Terminable and interminable paths and trails in infinite graphs

The paper is concerned with certain kinds of random processes in infinite graphs. A finite trail of a graph which cannot be continued from either end is called terminated, and a finite trail is called terminable of it is a segment of a finite terminated trail; analogously for 1 - ∞ trails, finite paths, and 1 - ∞ paths.For k = 1,2,3,…, there exist graphs which contain 2 - ∞ paths and have node-connectivity k and in which no finite path and no 1 - ∞ path is terminable, and also such graphs in which every finite path and every 1 - ∞ path is terminable. In any graph with infinite node-connectivity every node of valency N₀ is the end-node of terminated 1 - ∞ paths. There exist graphs with node-connectivity N₀ in which every 1 - ∞ path is terminable. For λ = 1,2,3,…, there exist graphs which contain 2 - ∞ paths and have edge-connectivity λ and in which no finite trail and no 1 - ∞ trail is terminable, and also such graphs in which every finite trail and every 1 - ∞ trail is terminable. In contrast to the situation for 1 - ∞ paths, every connected infinite graph in which every 1 - ∞ trail is terminable contains at least one node of odd edge-degree and if in addition every finite trail is terminable, then there are at least two nodes of odd edge-degree.     

Decomposing Graphs into Long Paths

It is known that the edge set of a 2-edge-connected 3-regular graph can be decomposed into paths of length 3. W. Li asked whether the edge set of every 2-edge-connected graph can be decomposed into paths of length at least 3. The graphs C ₃, C ₄, C ₅, and K ₄−e have no such decompositions. We construct an infinite sequence {F _i } _i=0 ^∞ of nondecomposable graphs. On the other hand, we prove that every other 2-edge-connected graph has a desired decomposition. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reverse Mathematics and Recursive Graph Theory

We examine a number of results of infinite combinatorics using the techniques of reverse mathematics. Our results are inspired by similar results in recursive combinatorics. Theorems included concern colorings of graphs and bounded graphs, Euler paths, and Hamilton paths.     

A Ramsey-type theorem for traceable graphs

A graph G is traceable if there is a path passing through all the vertices of G. It is proved that every infinite traceable graph either contains arbitrarily large finite chordless paths, or contains a subgraph isomorphic to graph A, illustrated in the text. A corollary is that every finitely generated infinite lattice of length 3 contains arbitrarily large finite fences. It is also proved that every infinite traceable graph containing no chordless four-point path contains a subgraph isomorphic to K_ω,ω. The versions of these results for finite graphs are discussed.     

Infinite Random Geometric Graphs

We introduce a new class of countably infinite random geometric graphs, whose vertices V are points in a metric space, and vertices are adjacent independently with probability p ? (0, 1){p \in (0, 1)} if the metric distance between the vertices is below a given threshold. For certain choices of V as a countable dense set in \mathbbRⁿ{\mathbb{R}^n} equipped with the metric derived from the L _∞-norm, it is shown that with probability 1 such infinite random geometric graphs have a unique isomorphism type. The isomorphism type, which we call GR _n , is characterized by a geometric analogue of the existentially closed adjacency property, and we give a deterministic construction of GR _n . In contrast, we show that infinite random geometric graphs in \mathbbR²{\mathbb{R}^{2}} with the Euclidean metric are not necessarily isomorphic.     

On the notion of infinite Hamiltonian graph

Based on the terms “end” and “cofinal spanning subtree” a general notion of Hamiltonicity of infinite graphs is developed. It is shown that the cube of every connected locally finite graph is Hamiltonian in this generalized sense.     

A new closure concept preserving graph Hamiltonicity and based on neighborhood equivalence

A graph is Hamiltonian if it contains a cycle which goes through all vertices exactly once. Determining if a graph is Hamiltonian is known as an NP-complete problem, and no satisfactory characterization for these graphs has been found.In 1976, Bondy and Chvàtal introduced a way to get round the Hamiltonicity problem complexity by using a closure of the graph. This closure is a supergraph of G which is Hamiltonian iff G is. In particular, if the closure is the complete graph, then G is Hamiltonian. Since this seminal work, several closure concepts preserving Hamiltonicity have been introduced. In particular, in 1997, Ryjá?ek defined a closure concept for claw-free graphs based on local completion.Following a different approach, in 1974, Goodman and Hedetniemi gave a sufficient condition for Hamiltonicity based on the existence of a clique covering of the graph. This condition was recently generalized using the notion of Eulerian clique covering. In this context, closure concepts based on local completion are interesting since the closure of a graph contains more simplicial vertices than the graph itself, making the search for a clique covering easier.In this article, we introduce a new closure concept based on local completion which preserves the Hamiltonicity for every graph. Note that, moreover, the closure may be claw free even when the graph is not.     

