We give a crystal structure on the set of Gelfand–Tsetlin patterns (GTPs), which parametrize bases for finite-dimensional irreducible representations of the general linear Lie algebra. The crystal data are given in closed form and are expressed using tropical polynomial functions of the entries of the patterns. We prove that with this crystal structure, the natural bijection between GTPs and semistandard Young tableaux is a crystal isomorphism.

We introduce the notion of echeloned spaces – an order-theoretic abstraction of metric spaces. The first step is to characterize metrizable echeloned spaces. It turns out that morphisms between metrizable echeloned spaces are uniformly continuous or have a uniformly discrete image. In particular, every automorphism of a metrizable echeloned space is uniformly continuous, and for every metric space with midpoints, the automorphisms of the induced echeloned space are precisely the dilations.

Next, we focus on finite echeloned spaces. They form a Fraïssé class, and we describe its Fraïssé-limit both as the echeloned space induced by a certain homogeneous metric space and as the result of a random construction. Building on this, we show that the class of finite ordered echeloned spaces is Ramsey. The proof of this result combines a combinatorial argument by Nešetřil and Hubička with a topological-dynamical point of view due to Kechris, Pestov and Todorčević. Finally, using the method of Katětov functors due to Kubiś and Mašulović, we prove that the full symmetric group on a countable set topologically embeds into the automorphism group of the countable universal homogeneous echeloned space.

In their celebrated paper [CLR10], Caputo, Liggett and Richthammer proved Aldous’ conjecture and showed that for an arbitrary finite graph, the spectral gap of the interchange process is equal to the spectral gap of the underlying random walk. A crucial ingredient in the proof was the Octopus Inequality — a certain inequality of operators in the group ring $\mathbb{R}\left[{\mathrm{Sym}}_{n}\right]$ of the symmetric group. Here we generalise the Octopus Inequality and apply it to generalising the Caputo–Liggett–Richthammer Theorem to certain hypergraphs, proving some cases of a conjecture of Caputo.

The payoff in the Chow–Robbins coin-tossing game is the proportion of heads when you stop. Stopping to maximize expectation was addressed by Chow and Robbins (1965), who proved there exist integers ${k_n}$ such that it is optimal to stop at n tosses when heads minus tails is ${k_n}$. Finding ${k_n}$ was unsolved except for finitely many cases by computer. We prove an $o(n^{-1/4})$ estimate of the stopping boundary of Dvoretsky (1967), which then proves ${k_n} = \left\lceil {\alpha \sqrt n \,\, - 1/2\,\, + \,\,\frac{{\left( { - 2\zeta (\! -1/2)} \right)\sqrt \alpha }}{{\sqrt \pi }}{n^{ - 1/4}}} \right\rceil $ except for n in a set of density asymptotic to 0, at a power law rate. Here, $\alpha$ is the Shepp–Walker constant from the Brownian motion analog, and $\zeta$ is Riemann’s zeta function. An $n^{ - 1/4}$ dependence was conjectured by Christensen and Fischer (2022). Our proof uses moments involving Catalan and Shapiro Catalan triangle numbers which appear in a tree resulting from backward induction, and a generalized backward induction principle. It was motivated by an idea of Häggström and Wästlund (2013) to use backward induction of upper and lower Value bounds from a horizon, which they used numerically to settle a few cases. Christensen and Fischer, with much better bounds, settled many more cases. We use Skorohod’s embedding to get simple upper and lower bounds from the Brownian analog; our upper bound is the one found by Christensen and Fischer in another way. We use them first for yet many more examples and a conjecture, then algebraically in the tree, with feedback to get much sharper Value bounds near the border, and analytic results. Also, we give a formula that gives the exact optimal stop rule for all n up to about a third of a billion; it uses the analytic result plus terms arrived at empirically.

We present a short and simple proof of the celebrated hypergraph container theorem of Balogh–Morris–Samotij and Saxton–Thomason. On a high level, our argument utilises the idea of iteratively taking vertices of largest degree from an independent set and constructing a hypergraph of lower uniformity which preserves independent sets and inherits edge distribution. The original algorithms for constructing containers also remove in each step vertices of high degree, which are not in the independent set. Our modified algorithm postpones this until the end, which surprisingly results in a significantly simplified analysis.

Ruzsa asked whether there exist Fourier-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$ with density $\alpha$ and 4-term arithmetic progression (4-AP) density at most $\alpha^C$, for arbitrarily large C. Gowers constructed Fourier uniform sets with density $\alpha$ and 4-AP density at most $\alpha^{4+c}$ for some small constant $c \gt 0$. We show that an affirmative answer to Ruzsa’s question would follow from the existence of an $N^{o(1)}$-colouring of [N] without symmetrically coloured 4-APs. For a broad and natural class of constructions of Fourier-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$, we show that Ruzsa’s question is equivalent to our arithmetic Ramsey question.

