On the nullity of bicyclic graphs

The nullity of a graph is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in its spectrum. In this paper, we obtain the nullity set of bicyclic graphs of order n, and determine the bicyclic graphs with maximum nullity.     

Minimum rank problems

A graph describes the zero-nonzero pattern of a family of matrices, with the type of graph (undirected or directed, simple or allowing loops) determining what type of matrices (symmetric or not necessarily symmetric, diagonal entries free or constrained) are described by the graph. The minimum rank problem of the graph is to determine the minimum among the ranks of the matrices in this family; the determination of maximum nullity is equivalent. This problem has been solved for simple trees [P.M. Nylen, Minimum-rank matrices with prescribed graph, Linear Algebra Appl. 248 (1996) 303-316, C.R. Johnson, A. Leal Duarte, The maximum multiplicity of an eigenvalue in a matrix whose graph is a tree, Linear and Multilinear Algebra 46 (1999) 139-144], trees allowing loops [L.M. DeAlba, T.L. Hardy, I.R. Hentzel, L. Hogben, A. Wangsness. Minimum rank and maximum eigenvalue multiplicity of symmetric tree sign patterns, Linear Algebra Appl. 418 (2006) 389-415], and directed trees allowing loops [F. Barioli, S. Fallat, D. Hershkowitz, H.T. Hall, L. Hogben, H. van der Holst, B. Shader, On the minimum rank of not necessarily symmetric matrices: a preliminary study, Electron. J. Linear Algebra 18 (2000) 126-145]. We survey these results from a unified perspective and solve the minimum rank problem for simple directed trees.     

On the nullity of tricyclic graphs

The nullity of a graph G, denoted by η(G), is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in its spectrum. It is known that η(G)?n-2 if G is a simple graph on n vertices and G is not isomorphic to nK₁. The extremal graphs attaining the upper bound n-2 and the second upper bound n-3 have been obtained. In this paper, the graphs with nullity n-4 are characterized. Furthermore the tricyclic graphs with maximum nullity are discussed.     

On the nullity of graphs with pendant trees

The nullity of a graph is defined as the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in the spectrum of the adjacency matrix of the graph. We investigate a class of graphs with pendant trees, and express the nullity of such graph in terms of that of its subgraphs. As an application of our results, we characterize unicyclic graphs with a given nullity.     

Geometric aspects of 2-walk-regular graphs

A t-walk-regular graph is a graph for which the number of walks of given length between two vertices depends only on the distance between these two vertices, as long as this distance is at most t. Such graphs generalize distance-regular graphs and t-arc-transitive graphs. In this paper, we will focus on 1- and in particular 2-walk-regular graphs, and study analogues of certain results that are important for distance-regular graphs. We will generalize Delsarte?s clique bound to 1-walk-regular graphs, Godsil?s multiplicity bound and Terwilliger?s analysis of the local structure to 2-walk-regular graphs. We will show that 2-walk-regular graphs have a much richer combinatorial structure than 1-walk-regular graphs, for example by proving that there are finitely many non-geometric 2-walk-regular graphs with given smallest eigenvalue and given diameter (a geometric graph is the point graph of a special partial linear space); a result that is analogous to a result on distance-regular graphs. Such a result does not hold for 1-walk-regular graphs, as our construction methods will show.     

Preperfect graphs

We say that a vertexx of a graph is predominant if there exists another vertexy ofG such that either every maximum clique ofG containingy containsx or every maximum stable set containingx containsy. A graph is then called preperfect if every induced subgraph has a predominant vertex. We show that preperfect graphs are perfect, and that several well-known classes of perfect graphs are preperfect. We also derive a new characterization of perfect graphs.     

On the Laplacian spectral radii of bipartite graphs

The Laplacian spectral radius of a graph is the largest eigenvalue of the associated Laplacian matrix. In this paper, we provide structural and behavioral details of graphs with maximum Laplacian spectral radius among all bipartite connected graphs of given order and size. Using these results, we provide a unified approach to determine the graphs with maximum Laplacian spectral radii among all trees, and all bipartite unicyclic, bicyclic, tricyclic and quasi-tree graphs, respectively.     

Co-cliques and star complements in extremal strongly regular graphs

Suppose that the positive integer μ is the eigenvalue of largest multiplicity in an extremal strongly regular graph G. By interlacing, the independence number of G is at most 4μ² + 4μ − 2. Star complements are used to show that if this bound is attained then either (a) μ = 1 and G is the Schläfli graph or (b) μ = 2 and G is the McLaughlin graph.     

The maximum genus of a 3-regular simplicial graph

In this paper, the relationship between non-separating independent number and the maximum genus of a 3-regular simplicial graph is presented. A lower bound on the maximumgenus of a 3-regular graph invalving girth is provided. The lower bound is tight, it improves a bound of Huang and Liu.     

Star complements and exceptional graphs

Let G be a finite graph of order n with an eigenvalue μ of multiplicity k. (Thus the μ-eigenspace of a (0,1)-adjacency matrix of G has dimension k.) A star complement for μ in G is an induced subgraph G-X of G such that |X|=k and G-X does not have μ as an eigenvalue. An exceptional graph is a connected graph, other than a generalized line graph, whose eigenvalues lie in [-2,∞). We establish some properties of star complements, and of eigenvectors, of exceptional graphs with least eigenvalue −2.     

