Path factors of bipartite graphs

A path on n vertices is denoted by P_n. For any graph H, the number of isolated vertices of H is denoted by i(H). Let G be a graph. A spanning subgraph F of G is called a {P₃, P₄, P₅}-factor of G if every component of F is one of P₃, P₄, and P₅. In this paper, we prove that a bipartite graph G has a {P₃, P₄, P₅}-factor if and only if i(G ? S ? M) ≦ 2|S| + |M| for all S ? V(G) and independent M ? E(G).     

Path factors in cubic graphs

Let ? be a set of connected graphs. An ?‐factor of a graph is its spanning subgraph such that each component is isomorphic to one of the members in ?. Let P_k denote the path of order k. Akiyama and Kano have conjectured that every 3‐connected cubic graph of order divisible by 3 has a {P₃}‐factor. Recently, Kaneko gave a necessary and sufficient condition for a graph to have a {P₃, P₄, P₅}‐factor. As a corollary, he proved that every cubic graph has a {P₃, P₄, P₅}‐factor. In this paper, we prove that every 2‐connected cubic graph of order at least six has a {P_k ∣ k ≥ , 6}‐factor, and hence has a {P₃, P₄}‐factor. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 39: 188–193, 2002; DOI 10.1002/jgt.10022     

Hamiltonicity and forbidden subgraphs in 4‐connected graphs

Let T be the line graph of the unique tree F on 8 vertices with degree sequence (3,3,3,1,1,1,1,1), i.e., T is a chain of three triangles. We show that every 4‐connected {T, K_1,3}‐free graph has a hamiltonian cycle. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 262–272, 2005     

Inverse Sturm–Liouville spectral problem on symmetric star‐tree

A spectral problem for the Sturm–Liouville equation on the edges of an equilateral regular star‐tree with the Dirichlet boundary conditions at the pendant vertices and Kirchhoff and continuity conditions at the interior vertices is considered. The potential in the Sturm–Liouville equation is a real–valued square summable function, symmetrically distributed with respect to the middle point of any edge. If {λ_j}is a sequence of real numbers, necessary and sufficient conditions for {λ_j}to be the spectrum of the problem under consideration are established. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Absorbing Angles,Steiner Minimal Trees,and Antipodality

We give a new proof that a star {op _i :i=1,…,k} in a normed plane is a Steiner minimal tree of vertices {o,p ₁,…,p _k } if and only if all angles formed by the edges at o are absorbing (Swanepoel in Networks 36: 104–113, 2000). The proof is simpler and yet more conceptual than the original one. We also find a new sufficient condition for higher-dimensional normed spaces to share this characterization. In particular, a star {op _i :i=1,…,k} in any CL-space is a Steiner minimal tree of vertices {o,p ₁,…,p _k } if and only if all angles are absorbing, which in turn holds if and only if all distances between the normalizations \frac1||p_i||p_i\frac{1}{\Vert p_{i}\Vert}p_{i} equal 2. CL-spaces include the mixed ℓ ₁ and ℓ _∞ sum of finitely many copies of ℝ.     

Polar Graphs and Corresponding Involution Sets, Loops and Steiner Triple Systems

A 1-factorization (or parallelism) of the complete graph with loops is called polar if each 1-factor (parallel class) contains exactly one loop and for any three distinct vertices x₁, x₂, x₃, if {x₁} and {x₂, x₃} belong to a 1-factor then the same holds for any permutation of the set {1, 2, 3}. To a polar graph there corresponds a polar involution set , an idempotent totally symmetric quasigroup (P, *), a commutative, weak inverse property loop (P, + ) of exponent 3 and a Steiner triple system . We have: satisfies the trapezium axiom is self-distributive ⇔ (P, + ) is a Moufang loop is an affine triple system; and: satisfies the quadrangle axiom is a group is an affine space.     

