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The distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest number of colors that is needed to color the vertices of $G$ such that the only color preserving automorphism is the identity. For infinite graphs $D(G)$ is bounded by the supremum of the valences, and for finite graphs by $\Delta(G)+1$, where $\Delta(G)$ is the maximum valence. Given a finite or infinite tree $T$ of bounded finite valence $k$ and an integer $c$, where $2 \leq c \leq k$, we are interested in coloring the vertices of $T$ by $c$ colors, such that every color preserving automorphism fixes as many vertices as possible. In this sense we show that there always exists a $c$-coloring for which all vertices whose distance from the next leaf is at least $\lceil\log_ck\rceil$ are fixed by any color preserving automorphism, and that one can do much better in many cases.

Recently, Gross et al. posed the LLC conjecture for the locally log-concavity of the genus distribution of every graph, and provided an equivalent combinatorial version, the CLLC conjecture, on the log-concavity of the generating function counting cycles of some permutation compositions. In this paper, we confirm the CLLC conjecture for cyclic permutations, with the aid of Hultman numbers and by applying the Hermite--Biehler theorem on the generating function of Stirling numbers of the first kind. This leads to a further conjecture that every local genus polynomial is real-rooted., Comment: 12 pages

We formulate conditions on a set of log-concave sequences, under which any linear combination of those sequences is log-concave, and further, of conditions under which linear combinations of log-concave sequences that have been transformed by convolution are log-concave. These conditions involve relations on sequences called \textit{synchronicity} and \textit{ratio-dominance}, and a characterization of some bivariate sequences as \textit{lexicographic}. We are motivated by the 25-year old conjecture that the genus distribution of every graph is log-concave. Although calculating genus distributions is NP-hard, they have been calculated explicitly for many graphs of tractable size, and the three conditions have been observed to occur in the \textit{partitioned genus distributions} of all such graphs. They are used here to prove the log-concavity of the genus distributions of graphs constructed by iterative amalgamation of double-rooted graph fragments whose genus distributions adhere to these conditions, even though it is known that the genus polynomials of some such graphs have imaginary roots. A blend of topological and combinatorial arguments demonstrates that log-concavity is preserved through the iterations., Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures

A group A acting faithfully on a set X is 2-distinguishable if there is a 2-coloring of X that is not preserved by any nonidentity element of A, equivalently, if there is a proper subset of X with trivial setwise stabilizer. The motion of an element a in A is the number of points of X that are moved by a, and the motion of the group A is the minimal motion of its nonidentity elements. For finite A, the Motion Lemma says that if the motion of A is large enough (specifically at least 2 log_2 |A|), then the action is 2-distinguishable. For many situations where X has a combinatorial or algebraic structure, the Motion Lemma implies the action of Aut(X) on X is 2-distinguishable in all but finitely many instances. We prove an infinitary version of the Motion Lemma for countably infinite permutation groups, which states that infinite motion is large enough to guarantee 2-distinguishability. From this we deduce a number of results, including the fact that every locally finite, connected graph whose automorphism group is countably infinite is 2-distinguishable. One cannot extend the Motion Lemma to uncountable permutation groups, but nonetheless we prove that 2-distinguishable permutation groups with infinite motion are dense in the class of groups with infinite motion. We conjecture an extension of the Motion Lemma which we expect holds for a restricted class of uncountable permutation groups, and we conclude with a list of open questions. The consequences of our results are drawn for orbit equivalence of infinite permutation groups., Comment: Funding information updated, reference change

The {\em distinguishing number} of a group $G$ acting faithfully on a set $V$ is the least number of colors needed to color the elements of $V$ so that no non-identity element of the group preserves the coloring. The {\em distinguishing number} of a graph is the distinguishing number of its full automorphism group acting on its vertex set. A connected graph $\Gamma$ is said to have {\em connectivity 1} if there exists a vertex $\alpha \in V\Gamma$ such that $\Gamma \setminus \{\alpha\}$ is not connected. For $\alpha \in V$, an orbit of the point stabilizer $G_\alpha$ is called a {\em suborbit} of $G$. We prove that every connected primitive graph with infinite diameter and countably many vertices has distinguishing number 2. Consequently, any infinite, connected, primitive, locally finite graph is 2-distinguishable; so, too, is any infinite primitive group with finite suborbits. We also show that all denumerable vertex-transitive graphs of connectivity 1 and all Cartesian products of connected denumerable graphs of infinite diameter have distinguishing number 2. All of our results follow directly from a versatile lemma which we call The Distinct Spheres Lemma.