List circular coloring of trees and cycles

Suppose G=(V, E) is a graph and p ≥ 2q are positive integers. A (p, q)‐coloring of G is a mapping ?: V → {0, 1, …, p‐1} such that for any edge xy of G, q ≤ |?(x)‐?(y)| ≤ p‐q. A color‐list is a mapping L: V → ({0, 1, …, p‐1}) which assigns to each vertex v a set L(v) of permissible colors. An L‐(p, q)‐coloring of G is a (p, q)‐coloring ? of G such that for each vertex v, ?(v) ∈ L(v). We say G is L‐(p, q)‐colorable if there exists an L‐(p, q)‐coloring of G. A color‐size‐list is a mapping ? which assigns to each vertex v a non‐negative integer ?(v). We say G is ?‐(p, q)‐colorable if for every color‐list L with |L(v)| = ?(v), G is L‐(p, q)‐colorable. In this article, we consider list circular coloring of trees and cycles. For any tree T and for any p ≥ 2q, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for T to be ?‐(p, q)‐colorable. For each cycle C and for each positive integer k, we present a condition on ? which is sufficient for C to be ?‐(2k+1, k)‐colorable, and the condition is sharp. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 55: 249–265, 2007     

Modularity of Erdős‐Rényi random graphs

For a given graph G, each partition of the vertices has a modularity score, with higher values indicating that the partition better captures community structure in G. The modularity q^?(G) of the graph G is defined to be the maximum over all vertex partitions of the modularity score, and satisfies 0 ≤ q^?(G)<1. Modularity is at the heart of the most popular algorithms for community detection. We investigate the behaviour of the modularity of the Erd?s‐Rényi random graph G_n,p with n vertices and edge‐probability p. Two key findings are that the modularity is 1+o(1) with high probability (whp) for np up to 1+o(1) and no further; and when np ≥ 1 and p is bounded below 1, it has order (np)^?1/2 whp, in accord with a conjecture by Reichardt and Bornholdt in 2006. We also show that the modularity of a graph is robust to changes in a few edges, in contrast to the sensitivity of optimal vertex partitions.     

Some results on the achromatic number

Let G be a simple graph. The achromatic number ψ(G) is the largest number of colors possible in a proper vertex coloring of G in which each pair of colors is adjacent somewhere in G. For any positive integer m, let q(m) be the largest integer k such that ≤ m. We show that the problem of determining the achromatic number of a tree is NP-hard. We further prove that almost all trees T satisfy ψ (T) = q(m), where m is the number of edges in T. Lastly, for fixed d and ϵ > 0, we show that there is an integer N₀ = N₀(d, ϵ) such that if G is a graph with maximum degree at most d, and m ≥ N₀ edges, then (1 - ϵ)q(m) ≤ ψ (G) ≤ q(m). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 26: 129–136, 1997     

A constructive approach for the lower bounds on the Ramsey numbers R (s,t)

Graph G is a (k, p)‐graph if G does not contain a complete graph on k vertices K_k, nor an independent set of order p. Given a (k, p)‐graph G and a (k, q)‐graph H, such that G and H contain an induced subgraph isomorphic to some K_k?1‐free graph M, we construct a (k, p + q ? 1)‐graph on n(G) + n(H) + n(M) vertices. This implies that R (k, p + q ? 1) ≥ R (k, p) + R (k, q) + n(M) ? 1, where R (s, t) is the classical two‐color Ramsey number. By applying this construction, and some its generalizations, we improve on 22 lower bounds for R (s, t), for various specific values of s and t. In particular, we obtain the following new lower bounds: R (4, 15) ≥ 153, R (6, 7) ≥ 111, R (6, 11) ≥ 253, R (7, 12) ≥ 416, and R (8, 13) ≥ 635. Most of the results did not require any use of computer algorithms. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 231–239, 2004     

Labelling of some planar graphs with a condition at distance two

The problem of vertex labeling with a condition at distance two in a graph, is a variation of Hale’s channel assignment problem, which was first explored by Griggs and Yeh. For positive integerp ≥q, the λ _p,q -number of graph G, denoted λ(G;p, q), is the smallest span among all integer labellings ofV(G) such that vertices at distance two receive labels which differ by at leastq and adjacent vertices receive labels which differ by at leastp. Van den Heuvel and McGuinness have proved that λ(G;p, q) ≤ (4q-2) Δ+10p+38q-24 for any planar graphG with maximum degree Δ. In this paper, we studied the upper bound of λ _p ,q-number of some planar graphs. It is proved that λ(G;p, q) ≤ (2q?1)Δ + 2(2p?1) ifG is an outerplanar graph and λ(G;p,q) ≤ (2q?1) Δ + 6p - 4q - 1 if G is a Halin graph.     

