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Let $f^{(r)}(n;s,k)$ denote the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $r$-uniform hypergraph containing no subgraph with $k$ edges and at most $s$ vertices. Brown, Erd\H{o}s and S\'os [New directions in the theory of graphs (Proc. Third Ann Arbor Conf., Univ. Michigan 1971), pp. 53--63, Academic Press 1973] conjectured that the limit $\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}n^{-2}f^{(3)}(n;k+2,k)$ exists for all $k$. The value of the limit was previously determined for $k=2$ in the original paper of Brown, Erd\H{o}s and S\'os, for $k=3$ by Glock [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 51 (2019) 230--236] and for $k=4$ by Glock, Joos, Kim, K\"uhn, Lichev and Pikhurko [arXiv:2209.14177, accepted by Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.] while Delcourt and Postle [arXiv:2210.01105, accepted by Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.] proved the conjecture (without determining the limiting value). In this paper, we determine the value of the limit in the Brown-Erd\H{o}s-S\'os Problem for $k\in \{5,6,7\}$. More generally, we obtain the value of $\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}n^{-2}f^{(r)}(n;rk-2k+2,k)$ for all $r\geq 3$ and $k\in \{5,6,7\}$. In addition, by combining these new values with recent results of Bennett, Cushman and Dudek [arXiv:2309.00182] we obtain new asymptotic values for several generalised Ramsey numbers., Comment: 44 pages, 3 figures

In this paper, we initiate the study of discrepancy questions for spanning subgraphs of $k$-uniform hypergraphs. Our main result is that any $2$-colouring of the edges of a $k$-uniform $n$-vertex hypergraph $G$ with minimum $(k-1)$-degree $\delta(G) \ge (1/2+o(1))n$ contains a tight Hamilton cycle with high discrepancy, that is, with at least $n/2+\Omega(n)$ edges of one colour. The minimum degree condition is asymptotically best possible and our theorem also implies a corresponding result for perfect matchings. Our tools combine various structural techniques such as Tur\'an-type problems and hypergraph shadows with probabilistic techniques such as random walks and the nibble method. We also propose several intriguing problems for future research., Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure

In his seminal 1976 paper, P\'osa showed that for all $p\geq C\log n/n$, the binomial random graph $G(n,p)$ is with high probability Hamiltonian. This leads to the following natural questions, which have been extensively studied: How well is it typically possible to cover all edges of $G(n,p)$ with Hamilton cycles? How many cycles are necessary? In this paper we show that for $ p\geq C\log n/n$, we can cover $G\sim G(n,p)$ with precisely $\lceil\Delta(G)/2\rceil$ Hamilton cycles. Our result is clearly best possible both in terms of the number of required cycles, and the asymptotics of the edge probability $p$, since it starts working at the weak threshold needed for Hamiltonicity. This resolves a problem of Glebov, Krivelevich and Szab\'o, and improves upon previous work of Hefetz, K\"uhn, Lapinskas and Osthus, and of Ferber, Kronenberg and Long, essentially closing a long line of research on Hamiltonian packing and covering problems in random graphs., Comment: 13 pages

Finding general conditions which ensure that a graph is Hamiltonian is a central topic in graph theory. An old and well known conjecture in the area states that any $d$-regular $n$-vertex graph $G$ whose second largest eigenvalue in absolute value $\lambda(G)$ is at most $\frac{d}{C}$, for some universal constant $C>0$, has a Hamilton cycle. In this paper, we obtain two main results which make substantial progress towards this problem. Firstly, we settle this conjecture in full when the degree $d$ is at least a small power of $n$. Secondly, in the general case we show that $\lambda(G) \leq \frac{d}{C(\log n)^{1/3}}$ implies the existence of a Hamilton cycle, improving the 20-year old bound of $\frac{d}{ \log^{1-o(1)} n}$ of Krivelevich and Sudakov. We use in a novel way a variety of methods, such as a robust P\'osa rotation-extension technique, the Friedman-Pippenger tree embedding with rollbacks and the absorbing method, combined with additional tools and ideas. Our results have several interesting applications, giving best bounds on the number of generators which guarantee the Hamiltonicity of random Cayley graphs, which is an important partial case of the well known Hamiltonicity conjecture of Lov\'asz. They can also be used to improve a result of Alon and Bourgain on additive patterns in multiplicative subgroups.

