arXiv subjects

Craig Timmons

Publications and source records attributed to Craig Timmons.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Examples of diameter-2 graphs with no triangle or $K_{2,t}$

For each $t \ge 1$ let $W_t$ denote the class of graphs other than stars that have diameter $2$ and contain neither a triangle nor a $K_{2,t}$. The famous Hoffman--Singleton Theorem implies that $W_2$ is finite. Recently Wood suggested the study of $W_t$ for $t > 2$ and conjectured that $W_t$ is finite for all $t \ge 2$. In this note we show that (1) $W_3$ is infinite, (2) $W_5$ contains infinitely many regular graphs, and (3) $W_7$ contains infinitely many Cayley graphs. Our $W_3$ and $W_5$ examples are based on so-called crooked graphs, first constructed by de Caen, Mathon, and Moorhouse. Our $W_7$ examples are Cayley graphs with vertex set $\mathbb{F}_p^2$ for prime $p \equiv 11 \pmod {12}$.

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arXiv2024

Chromatic and achromatic numbers of unitary addition Cayley graphs

Let $R$ be a ring. The unitary addition Cayley graph of $R$, denoted $\mathcal{U}(R)$, is the graph with vertex $R$, and two distinct vertices $x$ and $y$ are adjacent if and only if $x+y$ is a unit. We determine a formula for the clique number and chromatic number of such graphs when $R$ is a finite commutative ring with an odd number of elements. This includes the special case when $R$ is $\mathbb{Z}_n$, the integers modulo $n$, where these parameters had been found under the assumption that $n$ is even, or $n$ is a power of an odd prime. Additionally, we study the achromatic number of $\mathcal{U}( \mathbb{Z}_n )$ in the case that $n$ is the product of two primes. We prove that the achromatic number of $\mathcal{U} ( \mathbb{Z}_{3q})$ is equal to $\frac{3q+1}{2}$ when $q > 3$ is a prime. We also prove a lower bound that applies when $n = pq$ where $p$ and $q$ are distinct odd primes.

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arXiv2024

Hypergraphs of girth 5 and 6 and coding theory

In this paper, we study the maximum number of edges in an $N$-vertex $r$-uniform hypergraph with girth $g$ where $g \in \{5,6 \}$. Writing $\textrm{ex}_r ( N, \mathcal{C}_{<g} )$ for this maximum, it is shown that $\textrm{ex}_r ( N , \mathcal{C}_{ < 5} ) = \Omega_r ( N^{3/2 - o(1)} )$ for $r \in \{4,5,6 \}$. We address an unproved claim from [31] asserting a technique of Ruzsa can be used to show that this lower bound holds for all $r \geq 3$. We carefully explain one of the main obstacles that was overlooked at the time the claim from [31] was made, and show that this obstacle can be overcome when $r\in \{4,5,6\}$. We use constructions from coding theory to prove nontrivial lower bounds that hold for all $r \geq 3$. Finally, we use a recent result of Conlon, Fox, Sudakov, and Zhao to show that the sphere packing bound from coding theory may be improved when upper bounding the size of linear $q$-ary codes of distance $6$.

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arXiv2023

Achromatic colorings of polarity graphs

A complete partition of a graph $G$ is a partition of the vertex set such that there is at least one edge between any two parts. The largest $r$ such that $G$ has a complete partition into $r$ parts, each of which is an independent set, is the achromatic number of $G$. We determine the achromatic number of polarity graphs of biaffine planes coming from generalized polygons. Our colorings of a family of unitary polarity graphs are used to solve a problem of Axenovich and Martin on complete partitions of $C_4$-free graphs. Furthermore, these colorings prove that there are sequences of graphs which are optimally complete and have unbounded degree, a problem that had been studied for the sequence of hypercubes independently by Roichman, and Ahlswede, Bezrukov, Blokhuis, Metsch, and Moorhouse.

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arXiv2023

Forbidden subgraphs and complete partitions

A graph is called an $(r,k)$-graph if its vertex set can be partitioned into $r$ parts, each having at most $k$ vertices and there is at least one edge between any two parts. Let $f(r,H)$ be the minimum $k$ for which there exists an $H$-free $(r,k)$-graph. In this paper we build on the work of Axenovich and Martin, obtaining improved bounds on this function when $H$ is a complete bipartite graph or an even cycle. Some of these bounds are best possible up to a constant factor and confirm a conjecture of Axenovich and Martin in several cases.

