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Computational Mathematics

computer-assistance in proofs; flag algebras in combinatorics; algebraic methods in computation; interactive theorem provers; learning-based heuristics

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What we are interested in

Computers and Artificial Intelligence have always been an important tool for mathematicians, allowing one to gather data and extrapolate connections to formulate conjectures, exhaustively execute case analysis too large to be done by hand, solve underlying optimization problems, or to formalize and verify proofs. We are interested in exploring the many ways in which computational tools can be used to advance mathematics and formulate novel results by leveraging our unique knowledge of and access to the ZIB’s computational resources.

🧑‍🎓 Members

Sebastian Pokutta
Department Head
pokutta (at) zib.de
Christoph Spiegel
Research Area Lead
spiegel (at) zib.de
Olaf Parczyk
parczyk (at) zib.de
Aldo Kiem
kiem (at) zib.de
Max Zimmer
zimmer (at) zib.de
Konrad Mundinger
mundinger (at) zib.de
Yves Jäckle
jaeckle (at) zib.de

🔬 Projects

LEAN on Me: Transforming Mathematics Through Formal Verification, Improved Tactics, and Machine Learning

Formal proof verification can both ensure proof correctness and provide new tools and insights to mathematicians. The goals of this project include creating resources for students and researchers, verifying relevant results, improving proof tactics, and exploring Machine Learning approaches.

MATH+ AA5-9
Jan 2024 to Dec 2025
5

Scaling Up Flag Algebras in Combinatorics

This project aims to obtain new bounds in Extremal Combinatorics through an application of flag algebras. The goal is to both improve the underlying computational aspects for existing problems as well as to further develop the theory of flag algebras to extend it to new areas of application.

MATH+ EF1-21
Oct 2022 to Sep 2025
4
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Learning Extremal Structures in Combinatorics

Extremal Combinatorics focuses on the maximum or minimum sizes of discrete structures with specific properties, posing significant challenges due to their complexity. Traditional computational approaches often fail due to exponential growth in search spaces, but recent AI advancements, especially in Reinforcement Learning, offer new potential. Applying these AI methods could provide insights into combinatorial problems while also enhancing the understanding of AI techniques in complex, sparse reward environments.

MATH+ EF1-12
Jan 2021 to May 2024
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đź’¬ Talks and posters

Conference and workshop talks

Oct 2024
Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings by Christoph Spiegel
41st Kolloquium ĂĽber Kombinatorik (KolKom), Heidelberg [PDF]
Sep 2024
The Role of Machine Learning for Mathematics by Christoph Spiegel
5th Computational Optimization at Work (CO@Work), Berlin [PDF] [video]
Jul 2024
Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings by Christoph Spiegel
13th Discrete Mathematics Days (DMD), Alcalá de Henares [PDF]
Jul 2024
The Four-Color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles by Aldo Kiem
25th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming (ISMP), Montréal
Jul 2024
The Four-Color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles by Aldo Kiem
13th Discrete Mathematics Days (DMD), Alcalá de Henares
May 2024
On the Maximum Diameter of D-dimensional Simplicial Complexes by Silas Rathke
Berlin-Poznań-Hamburg-Warsaw Seminar, Berlin
Dec 2023
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Tibor SzabĂł
45th Australasian Combinatorics Conference (ACC), Perth
Oct 2023
The Role of Machine Learning for Mathematics by Christoph Spiegel
BMS RTA 8 - Practical Course, Berlin [PDF]
Aug 2023
The Rado Multiplicity Problem in Vector Spaces Over Finite Fields by Christoph Spiegel
12th EUROCOMB Conference, Prague [PDF]
Aug 2023
Computational Challenges in Flag Algebra Proofs by Christoph Spiegel
ICIAM 2023 Minisymposium: Advances in Optimization I, Tokyo [PDF]
Aug 2023
Flag Algebras in Additive Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
5th DOxML Conference, Tokyo [PDF]
Jun 2023
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Olaf Parczyk
FoCM 2023 Workshop I.3: Graph Theory and Combinatorics, Paris
Jun 2023
Towards Flag Algebras in Additive Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
FoCM 2023 Workshop I.3: Graph Theory and Combinatorics, Paris [PDF]
Jun 2023
The 4-color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles by Aldo Kiem
FoCM 2023 Workshop I.3: Graph Theory and Combinatorics, Paris
May 2023
Towards Flag Algebras in Additive Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
15th Combinatorial and Additive Number Theory Conference (CANT), New York [PDF]
May 2023
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Tibor SzabĂł
Berlin-Poznań-Hamburg-Warsaw Seminar, Hamburg
Mar 2023
Computer-assisted Proofs in Extremal Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
Workshop on Optimization and Machine Learning, Waischenfeld [PDF]
Feb 2023
Fully Computer-assisted Proofs in Extremal Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
37th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Washington, DC [PDF]
Jan 2023
Fully Computer-assisted Proof in Extremal Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
Combinatorial Optimization Workshop (Aussois), Aussois [PDF]
Dec 2022
Leveraging Combinatorial Symmetries in Flag Algebra-based SDP Formulations by Christoph Spiegel
Workshop on Recent Advances in Optimization, Toronto [PDF]
Sep 2022
Proofs in Extremal Combinatorics Through Optimization by Christoph Spiegel
6th ZIB-IMI-ISM-NUS-RIKEN-MODAL Workshop, Tokyo / Fukuoka [PDF]
Sep 2022
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Olaf Parczyk
DMV Annual Meeting, Berlin
Aug 2022
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Olaf Parczyk
20th RS&A Conference, Gniezno
Jul 2022
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Christoph Spiegel
12th Discrete Mathematics Days (DMD), Santander [PDF]
Jun 2022
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Olaf Parczyk
Third Southwestern German Workshop on Graph Theory, Heidelberg
Sep 2017
Rado Positional Games by Christoph Spiegel
The Music of Numbers Conference, Madrid [PDF]
Jun 2017
Generalized Positional Van Der Waerden Games by Christoph Spiegel
Interactions with Combinatorics [PDF]

