Linear Ramsey numbers of sparse graphs

The Ramsey number R(G₁,G₂) of two graphs G₁ and G₂ is the least integer p so that either a graph G of order p contains a copy of G₁ or its complement G^c contains a copy of G₂. In 1973, Burr and Erd?s offered a total of $25 for settling the conjecture that there is a constant c = c(d) so that R(G,G)≤ c|V(G)| for all d‐degenerate graphs G, i.e., the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for d‐degenerate graphs. We show in this paper that the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for degenerate graphs versus some sparser graphs, arrangeable graphs, and crowns for example. This implies that the Ramsey numbers grow linearly for degenerate graphs versus graphs with bounded maximum degree, planar graphs, or graphs without containing any topological minor of a fixed clique, etc. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Graphs satisfying inequality θ(G)θ(G)

In this paper, we study the edge clique cover number of squares of graphs. More specifically, we study the inequality θ(G²)θ(G) where θ(G) is the edge clique cover number of a graph G. We show that any graph G with at most θ(G) vertices satisfies the inequality. Among the graphs with more than θ(G) vertices, we find some graphs violating the inequality and show that dually chordal graphs and power-chordal graphs satisfy the inequality. Especially, we give an exact formula computing θ(T²) for a tree T.     

Decomposition of 3-connected graphs

Cunningham and Edmonds [4[ have proved that a 2-connected graphG has a unique minimal decomposition into graphs, each of which is either 3-connected, a bond or a polygon. They define the notion of a good split, and first prove thatG has a unique minimal decomposition into graphs, none of which has a good split, and second prove that the graphs that do not have a good split are precisely 3-connected graphs, bonds and polygons. This paper provides an analogue of the first result above for 3-connected graphs, and an analogue of the second for minimally 3-connected graphs. Following the basic strategy of Cunningham and Edmonds, an appropriate notion of good split is defined. The first main result is that ifG is a 3-connected graph, thenG has a unique minimal decomposition into graphs, none of which has a good split. The second main result is that the minimally 3-connected graphs that do not have a good split are precisely cyclically 4-connected graphs, twirls (K _3,n for somen3) and wheels. From this it is shown that ifG is a minimally 3-connected graph, thenG has a unique minimal decomposition into graphs, each of which is either cyclically 4-connected, a twirl or a wheel.Research partially supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-86-K-0689 at Purdue University.     

Claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs

The circular chromatic number of a graph is a well‐studied refinement of the chromatic number. Circular‐perfect graphs form a superclass of perfect graphs defined by means of this more general coloring concept. This article studies claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs. First, we prove that if G is a connected claw‐free circular‐perfect graph with χ(G)>ω(G), then min{α(G), ω(G)}=2. We use this result to design a polynomial time algorithm that computes the circular chromatic number of claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs. A consequence of the strong perfect graph theorem is that minimal imperfect graphs G have min{α(G), ω(G)}=2. In contrast to this result, it is shown in Z. Pan and X. Zhu [European J Combin 29(4) (2008), 1055–1063] that minimal circular‐imperfect graphs G can have arbitrarily large independence number and arbitrarily large clique number. In this article, we prove that claw‐free minimal circular‐imperfect graphs G have min{α(G), ω(G)}≤3. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65: 163–172, 2010     

Induced Decompositions of Graphs

We consider those graphs G that admit decompositions into copies of a fixed graph F, each copy being an induced subgraph of G. We are interested in finding the extremal graphs with this property, that is, those graphs G on n vertices with the maximum possible number of edges. We discuss the cases where F is a complete equipartite graph, a cycle, a star, or a graph on at most four vertices.     

On constructible graphs,locally Helly graphs,and convexity

A (finite or infinite) graph G is constructible if there exists a well‐ordering ≤ of its vertices such that for every vertex x which is not the smallest element, there is a vertex y < x which is adjacent to x and to every neighbor z of x with z < x. Particular constructible graphs are Helly graphs and connected bridged graphs. In this paper we study a new class of constructible graphs, the class of locally Helly graphs. A graph G is locally Helly if, for every pair (x,y) of vertices of G whose distance is d ≥ 2, there exists a vertex whose distance to x is d ? 1 and which is adjacent to y and to all neighbors of y whose distance to x is at most d. Helly graphs are locally Helly, and the converse holds for finite graphs. Among different properties we prove that a locally Helly graph is strongly dismantable, hence cop‐win, if and only if it contains no isometric rays. We show that a locally Helly graph G is finitely Helly, that is, every finite family of pairwise non‐disjoint balls of G has a non‐empty intersection. We give a sufficient condition by forbidden subgraphs so that the three concepts of Helly graphs, of locally Helly graphs and of finitely Helly graphs are equivalent. Finally, generalizing different results, in particular those of Bandelt and Chepoi 1 about Helly graphs and bridged graphs, we prove that the Helly number h(G) of the geodesic convexity in a constructible graph G is equal to its clique number ω(G), provided that ω(G) is finite. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 280–298, 2003     

On a Closure Concept in Claw-Free Graphs

IfGis a claw-free graph, then there is a graphcl(G) such that (i) Gis a spanning subgraph ofcl(G), (ii) cl(G) is a line graph of a triangle-free graph, and (iii) the length of a longest cycle inGand incl(G) is the same. A sufficient condition for hamiltonicity in claw-free graphs, the equivalence of some conjectures on hamiltonicity in 2-tough graphs and the hamiltonicity of 7-connected claw-free graphs are obtained as corollaries.     

