The Hoffman number of a graph

For a connected graph G with n vertices, let {λ₁,λ₂,…,λ_r} be the set of distinct positive eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of G. The Hoffman number μ(G) of G is defined by μ(G)=λ₁λ₂…λ_r/n. In this paper, we study some properties and applications of the Hoffman number.     

Acyclic coloring of graphs without bichromatic long path

Let G be a graph of maximum degree Δ. A proper vertex coloring of G is acyclic if there is no bichromatic cycle. It was proved by Alon et al. [Acyclic coloring of graphs. Random Structures Algorithms, 1991, 2(3): 277−288] that G admits an acyclic coloring with O(Δ^4/3) colors and a proper coloring with O(Δ^{(k−1)/(k−2)}) colors such that no path with k vertices is bichromatic for a fixed integer k≥5. In this paper, we combine above two colorings and show that if k≥5 and G does not contain cycles of length 4, then G admits an acyclic coloring with O(Δ^{(k−1)/(k−2)}) colors such that no path with k vertices is bichromatic.     

Number of minimum vertex cuts in transitive graphs

Let G be a k-regular vertex transitive graph with connectivity κ(G)=k and let m_k(G) be the number of vertex cuts with k vertices. Define m(n,k)=min{m_k(G): GT_n,k}, where T_n,k denotes the set of all k-regular vertex transitive graphs on n vertices with κ(G)=k. In this paper, we determine the exact values of m(n,k).     

Precoloring extension. I. Interval graphs

This paper is the first article in a series devoted to the study of the following general problem on vertex colorings of graphs. Suppose that some vertices of a graph G are assigned to some colors. Can this ‘precoloring’ be extended to a proper coloring of G with at most k colors (for some given k)? This question was motivated by practical problems in scheduling and VLSI theory. Here we investigate its complexity status for interval graphs and for graphs with a bounded treewidth.     

Large eigenvalues of the laplacian

Let G be a simple graph on n vertices and let L=L(G) be the Laplacian matrix of G corresponding to some ordering of the vertices. It is known that λ≤n for any eigenvalue λ of L. In this note we characterize when n is an eigenvalue of L with multiplicity m.     

On the construction of most reliable networks

The construction of most reliable networks is investigated. In particular, the study of restricted edge connectivity shows that general Harary graphs are max λ–min m_i for all i=λ, λ+1,…,2λ−3. As a consequence, this implies that for each pair of positive integers n and e, there is a graph of n vertices and e edges that is max λ–min m_i for all i=λ,λ+1,…,2λ−3. General Harary graphs that are max λ–min m_i for all i=λ,λ+1,…,2λ−2 are also constructed.     

Graphs with prescribed local connectivities

A graph G is locally n-connected (locally n-edge connected) if the neighborhood of each vertex of G is n-connected (n-edge connected). The local connectivity (local edge-connectivity) of G is the maximum n for which G is locally n-connected (locally n-edge connected). It is shown that if k and m are integers with O k < m, then a graph exists which has connectivity m and local connectivity k. Furthermore, such a graph with smallest order is determined. Corresponding results are obtained involving the local connectivity and the local edge-conectivity.     

Covering vertices of a graph by k disjoint cycles

Let d, k and n be three integers with k3, d4k−1 and n3k. We show that if d(x)+d(y)d for each pair of nonadjacent vertices x and y of a graph G of order n, then G contains k vertex-disjoint cycles converting at least min{d,n} vertices of G.     

Multicolored forests in complete bipartite graphs

If the edges of a graph G are colored using k colors, we consider the color distribution for this coloring a=(a₁,a₂,…,a_k), in which a_i denotes the number of edges of color i for i=1,2,…,k. We find inequalities and majorization conditions on color distributions of the complete bipartite graph K_n,n which guarantee the existence of multicolored subgraphs: in particular, multicolored forests and trees. We end with a conjecture on partitions of K_n,n into multicolored trees.     

Maximum number of edges in a critically k-connected graph

A k-connected graph G is said to be critically k-connected if G−v is not k-connected for any vV(G). We show that if n,k are integers with k4 and nk+2, and G is a critically k-connected graph of order n, then |E(G)|n(n−1)/2−p(n−k)+p²/2, where p=(n/k)+1 if n/k is an odd integer and p=n/k otherwise. We also characterize extremal graphs.     

On the bounded domination number of tournaments

In a simple digraph, a star of degree t is a union of t edges with a common tail. The k-domination number γ_k(G) of digraph G is the minimum number of stars of degree at most k needed to cover the vertex set. We prove that γ_k(T)=n/(k+1) when T is a tournament with n14k lg k vertices. This improves a result of Chen, Lu and West. We also give a short direct proof of the result of E. Szekeres and G. Szekeres that every n-vertex tournament is dominated by at most lg n−lglg n+2 vertices.     

Primitive graphs with given exponents and minimum number of edges

A graph G = (V, E) on n vertices is primitive if there is a positive integer k such that for each pair of vertices u, v of G, there is a walk of length k from u to v. The minimum value of such an integer, k, is the exponent, exp(G), of G. In this paper, we find the minimum number, h(n, k), of edges of a simple graph G on n vertices with exponent k, and we characterize all graphs which have h(n, k) edges when k is 3 or even.     