A well-quasi-order for tournaments

A digraph H is immersed in a digraph G if the vertices of H are mapped to (distinct) vertices of G, and the edges of H are mapped to directed paths joining the corresponding pairs of vertices of G, in such a way that the paths are pairwise edge-disjoint. For graphs the same relation (using paths instead of directed paths) is a well-quasi-order; that is, in every infinite set of graphs some one of them is immersed in some other. The same is not true for digraphs in general; but we show it is true for tournaments (a tournament is a directed complete graph).     

Stability of infinite clusters in supercritical percolation

. A recent theorem by Häggström and Peres concerning independent percolation is extended to all the quasi-transitive graphs. This theorem states that if 0<p ₁<p ₂≤1 and percolation occurs at level p ₁, then every infinite cluster at level p ₂ contains some infinite cluster at level p ₁. Consequences are the continuity of the percolation probability above the percolation threshold and the monotonicity of the uniqueness of the infinite cluster, i.e., if at level p ₁ there is a unique infinite cluster then the same holds at level p ₂. These results are further generalized to graphs with a “uniform percolation” property. The threshold for uniqueness of the infinite cluster is characterized in terms of connectivities between large balls.     

An edge-deletion problem for locally finite graphs

For each positive integer n, let T_n be the tree in which exactly one vertex has degree n and all the other vertices have degree n + 1. A graph G is called stable if its edge set is nonempty and if deleting an arbitrary edge of G there is always a component of the residue graph which is isomorphic to G. The question whether there are locally finite stable graphs that are not isomorphic to one of the graphs T_n is answered affirmatively by constructing an uncountable family of pairwise nonisomorphic, locally finite, stable graphs. Further, the following results are proved: (1) Among the locally finite trees containing no subdivision of T₂, the oneway infinite path T₁ is the only stable graph. (2) Among the locally finite graphs containing no two-way infinite path, T₁ is also the only stable graph.     

Graph polynomials from principal pivoting

The recursive computation of the interlace polynomial introduced by Arratia, Bollobás and Sorkin is defined in terms of a new pivoting operation on undirected simple graphs. In this paper, we interpret the new pivoting operation on graphs in terms of standard pivoting (on matrices). Specifically, we show that, up to swapping vertex labels, Arratia et al.'s pivoting operation on a graph is equivalent to a principal pivot transform on the graph's adjacency matrix, provided that all computations are performed in the Galois field F₂. Principal pivoting on adjacency matrices over F₂ has a natural counterpart on isotropic systems. Thus, our view of the interlace polynomial is closely related to the one by Aigner and van der Holst.The observations that adjacency matrices of undirected simple graphs are skew-symmetric in F₂ and that principal pivoting preserves skew-symmetry in all fields suggest to extend Arratia et al.'s pivoting operation to fields other than F₂. Thus, the interlace polynomial extends to polynomials on gain graphs, namely bidirected edge-weighted graphs whereby reversed edges carry non-zero weights that differ only by their sign. Extending a proof by Aigner and van der Holst, we show that the extended interlace polynomial can be represented in a non-recursive form analogous to the non-recursive form of the original interlace polynomial, i.e., the Martin polynomial.For infinite fields it is shown that the extended interlace polynomial does not depend on the (non-zero) gains, as long as they obey a non-singularity condition. These gain graphs are all supported by a single undirected simple graph. Thus, a new graph polynomial is defined for undirected simple graphs. The recursive computation of the new polynomial can be done such that all ends of the recursion correspond to independent sets. Moreover, its degree equals the independence number. However, the new graph polynomial is different from the independence polynomial.     

Path factors and parallel knock-out schemes of almost claw-free graphs

An H₁,{H₂}-factor of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G with exactly one component isomorphic to the graph H₁ and all other components (if there are any) isomorphic to the graph H₂. We completely characterise the class of connected almost claw-free graphs that have a P₇,{P₂}-factor, where P₇ and P₂ denote the paths on seven and two vertices, respectively. We apply this result to parallel knock-out schemes for almost claw-free graphs. These schemes proceed in rounds in each of which each surviving vertex eliminates one of its surviving neighbours. A graph is reducible if such a scheme eliminates every vertex in the graph. Using our characterisation, we are able to classify all reducible almost claw-free graphs, and we can show that every reducible almost claw-free graph is reducible in at most two rounds. This leads to a quadratic time algorithm for determining if an almost claw-free graph is reducible (which is a generalisation and improvement upon the previous strongest result that showed that there was a O(n^5.376) time algorithm for claw-free graphs on n vertices).     