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arXiv2021

Generalized sum-free sets and cycle saturated regular graphs

Gerbner, Patk\'{o}s, Tuza, and Vizer recently initiated the study of $F$-saturated regular graphs. One of the essential problems in this line of research is determining when such a graph exists. Using generalized sum-free sets we prove that for any odd integer $k \geq 5$, there is an $n$-vertex regular $C_k$-saturated graph for all $n \geq n_k$. Our proof is based on constructing a special type of sum-free set in $\mathbb{Z}_n$. We prove that for all even $\ell \geq 4$ and integers $n > 12 \ell^2 + 36 \ell + 24$, there is a symmetric complete $( \ell , 1)$-sum-free set in $\mathbb{Z}_n$. We pose the problem of finding the minimum size of such a set, and present some examples found by a computer search.

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arXiv2021

Upper and lower bounds on the size of $B_k[g]$ sets

A subset $A$ of the integers is a $B_k[g]$ set if the number of multisets from $A$ that sum to any fixed integer is at most $g$. Let $F_{k,g}(n)$ denote the maximum size of a $B_k[g]$ set in $\{1,\dots, n\}$. In this paper we improve the best-known upper bounds on $F_{k,g}(n)$ for $g>1$ and $k$ large. When $g=1$ we match the best upper bound of Green with an improved error term. Additionally, we give a lower bound on $F_{k,g}(n)$ that matches a construction of Lindstr\"om while removing one of the hypotheses.

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arXiv2021

Regular saturated graphs and sum-free sets

In a recent paper, Gerbner, Patk\'{o}s, Tuza and Vizer studied regular $F$-saturated graphs. One of the essential questions is given $F$, for which $n$ does a regular $n$-vertex $F$-saturated graph exist. They proved that for all sufficiently large $n$, there is a regular $K_3$-saturated graph with $n$ vertices. We extend this result to both $K_4$ and $K_5$ and prove some partial results for larger complete graphs. Using a variation of sum-free sets from additive combinatorics, we prove that for all $k \geq 2$, there is a regular $C_{2k+1}$-saturated with $n$ vertices for infinitely many $n$. Studying the sum-free sets that give rise to $C_{2k+1}$-saturated graphs is an interesting problem on its own and we state an open problem in this direction.

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arXiv2021

Minimizing the number of complete bipartite graphs in a $K_s$-saturated graph

A graph $G$ is $F$-saturated if it contains no copy of $F$ as a subgraph but the addition of any new edge to $G$ creates a copy of $F$. We prove that for $s \geq 3$ and $t \geq 2$, the minimum number of copies of $K_{1,t}$ in a $K_s$-saturated graph is $\Theta ( n^{t/2})$. More precise results are obtained when $t = 2$ where the problem is related to Moore graphs with diameter 2 and girth 5. We prove that for $s \geq 4$ and $t \geq 3$, the minimum number of copies of $K_{2,t}$ in an $n$-vertex $K_s$-saturated graph is at least $\Omega( n^{t/5 + 8/5})$ and at most $O(n^{t/2 + 3/2})$. These results answer a question of Chakraborti and Loh. General estimates on the number of copies of $K_{a,b}$ in a $K_s$-saturated graph are also obtained, but finding an asymptotic formula remains open.

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arXiv2020

Regular Tur\'an numbers of complete bipartite graphs

Let $\mathrm{rex}(n, F)$ denote the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph that is regular and does not contain $F$ as a subgraph. We give lower bounds on $\mathrm{rex}(n, F)$, that are best possible up to a constant factor, when $F$ is one of $C_4$, $K_{2,t}$, $K_{3,3}$ or $K_{s,t}$ when $t>s!$.

