Topics in Combinatorics: Extremal Combinatorics

This course covers topics in Extremal Combinatorics including ones motivated by questions in other areas like Computer Science, Information Theory, Number Theory and Geometry. The subjects that are covered include Graph powers, the Shannon capacity and the Witsenhausen rate of graphs, Szemeredi's Regularity Lemma and its applications in graph property testing and in the study of sets with no 3 term arithmetic progressions, the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz and its applications, the capset problem, Containers and list coloring, and related topics as time permits.