An approach to hedetniemi's conjecture

For a fixed integer n ? ω, a graph G of chromatic number greater than n is called persistent if for all n + 1-chromatic graphs H, the products G × H are n + 1-chromatic graphs. Wheter all graphs of chromatic number greater than n are persistent is a long-standing open problem due to Hedetniemi. We call a graph G strongly persistent if G is persistent and the Hajos sum of G with any other persistent graph H is still persistent. This paper extends the class of known persistent graphs by proving the following results: If G is constructed from copies of K_n+1 by Hajos sums, adding vertices and edges and at most one contraction of nonadjacent vertices, then G is strongly persistent. © 1929 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On the Pancyclicity of Lexicographic Products

We prove that if G and H are graphs containing at least one edge each, then their lexicographic product G[H] is weakly pancyclic, i. e., it contains a cycle of every length between the length of a shortest cycle and that of a longest one. This supports some conjectures on locally connected graphs and on product graphs. We obtain an analogous result on even cycles in products G[H] that are bipartite. We also investigate toughness conditions on G implying that G[H] is hamiltonian (and hence pancyclic). Supported by the project LN00A056 of the Czech Ministry of Education     

On the Determination Problem for P 4-Transformation of Graphs

We prove that the P ₄-transformation is one-to-one on the set of graphs with minimum degree at least 3, and if graphs G and G ^' have minimum degree at least 3 then any isomorphism from the P ₄-graph P ₄(G) to the P ₄-graph P ₄(G ^') is induced by a vertex-isomorphism from G to G ^' unless G and G ^' both belong to a special family of graphs. Supported by NSFC, PCSIRT and the “973” program.     

Chordal Bipartite Graphs with High Boxicity

The boxicity of a graph G is defined as the minimum integer k such that G is an intersection graph of axis-parallel k-dimensional boxes. Chordal bipartite graphs are bipartite graphs that do not contain an induced cycle of length greater than 4. It was conjectured by Otachi, Okamoto and Yamazaki that chordal bipartite graphs have boxicity at most 2. We disprove this conjecture by exhibiting an infinite family of chordal bipartite graphs that have unbounded boxicity.     

Lambda-fold 2-perfect 6-cycle systems in equipartite graphs

A 6-cycle system of a graph G is an edge-disjoint decomposition of G into 6-cycles. Graphs G, for which necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of a 6-cycle system have been found, include complete graphs and complete equipartite graphs. A 6-cycle system of G is said to be 2-perfect if the graph formed by joining all vertices distance 2 apart in the 6-cycles is again an edge-disjoint decomposition of G, this time into 3-cycles, since the distance 2 graph in any 6-cycle is a pair of disjoint 3-cycles.Necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of 2-perfect 6-cycle systems of both complete graphs and complete equipartite graphs are known, and also of λ-fold complete graphs. In this paper, we complete the problem, giving necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of λ-fold 2-perfect 6-cycle systems of complete equipartite graphs.     

A generalization of perfect graphs—i-perfect graphs

Let i be a positive integer. We generalize the chromatic number _X(G) of G and the clique number o(G) of G as follows: The i-chromatic number of G, denoted by _X(G), is the least number k for which G has a vertex partition V₁, V₂,…, V_k such that the clique number of the subgraph induced by each V_j, 1 ≤ j ≤ k, is at most i. The i-clique number, denoted by o_i(G), is the i-chromatic number of a largest clique in G, which equals [o(G/i]. Clearly _X1(G) = _X(G) and o₁(G) = o(G). An induced subgraph G′ of G is an i-transversal iff o(G′) = i and o(G − G′) = o(G) − i. We generalize the notion of perfect graphs as follows: (1) A graph G is i-perfect iff _Xi(H) = o_i(H) for every induced subgraph H of G. (2) A graph G is perfectly i-transversable iff either o(G) ≤ i or every induced subgraph H of G with o(H) > i contains an i-transversal of H. We study the relationships among i-perfect graphs and perfectly i-transversable graphs. In particular, we show that 1-perfect graphs and perfectly 1-transversable graphs both coincide with perfect graphs, and that perfectly i-transversable graphs form a strict subset of i-perfect graphs for every i ≥ 2. We also show that all planar graphs are i-perfect for every i ≥ 2 and perfectly i-transversable for every i ≥ 3; the latter implies a new proof that planar graphs satisfy the strong perfect graph conjecture. We prove that line graphs of all triangle-free graphs are 2-perfect. Furthermore, we prove for each i greater than or equal to2, that the recognition of i-perfect graphs and the recognition of perfectly i-transversable graphs are intractable and not likely to be in co-NP. We also discuss several issues related to the strong perfect graph conjecture. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Isomorphisms of Connected Cayley Digraphs

 Let G be a finite group and let Cay() be a Cayley graph of G. The graph Cay() is called a CI-graph of G if, for any for some Aut(G) only when CayCay(). In this paper, we study the isomorphism problem of connected Cayley graphs: to determine the groups G (or the types of Cayley graphs for a given group G) for which all connected Cayley graphs for G are CI-graphs.     