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arXiv2019

Triangles in $K_s$-saturated graphs with minimum degree $t$

For $n \geq 15$, we prove that the minimum number of triangles in an $n$-vertex $K_4$-saturated graph with minimum degree 4 is exactly $2n-4$, and that there is a unique extremal graph. This is a triangle version of a result of Alon, Erd\H{o}s, Holzman, and Krivelevich from 1996. Additionally, we show that for any $s > r \geq 3$ and $t \geq 2 (s-2)+1$, there is a $K_s$-saturated $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree $t$ that has $\binom{ s-2}{r-1}2^{r-1} n + c_{s,r,t}$ copies of $K_r$. This shows that unlike the number of edges, the number of $K_r$'s ($r >2$) in a $K_s$-saturated graph is not forced to grow with the minimum degree, except for possibly in lower order terms.

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arXiv2018

$C_{2k}$-saturated graphs with no short odd cycles

The saturation number of a graph $F$, written $\textup{sat}(n,F)$, is the minimum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $F$-saturated graph. One of the earliest results on saturation numbers is due to Erd\H{o}s, Hajnal, and Moon who determined $\textup{sat}(n,K_r)$ for all $r \geq 3$. Since then, saturation numbers of various graphs and hypergraphs have been studied. Motivated by Alon and Shikhelman's generalized Tur\'an function, Kritschgau et.\ al.\ defined $\textup{sat}(n,H,F)$ to be the minimum number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex $F$-saturated graph. They proved, among other things, that $\textup{sat}(n,C_3,C_{2k}) = 0$ for all $k \geq 3$ and $n \geq 2k +2$. We extend this result to all odd cycles by proving that for any odd integer $r \geq 5$, $\textup{sat}(n, C_r,C_{2k}) = 0$ for all $2k \geq r+5$ and $n \geq 2kr$.

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arXiv2018

Few $T$ copies in $H$-saturated graphs

A graph is $F$-saturated if it is $F$-free but the addition of any edge creates a copy of $F$. In this paper we study the quantity $\mathrm{sat}(n, H, F)$ which denotes the minimum number of copies of $H$ that an $F$-saturated graph on $n$ vertices may contain. This parameter is a natural saturation analogue of Alon and Shikhelman's generalized Tur\'an problem, and letting $H = K_2$ recovers the well-studied saturation function. We provide a first investigation into this general function focusing on the cases where the host graph is either $K_s$ or $C_k$-saturated. Some representative interesting behavior is: (a) For any natural number $m$, there are graphs $H$ and $F$ such that $\mathrm{sat}(n, H, F) = \Theta(n^m)$. (b) For many pairs $k$ and $l$, we show $\mathrm{sat}(n, C_l, C_k) = 0$. In particular, we prove that there exists a triangle-free $C_k$-saturated graph on $n$ vertices for any $k > 4$ and large enough $n$. (c) $\mathrm{sat}(n, K_3, K_4) = n-2$, $\mathrm{sat}(n, C_4, K_4) \sim \frac{n^2}{2}$, and $\mathrm{sat}(n, C_6, K_5) \sim n^3$. We discuss several intriguing problems which remain unsolved.

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arXiv2018

The Anti-Ramsey Problem for the Sidon equation

For $n \geq k \geq 4$, let $AR_{X + Y = Z + T}^k (n)$ be the maximum number of rainbow solutions to the Sidon equation $X+Y = Z + T$ over all $k$-colorings $c:[n] \rightarrow [k]$. It can be shown that the total number of solutions in $[n]$ to the Sidon equation is $n^3/12 + O(n^2)$ and so, trivially, $AR_{X+Y = Z + T}^k (n) \leq n^3 /12 + O (n^2)$. We improve this upper bound to \[ AR_{X+Y = Z+ T}^k (n) \leq \left( \frac{1}{12} - \frac{1}{24k} \right)n^3 + O_k(n^2) \] for all $n \geq k \geq 4$. Furthermore, we give an explicit $k$-coloring of $[n]$ with more rainbow solutions to the Sidon equation than a random $k$-coloring, and gives a lower bound of \[ \left( \frac{1}{12} - \frac{1}{3k} \right)n^3 - O_k (n^2) \leq AR_{X+Y = Z+ T}^k (n). \] When $k = 4$, we use a different approach based on additive energy to obtain an upper bound of $3n^3 / 96 + O(n^2)$, whereas our lower bound is $2n^3 / 96 - O (n^2)$ in this case.

