Roman and Total Domination

Abstract

A set S of vertices is a total dominating set of a graph G if every vertex of G is adjacent to some vertex in S. The minimum cardinality of a total dominating set is the total domination number ^γt(G). A Roman dominating function on a graph G is a function f : V (G) → {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u with f (u)=0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v of G for which f (v)=2. The minimum of f (V (G))=∑_{u ∈ V (G)} f (u) over all such functions is called the Roman domination number γR (G). We show that γt(G) ≤ γR (G) with equality if and only if ^γt(G)=2γ(G), where γ(G) is the domination number of G. Moreover, we characterize the extremal graphs for some graph families.     

Global italian domination in graphs

Abstract

An Italian dominating function (IDF) on a graph G = (V, E) is a function f: V → {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that for every vertex v ∈ V (G) with f (v) = 0, either v is adjacent to a vertex assigned 2 under f, or v is adjacent to at least two vertices assigned 1. The weight of an IDF f is the value ∑_v∈V(G) f (v). The Italian domination number of a graph G, denoted by γ_I (G), is the minimum weight of an IDF on G. An IDF f on G is called a global Italian dominating function (GIDF) on G if f is also an IDF on the complement ? of G. The global Italian domination number of G, denoted by γ_gI (G), is the minimum weight of a GIDF on G. In this paper, we initiate the study of the global Italian domination number and we present some strict bounds for the global Italian domination number. In particular, we prove that for any tree T of order n ≥ 4, γ_gI (T) ≤ γ_I (T) + 2 and we characterize all trees with γ_gI (T) = γ_I (T) + 2 and γ_gI (T) = γ_I (T) + 1.     

A Canonical Ramsey Theorem

Say a graph H selects a graph G if given any coloring of H, there will be a monochromatic induced copy of G in H or a completely multicolored copy of G in H. Denote by s(G) the minimum order of a graph that selects G and set s(n) = max {s(G): |G| = n}. Upper and lower bounds are given for this function. Also, consider the Folkman function f_r(n) = max{min{|V(H)|: H → (G)¹_r}: |V(G)| = n}, where H → (G)¹_r indicates that H is vertex Ramsey to G, that is, any vertex coloring of H with r colors admits a monochromatic induced copy of G. The method used provides a better upper bound for this function than was previously known. As a tool, we establish a theorem for projective planes.     

Improved pebbling bounds

Consider a configuration of pebbles distributed on the vertices of a connected graph of order n. A pebbling step consists of removing two pebbles from a given vertex and placing one pebble on an adjacent vertex. A distribution of pebbles on a graph is called solvable if it is possible to place a pebble on any given vertex using a sequence of pebbling steps. The pebbling number of a graph, denoted f(G), is the minimal number of pebbles such that every configuration of f(G) pebbles on G is solvable. We derive several general upper bounds on the pebbling number, improving previous results.     

Backbone colorings for graphs: Tree and path backbones

We introduce and study backbone colorings, a variation on classical vertex colorings: Given a graph G = (V,E) and a spanning subgraph H of G (the backbone of G), a backbone coloring for G and H is a proper vertex coloring V → {1,2,…} of G in which the colors assigned to adjacent vertices in H differ by at least two. We study the cases where the backbone is either a spanning tree or a spanning path. We show that for tree backbones of G the number of colors needed for a backbone coloring of G can roughly differ by a multiplicative factor of at most 2 from the chromatic number χ(G); for path backbones this factor is roughly . We show that the computational complexity of the problem “Given a graph G, a spanning tree T of G, and an integer ?, is there a backbone coloring for G and T with at most ? colors?” jumps from polynomial to NP‐complete between ? = 4 (easy for all spanning trees) and ? = 5 (difficult even for spanning paths). We finish the paper by discussing some open problems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 55: 137–152, 2007     

Acyclic vertex coloring of graphs of maximum degree 5

An acyclic vertex coloring of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic number of G, denoted a(G), is the minimum number of colors required for acyclic vertex coloring of graph G. For a family F of graphs, the acyclic chromatic number of F, denoted by a(F), is defined as the maximum a(G) over all the graphs G∈F. In this paper we show that a(F)=8 where F is the family of graphs of maximum degree 5 and give a linear time algorithm to achieve this bound.     