Let $f^{(r)}(n;s,k)$ be the maximum number of edges of an $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices not containing a subgraph with $k$ edges and at most $s$ vertices. In 1973, Brown, Erd\H{o}s and S\'os conjectured that the limit $$\lim_{n\to \infty} n^{-2} f^{(3)}(n;k+2,k)$$ exists for all $k$ and confirmed it for $k=2$. Recently, Glock showed this for $k=3$. We settle the next open case, $k=4$, by showing that $f^{(3)}(n;6,4)=\left(\frac{7}{36}+o(1)\right)n^2$ as $n\to\infty$. More generally, for all $k\in \{3,4\}$, $r\ge 3$ and $t\in [2,r-1]$, we compute the value of the limit $\lim_{n\to \infty} n^{-t}f^{(r)}(n;k(r-t)+t,k)$, which settles a problem of Shangguan and Tamo., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

A celebrated theorem of Pippenger, and Frankl and R\"odl states that every almost-regular, uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ with small maximum codegree has an almost-perfect matching. We extend this result by obtaining a ``conflict-free'' matching, where conflicts are encoded via a collection $\mathcal{C}$ of subsets $C\subseteq E(\mathcal{H})$. We say that a matching $\mathcal{M}\subseteq E(\mathcal{H})$ is conflict-free if $\mathcal{M}$ does not contain an element of $\mathcal{C}$ as a subset. Under natural assumptions on $\mathcal{C}$, we prove that $\mathcal{H}$ has a conflict-free, almost-perfect matching. This has many applications, one of which yields new asymptotic results for so-called ``high-girth'' Steiner systems. Our main tool is a random greedy algorithm which we call the ``conflict-free matching process''., Comment: 58 pages

An $n$-queens configuration is a placement of $n$ mutually non-attacking queens on an $n\times n$ chessboard. The $n$-queens completion problem, introduced by Nauck in 1850, is to decide whether a given partial configuration can be completed to an $n$-queens configuration. In this paper, we study an extremal aspect of this question, namely: how small must a partial configuration be so that a completion is always possible? We show that any placement of at most $n/60$ mutually non-attacking queens can be completed. We also provide partial configurations of roughly $n/4$ queens that cannot be completed, and formulate a number of interesting problems. Our proofs connect the queens problem to rainbow matchings in bipartite graphs and use probabilistic arguments together with linear programming duality., Comment: to appear in Research in the Mathematical Sciences

We present a modification of the Depth first search algorithm, suited for finding long induced paths. We use it to give simple proofs of the following results. We show that the induced size-Ramsey number of paths satisfies $\hat{R}_{\mathrm{ind}}(P_n)\leq 5\cdot 10^7n$, thus giving an explicit constant in the linear bound, improving the previous bound with a large constant from a regularity lemma argument by Haxell, Kohayakawa and {\L}uczak. We also provide a bound for the $k$-color version, showing that $\hat{R}_{\mathrm{ind}}^k(P_n)=O(k^3\log^4k)n$. Finally, we present a new short proof of the fact that the binomial random graph in the supercritical regime, $G(n,\frac{1+\varepsilon}{n})$, contains typically an induced path of length $\Theta(\varepsilon^2) n$., Comment: to appear in CPC

We show that for any $d=d(n)$ with $d_0(\epsilon) \le d =o(n)$, with high probability, the size of a largest induced cycle in the random graph $G(n,d/n)$ is $(2\pm \epsilon)\frac{n}{d}\log d$. This settles a long-standing open problem in random graph theory., Comment: to appear in RSA. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2102.09289

The MaxCut problem asks for the size ${\rm mc}(G)$ of a largest cut in a graph $G$. It is well known that ${\rm mc}(G)\ge m/2$ for any $m$-edge graph $G$, and the difference ${\rm mc}(G)-m/2$ is called the surplus of $G$. The study of the surplus of $H$-free graphs was initiated by Erd\H{o}s and Lov\'asz in the 70s, who in particular asked what happens for triangle-free graphs. This was famously resolved by Alon, who showed that in the triangle-free case the surplus is $\Omega(m^{4/5})$, and found constructions matching this bound. We prove several new results in this area. Firstly, we show that for every fixed odd $r\ge 3$, any $C_r$-free graph with $m$ edges has surplus $\Omega_r\big(m^{\frac{r+1}{r+2}}\big)$. This is tight, as is shown by a construction of pseudorandom $C_r$-free graphs due to Alon and Kahale. It improves previous results of several researchers, and complements a result of Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov which is the same bound when $r$ is even. Secondly, generalizing the result of Alon, we allow the graph to have triangles, and show that if the number of triangles is a bit less than in a random graph with the same density, then the graph has large surplus. For regular graphs our bounds on the surplus are sharp. Thirdly, we prove that an $n$-vertex graph with few copies of $K_r$ and average degree $d$ has surplus $\Omega_r(d^{r-1}/n^{r-3})$, which is tight when $d$ is close to $n$ provided that a conjectured dense pseudorandom $K_r$-free graph exists. This result is used to improve the best known lower bound (as a function of $m$) on the surplus of $K_r$-free graphs. Our proofs combine techniques from semidefinite programming, probabilistic reasoning, as well as combinatorial and spectral arguments., Comment: 32 pages