An adjacency lemma for critical multigraphs

In edge colouring it is often useful to have information about the degree distribution of the neighbours of a given vertex. For example, the well-known Vizing's Adjacency Lemma provides a useful lower bound on the number of vertices of maximum degree adjacent to a given one in a critical graph. We consider an extension of this problem, where we seek information on vertices at distance two from a given vertex in a critical graph. We extend and, simultaneously, generalize to multigraphs two results proved, respectively, by Zhang [Every planar graph with maximum degree seven is Class 1, Graphs Combin. 16 (2000) 467-495] and Sanders and Zhao [Planar graphs of maximum degree seven are Class 1, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 83 (2001) 201-212].     

Bicyclic graphs for which the least eigenvalue is minimum

The spread of a graph is defined to be the difference between the greatest eigenvalue and the least eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the graph. In this paper we determine the unique graph with minimum least eigenvalue among all connected bicyclic graphs of order n. Also, we determine the unique graph with maximum spread in this class for each n?28.     

Tutte sets in graphs II: The complexity of finding maximum Tutte sets

A well-known formula of Tutte and Berge expresses the size of a maximum matching in a graph G in terms of what is usually called the deficiency. A subset X of V(G) for which this deficiency is attained is called a Tutte set of G. While much is known about maximum matchings, less is known about the structure of Tutte sets. We explored the structural aspects of Tutte sets in another paper. Here, we consider the algorithmic complexity of finding Tutte sets in a graph. We first give two polynomial algorithms for finding a maximal Tutte set. We then consider the complexity of finding a maximum Tutte set, and show it is NP-hard for general graphs, as well as for several interesting restricted classes such as planar graphs. By contrast, we show we can find maximum Tutte sets in polynomial time for graphs of level 0 or 1, elementary graphs, and 1-tough graphs.     

The inertia of unicyclic graphs and the implications for closed-shells

The inertia of a graph is an integer triple specifying the number of negative, zero, and positive eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of the graph. A unicyclic graph is a simple connected graph with an equal number of vertices and edges. This paper characterizes the inertia of a unicyclic graph in terms of maximum matchings and gives a linear-time algorithm for computing it. Chemists are interested in whether the molecular graph of an unsaturated hydrocarbon is (properly) closed-shell, having exactly half of its eigenvalues greater than zero, because this designates a stable electron configuration. The inertia determines whether a graph is closed-shell, and hence the reported result gives a linear-time algorithm for determining this for unicyclic graphs.     

Greedy maximum-clique decompositions

A greedy clique decomposition of a graph is obtained by removing maximal cliques from a graph one by one until the graph is empty. We have recently shown that any greedy clique decomposition of a graph of ordern has at mostn ²/4 cliques. A greedy max-clique decomposition is a particular kind cf greedy clique decomposition where maximum cliques are removed, instead of just maximal ones. In this paper, we show that any greedy max-clique decompositionC of a graph of ordern has, wheren(C) is the number of vertices inC.     

A New Lower Bound For A Ramsey-Type Problem

Let 3 ≤ r < s be fixed integers and let G be a graph on n vertices not containing a complete graph on s vertices. The main aim of this paper is to provide a new lower bound on the size of the maximum subset of G without a copy of complete graph K_r. Our results substantially improve previous bounds of Krivelevich and Bollobás and Hind. * Research supported in part by NSF grants DMS-0106589, CCR-9987845 and by the State of New Jersey. Part of this research was done while visiting Microsoft Research.     

On the spectral radii and the signless Laplacian spectral radii of c-cyclic graphs with fixed maximum degree

If G is a connected undirected simple graph on n vertices and n+c-1 edges, then G is called a c-cyclic graph. Specially, G is called a tricyclic graph if c=3. Let Δ(G) be the maximum degree of G. In this paper, we determine the structural characterizations of the c-cyclic graphs, which have the maximum spectral radii (resp. signless Laplacian spectral radii) in the class of c-cyclic graphs on n vertices with fixed maximum degree . Moreover, we prove that the spectral radius of a tricyclic graph G strictly increases with its maximum degree when , and identify the first six largest spectral radii and the corresponding graphs in the class of tricyclic graphs on n vertices.     

Optimal clustering of multipartite graphs

Given a graph G=(X,U), the problem dealt within this paper consists in partitioning X into a disjoint union of cliques by adding or removing a minimum number z(G) of edges (Zahn's problem). While the computation of z(G) is NP-hard in general, we show that its computation can be done in polynomial time when G is bipartite, by relating it to a maximum matching problem. When G is a complete multipartite graph, we give an explicit formula specifying z(G) with respect to some structural features of G. In both cases, we give also the structure of all the optimal clusterings of G.     

On eigenvalue multiplicity and the girth of a graph

Suppose that G is a connected graph of order n and girth g<n. Let k be the multiplicity of an eigenvalue μ of G. Sharp upper bounds for k are n-g+2 when μ∈{-1,0}, and n-g otherwise. The graphs attaining these bounds are described.     

The skew energy of a digraph

We are interested in the energy of the skew-adjacency matrix of a directed graph D, which is simply called the skew energy of D in this paper. Properties of the skew energy of D are studied. In particular, a sharp upper bound for the skew energy of D is derived in terms of the order of D and the maximum degree of its underlying undirected graph. An infinite family of digraphs attaining the maximum skew energy is constructed. Moreover, the skew energy of a directed tree is independent of its orientation, and interestingly it is equal to the energy of the underlying undirected tree. Skew energies of directed cycles under different orientations are also computed. Some open problems are presented.