On the adjacent vertex-distinguishing acyclic edge coloring of some graphs

A proper edge coloring of a graph G is called adjacent vertex-distinguishing acyclic edge coloring if there is no 2-colored cycle in G and the coloring set of edges incident with u is not equal to the coloring set of edges incident with v, where uv ∈ E(G). The adjacent vertex distinguishing acyclic edge chromatic number of G, denoted by x′ _Aa (G), is the minimal number of colors in an adjacent vertex distinguishing acyclic edge coloring of G. If a graph G has an adjacent vertex distinguishing acyclic edge coloring, then G is called adjacent vertex distinguishing acyclic. In this paper, we obtain adjacent vertex-distinguishing acyclic edge coloring of some graphs and put forward some conjectures.     

Set vertex colorings and joins of graphs

For a nontrivial connected graph G, let c: V (G) → ℕ be a vertex coloring of G where adjacent vertices may be colored the same. For a vertex v of G, the neighborhood color set NC(v) is the set of colors of the neighbors of v. The coloring c is called a set coloring if NC(u) ≠ NC(v) for every pair u, v of adjacent vertices of G. The minimum number of colors required of such a coloring is called the set chromatic number x _s (G). A study is made of the set chromatic number of the join G+H of two graphs G and H. Sharp lower and upper bounds are established for x _s (G + H) in terms of x _s (G), x _s (H), and the clique numbers ω(G) and ω(H).     

Extremal regular graphs for the eccentric connectivity index

Abstract

Topological indices are useful tools for identifying properties of chemicals directly from their molecular structure, and are used extensively in pharmaceutical drug design. One such graph-invariant index is the eccentric connectivity index. If G is a connected graph with vertex set V, then the eccentric connectivity index of G, ξ^C (G), is defined as Σ_vεV deg(v) ec(v) where deg(v) is the degree of vertex v and ec(v) is its eccentricity. Current research investigates mathematical properties of this index, and in particular, considers bounds in terms of other parameters. Recently, both Do?li?, Saheli and Vuki?evi? [7] and Ili? [12] have stated that it would be interesting to determine extremal graphs with respect to the eccentric connectivity index, for regular (and more specifically, cubic) graphs. When considering such regular graphs, results could equivalently be reformulated in terms of the average eccentricity of the graph. In this note we address this open problem.     

Parity vertex coloring of outerplane graphs

A proper vertex coloring of a 2-connected plane graph G is a parity vertex coloring if for each face f and each color c, the total number of vertices of color c incident with f is odd or zero. The minimum number of colors used in such a coloring of G is denoted by χ_p(G).In this paper we prove that χ_p(G)≤12 for every 2-connected outerplane graph G. We show that there is a 2-connected outerplane graph G such that χ_p(G)=10. If a 2-connected outerplane graph G is bipartite, then χ_p(G)≤8, moreover, this bound is best possible.     

On the Acyclic Chromatic Number of Hamming Graphs

An acyclic coloring of a graph G is a proper coloring of the vertex set of G such that G contains no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic number of a graph G is the minimum number k such that G has an acyclic coloring with k colors. In this paper, acyclic colorings of Hamming graphs, products of complete graphs, are considered. Upper and lower bounds on the acyclic chromatic number of Hamming graphs are given. Gretchen L. Matthews: The work of this author is supported by NSA H-98230-06-1-0008.     

Cycles of relatively prime length and the road coloring problem

We give a partial answer to theroad coloring problem, a purely graphtheoretical question with applications in both symbolic dynamics and automata theory. The question is whether for any positive integerk and for any aperiodic and strongly connected graphG with all vertices of out-degreek, we can labelG with symbols in an alphabet ofk letters so that all the edges going out from a vertex take a different label and all paths inG presenting a wordW terminate at the same vertex, for someW. Such a labelling is calledsynchronizing coloring ofG. Anyaperiodic graphG contains a setS of cycles where the greatest common divisor of the lengths equals 1. We establish some geometrical conditions onS to ensure the existence of a synchronizing coloring.     

What Is the Complexity of Solution-Restricted Operator Equations?