We show that for $d\ge d_0(\epsilon)$, with high probability, the random graph $G(n,d/n)$ contains an induced path of length $(3/2-\epsilon)\frac{n}{d}\log d$. This improves a result obtained independently by Luczak and Suen in the early 90s, and answers a question of Fernandez de la Vega. Along the way, we generalize a recent result of Cooley, Dragani\'c, Kang and Sudakov who studied the analogous problem for induced matchings., Comment: 12 pages

For a hypergraph $H$, define its intersection spectrum $I(H)$ as the set of all intersection sizes $|E\cap F|$ of distinct edges $E,F\in E(H)$. In their seminal paper from 1973 which introduced the local lemma, Erd\H{o}s and Lov\'asz asked: how large must the intersection spectrum of a $k$-uniform $3$-chromatic intersecting hypergraph be? They showed that such a hypergraph must have at least three intersection sizes, and conjectured that the size of the intersection spectrum tends to infinity with $k$. Despite the problem being reiterated several times over the years by Erd\H{o}s and other researchers, the lower bound of three intersection sizes has remarkably withstood any improvement until now. In this paper, we prove the Erd\H{o}s-Lov\'asz conjecture in a strong form by showing that there are at least $k^{1/2-o(1)}$ intersection sizes. Our proof consists of a delicate interplay between Ramsey type arguments and a density increment approach., Comment: 9 pages

We survey recent advances in the theory of graph and hypergraph decompositions, with a focus on extremal results involving minimum degree conditions. We also collect a number of intriguing open problems, and formulate new ones., Comment: final version as appearing in Surveys in Combinatorics 2021

This exposition contains a short and streamlined proof of the recent result of Kwan, Letzter, Sudakov and Tran that every triangle-free graph with minimum degree $d$ contains an induced bipartite subgraph with average degree $\Omega(\ln d/\ln\ln d)$., Comment: 3 pages

In 1994, Erd\H{o}s, Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s and {\L}uczak posed the following problem: given disjoint vertex sets $V_1,\dots,V_n$ of size~$k$, with exactly one edge between any pair $V_i,V_j$, how large can $n$ be such that there will always be an independent transversal? They showed that the maximal $n$ is at most $(1+o(1))k^2$, by providing an explicit construction with these parameters and no independent transversal. They also proved a lower bound which is smaller by a $2e$-factor. In this paper, we solve this problem by showing that their upper bound construction is best possible: if $n\le (1-o(1))k^2$, there will always be an independent transversal. In fact, this result is a very special case of a much more general theorem which concerns independent transversals in arbitrary partite graphs that are `locally sparse', meaning that the maximum degree between each pair of parts is relatively small. In this setting, Loh and Sudakov provided a global \emph{maximum} degree condition for the existence of an independent transversal. We show that this can be relaxed to an \emph{average} degree condition. We can also use our new theorem to establish tight bounds for a more general version of the Erd\H{o}s--Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s--{\L}uczak problem and solve a conjecture of Yuster from 1997. This exploits a connection to the Tur\'an numbers of complete bipartite graphs, which might be of independent interest., Comment: accepted to JCTB

A tight Hamilton cycle in a $k$-uniform hypergraph ($k$-graph) $G$ is a cyclic ordering of the vertices of $G$ such that every set of $k$ consecutive vertices in the ordering forms an edge. R\"{o}dl, Ruci\'{n}ski, and Szemer\'{e}di proved that for $k\geq 3$, every $k$-graph on $n$ vertices with minimum codegree at least $n/2+o(n)$ contains a tight Hamilton cycle. We show that the number of tight Hamilton cycles in such $k$-graphs is $\exp(n\ln n-\Theta(n))$. As a corollary, we obtain a similar estimate on the number of Hamilton $\ell$-cycles in such $k$-graphs for all $\ell\in\{0,\dots,k-1\}$, which makes progress on a question of Ferber, Krivelevich and Sudakov., Comment: 20 pages. Final version, to appear in Combinatorics, Probability & Computing

A celebrated theorem of Pippenger states that any almost regular hypergraph with small codegrees has an almost perfect matching. We show that one can find such an almost perfect matching which is `pseudorandom', meaning that, for instance, the matching contains as many edges from a given set of edges as predicted by a heuristic argument., Comment: 14 pages