Building fences around the chromatic coefficients

Associated to each graph G is its chromatic polynomial f(G, t) and we associate to f(G, t) the sequence α (G) of the norms of its coefficients. A stringent partial ordering is established for such sequences. The main result is that for any graph G with q edges we have α (R_q) ≤ α (G) ≤ α (S_q), where R_q and S_q are specified graphs with q edges. This translates into a clearer view of allowable values and patterns in the chromatic coefficients. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 26: 123–128, 1997     

Chromatic uniqueness of certain complete tripartite graphs

Let P(G, λ) be the chromatic polynomial of a graph G. A graph G is chromatically unique if for any graph H, P(H, λ) = P(G, λ) implies H is isomorphic to G. Liu et al. [Liu, R. Y., Zhao, H. X., Ye, C. F.: A complete solution to a conjecture on chromatic uniqueness of complete tripartite graphs. Discrete Math., 289, 175–179 (2004)], and Lau and Peng [Lau, G. C., Peng, Y. H.: Chromatic uniqueness of certain complete t-partite graphs. Ars Comb., 92, 353–376 (2009)] show that K(p − k, p − i, p) for i = 0, 1 are chromatically unique if p ≥ k + 2 ≥ 4. In this paper, we show that if 2 ≤ i ≤ 4, the complete tripartite graph K(p − k, p − i, p) is chromatically unique for integers k ≥ i and p ≥ k ²/4 + i + 1.     

The irredundant ramsey number s(3,3,3) = 13

Let G₁, G₂,. …, G_t be an arbitrary t-edge coloring of K_n, where for each i ∈ {1,2, …, t}, G_i is the spanning subgraph of K_n consisting of all edges colored with the ith color. The irredundant Ramsey number s(q₁, q₂, …, q_t) is defined as the smallest integer n such that for any t-edge coloring of K_n, _i has an irredundant set of size q_i for at least one i ∈ {1,2, …,t}. It is proved that s(3,3,3) = 13, a result that improves the known bounds 12 ≤ s(3,3,3) ≤ 14.     

On recognizability of some finite simple orthogonal groups by spectrum

It is proved that, if G is a finite group that has the same set of element orders as the simple group D _p (q), where p is prime, p ≥ 5 and q ∈ {2, 3, 5}, then the commutator group of G/F(G) is isomorphic to D _p (q), the subgroup F(G) is equal to 1 for q = 5 and to O _q (G) for q ∈ {2, 3}, F(G) ≤ G′, and |G/G′| ≤ 2.     

Ternary codes of steiner triple systems

The code over a finite field F^q of a design ?? is the space spanned by the incidence vectors of the blocks. It is shown here that if ?? is a Steiner triple system on v points, and if the integer d is such that 3^d ≤ v < 3^d+1, then the ternary code C of ?? contains a subcode that can be shortened to the ternary generalized Reed-Muller code ?_F3(2(d ? 1),d) of length 3^d. If v = 3^d and d ≥ 2, then C_? ? ?_F3(1,d)? ? _F3(2(d ? 1),d) ? C. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Edge‐face chromatic number and edge chromatic number of simple plane graphs

Given a simple plane graph G, an edge‐face k‐coloring of G is a function ? : E(G) ∪ F(G) → {1,…,k} such that, for any two adjacent or incident elements a, b ∈ E(G) ∪ F(G), ?(a) ≠ ?(b). Let χ_e(G), χ_ef(G), and Δ(G) denote the edge chromatic number, the edge‐face chromatic number, and the maximum degree of G, respectively. In this paper, we prove that χ_ef(G) = χ_e(G) = Δ(G) for any 2‐connected simple plane graph G with Δ (G) ≥ 24. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Spin invariants of multivectors

LetCl(p, q) be a real universal Clifford algebra which is isomorphic to a full matrix algebra ?(2m). In this paper we show that on the linear subspaceCl ^k(p, q) ofk-vectors the determinant can be written as a product of two polynomialsd _i of degreem and that on the subset ofdecomposable k-vectors we have det=±Q ^m for some quadratic formQ. The polynomialsd _i andQ are examples of a spin invariant, the latter being defined as a functionJ:Cl ^k (p,q) → ? for whichJ(sus^?1)=J(u) for allu ∈Cl ^k(p, q) ands ∈Spin(p, q). In the last section we identify the ‘fundamental’ spin invariants on the bivector spacesCl ²(p, p) forp=2 andp=3.     

Double cycle covers and the petersen graph

Let O(G) denote the set of odd-degree vertices of a graph G. Let t ? N and let ??_t denote the family of graphs G whose edge set has a partition. E(g) = E₁ U E₂ U … U E_tsuch that O(G) = O(G[E_i]) (1 ? i ? t). This partition is associated with a double cycle cover of G. We show that if a graph G is at most 5 edges short of being 4-edge-connected, then exactly one of these holds: G ? ??₃, G has at least one cut-edge, or G is contractible to the Petersen graph. We also improve a sufficient condition of Jaeger for G ? ??_2p+1(p ? N).     