Research seminar talks

Dec 2024
Coloring the Plane with Neural Networks by Christoph Spiegel
Research Seminar Combinatorics, Berlin [PDF]
Nov 2024
An Unsure Talk on an Un-Schur Problem by Christoph Spiegel
Research Seminar Combinatorics, Berlin
Jun 2024
Categorification of Flag Algebras by Aldo Kiem
LIMDA Seminar, Barcelona
Jun 2024
On the Maximum Diameter of D-dimensional Simplicial Complexes by Silas Rathke
Mittagsseminar Discrete Mathematics, Berlin
May 2024
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Tibor SzabĂł
Research seminar in Discrete Mathematics [video]
Mar 2024
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Tibor SzabĂł
Atlanta Lecture Series Combinatorics and Graph Theory XXVIII, Atlanta
Feb 2024
Maximal Diameter of Simplicial D-complexes by Olaf Parczyk
Seminar on Combinatorics, Games and Optimisation, London
Nov 2023
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Olaf Parczyk
Seminar on Discrete Mathematics at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan
Feb 2023
The Four-color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles by Christoph Spiegel
LIMDA Seminar, Barcelona [PDF]
Nov 2022
Flag Algebras for Edge-colored Graphs by Aldo Kiem
Research Seminar Combinatorics, Berlin
Apr 2022
New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics by Christoph Spiegel
LIMDA Seminar, Barcelona
Nov 2019
The Probabilistic Intuition in Positional Games by Christoph Spiegel
Research Seminar Large Networks and Random Graphs, Ilmenau
May 2017
Random Strategies Are Nearly Optimal for Generalized Van Der Waerden Games by Christoph Spiegel
LIMDA Seminar, Barcelona
Feb 2016
Van Der Waerden Games (II) by Christoph Spiegel
Research Seminar Combinatorics, Berlin
Jan 2016
Van Der Waerden Games (I) by Christoph Spiegel
Research Seminar Combinatorics, Berlin

Poster presentations

Jul 2024
Categorification of Flag Algebras by Aldo Kiem
13th Discrete Mathematics Days (DMD), Alcalá de Henares
Mar 2023
A Fully Computer-assisted Proof in Extremal Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
Workshop on Optimization and Machine Learning, Waischenfeld [PDF]
Feb 2023
A Fully Computer-assisted Proof in Extremal Combinatorics by Christoph Spiegel
37th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Washington, DC [PDF]