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arXiv2018

The Zarankiewicz problem in 3-partite graphs

Let $F$ be a graph, $k \geq 2$ be an integer, and write $\mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq k } (n , F)$ for the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph that is $k$-partite and has no subgraph isomorphic to $F$. The function $\mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq 2} ( n , F)$ has been studied by many researchers. Finding $\mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq 2} (n , K_{s,t})$ is a special case of the Zarankiewicz problem. We prove an analogue of the K\"{o}v\'{a}ri-S\'{o}s-Tur\'{a}n Theorem for 3-partite graphs by showing \[ \mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq 3} (n , K_{s,t} ) \leq \left( \frac{1}{3} \right)^{1 - 1/s} \left( \frac{ t - 1}{2} + o(1) \right)^{1/s} n^{2 - 1/s} \] for $2 \leq s \leq t$. Using Sidon sets constructed by Bose and Chowla, we prove that this upper bound is asymptotically best possible in the case that $s = 2$ and $t \geq 3$ is odd, i.e., $\mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq 3} ( n , K_{2,2t+1} ) = \sqrt{ \frac{t}{3}} n^{3/2} + o(n^{3/2})$ for $t \geq 1$. In the cases of $K_{2,t}$ and $K_{3,3}$, we use a result of Allen, Keevash, Sudakov, and Verstra\"{e}te, to show that a similar upper bound holds for all $k \geq 3$, and gives a better constant when $s=t=3$. Lastly, we point out an interesting connection between difference families from design theory and $\mathrm{ex}_{ \chi \leq 3 } (n ,C_4)$.

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arXiv2017

Tur\'an numbers for Berge-hypergraphs and related extremal problems

Let $F$ be a graph. We say that a hypergraph $H$ is a {\it Berge}-$F$ if there is a bijection $f : E(F) \rightarrow E(H )$ such that $e \subseteq f(e)$ for every $e \in E(F)$. Note that Berge-$F$ actually denotes a class of hypergraphs. The maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $r$-graph with no subhypergraph isomorphic to any Berge-$F$ is denoted $\ex_r(n,\textrm{Berge-}F)$. In this paper we establish new upper and lower bounds on $\ex_r(n,\textrm{Berge-}F)$ for general graphs $F$, and investigate connections between $\ex_r(n,\textrm{Berge-}F)$ and other recently studied extremal functions for graphs and hypergraphs. One case of specific interest will be when $F = K_{s,t}$. Additionally, we prove a counting result for $r$-graphs of girth five that complements the asymptotic formula $\textup{ex}_3 (n , \textrm{Berge-}\{ C_2 , C_3 , C_4 \} ) = \frac{1}{6} n^{3/2} + o( n^{3/2} )$ of Lazebnik and Verstra\"{e}te [{\em Electron.\ J. of Combin}. {\bf 10}, (2003)].

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arXiv2017

A note on the number of edges in a Hamiltonian graph with no repeated cycle length

Let $G$ be an $n$-vertex graph obtained by adding chords to a cycle of length $n$. Markstr\"{o}m asked for the maximum number of edges in $G$ if there are no two cycles in $G$ with the same length. A simple counting argument shows that such a graph can have at most $n + \sqrt{2n} +1 $ edges. Using difference sets in $\mathbb{Z}_n$, we show that for infinitely many $n$, there is an $n$-vertex Hamiltonian graph with $n + \sqrt{n - 3/4} - 3/2$ edges and no repeated cycle length.

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arXiv2017

Triangle-free induced subgraphs of polarity graphs

Given a finite projective plane $\Pi$ and a polarity $\theta$ of $\Pi$, the corresponding polarity graph is the graph whose vertices are the points of $\Pi$. Two distinct vertices $p$ and $p'$ are adjacent if $p$ is incident to $\theta (p')$. Polarity graphs have been used in a variety of extremal problems, perhaps the most well-known being the Tur\'{a}n number of the cycle of length four. We investigate the problem of finding the maximum number of vertices in an induced triangle-free subgraph of a polarity graph. Mubayi and Williford showed that when $\Pi$ is the projective geometry $PG(2,q)$ and $\theta$ is the orthogonal polarity, an induced triangle-free subgraph has at most $\frac{1}{2}q^2 + O(q^{3/2})$ vertices. We generalize this result to all polarity graphs, and provide some interesting computational results that are relevant to an unresolved conjecture of Mubayi and Williford.

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