A sharp lower bound on Steiner Wiener index for trees with given diameter

Let $G$ be a connected graph with vertex set $V\left(G\right)$ and edge set $E\left(G\right)$. For a subset $S$ of $V\left(G\right)$, the Steiner distance$d\left(S\right)$ of $S$ is the minimum size of a connected subgraph whose vertex set contains $S$. For an integer $k$ with $2\le k\le n?1$, the Steiner$k$-Wiener index${\text{SW}}_k\left(G\right)$ is ${\sum }_{S?V\left(G\right),\left|S\right|=k}d\left(S\right)$. In this paper, we introduce some transformations for trees that do not increase their Steiner $k$-Wiener index for $2\le k\le n?1$. Using these transformations, we get a sharp lower bound on Steiner $k$-Wiener index for trees with given diameter, and obtain the corresponding extremal graph as well.     

3-Restricted arc connectivity of digraphs

The $k$-restricted arc connectivity of digraphs is a common generalization of the arc connectivity and the restricted arc connectivity. An arc subset $S$ of a strong digraph $D$ is a $k$-restricted arc cut if $D?S$ has a strong component $D^{\prime }$ with order at least $k$ such that $D?V\left(D^{\prime }\right)$ contains a connected subdigraph with order at least $k$. The $k$-restricted arc connectivity ${\lambda }^k\left(D\right)$ of a digraph $D$ is the minimum cardinality over all $k$-restricted arc cuts of $D$.Let $D$ be a strong digraph with order $n\ge 6$ and minimum degree $\delta \left(D\right)$. In this paper, we first show that ${\lambda }^3\left(D\right)$ exists if $\delta \left(D\right)\ge 3$ and, furthermore, ${\lambda }^3\left(D\right)\le {\xi }^3\left(D\right)$ if $\delta \left(D\right)\ge 4$, where ${\xi }^3\left(D\right)$ is the minimum 3-degree of $D$. Next, we prove that ${\lambda }^3\left(D\right)={\xi }^3\left(D\right)$ if $\delta \left(D\right)\ge \frac{n+3}{2}$. Finally, we give examples showing that these results are best possible in some sense.     

Steiner tree packing number and tree connectivity

Let $S$ be a set of at least two vertices in a graph $G$. A subtree $T$ of $G$ is a $S$-Steiner tree if $S?V\left(T\right)$. Two $S$-Steiner trees $T_1$ and $T_2$ are edge-disjoint (resp. internally vertex-disjoint) if $E\left(T_1\right)\cap E\left(T_2\right)=?$ (resp. $E\left(T_1\right)\cap E\left(T_2\right)=?$ and $V\left(T_1\right)\cap V\left(T_2\right)=S$). Let ${\lambda }_G\left(S\right)$ (resp. ${\kappa }_G\left(S\right)$) be the maximum number of edge-disjoint (resp. internally vertex-disjoint) $S$-Steiner trees in $G$, and let ${\lambda }_k\left(G\right)$ (resp. ${\kappa }_k\left(G\right)$) be the minimum ${\lambda }_G\left(S\right)$ (resp. ${\kappa }_G\left(S\right)$) for $S$ ranges over all $k$-subset of $V\left(G\right)$. Kriesell conjectured that if ${\lambda }_G\left(\{x,y\}\right)\ge 2k$ for any $x,y\in S$, then ${\lambda }_G\left(S\right)\ge k$. He proved that the conjecture holds for $\left|S\right|=3,4$. In this paper, we give a short proof of Kriesell’s Conjecture for $\left|S\right|=3,4$, and also show that ${\lambda }_k\left(G\right)\ge ?\frac{1}{k?1}?\frac{k?}{2}??$ (resp. ${\kappa }_k\left(G\right)\ge ?\frac{1}{k?1}?\frac{k?}{2}??$ ) if $\lambda \left(G\right)\ge ?$ (resp. $\kappa \left(G\right)\ge ?$) in $G$, where $k=3,4$. Moreover, we also study the relation between ${\kappa }_k\left(L\left(G\right)\right)$ and ${\lambda }_k\left(G\right)$, where $L\left(G\right)$ is the line graph of $G$.     

Counting humps and peaks in generalized Motzkin paths

Let us call a lattice path in $\mathbb{Z}\times \mathbb{Z}$ from $(0,0)$ to $(n,0)$ using $U=(1,k)$, $D=(1,?1)$, and $H=(a,0)$ steps and never going below the $x$-axis, a $(k,a)$-path (of order $n$). A super   $(k,a)$-path is a $(k,a)$-path which is permitted to go below the $x$-axis. We relate the total number of humps in all of the $(k,a)$-paths of order $n$ to the number of super $(k,a)$-paths, where a hump is defined to be a sequence of steps of the form $U{H}^{i}D$, $i\ge 0$. This generalizes recent results concerning the cases when $k=1$ and $a=1$ or $a=\infty$. A similar relation may be given involving peaks (consecutive steps of the form $UD$).     

