,n]$. We show that the measure of $A$ is not larger than the measure of the following optimal set: \[ A^{\ast}_κ = \left\{ (x_1,\ldots,x_n)\in [0,1]^n : \frac{n-κ}{2}\le \sum_{i=1}^{n}x_i \le \frac{n+ κ}{2} \right\} \, . \] Our result may be seen as a continuous counterpart to a theorem of Erdős, regarding $k$-Sperner families of finite sets.

math.CA↗
arXiv2018

Projection inequalities for antichains

A set $A \subseteq {\mathbb{R}}^n$ is called an antichain (resp. antichain) if it does not contain two distinct elements ${\mathbf x}=(x_1,\ldots, x_n)$ and ${\mathbf y}=(y_1,\ldots, y_n)$ satisfying $x_i\le y_i$ (resp. $x_i < y_i$) for all $i\in \{1,\ldots,n\}$. We show that the Hausdorff dimension of a weak antichain $A$ in the $n$-dimensional unit cube $[0,1]^n$ is at most $n-1$ and that the $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of $A$ is at most $n$, which are the best possible bounds. This result is derived as a corollary of the following {\it projection inequality}, which may be of independent interest: The $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of a (weak) antichain $A\subseteq [0, 1]^n$ cannot exceed the sum of the $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measures of the $n$ orthogonal projections of $A$ onto the facets of the unit $n$-cube containing the origin. For the proof of this result we establish a discrete variant of the projection inequality applicable to weak antichains in ${\mathbb Z}^n$ and combine it with ideas from geometric measure theory.

math.CO↗
arXiv2018

On the Shannon entropy of the number of vertices with zero in-degree in randomly oriented hypergraphs

Suppose that you have $n$ colours and $m$ mutually independent dice, each of which has $r$ sides. Each dice lands on any of its sides with equal probability. You may colour the sides of each die in any way you wish, but there is one restriction: you are not allowed to use the same colour more than once on the sides of a die. Any other colouring is allowed. Let $X$ be the number of different colours that you see after rolling the dice. How should you colour the sides of the dice in order to maximize the Shannon entropy of $X$? In this article we investigate this question. We show that the entropy of $X$ is at most $\frac{1}{2} \log(n) + O(1)$ and that the bound is tight, up to a constant additive factor, in the case of there being equally many coins and colours. Our proof employs the differential entropy bound on discrete entropy, along with a lower bound on the entropy of binomial random variables whose outcome is conditioned to be an even integer. We conjecture that the entropy is maximized when the colours are distributed over the sides of the dice as evenly as possible.

math.PR↗
arXiv2018

The de Bruijn-Erdős theorem from a Hausdorff measure point of view

Motivated by a well-known result in extremal set theory, due to Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn and Paul Erdős, we consider curves in the unit $n$-cube $[0,1]^n$ of the form \[ A=\{(x,f_1(x),\ldots,f_{n-2}(x),α): x\in [0,1]\}, \] where $α$ is a fixed real number in $[0,1]$ and $f_1,\ldots,f_{n-2}$ are injective measurable functions from $[0,1]$ to $[0,1]$. We refer to such a curve $A$ as an $n$-\emph{de~Bruijn-Erdős-set}. Under the additional assumption that all functions $f_i,i=1,\ldots,n-2,$ are piecewise monotone, we show that the Hausdorff dimension of $A$ is at most $1$ as well as that its $1$-dimensional Hausdorff measure is at most $n-1$. Moreover, via a walk along devil's staircases, we construct a piecewise monotone $n$-de~Bruijn-Erdős-set whose $1$-dimensional Hausdorff measure equals $n-1$.

math.CA↗
arXiv2017

A generalization of Erdős' matching conjecture

Let $\mathcal{H}=(V,\mathcal{E})$ be an $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices and fix a positive integer $k$ such that $1\le k\le r$. A $k$-\emph{matching} of $\mathcal{H}$ is a collection of edges $\mathcal{M}\subset \mathcal{E}$ such that every subset of $V$ whose cardinality equals $k$ is contained in at most one element of $\mathcal{M}$. The $k$-matching number of $\mathcal{H}$ is the maximum cardinality of a $k$-matching. A well-known problem, posed by Erdős, asks for the maximum number of edges in an $r$-uniform hypergraph under constraints on its $1$-matching number. In this article we investigate the more general problem of determining the maximum number of edges in an $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices subject to the constraint that its $k$-matching number is strictly less than $a$. The problem can also be seen as a generalization of the, well-known, $k$-intersection problem. We propose candidate hypergraphs for the solution of this problem, and show that the extremal hypergraph is among this candidate set when $n\ge 4r\binom{r}{k}^2\cdot a$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2017

A fractal perspective on optimal antichains and intersecting subsets of the unit $n$-cube

An \emph{$n$-cube antichain} is a subset of the unit $n$-cube $[0,1]^n$ that does not contain two elements $\mathbf{x}=(x_1, x_2,\ldots, x_n)$ and $\mathbf{y}=(y_1, y_2,\ldots, y_n)$ satisfying $x_i\le y_i$ for all $i\in \{1,\ldots,n\}$. Using a chain partition of an adequate finite poset we show that the Hausdorff dimension of an $n$-cube antichain is at most $n-1$.We conjecture that the $(n-1)$-dimensional Hausdorff measure of an $n$-cube antichain is at most $n$ times the Hausdorff measure of a facet of the unit $n$-cube and we verify this conjecture for $n=2$ as well as under the assumption that the $n$-cube antichain is a smooth surface. Our proofs employ estimates on the Hausdorff measure of an $n$-cube antichain in terms of the sum of the Hausdorff measures of its injective projections. Moreover, by proceeding along devil's staircase, we construct a $2$-cube antichain whose $1$-dimensional Hausdorff measure equals $2$. Additionally, we discuss a problem with an intersection condition in a similar setting.

math.CO↗