Trimming and gluing Gray codes

We consider the algorithmic problem of generating each subset of [ n ] : = { 1 , 2 , … , n } whose size is in some interval [ k , l ] , 0 ≤ k ≤ l ≤ n , exactly once (cyclically) by repeatedly adding or removing a single element, or by exchanging a single element. For k = 0 and l = n this is the classical problem of generating all 2 n subsets of [ n ] by element additions/removals, and for k = l this is the classical problem of generating all ( n k ) subsets of [ n ] by element exchanges. We prove the existence of such cyclic minimum-change enumerations for a large range of values n , k , and l , improving upon and generalizing several previous results. For all these existential results we provide optimal algorithms to compute the corresponding Gray codes in constant O ( 1 ) time per generated set and O ( n ) space. Rephrased in terms of graph theory, our results establish the existence of (almost) Hamilton cycles in the subgraph of the n -dimensional cube Q n induced by all levels [ k , l ] . We reduce all remaining open cases to a generalized version of the middle levels conjecture, which asserts that the subgraph of Q 2 k + 1 induced by all levels [ k − c , k + 1 + c ] , c ∈ { 0 , 1 , … , k } , has a Hamilton cycle. We also prove an approximate version of this generalized conjecture, showing that this graph has a cycle that visits a ( 1 − o ( 1 ) ) -fraction of all vertices.