On the Hamilton-Waterloo Problem

Abstract.

 The Hamilton-Waterloo problem asks for a 2-factorisation of K _v in which r of the 2-factors consist of cycles of lengths a ₁,a ₂,…,a _t and the remaining s 2-factors consist of cycles of lengths b ₁,b ₂,…,b _u (where necessarily ∑ _i=1 ^t a _i =∑ _j=1 ^u b _j =v). In this paper we consider the Hamilton-Waterloo problem in the case a _i =m, 1≤i≤t and b _j =n, 1≤j≤u. We obtain some general constructions, and apply these to obtain results for (m,n)∈{(4,6),(4,8),(4,16),(8,16),(3,5),(3,15),(5,15)}.