The Ehrenfest urn is a model for the diffusion of gases between two chambers. Classic research deals with this system as a Markovian model with a fixed number of balls, and derives the steady-state behavior as a binomial distribution (which can be approximated by a normal distribution). We study the gradual change for an urn containing n (a very large number) balls from the initial condition to the steady state. We look at the status of the urn after kn draws. We identify three phases of kn: the growing sublinear, the linear, and the superlinear. In the growing sublinear phase the amount of gas in each chamber is normally distributed, with parameters that are influenced by the initial conditions. In the linear phase a different normal distribution applies, in which the influence of the initial conditions is attenuated. The steady state is not a good approximation until a certain superlinear amount of time has elapsed. At the superlinear stage the mix is nearly perfect, with a nearly perfect symmetrical normal distribution in which the effect of the initial conditions is completely washed away. We give interpretations for how the results in different phases conjoin at the ‘seam lines’. In fact, these Gaussian phases are all manifestations of one master theorem. The results are obtained via martingale theory.

A random intersection graph G(n, m, p) is defined on a set V of n vertices. There is an auxiliary set W consisting of m objects, and each vertex v ∈ V is assigned a random subset of objects Wv ⊆ W such that w ∈ Wv with probability p, independently for all v ∈ V and all w ∈ W. Given two vertices v1, v2 ∈ V, we set v1 ∼ v2 if and only if Wv1 ∩ Wv2 ≠ ∅. We use Stein's method to obtain an upper bound on the total variation distance between the distribution of the number of h-cliques in G(n, m, p) and a related Poisson distribution for any fixed integer h.

Gibbs fields are constructed and studied which correspond to systems of real-valued spins (e.g. systems of interacting anharmonic oscillators) indexed by the vertices of unbounded degree graphs of a certain type, for which the Gaussian Gibbs fields need not be existing. In these graphs, the vertex degree growth is controlled by a summability requirement formulated with the help of a generalized Randić index. In particular, it is proven that the Gibbs fields obey uniform integrability estimates, which are then used in the study of the topological properties of the set of Gibbs fields. In the second part, a class of graphs is introduced in which the mentioned summability is obtained by assuming that the vertices of large degree are located at large distances from each other. This is a stronger version of the metric property employed in Bassalygo and Dobrushin (1986).

Suppose that, under the action of gravity, liquid drains through the unit d-cube via a minimal-length network of channels constrained to pass through random sites and to flow with nonnegative component in one of the canonical orthogonal basis directions of Rd, d ≥ 2. The resulting network is a version of the so-called minimal directed spanning tree. We give laws of large numbers and convergence in distribution results on the large-sample asymptotic behaviour of the total power-weighted edge length of the network on uniform random points in (0, 1)d. The distributional results exhibit a weight-dependent phase transition between Gaussian and boundary-effect-derived distributions. These boundary contributions are characterized in terms of limits of the so-called on-line nearest-neighbour graph, a natural model of spatial network evolution, for which we also present some new results. Also, we give a convergence in distribution result for the length of the longest edge in the drainage network; when d = 2, the limit is expressed in terms of Dickman-type variables.

Clark et al. [‘The axiomatizability of topological prevarieties’, Adv. Math.218 (2008), 1604–1653] have shown that, for k≥2, there exists a Boolean topological graph that is k-colourable but not topologically k-colourable; that is, for every ϵ>0, it cannot be coloured by a paintbrush of width ϵ. We generalize this result to show that, for k≥2, there is a Boolean topological graph that is 2-colourable but not topologically k-colourable. This graph is an inverse limit of finite graphs which are shown to exist by an Erdős-style probabilistic argument of Hell and Nešetřil [‘The core of a graph’, Discrete Math.109 (1992), 117–126]. We use the fact that there exists a Boolean topological graph that is 2-colourable but not k-colourable, and some other results (some new and some previously known), to answer the question of which finitely generated topological residual classes of graphs are axiomatizable by universal Horn sentences. A more general version of this question was raised in the above-mentioned paper by Clark et al., and has been investigated by various authors for other structures.

We determine the minimal density of triangles in a tripartite graph with prescribed edge densities. This extends a previous result of Bondy, Shen, Thomassé and Thomassen characterizing those edge densities guaranteeing the existence of a triangle in a tripartite graph. To be precise we show that a suitably weighted copy of the graph formed by deleting a certain 9-cycle from K3,3,3 has minimal triangle density among all weighted tripartite graphs with prescribed edge densities.

Supplementary materials are available with this article.

An (r,r+1)-factor of a graph G is a spanning subgraph H such that dH(v)∈{r,r+1} for all vertices v∈𝒱(G). If G is expressed as the union of edge-disjoint (r,r+1)-factors, then this expression is an (r,r+1)-factorization of G. Let μ(r) be the smallest integer with the property that if G is a regular loopless multigraph of degree d with d≥μ(r), then G has an (r,r+1)-factorization. It is shown that if r is even. The proof employs a novel list-coloring approach. Together with known results, this shows that μ(r)=r2+1 if r is odd and if r is even.