A separation property of planar triangulations

Every planar triangulation G has the property that each induced cycle C of length at least 4 in G separates G, but no proper subgraph of C does. This property is trivially shared by all chordal graphs since these contain no such cycles at all. We ask to what extent maximally planar graphs and chordal graphs are unique with this property — or how much larger the class of graphs is that it determines. The answer is given in the form of a characterization of this class in terms of the simplicial decompositions of its elements. The theory of simplicial decompositions appears to be a very interesting, but still largely unexploited, method of characterization in graph theory, which seems tailor-made for problems like the one discussed.     

Vertex-Disjoint Triangles in Claw-Free Graphs with Minimum Degree at Least Three

. Our main result is as follows: For any integer , if G is a claw-free graph of order at least and with minimum degree at least 3, then G contains k vertex-disjoint triangles unless G is of order and G belongs to a known class of graphs. We also construct a claw-free graph with minimum degree 3 on n vertices for each such that it does not contain k vertex-disjoint triangles. We put forward a conjecture on vertex-disjoint triangles in -free graphs. Received: November 21, 1996/Revised: Revised February 19, 1998     

Symmetric Graphs and Flag Graphs

 With any G-symmetric graph Γ admitting a nontrivial G-invariant partition , we may associate a natural “cross-sectional” geometry, namely the 1-design in which for and if and only if α is adjacent to at least one vertex in C, where and is the neighbourhood of B in the quotient graph of Γ with respect to . In a vast number of cases, the dual 1-design of contains no repeated blocks, that is, distinct vertices of B are incident in with distinct subsets of blocks of . The purpose of this paper is to give a general construction of such graphs, and then prove that it produces all of them. In particular, we show that such graphs can be reconstructed from and the induced action of G on . The construction reveals a close connection between such graphs and certain G-point-transitive and G-block-transitive 1-designs. By using this construction we give a characterization of G-symmetric graphs such that there is at most one edge between any two blocks of . This leads to, in a subsequent paper, a construction of G-symmetric graphs such that and each is incident in with vertices of B. The work was supported by a discovery-project grant from the Australian Research Council. Received April 24, 2001; in revised form October 9, 2002 Published online May 9, 2003     

Representing groups by graphs with constant link and hypergraphs

A graph L is called a link graph if there is a graph G such that for each vertex of G its neighbors induce a subgraph isomorphic to L. Such a G is said to have constant link L. We prove that for any finite group Γ and any disconnected link graph L with at least three vertices there are infinitely many connected graphs G with constant link L and AutG ? Γ. We look at the analogous problem for connected link graphs, namely, link graphs that are paths or have disconnected complements. Furthermore we prove that for n, r ≥ 2, but not n = 2 = r, any finite group can be represented by infinitely many connected r-uniform, n-regular hypergraphs of arbitrarily large girth.     

On graphs determining links with maximal number of components via medial construction

Let G be a connected plane graph, D(G) be the corresponding link diagram via medial construction, and μ(D(G)) be the number of components of the link diagram D(G). In this paper, we first provide an elementary proof that μ(D(G))≤n(G)+1, where n(G) is the nullity of G. Then we lay emphasis on the extremal graphs, i.e. the graphs with μ(D(G))=n(G)+1. An algorithm is given firstly to judge whether a graph is extremal or not, then we prove that all extremal graphs can be obtained from K₁ by applying two graph operations repeatedly. We also present a dual characterization of extremal graphs and finally we provide a simple criterion on structures of bridgeless extremal graphs.     

On superperfect noncomparability graphs

The class of superperfect graphs, which was previously studied by A. J. Hoffman, E. L. Johnson, and M. C. Golumbic, is a proper subclass of the class of perfect graphs; further, it properly contains the class of comparability graphs. In his book, Golumbic proves that, for split graphs, G is a comparability graph if and only if G is superperfect. Moreover, the fact that split graphs are exactly those graphs which are both triangulated and cotriangulated motivated Golumbic to ask if it is true or false that, for triangulated (or cotriangulated) graphs, G is a comparability graph if and only if G is superperfect. In the present paper, we determine those members of Gallai's list of minimal noncomparability graphs which are superperfect and, as a consequence, we find that the answer to the above question is “false” for triangulated and “true” for cotriangulated graphs.