đź“ť Publications and preprints

  1. Parczyk, O., Pokutta, S., Spiegel, C., and SzabĂł, T. (2024). New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics. Foundations of Computational Mathematics. DOI: 10.1007/s10208-024-09675-6 [arXiv] [code]
    [BibTeX]
    @article{2022_ParczykPokuttaSpiegelSzabo_Ramseymultiplicityheuristics,
      year = {2024},
      journal = {Foundations of Computational Mathematics},
      doi = {10.1007/s10208-024-09675-6},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2206.04036},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Parczyk, Olaf and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph and SzabĂł, Tibor},
      title = {New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics},
      code = {https://zenodo.org/record/6602512#.YyvFhi8Rr5g}
    }
  2. Kiem, A., Pokutta, S., and Spiegel, C. (2024). The Four-color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles. Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days. [URL] [arXiv] [code]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2023_KiemPokuttaSpiegel_4colorramsey,
      year = {2024},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days},
      url = {https://dmd2024.web.uah.es/files/abstracts/paper_3.pdf},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2312.08049},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Kiem, Aldo and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph},
      title = {The Four-color Ramsey Multiplicity of Triangles},
      code = {https://github.com/FordUniver/kps_trianglemult}
    }
  3. Díaz, A. E., Gupta, P., Cecchelli, D. M., Parczyk, O., and Sgueglia, A. (2024). Dirac’s Theorem for Graphs of Bounded Bandwidth. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2024_AlbertoEtAl_Diractheorembandwidth,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2407.05889},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2024},
      author = {Díaz, Alberto Espuny and Gupta, Pranshu and Cecchelli, Domenico Mergoni and Parczyk, Olaf and Sgueglia, Amédeo},
      title = {Dirac's Theorem for Graphs of Bounded Bandwidth}
    }
  4. Illingworth, F., Lang, R., MĂĽyesser, A., Parczyk, O., and Sgueglia, A. (2024). Spanning Spheres in Dirac Hypergraphs. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2024_FreddieEtAl_Spanningspheresdirac,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2407.06275},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2024},
      author = {Illingworth, Freddie and Lang, Richard and Müyesser, Alp and Parczyk, Olaf and Sgueglia, Amédeo},
      title = {Spanning Spheres in Dirac Hypergraphs}
    }
  5. Kiem, A., Parczyk, O., and Spiegel, C. (2024). Forcing Graphs to Be Forcing. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2024_KiemParczykSpiegel_Forcing,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2412.12904},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2024},
      author = {Kiem, Aldo and Parczyk, Olaf and Spiegel, Christoph},
      title = {Forcing Graphs to Be Forcing}
    }
  6. Kiem, A., Pokutta, S., and Spiegel, C. (2024). Categorification of Flag Algebras. Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days. [URL]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2024_KiemPokuttaSpiegel_Categorificationflagalgebras,
      year = {2024},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days},
      url = {https://dmd2024.web.uah.es/files/abstracts/paper_47.pdf},
      author = {Kiem, Aldo and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph},
      title = {Categorification of Flag Algebras}
    }
  7. Mundinger, K., Pokutta, S., Spiegel, C., and Zimmer, M. (2024). Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings. Geombinatorics Quarterly, XXXIV. [URL] [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @article{2024_MundingerPokuttaSpiegelZimmer_SixcoloringsExpansion,
      year = {2024},
      journal = {Geombinatorics Quarterly},
      volume = {XXXIV},
      url = {https://geombina.uccs.edu/past-issues/volume-xxxiv},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2404.05509},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Mundinger, Konrad and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph and Zimmer, Max},
      title = {Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings}
    }
  8. Mundinger, K., Pokutta, S., Spiegel, C., and Zimmer, M. (2024). Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings. Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days. [URL] [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2024_MundingerPokuttaSpiegelZimmer_SixcoloringsExpansion:1,
      year = {2024},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days},
      url = {https://dmd2024.web.uah.es/files/abstracts/paper_27.pdf},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2404.05509},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Mundinger, Konrad and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph and Zimmer, Max},
      title = {Extending the Continuum of Six-Colorings}
    }
  9. Parczyk, O., and Spiegel, C. (2024). An Unsure Note on an Un-Schur Problem. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2024_ParczykSpiegel_UnSchur,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2410.22024},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2024},
      author = {Parczyk, Olaf and Spiegel, Christoph},
      title = {An Unsure Note on an Un-Schur Problem}
    }
  10. Parczyk, O., Pokutta, S., Spiegel, C., and SzabĂł, T. (2023). Fully Computer-assisted Proofs in Extremal Combinatorics. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. DOI: 10.1609/aaai.v37i10.26470 [URL] [arXiv] [code]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2022_ParczykPokuttaSpiegelSzabo_Ramseymultiplicityheuristics:1,