We prove analogous results for all even-length APs. For each odd $k\geq 5$, we show that there exist $U^{k-2}$-uniform subsets of $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$ with density $\alpha$ and k-AP density at most $\alpha^{c_k \log(1/\alpha)}$. We also prove generalisations to arbitrary one-dimensional patterns.

A simple probabilistic argument shows that every r-uniform hypergraph with m edges contains an r-partite subhypergraph with at least $({r!}/{r^r})m$ edges. The celebrated result of Edwards states that in the case of graphs, that is $r=2$, the resulting bound $m/2$ can be improved to $m/2+\Omega(m^{1/2})$, and this is sharp. We prove that if $r\geq 3$, then there is an r-partite subhypergraph with at least $({r!}/{r^r}) m+m^{3/5-o(1)}$ edges. Moreover, if the hypergraph is linear, this can be improved to $({r!}/{r^r}) m+m^{3/4-o(1)}$, which is tight up to the o(1) term. These improve results of Conlon, Fox, Kwan and Sudakov. Our proof is based on a combination of probabilistic, combinatorial, and linear algebraic techniques, and semidefinite programming.

A key part of our argument is relating the energy $\mathcal{E}(G)$ of a graph G (i.e. the sum of absolute values of eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix) to its maximum cut. We prove that every m edge multigraph G has a cut of size at least $m/2+\Omega({\mathcal{E}(G)}/{\log m})$, which might be of independent interest.

Amdeberhan et al. [‘Arithmetic properties for generalized cubic partitions and overpartitions modulo a prime’, Aequationes Math. (2024), doi:10.1007/s00010-024-01116-7] defined the generalised cubic partition function $a_c(n)$ as the number of partitions of n whose even parts may appear in $c\geq 1$ different colours and proved that $a_3(7n+4)\equiv 0\pmod {7}$ and $a_5(11n+10)\equiv 0\pmod {11}$ for all $n\geq 0$ via modular forms. Recently, the author [‘A note on congruences for generalized cubic partitions modulo primes’, Integers 25 (2025), Article no. A20] gave elementary proofs of these congruences. We prove in this note two infinite families of congruences modulo $5$ for $a_c(n)$ given by

$$ \begin{align*} a_{25c+4}(25n+18)&\equiv 0\pmod{5},\\ a_{25c+9}(25n+8)&\equiv 0\pmod{5} \end{align*} $$

for all $c\geq 0$ and $n\geq 0$ using elementary q-series manipulations.

The Newell–Littlewood (NL) numbers are tensor product multiplicities of Weyl modules for the classical groups in the stable range. Littlewood–Richardson (LR) coefficients form a special case. Klyachko connected eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices to the saturated LR-cone and established defining linear inequalities. We prove analogues for the saturated NL-cone: a description by Extended Horn inequalities (as conjectured in part II of this series), where, using a result of King’s, this description is controlled by the saturated LR-cone and thereby recursive, just like the Horn inequalities; a minimal list of defining linear inequalities; an eigenvalue interpretation; and a factorization of Newell–Littlewood numbers, on the boundary.

We study the Macdonald intersection polynomials $\operatorname {I}_{\mu ^{(1)},\dots ,\mu ^{(k)}}[X;q,t]$, which are indexed by $k$-tuples of partitions $\mu ^{(1)},\dots ,\mu ^{(k)}$. These polynomials are conjectured to be equal to the bigraded Frobenius characteristic of the intersection of Garsia–Haiman modules, as proposed by the science fiction conjecture of Bergeron and Garsia. In this work, we establish the vanishing identity and the shape independence of the Macdonald intersection polynomials. Additionally, we unveil a remarkable connection between $\operatorname {I}_{\mu ^{(1)},\dots ,\mu ^{(k)}}$ and the character $\nabla e_{k-1}$ of diagonal coinvariant algebra by employing the plethystic formula for the Macdonald polynomials of Garsia, Haiman, and Tesler. Furthermore, we establish a connection between $\operatorname {I}_{\mu ^{(1)},\dots ,\mu ^{(k)}}$ and the shuffle formula $D_{k-1}[X;q,t]$, utilizing novel combinatorial tools such as the column exchange rule and the lightning bolt formula for Macdonald intersection polynomials. Notably, our findings provide a new proof for the shuffle theorem.

