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 $G$.     

Trees with Equal Domination and Restrained Domination Numbers

Let G = (V,E) be a graph and let S V. The set S is a packing in G if the vertices of S are pairwise at distance at least three apart in G. The set S is a dominating set (DS) if every vertex in V − S is adjacent to a vertex in S. Further, if every vertex in V − S is also adjacent to a vertex in V − S, then S is a restrained dominating set (RDS). The domination number of G, denoted by γ(G), is the minimum cardinality of a DS of G, while the restrained domination number of G, denoted by γ_r(G), is the minimum cardinality of a RDS of G. The graph G is γ-excellent if every vertex of G belongs to some minimum DS of G. A constructive characterization of trees with equal domination and restrained domination numbers is presented. As a consequence of this characterization we show that the following statements are equivalent: (i) T is a tree with γ(T)=γ_r(T); (ii) T is a γ-excellent tree and T ≠ K₂; and (iii) T is a tree that has a unique maximum packing and this set is a dominating set of T. We show that if T is a tree of order n with ℓ leaves, then γ_r(T) ≤ (n + ℓ + 1)/2, and we characterize those trees achieving equality.     

Connecting colored point sets

We study the following Ramsey-type problem. Let S=B∪R be a two-colored set of n points in the plane. We show how to construct, in time, a crossing-free spanning tree T(B) for B, and a crossing-free spanning tree T(R) for R, such that both the number of crossings between T(B) and T(R) and the diameters of T(B) and T(R) are kept small. The algorithm is conceptually simple and is implementable without using any non-trivial data structure. This improves over a previous method in Tokunaga [Intersection number of two connected geometric graphs, Inform. Process. Lett. 59 (1996) 331-333] that is less efficient in implementation and does not guarantee a diameter bound. Implicit to our approach is a new proof for the result in the reference above on the minimum number of crossings between T(B) and T(R).     

Approximation algorithms for constrained generalized tree alignment problem

In generalized tree alignment problem, we are given a set S of k biologically related sequences and we are interested in a minimum cost evolutionary tree for S. In many instances of this problem partial phylogenetic tree for S is known. In such instances, we would like to make use of this knowledge to restrict the tree topologies that we consider and construct a biologically relevant minimum cost evolutionary tree. So, we propose the following natural generalization of the generalized tree alignment problem, a problem known to be MAX-SNP Hard, stated as follows:

Constrained Generalized Tree Alignment Problem [S. Divakaran, Algorithms and heuristics for constrained generalized alignment problem, DIMACS Technical Report 2007-21, 2007]: Given a set S of k related sequences and a phylogenetic forest comprising of node-disjoint phylogenetic trees that specify the topological constraints that an evolutionary tree of S needs to satisfy, construct a minimum cost evolutionary tree for S.

In this paper, we present constant approximation algorithms for the constrained generalized tree alignment problem. For the generalized tree alignment problem, a special case of this problem, our algorithms provide a guaranteed error bound of 2−2/k.     

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.     

Graded Brauer tree algebras

In this paper we construct non-negative gradings on a basic Brauer tree algebra A_Γ corresponding to an arbitrary Brauer tree Γ of type (m,e). We do this by transferring gradings via derived equivalence from a basic Brauer tree algebra A_S, whose tree is a star with the exceptional vertex in the middle, to A_Γ. The grading on A_S comes from the tight grading given by the radical filtration. To transfer gradings via derived equivalence we use tilting complexes constructed by taking Green’s walk around Γ (cf. Schaps and Zakay-Illouz (2001) [17]). By computing endomorphism rings of these tilting complexes we get graded algebras.We also compute , the group of outer automorphisms that fix the isomorphism classes of simple A_Γ-modules, where Γ is an arbitrary Brauer tree, and we prove that there is unique grading on A_Γ up to graded Morita equivalence and rescaling.     

Degree-bounded minimum spanning trees

Given n points in the Euclidean plane, the degree-δ minimum spanning tree (MST) problem asks for a spanning tree of minimum weight in which the degree of each vertex is at most δ. The problem is NP-hard for 2≤δ≤3, while the NP-hardness of the problem is open for δ=4. The problem is polynomial-time solvable when δ=5. By presenting an improved approximation analysis for Chan’s degree-4 MST algorithm [T. Chan, Euclidean bounded-degree spanning tree ratios, Discrete & Computational Geometry 32 (2004) 177-194], we show that, for any arbitrary collection of points in the Euclidean plane, there always exists a degree-4 spanning tree of weight at most times the weight of an MST.     

On the T∘-slices of a finite group

A slice $(G,S)$ of finite groups is a pair consisting of a finite group G and a subgroup S of G. In this paper, we show that some properties of finite groups extend to slices of finite groups. In particular, by analogy with B-groups, we introduce the notion of $T^{°}$-slice, and show that any slice of finite groups admits a largest quotient $T^{°}$-slice.     

Monochromatic tree covers and Ramsey numbers for set-coloured graphs

We consider a generalisation of the classical Ramsey theory setting to a setting where each of the edges of the underlying host graph is coloured with a set of colours (instead of just one colour). We give bounds for monochromatic tree covers in this setting, both for an underlying complete graph, and an underlying complete bipartite graph. We also discuss a generalisation of Ramsey numbers to our setting and propose some other new directions.Our results for tree covers in complete graphs imply that a stronger version of Ryser’s conjecture holds for $k$-intersecting $r$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraphs: they have a transversal of size at most $r?k$. (Similar results have been obtained by Király et al., see below.) However, we also show that the bound $r?k$ is not best possible in general.     

Joining caterpillars and stability of the tree center

The path-tableP(T) of a tree T collects information regarding the paths in T: for each vertex v, the row of P(T) relative to v lists the number of paths containing v of the various lengths. We call this row the path-row of v in T.Two trees having the same path-table (up to reordering the rows) are called path-congruent (or path-isomorphic).Motivated by Kelly-Ulam's Reconstruction Conjecture and its variants, we have looked for new necessary and sufficient conditions for isomorphisms between two trees.Path-congruent trees need not be isomorphic, although they are similar in some respects. In [P. Dulio, V. Pannone, Trees with path-stable center, Ars Combinatoria, LXXX (2006) 153-175] we have introduced the concepts of trunkTr(T) of a tree T and ramification of a vertex v∈V(Tr(T)), and proved that, if the ramification of the central vertices attains its minimum or maximum value, then the path-row of a central vertex is “unique”, i.e. it is different from the path-row of any non-central vertex (in fact, this uniqueness property of a central path-row holds for all trees of diameter less than 8, regardless of the ramification values).In this paper we prove that, for all other values of the ramification, and for all diameters greater than 7, there are trees in which the above uniqueness fails.