## Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Friday, November 1, 2019 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , Yale University , Organizer: Lutz Warnke

TBA

Friday, March 29, 2019 - 15:05 , Location: Skiles 005 , Yinon Spinka , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada , Organizer: Prasad Tetali

Consider a uniformly chosen proper coloring with q colors of a domain in Z^d (a graph homomorphism to a clique). We show that when the dimension is much higher than the number of colors, the model admits a staggered long-range order, in which one bipartite class of the domain is predominantly colored by half of the q colors and the other bipartite class by the other half. In the q=3 case, this was previously shown by Galvin-Kahn-Randall-Sorkin and independently by Peled. The result further extends to homomorphisms to other graphs (covering for instance the cases of the hard-core model and the Widom-Rowlinson model), allowing also vertex and edge weights (positive temperature models). Joint work with Ron Peled.

Friday, February 15, 2019 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , , Georgia State University , Organizer: Lutz Warnke

We provide a framework for testing the possibility of large cascades in random networks. Our results extend previous studies on contagion in random graphs to inhomogeneous directed graphs with a given degree sequence and arbitrary distribution of weights. This allows us to study systemic risk in financial networks, where we introduce a criterion for the resilience of a large network to the failure (insolvency) of a small group of institutions and quantify how contagion amplifies small shocks to the network.

Friday, February 8, 2019 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , , Emory and AMU Poznań , Organizer: Lutz Warnke

Abstract: Reiher, Rödl, Ruci&nacute;ski, Schacht, and Szemerédi proved, via a modification of the absorbing method, that every 3-uniform $n$-vertex hypergraph, $n$ large, with minimum vertex degree at least $(5/9+\alpha)n^2/2$ contains a tight Hamiltonian cycle. Recently, owing to a further modification of the method, the same group of authors joined by Bjarne Schuelke, extended this result to 4-uniform hypergraphs with minimum pair degree at least, again, $(5/9+\alpha)n^2/2$. In my talk I will outline these proofs and point to the crucial ideas behind both modifications of the absorbing method.

Friday, January 25, 2019 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , Fan Wei , Stanford University , Organizer: Prasad Tetali

The importance of analyzing big data and in particular very large networks has shown that the traditional notion of a fast algorithm, one that runs in polynomial time, is often insufficient. This is where property testing comes in, whose goal is to very quickly distinguish between objects that satisfy a certain property from those that are ε-far from satisfying that property. It turns out to be closely related to major developments in combinatorics, number theory, discrete geometry, and theoretical computer science. Some of the most general results in this area give "constant query complexity" algorithms, which means the amount of information it looks at is independent of the input size. These results are proved using regularity lemmas or graph limits. Unfortunately, typically the proofs come with no explicit bound for the query complexity, or enormous bounds, of tower-type or worse, as a function of 1/ε, making them impractical. We show by entirely new methods that for permutations, such general results still hold with query complexity only polynomial in 1/ε. We also prove stronger results for graphs through the study of new metrics. These are joint works with Jacob Fox.

Friday, January 18, 2019 - 15:05 , Location: Skiles 169 (*Unusual room*) , Samuel Dittmer , Mathematics, UCLA , , Organizer: Prasad Tetali

We present a new algorithm for sampling contingency tables with fixed margins. This algorithm runs in polynomial time for certain broad classes of sparse tables. We compare the performance of our algorithm theoretically and experimentally to existing methods, including the Diaconis-Gangolli Markov chain and sequential importance sampling. Joint work with Igor Pak.

Thursday, January 17, 2019 - 12:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , Jeong Han Kim , Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) , Organizer: Prasad Tetali

Since Erdős–Rényi introduced random graphs in 1959, two closely related models for random graphs have been extensively studied. In the G(n,m) model, a graph is chosen uniformly at random from the collection of all graphs that have n vertices and m edges. In the G(n,p) model, a graph is constructed by connecting each pair of two vertices randomly. Each edge is included in the graph G(n,p) with probability p independently of all other edges. Researchers have studied when the random graph G(n,m) (or G(n,p), resp.) satisfies certain properties in terms of n and m (or n and p, resp.). If G(n,m) (or G(n,p), resp.) satisfies a property with probability close to 1, then one may say that a `typical graph’ with m edges (or expected edge density p, resp.) on n vertices has the property. Random graphs and their variants are also widely used to prove the existence of graphs with certain properties. In this talk, two problems for these categories will be discussed. First, a new approach will be introduced for the problem of the emergence of a giant component of G(n,p), which was first considered by Erdős–Rényi in 1960. Second, a variant of the graph process G(n,1), G(n,2), …, G(n,m), … will be considered to find a tight lower bound for Ramsey number R(3,t) up to a constant factor. (No prior knowledge of graph theory is needed in this talk.)

Friday, December 7, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: None , None , None , Organizer: Lutz Warnke
Friday, November 23, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: None , None , None , Organizer: Lutz Warnke
Friday, November 16, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , , Georgia Tech , Organizer: Lutz Warnke

Let P be a system of unique shortest paths through a graph with real edge weights (i.e. a finite metric). An obvious fact is that P is "consistent," meaning that no two of these paths can intersect each other, split apart, and then intersect again later. But is that all? Can any consistent path system be realized as unique shortest paths in some graph? Or are there more forbidden combinatorial intersection patterns out there to be found?

In this talk, we will characterize exactly which path systems can or can't be realized as unique shortest paths in some graph by giving a complete list of new forbidden intersection patterns along these lines. Our characterization theorem is based on a new connection between graph metrics and certain boundary operators used in some recent graph homology theories. This connection also leads to a principled topological understanding of some of the popular algebraic tricks currently used in the literature on shortest paths. We will also discuss some applications in theoretical computer science.