In a post a few years ago, I described how to install nauty on an iPhone using an app that provides a Linux shell. A new release of nauty is imminent and testing revealed that a few things have changed since then, and so the instructions need a mild update. In particular, I just went … Continue reading "nauty for your iPhone – update"
This is a follow-up to the work some of us at UWA have been doing on subproblems to do with the “synchronising hierarchy” of permutation groups. In an earlier post, we announced the discovery of synchronising groups of diagonal type. The definitions of synchronising/separating/spreading came about from the study of synchronising words for finite-state automata. … Continue reading "Spreading groups"
Geertrui Van de Voorde from the University of Canterbury (NZ) visited us in November 2022 for two weeks, one week of which I had covid, but we managed to begin a project which would later become a paper (together with Jesse Lansdown). This was continued by my visit to Christchurch in January (supported by Geertrui’s … Continue reading "Visit to Christchurch, and Bruen chains"
I’ve just returned to Perth after giving one of the plenary talks at the “10th Slovenian Conference on Graph Theory” held in small ski-resort town of Kranjska Gora. I had never been to Slovenia before and hadn’t realised how spectacularly beautiful it is. Lush green forests, steep mountains and azure alpine lakes complemented with a … Continue reading "Graph Theory at Kranjska Gora"
I am currently on sabbatical, and the longest research visit is occurring now, at the Technical University of Delft. My host is none other than Anurag Bishnoi, who I have long collaborated with. My trip began in mid-April with a delightful conference in Eindhoven: “Combinatorics in Digital Communication”. This conference’s premise was to bring people … Continue reading "Sabbatical in the Netherlands"
So my first international trip since Covid happened has been to a CS/Maths Research Centre “Schloss Dagstuhl” located in a fairly rural area in Germany. Similar to various other research centres around the world, the idea is to gather together a bunch of academics for a week in a location with few external distractions, have … Continue reading "Pushing Limits At Dagstuhl"
How often have you been out somewhere, maybe at a restaurant or pub, and suddenly needed to generate some graphs, or determine the canonical labelling of a graph that has come up in conversation, only to be foiled because you don’t have your laptop with you. Not often, you might say. But just in case, … Continue reading "nauty for your iPhone"
Recently, Michael Giudici, Jesse Lansdown, Gordon Royle and I have constructed a couple of examples of synchronising groups that are radically different from the known examples. You can find the details in our preprint here. What is a synchronising group? The definition came about from the study of synchronising words for finite-state automata. Motivated by … Continue reading "Synchronising diagonal type groups exist"
We are advertising a PhD scholarship on the “synchronisation hierarchy of permutation groups” as part of the ARC Discovery Grant that we have for this. https://www.scholarships.uwa.edu.au/search/?sc_view=1&id=10764 An Honours or Masters degree in Pure Maths is required, and the more experience in groups, permutation groups and geometry, the better. Closing date is 28 Feb 2021.
Each Australia Day (26th January, for the time being), part of the festivities is the awarding of Honours to various people who have made exceptional contributions to the Australian community. Often these honours go to former politicians or sportspeople whose political or sporting excellence, at least in my opinion, has primarily benefited themselves. Sometimes though, … Continue reading "Cheryl Praeger – Companion of the Order of Australia"