We answer a recent question posed by Li et al. [‘Imprimitive symmetric graphs with cyclic blocks’, European J. Combin.31 (2010), 362–367] regarding a family of imprimitive symmetric graphs.

We consider a preferential duplication model for growing random graphs, extending previous models of duplication graphs by selecting the vertex to be duplicated with probability proportional to its degree. We show that a special case of this model can be analysed using the same stochastic approximation as for vertex-reinforced random walks, and show that ‘trapping’ behaviour can occur, such that the descendants of a particular group of initial vertices come to dominate the graph.

We investigate the degree sequence of the geometric preferential attachment model of Flaxman, Frieze and Vera (2006), (2007) in the case where the self-loop parameter α is set to 0. We show that, given certain conditions on the attractiveness function F, the degree sequence converges to the same sequence as found for standard preferential attachment in Bollobás et al. (2001). We also apply our method to the extended model introduced in van der Esker (2008) which allows for an initial attractiveness term, proving similar results.

In Reinert and Röllin (2009) a new approach - called the ‘embedding method’ - was introduced, which allows us to make use of exchangeable pairs for normal and multivariate normal approximations with Stein's method in cases where the corresponding couplings do not satisfy a certain linearity condition. The key idea is to embed the problem into a higher-dimensional space in such a way that the linearity condition is then satisfied. Here we apply the embedding to U-statistics as well as to subgraph counts in random graphs.

This paper aims to lay the foundations for a combinatorial study, via orthogonal functions and intertwining operators, of category for the rational Cherednik algebra of type G(r, p, n). As a first application, a self-contained and elementary proof of the analogue for the groups G(r, p, n), with r > 1, of Gordon's Theorem (previously Haiman's Conjecture) on the diagonal co-invariant ring is given. No restriction is imposed on p; the result for p ≠ r has been proved by Vale using a technique analogous to Gordon's. Because of the combinatorial application to Haiman's Conjecture, the paper is logically self-contained except for standard facts about complex reflection groups. The main results should be accessible to mathematicians working in algebraic combinatorics who are unfamiliar with the impressive range of ideas used in Gordon's proof of his theorem.

For each finite real reflection group W, we identify a copy of the type-W simplicial generalized associahedron inside the corresponding simplicial permutahedron. This defines a bijection between the facets of the generalized associahedron and the elements of the type-W non-crossing partition lattice that is more tractable than previous such bijections. We show that the simplicial fan determined by this associahedron coincides with the Cambrian fan for W.

A graph is s-transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on s-arcs but not on (s+1)-arcs in the graph. Let X be a connected tetravalent s-transitive graph of order twice a prime power. In this paper it is shown that s=1,2,3 or 4. Furthermore, if s=2, then X is a normal cover of one of the following graphs: the 4-cube, the complete graph of order 5, the complete bipartite graph K5,5 minus a 1-factor, or K7,7 minus a point-hyperplane incidence graph of the three-dimensional projective geometry PG(2,2); if s=3, then X is a normal cover of the complete bipartite graph of order 4; if s=4, then X is a normal cover of the point-hyperplane incidence graph of the three-dimensional projective geometry PG(2,3). As an application, we classify the tetravalent s-transitive graphs of order 2p2 for prime p.

We present new ideas about the type of random tessellation which evolves through successive division of its cells. These ideas are developed in an intuitive way, with many pictures and only a modicum of mathematical formalism–so that the wide application of the ideas is clearly apparent to all readers. A vast number of new tessellation models, with known probability distribution for the volume of the typical cell, follow from the concepts in this paper. There are other interesting models for which results are not presented (or presented only through simulation methods), but these models have illustrative value. A large agenda of further research is opened up by the ideas in this paper.

We consider a variety of subtrees of various shapes lying on the fringe of a recursive tree. We prove that (under suitable normalization) the number of isomorphic images of a given fixed tree shape on the fringe of the recursive tree is asymptotically Gaussian. The parameters of the asymptotic normal distribution involve the shape functional of the given tree. The proof uses the contraction method.

We consider a multicommodity flow problem on a complete graph whose edges have random, independent, and identically distributed capacities. We show that, as the number of nodes tends to infinity, the maximum utility, given by the average of a concave function of each commodity flow, has an almost-sure limit. Furthermore, the asymptotically optimal flow uses only direct and two-hop paths, and can be obtained in a distributed manner.

Let be a Poisson process of intensity one in the infinite plane ℝ2. We surround each point x of by the open disc of radius r centred at x. Now let Sn be a fixed disc of area n, and let Cr(Sn) be the set of discs which intersect Sn. Write Erk for the event that Cr(Sn) is a k-cover of Sn, and Frk for the event that Cr(Sn) may be partitioned into k disjoint single covers of Sn. We prove that P(Erk ∖ Frk) ≤ ck / logn, and that this result is best possible. We also give improved estimates for P(Erk). Finally, we study the obstructions to k-partitionability in more detail. As part of this study, we prove a classification theorem for (deterministic) covers of ℝ2 with half-planes that cannot be partitioned into two single covers.