Edge‐partitions of planar graphs and their game coloring numbers

Let G be a planar graph and let g(G) and Δ(G) be its girth and maximum degree, respectively. We show that G has an edge‐partition into a forest and a subgraph H so that (i) Δ(H) ≤ 4 if g(G) ≥ 5; (ii) Δ(H) ≤ 2 if g(G) ≥ 7; (iii) Δ(H)≤ 1 if g(G) ≥ 11; (iv) Δ(H) ≤ 7 if G does not contain 4‐cycles (though it may contain 3‐cycles). These results are applied to find the following upper bounds for the game coloring number col_g(G) of a planar graph G: (i) col_g(G) ≤ 8 if g(G) ≥ 5; (ii) col_g(G)≤ 6 if g(G) ≥ 7; (iii) col_g(G) ≤ 5 if g(G) ≥ 11; (iv) col_g(G) ≤ 11 if G does not contain 4‐cycles (though it may contain 3‐cycles). © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 41: 307–317, 2002     

Circular choosability of graphs

This paper discusses the circular version of list coloring of graphs. We give two definitions of the circular list chromatic number (or circular choosability) χ_{c, l}(G) of a graph G and prove that they are equivalent. Then we prove that for any graph G, χ_{c, l}(G) ≥ χ_l(G) ? 1. Examples are given to show that this bound is sharp in the sense that for any ? 0, there is a graph G with χ_{c, l}(G) > χ_l(G) ? 1 + ?. It is also proved that k‐degenerate graphs G have χ_{c, l}(G) ≤ 2k. This bound is also sharp: for each ? < 0, there is a k‐degenerate graph G with χ_{c, l}(G) ≥ 2k ? ?. This shows that χ_{c, l}(G) could be arbitrarily larger than χ_l(G). Finally we prove that if G has maximum degree k, then χ_{c, l}(G) ≤ k + 1. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 210–218, 2005     

New upper bounds for the chromatic number of a graph*

We show that for any graph G, the chromatic number χ(G) ≤ Δ₂(G) + 1, where Δ₂(G) is the largest degree that a vertex ν can have subject to the condition that ν is adjacent to a vertex whose degree is at least as big as its own. Moreover, we show that the upper bound is best possible in the the following sense: If Δ₂(G) ≥ 3, then to determine whether χ(G) ≤ Δ₂(G) is an NP‐complete problem. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 36: 117–120, 2001     

List‐coloring the square of a subcubic graph

The square G² of a graph G is the graph with the same vertex set G and with two vertices adjacent if their distance in G is at most 2. Thomassen showed that every planar graph G with maximum degree Δ(G) = 3 satisfies χ(G²) ≤ 7. Kostochka and Woodall conjectured that for every graph, the list‐chromatic number of G² equals the chromatic number of G², that is, χ_l(G²) = χ(G²) for all G. If true, this conjecture (together with Thomassen's result) implies that every planar graph G with Δ(G) = 3 satisfies χ_l(G²) ≤ 7. We prove that every connected graph (not necessarily planar) with Δ(G) = 3 other than the Petersen graph satisfies χ_l(G²) ≤8 (and this is best possible). In addition, we show that if G is a planar graph with Δ(G) = 3 and girth g(G) ≥ 7, then χ_l(G²) ≤ 7. Dvo?ák, ?krekovski, and Tancer showed that if G is a planar graph with Δ(G) = 3 and girth g(G) ≥ 10, then χ_l(G²) ≤6. We improve the girth bound to show that if G is a planar graph with Δ(G) = 3 and g(G) ≥ 9, then χ_l(G²) ≤ 6. All of our proofs can be easily translated into linear‐time coloring algorithms. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 57: 65–87, 2008     

Maximal σ‐polynomials of connected 3‐chromatic graphs

In the set of graphs of order n and chromatic number k the following partial order relation is defined. One says that a graph G is less than a graph H if c_i(G) ≤ c_i(H) holds for every i, k ≤ i ≤ n and at least one inequality is strict, where c_i(G) denotes the number of i‐color partitions of G. In this paper the first ? n/2 ? levels of the diagram of the partially ordered set of connected 3‐chromatic graphs of order n are described. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 210–222, 2003     

Independent cycles with limited size in a graph

Letk and s be two positive integers with s≥3. LetG be a graph of ordern ≥sk. Writen =qk + r, 0 ≤r ≤k - 1. Suppose thatG has minimum degree at least (s - l)k. Then G containsk independent cyclesC ₁,C ₂,...,C _k such thats ≤l(C _i ) ≤q for 1 ≤i ≤r arnds ≤l(C _i ) ≤q + 1 fork -r <i ≤k, where l(C_i) denotes the length ofC _i .     

Isomorphism criterion for monomial graphs

Let q be a prime power, ??_q be the field of q elements, and k, m be positive integers. A bipartite graph G = G_q(k, m) is defined as follows. The vertex set of G is a union of two copies P and L of two‐dimensional vector spaces over ??_q, with two vertices (p₁, p₂) ∈ P and [ l₁, l₂] ∈ L being adjacent if and only if p₂ + l₂ = pl. We prove that graphs G_q(k, m) and G_q′(k′, m′) are isomorphic if and only if q = q′ and {gcd (k, q ? 1), gcd (m, q ? 1)} = {gcd (k′, q ? 1),gcd (m′, q ? 1)} as multisets. The proof is based on counting the number of complete bipartite INFgraphs in the graphs. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 322–328, 2005