A subgraph of an edge-coloured graph is called rainbow if all its edges have different colours. We prove a rainbow version of the blow-up lemma of Koml\'os, S\'ark\"ozy and Szemer\'edi that applies to almost optimally bounded colourings. A corollary of this is that there exists a rainbow copy of any bounded-degree spanning subgraph $H$ in a quasirandom host graph $G$, assuming that the edge-colouring of $G$ fulfills a boundedness condition that is asymptotically best possible. This has many applications beyond rainbow colourings, for example to graph decompositions, orthogonal double covers and graph labellings., Comment: 28 pages

A subgraph of an edge-coloured graph is called rainbow if all its edges have distinct colours. Our main result implies that, given any optimal colouring of a sufficiently large complete graph $K_{2n}$, there exists a decomposition of $K_{2n}$ into isomorphic rainbow spanning trees. This settles conjectures of Brualdi--Hollingsworth (from 1996) and Constantine (from 2002) for large graphs., Comment: Version accepted to appear in JCTB

We show that the maximum number of triples on $n$~points, if no three triples span at most five points, is $(1\pm o(1))n^2/5$. More generally, let $f^{(r)}(n;k,s)$ be the maximum number of edges of an $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$~vertices not containing a subgraph with $k$~vertices and $s$~edges. In 1973, Brown, Erd\H{o}s and S\'os conjectured that the limit $\lim_{n\to \infty}n^{-2}f^{(3)}(n;k,k-2)$ exists for all~$k$. They proved this for $k=4$, where the limit is $1/6$ and the extremal examples are Steiner triple systems. We prove the conjecture for $k=5$ and show that the limit is~$1/5$. The upper bound is established via a simple optimisation problem. For the lower bound, we use approximate $H$-decompositions of~$K_n$ for a suitably defined graph~$H$., Comment: 6 pages

We show that a quasirandom $k$-uniform hypergraph $G$ has a tight Euler tour subject to the necessary condition that $k$ divides all vertex degrees. The case when $G$ is complete confirms a conjecture of Chung, Diaconis and Graham from 1989 on the existence of universal cycles for the $k$-subsets of an $n$-set., Comment: version accepted for publication in Combinatorica

The iterative absorption method has recently led to major progress in the area of (hyper-)graph decompositions. Amongst other results, a new proof of the Existence conjecture for combinatorial designs, and some generalizations, was obtained. Here, we illustrate the method by investigating triangle decompositions: we give a simple proof that a triangle-divisible graph of large minimum degree has a triangle decomposition and prove a similar result for quasi-random host graphs., Comment: updated references, to appear in Random Structures & Algorithms

The Oberwolfach problem, posed by Ringel in 1967, asks for a decomposition of $K_{2n+1}$ into edge-disjoint copies of a given $2$-factor. We show that this can be achieved for all large $n$. We actually prove a significantly more general result, which allows for decompositions into more general types of factors. In particular, this also resolves the Hamilton-Waterloo problem for large $n$., Comment: revised version, to appear in Journal of the European Mathematical Society

We prove a rainbow version of the blow-up lemma of Koml\'os, S\'ark\"ozy and Szemer\'edi for $\mu n$-bounded edge colourings. This enables the systematic study of rainbow embeddings of bounded degree spanning subgraphs. As one application, we show how our blow-up lemma can be used to transfer the bandwidth theorem of B\"ottcher, Schacht and Taraz to the rainbow setting. It can also be employed as a tool beyond the setting of $\mu n$-bounded edge colourings. Kim, K\"uhn, Kupavskii and Osthus exploit this to prove several rainbow decomposition results. Our proof methods include the strategy of an alternative proof of the blow-up lemma given by R\"odl and Ruci\'nski, the switching method, and the partial resampling algorithm developed by Harris and Srinivasan., Comment: 30 pages, included some recent applications

A famous theorem of Kirkman says that there exists a Steiner triple system of order $n$ if and only if $n\equiv 1,3\mod{6}$. In 1973, Erd\H{o}s conjectured that one can find so-called `sparse' Steiner triple systems. Roughly speaking, the aim is to have at most $j-3$ triples on every set of $j$ points, which would be best possible. (Triple systems with this sparseness property are also referred to as having high girth.) We prove this conjecture asymptotically by analysing a natural generalization of the triangle removal process. Our result also solves a problem posed by Lefmann, Phelps and R\"odl as well as Ellis and Linial in a strong form, and answers a question of Krivelevich, Kwan, Loh, and Sudakov. Moreover, we pose a conjecture which would generalize the Erd\H{o}s conjecture to Steiner systems with arbitrary parameters and provide some evidence for this., Comment: updated references, to appear in Combinatorica