Given a fixed k-uniform hypergraph F, the F-removal lemma states that every hypergraph with few copies of F can be made F-free by the removal of few edges. Unfortunately, for general F, the constants involved are given by incredibly fast-growing Ackermann-type functions. It is thus natural to ask for which F one can prove removal lemmas with polynomial bounds. One trivial case where such bounds can be obtained is when F is k-partite. Alon proved that when $k=2$ (i.e. when dealing with graphs), only bipartite graphs have a polynomial removal lemma. Kohayakawa, Nagle and Rödl conjectured in 2002 that Alon’s result can be extended to all $k\gt2$, namely, that the only $k$-graphs $F$ for which the hypergraph removal lemma has polynomial bounds are the trivial cases when F is k-partite. In this paper we prove this conjecture.

We study several basic problems about colouring the $p$-random subgraph $G_p$ of an arbitrary graph $G$, focusing primarily on the chromatic number and colouring number of $G_p$. In particular, we show that there exist infinitely many $k$-regular graphs $G$ for which the colouring number (i.e., degeneracy) of $G_{1/2}$ is at most $k/3 + o(k)$ with high probability, thus disproving the natural prediction that such random graphs must have colouring number at least $k/2 - o(k)$.

A conjecture of Jackson from 1981 states that every d-regular oriented graph on n vertices with $n\leq 4d+1$ is Hamiltonian. We prove this conjecture for sufficiently large n. In fact we prove a more general result that for all $\alpha>0$, there exists $n_0=n_0(\alpha )$ such that every d-regular digraph on $n\geq n_0$ vertices with $d \ge \alpha n $ can be covered by at most $n/(d+1)$ vertex-disjoint cycles, and moreover that if G is an oriented graph, then at most $n/(2d+1)$ cycles suffice.

Let us say that a graph $G$ is Ramsey for a tuple $(H_1,\ldots,H_r)$ of graphs if every r-colouring of the edges of G contains a monochromatic copy of $H_i$ in colour i, for some $i \in [\![{r}]\!]$. A famous conjecture of Kohayakawa and Kreuter, extending seminal work of Rödl and Ruciński, predicts the threshold at which the binomial random graph $G_{n,p}$ becomes Ramsey for $(H_1,\ldots,H_r)$ asymptotically almost surely.

In this paper, we resolve the Kohayakawa–Kreuter conjecture for almost all tuples of graphs. Moreover, we reduce its validity to the truth of a certain deterministic statement, which is a clear necessary condition for the conjecture to hold. All of our results actually hold in greater generality, when one replaces the graphs $H_1,\ldots,H_r$ by finite families $\mathcal{H}_1,\ldots,\mathcal{H}_r$. Additionally, we pose a natural (deterministic) graph-partitioning conjecture, which we believe to be of independent interest, and whose resolution would imply the Kohayakawa–Kreuter conjecture.

We study the generalized Ramsey–Turán function $\mathrm {RT}(n,K_s,K_t,o(n))$, which is the maximum possible number of copies of $K_s$ in an n-vertex $K_t$-free graph with independence number $o(n)$. The case when $s=2$ was settled by Erdős, Sós, Bollobás, Hajnal, and Szemerédi in the 1980s. We combinatorially resolve the general case for all $s\ge 3$, showing that the (asymptotic) extremal graphs for this problem have simple (bounded) structures. In particular, it implies that the extremal structures follow a periodic pattern when t is much larger than s. Our results disprove a conjecture of Balogh, Liu, and Sharifzadeh and show that a relaxed version does hold.

A fundamental extremality result due to Sidorenko [‘A partially ordered set of functionals corresponding to graphs’, Discrete Math. 131(1–3) (1994), 263–277] states that among all connected graphs G on k vertices, the k-vertex star maximises the number of graph homomorphisms of G into any graph H. We provide a new short proof of this result using only a simple recursive counting argument for trees and Hölder’s inequality.

In this work, we investigate the arithmetic properties of $b_{5^k}(n)$, which counts the partitions of n where no part is divisible by $5^k$. By constructing generating functions for $b_{5^k}(n)$ across specific arithmetic progressions, we establish a set of Ramanujan-type congruences.

Andrews and El Bachraoui [‘On two-colour partitions with odd smallest part’, Preprint, arXiv:2410.14190] explored many integer partitions in two colours, some of which are generated by the mock theta functions of third order of Ramanujan and Watson. They also posed questions regarding combinatorial proofs for these results. In this paper, we establish bijections to provide a combinatorial proof of one of these results and a companion result. We give analytic proofs of further companion results.

We study the length of short cycles on uniformly random metric maps (also known as ribbon graphs) of large genus using a Teichmüller theory approach. We establish that, as the genus tends to infinity, the length spectrum converges to a Poisson point process with an explicit intensity. This result extends the work of Janson and Louf to the multi-faced case.

It is consistent relative to an inaccessible cardinal that ZF+DC holds, the hypergraph of equilateral triangles on a given Euclidean space has countable chromatic number, while the hypergraph of isosceles triangles on $\mathbb {R}^2$ does not.