A sequence of graphs is FO-convergent if the probability of satisfaction of every first-order formula converges. A graph modeling is a graph, whose domain is a standard probability space, with the property that every definable set is Borel. It was known that FO-convergent sequence of graphs do not always admit a modeling limit, but it was conjectured that FO-convergent sequences of sufficiently sparse graphs have a modeling limits. Precisely, two conjectures were proposed:

1. 1. If a FO-convergent sequence of graphs is residual, that is if for every integer d the maximum relative size of a ball of radius d in the graphs of the sequence tends to zero, then the sequence has a modeling limit.

2. 2. A monotone class of graphs ${\cal C}$ has the property that every FO-convergent sequence of graphs from ${\cal C}$ has a modeling limit if and only if ${\cal C}$ is nowhere dense, that is if and only if for each integer p there is $N\left( p \right)$ such that no graph in ${\cal C}$ contains the pth subdivision of a complete graph on $N\left( p \right)$ vertices as a subgraph.

In this article we prove both conjectures. This solves some of the main problems in the area and among others provides an analytic characterization of the nowhere dense–somewhere dense dichotomy.

If n ⩾ k + 1 and G is a connected n-vertex graph, then one can add $\binom{k}{2}$ edges to G so that the resulting graph contains the complete graph Kk+1. This yields that for any connected graph G with at least k + 1 vertices, one can add $\binom{k}{2}$ edges to G so that the resulting graph has chromatic number > k. A long time ago, Bollobás suggested that for every k ⩾ 3 there exists a k-chromatic graph Gk such that after adding to it any $\binom{k}{2}$ − 1 edges, the chromatic number of the resulting graph is still k. In this note we prove this conjecture.

A set A of vertices of a graph G is called d-scattered in G if no two d-neighborhoods of (distinct) vertices of A intersect. In other words, A is d-scattered if no two distinct vertices of A have distance at most 2d. This notion was isolated in the context of finite model theory by Ajtai and Gurevich and recently it played a prominent role in the study of homomorphism preservation theorems for special classes of structures (such as minor closed classes). This in turn led to the notions of wide, almost wide and quasi-wide classes of graphs. It has been proved previously that minor closed classes and classes of graphs with locally forbidden minors are examples of such classes and thus (relativized) homomorphism preservation theorem holds for them. In this paper we show that (more general) classes with bounded expansion and (newly defined) classes with bounded local expansion and even (very general) nowhere dense classes are quasi wide. This not only strictly generalizes the previous results but it also provides new proofs and algorithms for some of the old results. It appears that bounded expansion and nowhere dense classes are perhaps a proper setting for investigation of wide-type classes as in several instances we obtain a structural characterization. This also puts classes of bounded expansion in the new context. Our motivation stems from finite dualities. As a corollary we obtain that any homomorphism closed first order definable property restricted to a bounded expansion class is a restricted duality.

We show that, for any finite set P of points in the plane and for any integer k ≥ 2, there is a finite set R = R(P, k) with the following property: for any k-colouring of R there is a monochromatic set , ⊆ R, such that is combinatorially equivalent to the set P, and the convex hull of P contains no point of R \ . We also consider related questions for colourings of p-element subsets of R (p > 1), and show that these analogues have negative solutions.

We study relational structures (especially graphs and posets) which satisfy the analogue of homogeneity but for homomorphisms rather than isomorphisms. The picture is rather different. Our main results are partial characterizations of countable graphs and posets with this property; an analogue of Fraïssé's theorem; and representations of monoids as endomorphism monoids of such structures.

We present a programme of characterizing Ramsey classes of structures by a combination of the model theory and combinatorics. In particular, we relate the classification programme of countable homogeneous structures (of Lachlan and Cherlin) to the classification of Ramsey classes. As particular instances of this approach we characterize all Ramsey classes of graphs, tournaments and partial ordered sets. We fully characterize all monotone Ramsey classes of relational systems (of any type). We also carefully discuss the role of (admissible) orderings which lead to a new classification of Ramsey properties by means of classes of order-invariant objects.

We consider three aspects of homomorphisms of graphs and hypergraphs which are related to the structure of colour classes: (1) density, (2) the fractal property and (3) the generation of colour classes. In particular, we prove a density theorem for hypergraphs and show that, for connected oriented graphs, all jumps are balanced (and give an example to show that connectivity is needed here). We also show that a Hajós-type theorem holds for any colour class of undirected graphs, thus providing further evidence of the well-known ‘non-effective’ character of Hajós' theorem.

We investigate homomorphisms between finite oriented paths. We demonstrate the surprising richness of this perhaps simplest case of homomorphism between graphs by proving the density theorem for oriented paths. As a consequence every two dimensional countable poset is represented finite paths and their homomorphisms, and every finite dimensional poset is represented finite oriented trees and their homomorphisms. We then consider related problems of universal representability and extendability and on-line representability.

A graph X is a set V(X) (the vertices of X) with a system E(X) of 2-element subsets of V(X) (the edges of X). Let X, Y be graphs and f : V(X) → V(Y) a mapping; then/ is called a homomorphism of X into F if [f(x),f(y)] ∈ E(Y) whenever [x,y] ∈ E(X). Endomorphisms, isomorphisms and automorphisms are defined in the usual manner.

Much work has been done on the subject of representing groups as groups of automorphisms of graphs (i.e., given a group G, to find a graph X such that the group of automorphisms of X is isomorphic to G). Recently, this was related to category theory, the main question being as to whether every monoid (i.e., semigroup with 1) can be represented as the monoid of endomorphisms of some graph in a given category of graphs.

A graph G is a couple (X, R) where X is a set, R ⊂ X × X. If G is an undirected graph without loops (R a symmetric irreflexive relation), we can interpret G as a couple (X, R), where R is a set of two-element subsets of X, i.e. . This interpretation is generalized in the notion of society.

A society is a couple (X, R), where ; a k-society is a society (X, R) with |A| = k for each A ∊ R.