The NLC-width and clique-width for powers of graphs of bounded tree-width

The $k$-power graph of a graph $G$ is a graph with the same vertex set as $G$, in that two vertices are adjacent if and only if, there is a path between them in $G$ of length at most $k$. A $k$-tree-power graph is the $k$-power graph of a tree, a $k$-leaf-power graph is the subgraph of some $k$-tree-power graph induced by the leaves of the tree.We show that (1) every $k$-tree-power graph has NLC-width at most $k+2$ and clique-width at most $k+2+max\{?\frac{k}{2}??1,0\}$, (2) every $k$-leaf-power graph has NLC-width at most $k$ and clique-width at most $k+max\{?\frac{k}{2}??2,0\}$, and (3) every $k$-power graph of a graph of tree-width $l$ has NLC-width at most ${(k+1)}^{l+1}?1$, and clique-width at most $2?{(k+1)}^{l+1}?2$.     

Diameter bounds and recursive properties of Full-Flag Johnson graphs

The Johnson graphs $J(n,k)$ are a well-known family of combinatorial graphs whose applications and generalizations have been studied extensively in the literature. In this paper, we present a new variant of the family of Johnson graphs, the Full-Flag Johnson graphs, and discuss their combinatorial properties. We show that the Full-Flag Johnson graphs are Cayley graphs on $S_n$ generated by certain well-known classes of permutations and that they are in fact generalizations of permutahedra. We prove a tight $\Theta (n^2∕k^2)$ bound for the diameter of the Full-Flag Johnson graph FJ$(n,k)$ and establish recursive relations between FJ$(n,k)$ and the lower-order Full-Flag Johnson graphs FJ$(n?1,k)$ and FJ$(n?1,k?1)$. We apply this recursive structure to partially compute the spectrum of permutahedra.     

Stability in the Erdős–Gallai Theorem on cycles and paths,II

The Erd?s–Gallai Theorem states that for $k\ge 3$, any $n$-vertex graph with no cycle of length at least $k$ has at most $\frac{1}{2}(k?1)(n?1)$ edges. A stronger version of the Erd?s–Gallai Theorem was given by Kopylov: If $G$ is a 2-connected $n$-vertex graph with no cycle of length at least $k$, then $e\left(G\right)\le max\{h(n,k,2),h(n,k,?\frac{k?1}{2}?)\}$, where $h(n,k,a)?\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{k?a}{2}\right)+a(n?k+a)$. Furthermore, Kopylov presented the two possible extremal graphs, one with $h(n,k,2)$ edges and one with $h(n,k,?\frac{k?1}{2}?)$ edges.In this paper, we complete a stability theorem which strengthens Kopylov’s result. In particular, we show that for $k\ge 3$ odd and all $n\ge k$, every $n$-vertex 2-connected graph $G$ with no cycle of length at least $k$ is a subgraph of one of the two extremal graphs or $e\left(G\right)\le max\{h(n,k,3),h(n,k,\frac{k?3}{2})\}$. The upper bound for $e\left(G\right)$ here is tight.     

Extremal product-one free sequences in Dihedral and Dicyclic Groups

Let $G$ be a finite group, written multiplicatively. The Davenport constant of $G$ is the smallest positive integer $D\left(G\right)$ such that every sequence of $G$ with $D\left(G\right)$ elements has a non-empty subsequence with product $1$. Let $D_{2n}$ be the Dihedral Group of order $2n$ and $Q_{4n}$ be the Dicyclic Group of order $4n$. Zhuang and Gao (2005) showed that $D\left(D_{2n}\right)=n+1$ and Bass (2007) showed that $D\left(Q_{4n}\right)=2n+1$. In this paper, we give explicit characterizations of all sequences $S$ of $G$ such that $\left|S\right|=D\left(G\right)?1$ and $S$ is free of subsequences whose product is 1, where $G$ is equal to $D_{2n}$ or $Q_{4n}$ for some $n$.     

On the distance between linear codes

Let V be an n-dimensional vector space over the finite field consisting of q elements and let ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_k(V)$ be the Grassmann graph formed by k-dimensional subspaces of V, $1<k<n-1$. Denote by $\mathrm{\Gamma }{(n,k)}_q$ the restriction of ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_k(V)$ to the set of all non-degenerate linear ${[n,k]}_q$ codes. We show that for any two codes the distance in $\mathrm{\Gamma }{(n,k)}_q$ coincides with the distance in ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_k(V)$ only in the case when $n<{(q+1)}^2+k-2$, i.e. if n is sufficiently large then for some pairs of codes the distances in the graphs ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_k(V)$ and $\mathrm{\Gamma }{(n,k)}_q$ are distinct. We describe one class of such pairs.     

Upper bounds for the sum of Laplacian eigenvalues of graphs

Let G be a graph with n vertices and $e(G)$ edges, and let ${\mu }_1(G)?{\mu }_2(G)???{\mu }_n(G)=0$ be the Laplacian eigenvalues of G. Let $S_k(G)={\sum }_{i=1}^k{\mu }_i(G)$, where $1?k?n$. Brouwer conjectured that $S_k(G)?e(G)+\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{k+1}{2}\right)$ for $1?k?n$. It has been shown in Haemers et al. [7] that the conjecture is true for trees. We give upper bounds for $S_k(G)$, and in particular, we show that the conjecture is true for unicyclic and bicyclic graphs.