      year = {2023},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence},
      doi = {10.1609/aaai.v37i10.26470},
      url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/26470},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2206.04036},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Parczyk, Olaf and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph and SzabĂł, Tibor},
      title = {Fully Computer-assisted Proofs in Extremal Combinatorics},
      code = {https://zenodo.org/record/6602512#.YyvFhi8Rr5g}
    }
  11. Böttcher, J., Frankl, N., Cecchelli, D. M., Skokan, J., and Parczyk, O. (2023). Graphs with Large Minimum Degree and No Small Odd Cycles Are 3-colourable. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2023_BoettcherEtAl_Graphs3colourable,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2302.01875},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2023},
      author = {Böttcher, Julia and Frankl, Nóra and Cecchelli, Domenico Mergoni and Skokan, Jozef and Parczyk, Olaf},
      title = {Graphs with Large Minimum Degree and No Small Odd Cycles Are 3-colourable}
    }
  12. Mattos, L., Cecchelli, D. M., and Parczyk, O. (2023). On Product Schur Triples in the Integers. [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2023_MattosDomenicoParczyk_Productschurtriples,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2311.18796},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      year = {2023},
      author = {Mattos, LetĂ­cia and Cecchelli, Domenico Mergoni and Parczyk, Olaf},
      title = {On Product Schur Triples in the Integers}
    }
  13. Rué, J. J., and Spiegel, C. (2023). The Rado Multiplicity Problem in Vector Spaces Over Finite Fields. Proceedings of the European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications. DOI: 10.5817/CZ.MUNI.EUROCOMB23-108 [URL] [arXiv] [code]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2023_RueSpiegel_Radomultiplicity,
      year = {2023},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications},
      doi = {10.5817/CZ.MUNI.EUROCOMB23-108},
      url = {https://journals.muni.cz/eurocomb/article/view/35642},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2304.00400},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Rué, Juan José and Spiegel, Christoph},
      title = {The Rado Multiplicity Problem in Vector Spaces Over Finite Fields},
      code = {https://github.com/FordUniver/rs_radomult_23}
    }
  14. Braun, G., Pokutta, S., and Weismantel, R. (2022). Alternating Linear Minimization: Revisiting von Neumann’s Alternating Projections. [arXiv] [slides] [video]
    [BibTeX]
    @misc{2022_BraunPokuttaWeismantel_Alternatingminimization,
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2212.02933},
      primaryclass = {math.OC},
      year = {2022},
      author = {Braun, Gábor and Pokutta, Sebastian and Weismantel, Robert},
      title = {Alternating Linear Minimization: Revisiting von Neumann's Alternating Projections},
      slides = {https://pokutta.com/slides/20230327-icerm.pdf},
      video = {https://icerm.brown.edu/programs/sp-s23/w2/#schedule-item-4945}
    }
  15. Parczyk, O., Pokutta, S., Spiegel, C., and SzabĂł, T. (2022). New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics. Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days. [arXiv] [code]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2022_ParczykPokuttaSpiegelSzabo_Ramseymultiplicityheuristics:2,
      year = {2022},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the Discrete Mathematics Days},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2206.04036},
      primaryclass = {math.CO},
      author = {Parczyk, Olaf and Pokutta, Sebastian and Spiegel, Christoph and SzabĂł, Tibor},
      title = {New Ramsey Multiplicity Bounds and Search Heuristics},
      code = {https://zenodo.org/record/6602512#.YyvFhi8Rr5g}
    }
  16. Kusch, C., Rué, J. J., Spiegel, C., and Szabó, T. (2019-09). On the Optimality of the Uniform Random Strategy. Random Structures & Algorithms, 55(2), 371–401. DOI: 10.1002/rsa.20829 [URL] [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @article{2017_KuschRueSpiegelSzabo_Uniformrandomstrategy,
      year = {2019-09},
      journal = {Random Structures & Algorithms},
      volume = {55},
      number = {2},
      pages = {371-401},
      doi = {10.1002/rsa.20829},
      url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rsa.20829},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2411.02622},
      primaryclass = {cs.LG},
      author = {Kusch, Christopher and Rué, Juan José and Spiegel, Christoph and Szabó, Tibor},
      title = {On the Optimality of the Uniform Random Strategy}
    }
  17. Kusch, C., Rué, J. J., Spiegel, C., and Szabó, T. (2017). Random Strategies Are Nearly Optimal for Generalized Van Der Waerden Games. Proceedings of the European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications. [URL] [arXiv]
    [BibTeX]
    @inproceedings{2017_KuschRueSpiegelSzabo_Uniformrandomstrategy:1,
      year = {2017},
      booktitle = {Proceedings of the European Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Applications},
      url = {https://dmg.tuwien.ac.at/eurocomb2017/index.php/accepted-papers/},
      archiveprefix = {arXiv},
      eprint = {2411.02622},
      primaryclass = {cs.LG},
      author = {Kusch, Christopher and Rué, Juan José and Spiegel, Christoph and Szabó, Tibor},
      title = {Random Strategies Are Nearly Optimal for Generalized Van Der Waerden Games}
    }