Regular path decompositions of odd regular graphs

Kotzig asked in 1979 what are necessary and sufficient conditions for a d‐regular simple graph to admit a decomposition into paths of length d for odd d>3. For cubic graphs, the existence of a 1‐factor is both necessary and sufficient. Even more, each 1‐factor is extendable to a decomposition of the graph into paths of length 3 where the middle edges of the paths coincide with the 1‐factor. We conjecture that existence of a 1‐factor is indeed a sufficient condition for Kotzig's problem. For general odd regular graphs, most 1‐factors appear to be extendable and we show that for the family of simple 5‐regular graphs with no cycles of length 4, all 1‐factors are extendable. However, for d>3 we found infinite families of d‐regular simple graphs with non‐extendable 1‐factors. Few authors have studied the decompositions of general regular graphs. We present examples and open problems; in particular, we conjecture that in planar 5‐regular graphs all 1‐factors are extendable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 63: 114–128, 2010     

Zur Lösung einer Klasse von Gleichungen mit einem monotonen Potentialoperator

This paper is concerned with terminable and interminable paths and trails in infinite graphs. It is shown that

• The only connected graphs which contain no 2 – ∞ way and in which no finite path is terminable are precisely all the 1 – ∞ multiways.
• The only connected graphs which have no 2 – ∞ trail and in which no finite trail is terminable are precisely all the 1 – ∞ multiways all of whose multiplicities are odd numbers and which have infinitely many bridges.
• In addition the strucuture of those connected graphs is determined which have a 1 – ∞ trail and in which no 1 – ∞ trail but every finite trail is terminable.

In this paper the terminology and notation of a previous paper of the writer [1] and of F. HARARY 's book [6] will be used. Furthermore, a graph consisting of the distinct nodes n₁,…,n_δ (where δ≧1) and of one or more (n_i, n_i+1)-edges for i = 1,…, δ – 1 will be called a multiway, and analogously for 1 – ∞ and 2 – ∞ multiways. The number of edges joining n_i and n_i+1 will be called the (n_i,+1)-multiplicity. Thus a multiway in which each multiplicity is 1 is a way. Multiplicities are allowed to be infinite.     

Saturated graphs with minimal number of edges

Let F = {F₁,…} be a given class of forbidden graphs. A graph G is called F-saturated if no F_i ∈ F is a subgraph of G but the addition of an arbitrary new edge gives a forbidden subgraph. In this paper the minimal number of edges in F-saturated graphs is examined. General estimations are given and the structure of minimal graphs is described for some special forbidden graphs (stars, paths, m pairwise disjoint edges).     

Uniformly finite-to-one and onto extensions of homomorphisms between strongly connected graphs

For a homomorphism between directed graphs G₁ and G₂, its extension is the mapping of the set of all paths in G₁ into the set of all paths in G₂ obtained by naturally extending it. We investigate the properties of uniformly finite-to-one and onto extensions of homomorphisms of directed graphs, essentially the properties of uniformly finite-to-one and onto extensions of homomorphisms between strongly connected directed graphs. We also describe applications of our results on homomorphisms of directed graphs to the theory of a class of symbolic flows called subshifts of finite type.     

On stable crossing numbers

Results giving the exact crossing number of an infinite family of graphs on some surface are very scarce. In this paper we show the following: for G = Q_n × K_4.4, cr_y(G)-m(G) = 4m, for 0 ? = m ? 2ⁿ. A generalization is obtained, for certain repeated cartesian products of bipartite graphs. Nonorientable analogs are also developed.     

The total-chromatic number of some families of snarks

The total-chromatic numberχ_T(G) is the least number of colours needed to colour the vertices and edges of a graph G such that no incident or adjacent elements (vertices or edges) receive the same colour. It is known that the problem of determining the total-chromatic number is NP-hard, and it remains NP-hard even for cubic bipartite graphs. Snarks are simple connected bridgeless cubic graphs that are not 3-edge-colourable. In this paper, we show that the total-chromatic number is 4 for three infinite families of snarks, namely, the Flower Snarks, the Goldberg Snarks, and the Twisted Goldberg Snarks. This result reinforces the conjecture that all snarks have total-chromatic number 4. Moreover, we give recursive procedures to construct a total-colouring that uses 4 colours in each case.     

Analyse locale des droites discrètes. Généralisation et application à la connexité des plans discrets

When studying a Reveillès digital straight line defined by a doubleinequality (I): γ ≤ ax + by < γ + Γ with (a,b,Γ)∈ℕ^*3 and γ∈ℤ, we are naturally led to study fibers from a digital plane P of ℤ³. Local results concerning the existence of connectivity paths between neighbouring legos provide a construction of a special infinite graph G with finite period. The deterministic algorithm for recognizing connectivity of infinite graphs we give below also permits us to know the connectivity of P using G.