We study the worst case complexity of operator equations Lu = f where L: G → X is a bounded linear injection of normed linear spaces. Past work on the complexity of such problems has generally required the class F of problem elements f to be the unit ball of X. However, there are many problems for which this choice of F yields unsatisfactory results. Mixed elliptic—hyperbolic problems are one example. the difficulty being that our technical tools are nor strong enough to give good complexity bounds. Ill-posed problems are another example. because we know that the complexity of computing finite-error approximations is infinite if F is a ball in X. In this paper, we pursue another idea. Rather than directly restrict the class F of problem elements f, we will consider problems that are solution-restricted: i.e., we restrict the class U of solution elements u. In particular, we assume that U is the unit hall of a normed linear space W that is densely, continuously embedded in G. The main idea is that our problem can now be reduced to the standard approximation problem of approximating the embedding of W into G.This allows us to characterize optimal information and algorithms for our problem..We use this idea to study three problems: the Tricomi problem (a mixed hyperbolic— elliptic problem arising in the study of transonic flow), the inverse finite Laplace transform (an ill-posed problem arising. e.g.. in geomathematics), and the backwards heat equation. We determine the problem complexity and derive nearly optimal algorithms for each of these problems.     

On bandwidth sums of graphs

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Interval coloring of (3,4)‐biregular bipartite graphs having large cubic subgraphs

An interval coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that the set of used colors at every vertex is an interval of integers. Generally, it is an NP‐hard problem to decide whether a graph has an interval coloring or not. A bipartite graph G = (A,B;E) is (α, β)‐biregular if each vertex in A has degree α and each vertex in B has degree β. In this paper we prove that if the (3,4)‐biregular graph G has a cubic subgraph covering the set B then G has an interval coloring. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 122–128, 2004     

On the complexity of the disjoint paths problem

In this paper we consider the disjoint paths problem. Given a graphG and a subsetS of the edge-set ofG the problem is to decide whether there exists a family of disjoint circuits inG each containing exactly one edge ofS such that every edge inS belongs to a circuit inC. By a well-known theorem of P. Seymour the edge-disjoint paths problem is polynomially solvable for Eulerian planar graphsG. We show that (assumingPNP) one can drop neither planarity nor the Eulerian condition onG without losing polynomial time solvability. We prove theNP-completeness of the planar edge-disjoint paths problem by showing theNP-completeness of the vertex disjoint paths problem for planar graphs with maximum vertex-degree three. This disproves (assumingPNP) a conjecture of A. Schrijver concerning the existence of a polynomial time algorithm for the planar vertex-disjoint paths problem. Furthermore we present a counterexample to a conjecture of A. Frank. This conjecture would have implied a polynomial algorithm for the planar edge-disjoint paths problem. Moreover we derive a complete characterization of all minorclosed classes of graphs for which the disjoint paths problem is polynomially solvable. Finally we show theNP-completeness of the half-integral relaxation of the edge-disjoint paths problem. This implies an answer to the long-standing question whether the edge-disjoint paths problem is polynomially solvable for Eulerian graphs.Supported by Sonderforschungsbereich 303 (DFG)     

Bounds on Laplacian eigenvalues related to total and signed domination of graphs

A total dominating set in a graph G is a subset X of V (G) such that each vertex of V (G) is adjacent to at least one vertex of X. The total domination number of G is the minimum cardinality of a total dominating set. A function f: V (G) → {−1, 1} is a signed dominating function (SDF) if the sum of its function values over any closed neighborhood is at least one. The weight of an SDF is the sum of its function values over all vertices. The signed domination number of G is the minimum weight of an SDF on G. In this paper we present several upper bounds on the algebraic connectivity of a connected graph in terms of the total domination and signed domination numbers of the graph. Also, we give lower bounds on the Laplacian spectral radius of a connected graph in terms of the signed domination number of the graph.     

Cyclic 4‐Colorings of Graphs on Surfaces

To attack the Four Color Problem, in 1880, Tait gave a necessary and sufficient condition for plane triangulations to have a proper 4‐vertex‐coloring: a plane triangulation G has a proper 4‐vertex‐coloring if and only if the dual of G has a proper 3‐edge‐coloring. A cyclic coloring of a map G on a surface F² is a vertex‐coloring of G such that any two vertices x and y receive different colors if x and y are incident with a common face of G. In this article, we extend the result by Tait to two directions, that is, considering maps on a nonspherical surface and cyclic 4‐colorings.     

Embedding a sequential procedure within an evolutionary algorithm for coloring problems in graphs

We present in this article an evolutionary procedure for solving general optimization problems. The procedure combines efficiently the mechanism of a simple descent method and of genetic algorithms. In order to explore the solution space properly, periods of optimization are interspersed with phases of interaction and diversification. An adaptation of this search principle to coloring problems in graphs is discussed. More precisely, given a graphG, we are interested in finding the largest induced subgraph ofG that can be colored with a fixed numberq of colors. Whenq is larger or equal to the chromatic number ofG, then the problem amounts to finding an ordinary coloring of the vertices ofG.