On neighborhood condition for graphs to have [a,b]-factors

Let G be a graph of order n, and let a and b be integers such that 1a<b. Let δ(G) be the minimum degree of G. Then we prove that if δ(G)(k−1)a, n(a+b)(k(a+b)−2)/b, and |N_G(x₁)N_G(x₂)N_G(x_k)|an/(a+b) for any independent subset {x₁,x₂,…,x_k} of V(G), where k2, then G has an [a,b]-factor. This result is best possible in some sense.     

Extremal regular graphs for the achromatic number

The problem of constructing (m, n) cages suggests the following class of problems. For a graph parameter θ, determine the minimum or maximum value of p for which there exists a k-regular graph on p points having a given value of θ. The minimization problem is solved here when θ is the achromatic number, denoted by ψ. This result follows from the following main theorem. Let M(p, k) be the maximum value of ψ(G) over all k-regular graphs G with p points, let {x} be the least integer of size at least x, and let be given by ω(k) = {i(ik+1)+1:1i<∞}. Define the function ƒ(p, k) by

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. Then for fixed k2 we have M(p, K=ƒ(p, k) if pω(k) and M(p, k)=ƒ(p,k-1 if pε ω(k) for all p sufficiently large with respect to k.     

Rank, term rank, and chromatic number

Let G be a graph with a nonempty edge set, and with rank rk(G), term rank Rk(G), and chromatic number χ(G). We characterize Rk(G) as being the maximum number of colors in certain proper colorings of G. In particular, we observe that χ(G)Rk(G), with equality holding if and only if (besides isolated vertices) G is either complete or a star. For a twin-free graph G, we observe the bound and we show that this bound is sharp.     

On L(d,1)-labelings of graphs

Given a graph G and a positive integer d, an L(d,1)-labeling of G is a function f that assigns to each vertex of G a non-negative integer such that if two vertices u and v are adjacent, then |f(u)−f(v)|d; if u and v are not adjacent but there is a two-edge path between them, then |f(u)−f(v)|1. The L(d,1)-number of G, λ_d(G), is defined as the minimum m such that there is an L(d,1)-labeling f of G with f(V){0,1,2,…,m}. Motivated by the channel assignment problem introduced by Hale (Proc. IEEE 68 (1980) 1497–1514), the L(2,1)-labeling and the L(1,1)-labeling (as d=2 and 1, respectively) have been studied extensively in the past decade. This article extends the study to all positive integers d. We prove that λ_d(G)Δ²+(d−1)Δ for any graph G with maximum degree Δ. Different lower and upper bounds of λ_d(G) for some families of graphs including trees and chordal graphs are presented. In particular, we show that the lower and the upper bounds for trees are both attainable, and the upper bound for chordal graphs can be improved for several subclasses of chordal graphs.     

A special k-coloring for a connected k-chromatic graph

For each positive integer k we consider the smallest positive integer f(k) (dependent only on k) such that the following holds: Each connected graph G with chromatic number χ(G) = k can be properly vertex colored by k colors so that for each pair of vertices x_o and x_p in any color class there exist vertices x₁, x₂, …, x_p-1 of the same class with dist(x_i, x_i+1) f(k) for each i, 0 i p − 1. Thus, the graph is k-colorable with the vertices of each color class placed throughout the graph so that no subset of the class is at a distance > f(k) from the remainder of the class.

We prove that f(k) < 12k when the order of the graph is k(k − 2) + 1.     

On the planarity of jump graphs

For a graph G of size m1 and edge-induced subgraphs F and H of size k (1km), the subgraph H is said to be obtained from F by an edge jump if there exist four distinct vertices u,v,w, and x in G such that uvE(F), wxE(G)−E(F), and H=F−uv+wx. The minimum number of edge jumps required to transform F into H is the k-jump distance from F to H. For a graph G of size m1 and an integer k with 1km, the k-jump graph J_k(G) is that graph whose vertices correspond to the edge-induced subgraphs of size k of G and where two vertices of J_k(G) are adjacent if and only if the k-jump distance between the corresponding subgraphs is 1. All connected graphs G for which J₂(G) is planar are determined.     

All trees are 1-embeddable and all except stars are 2-embeddable

A graph G with n vertices is said to be embeddable (in its complement) if there is an automorphism φ of K_n such that E(G) ∩ E(φ(G))=. It is known that all trees T with n (≥2) vertices and T K_1,n−1 are embeddable. We say that G is 1-embeddable if, for every edge e, there is an automorphism φ of K_n such that E(G) ∩ E(φ(G))={e};and that it is 2-embeddable if,for every pair e₁, e₂ of edges, there is an automorphism φ of K_n such that E(G) ∩ E(φ(G))={e₁, e₂}. We prove here that all trees with n (3) vertices are 1-embeddable; and that all trees T with n (4) vertices and T K_1,n−1 are 2-embeddable. In a certain sense, this result is sharp.     

Cyclic coloring of plane graphs

Let G be a plane graph, and let χ_k(G) be the minimum number of colors to color the vertices of G so that every two of them which lie in the boundary of the same face of the size at most k, receive different colors. In 1966, Ore and Plummer proved that χ_k(G)2k for any k3. It is also known that χ₃(G)4 (Appel and Haken, 1976) and χ₄(G)6 (Borodin, 1984). The result in the present paper is: χ₅(G)9, χ₆(G)11, χ₇(G)12, and χ_k(G)2k − 3 if k8.