We solve the existence problem for $F$-designs for arbitrary $r$-uniform hypergraphs $F$. In particular, this shows that, given any $r$-uniform hypergraph $F$, the trivially necessary divisibility conditions are sufficient to guarantee a decomposition of any sufficiently large complete $r$-uniform hypergraph $G=K_n^{(r)}$ into edge-disjoint copies of $F$, which answers a question asked e.g. by Keevash. The graph case $r=2$ forms one of the cornerstones of design theory and was proved by Wilson in 1975. The case when $F$ is complete corresponds to the existence of block designs, a problem going back to the 19th century, which was first settled by Keevash. More generally, our results extend to $F$-designs of quasi-random hypergraphs $G$ and of hypergraphs $G$ of suitably large minimum degree. Our approach builds on results and methods we recently introduced in our new proof of the existence conjecture for block designs., Comment: This preprint has now been merged with `The existence of designs via iterative absorption' (arXiv:1611.06827v1) into a single paper `The existence of designs via iterative absorption: hypergraph $F$-designs for arbitrary $F$' (arXiv:1611.06827v3), which will appear in the Memoirs of the AMS

We solve the existence problem for $F$-designs for arbitrary $r$-uniform hypergraphs~$F$. This implies that given any $r$-uniform hypergraph~$F$, the trivially necessary divisibility conditions are sufficient to guarantee a decomposition of any sufficiently large complete $r$-uniform hypergraph into edge-disjoint copies of~$F$, which answers a question asked e.g.~by Keevash. The graph case $r=2$ was proved by Wilson in 1975 and forms one of the cornerstones of design theory. The case when~$F$ is complete corresponds to the existence of block designs, a problem going back to the 19th century, which was recently settled by Keevash. In particular, our argument provides a new proof of the existence of block designs, based on iterative absorption (which employs purely probabilistic and combinatorial methods). Our main result concerns decompositions of hypergraphs whose clique distribution fulfills certain regularity constraints. Our argument allows us to employ a `regularity boosting' process which frequently enables us to satisfy these constraints even if the clique distribution of the original hypergraph does not satisfy them. This enables us to go significantly beyond the setting of quasirandom hypergraphs considered by Keevash. In particular, we obtain a resilience version and a decomposition result for hypergraphs of large minimum degree., Comment: This version combines the two manuscripts `The existence of designs via iterative absorption' (arXiv:1611.06827v1) and the subsequent `Hypergraph F-designs for arbitrary F' (arXiv:1706.01800) into a single paper, which will appear in the Memoirs of the AMS

We study the $F$-decomposition threshold $\delta_F$ for a given graph $F$. Here an $F$-decomposition of a graph $G$ is a collection of edge-disjoint copies of $F$ in $G$ which together cover every edge of $G$. (Such an $F$-decomposition can only exist if $G$ is $F$-divisible, i.e. if $e(F)\mid e(G)$ and each vertex degree of $G$ can be expressed as a linear combination of the vertex degrees of $F$.) The $F$-decomposition threshold $\delta_F$ is the smallest value ensuring that an $F$-divisible graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with $\delta(G)\ge(\delta_F+o(1))n$ has an $F$-decomposition. Our main results imply the following for a given graph $F$, where $\delta_F^\ast$ is the fractional version of $\delta_F$ and $\chi:=\chi(F)$: (i) $\delta_F\le \max\{\delta_F^\ast,1-1/(\chi+1)\}$; (ii) if $\chi\ge 5$, then $\delta_F\in\{\delta_F^{\ast},1-1/\chi,1-1/(\chi+1)\}$; (iii) we determine $\delta_F$ if $F$ is bipartite. In particular, (i) implies that $\delta_{K_r}=\delta^\ast_{K_r}$. Our proof involves further developments of the recent `iterative' absorbing approach., Comment: Final version, to appear in the Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B

Motivated by longstanding conjectures regarding decompositions of graphs into paths and cycles, we prove the following optimal decomposition results for random graphs. Let $0

Our motivation is the question of how similar the $f$-colouring problem is to the classic edge-colouring problem, particularly with regard to graph parameters. In 2010, Zhang, Yu, and Liu gave a new description of the $f$-matching polytope and derived a formula for the fractional $f$-chromatic index, stating that the fractional $f$-chromatic index equals the maximum of the fractional maximum $f$-degree and the fractional $f$-density. Unfortunately, this formula is incorrect. We present counterexamples for both the description of the $f$-matching polytope and the formula for the fractional $f$-chromatic index. Finally, we prove a short lemma concerning the generalization of Goldberg's conjecture.