On Light Graphs in 3-Connected Plane Graphs Without Triangular or Quadrangular Faces

 We prove that each 3-connected plane graph G without triangular or quadrangular faces either contains a k-path P _k , a path on k vertices, such that each of its k vertices has degree ≤5/3k in G or does not contain any k-path. We also prove that each 3-connected pentagonal plane graph G which has a k-cycle, a cycle on k vertices, k∈ {5,8,11,14}, contains a k-cycle such that all its vertices have, in G, bounded degrees. Moreover, for all integers k and m, k≥ 3, k∉ {5,8,11,14} and m≥ 3, we present a graph in which every k-cycle contains a vertex of degree at least m. Received: June 29, 1998 Final version received: April 11, 2000     

Embedding Planar Graphs at Fixed Vertex Locations

 Let G be a planar graph of n vertices, v ₁,…,v _n , and let {p ₁,…,p _n } be a set of n points in the plane. We present an algorithm for constructing in O(n ²) time a planar embedding of G, where vertex v _i is represented by point p _i and each edge is represented by a polygonal curve with O(n) bends (internal vertices). This bound is asymptotically optimal in the worst case. In fact, if G is a planar graph containing at least m pairwise independent edges and the vertices of G are randomly assigned to points in convex position, then, almost surely, every planar embedding of G mapping vertices to their assigned points and edges to polygonal curves has at least m/20 edges represented by curves with at least m/40³ bends. Received: May 24, 1999 Final version received: April 10, 2000     

Constructing a spanning tree with many leaves

It was shown by Griggs and Wu that a graph of minimal degree 4 on n vertices has a spanning tree with at least \frac25 \frac{2}{5} n leaves, which is asymptomatically the best possible bound for this class of graphs. In this paper, we present a polynomial time algorithm that finds in any graph with k vertices of degree greater than or equal to 4 and k′ vertices of degree 3 a spanning tree with [ \frac25 ·k + \frac215 ·k￠ ] \left[ {\frac{2}{5} \cdot k + \frac{2}{{15}} \cdot k'} \right] leaves.     

Determination of All Coherent Pairs

A pair of quasi-definite linear functionals {u₀, u₁} on the set of polynomials is called a coherent pair if their corresponding sequences of monic orthogonal polynomials {P_n} and {T_n} satisfy a relationwithσ_nnon-zero constants. We prove that if {u₀, u₁} is a coherent pair, then at least one of the functionals has to be classical, i.e. Hermite, Laguerre, Jacobi, or Bessel. A similar result is derived for symmetrically coherent pairs.     

{k,r – k}-Factors of r-Regular Graphs

For a set \({\mathcal{S}}\) of positive integers, a spanning subgraph F of a graph G is called an \({\mathcal{S}}\) -factor of G if \({\deg_F(x) \in \mathcal{S}}\) for all vertices x of G, where deg _F (x) denotes the degree of x in F. We prove the following theorem on {a, b}-factors of regular graphs. Let r ≥ 5 be an odd integer and k be either an even integer such that 2 ≤ k < r/2 or an odd integer such that r/3 ≤ k < r/2. Then every r-regular graph G has a {k, r–k}-factor. Moreover, for every edge e of G, G has a {k, r–k}-factor containing e and another {k, r–k}-factor avoiding e.     

Some results on odd factors of graphs

A {1, 3, …,2n ? 1}-factor of a graph G is defined to be a spanning subgraph of G, each degree of whose vertices is one of {1, 3, …, 2n ? 1}, where n is a positive integer. In this paper, we give a sufficient condition for a graph to have a {1, 3, …, 2n ? 1}-factor.     

On the existence of rainbows in 1-factorizations of K2n

A 1-factor of a graph G = (V, E) is a collection of disjoint edges which contain all the vertices of V. Given a 2n - 1 edge coloring of K_2n, n ≥ 3, we prove there exists a 1-factor of K_2n whose edges have distinct colors. Such a 1-factor is called a “Rainbow.” © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 6:1–20, 1998     

Unlabeled trees: Distribution of the maximum degree

Pick a tree uniformly at random from among all unlabeled trees on n vertices, and let X_n be the maximum of the degrees of its vertices. For any fixed integer d, as n→∞, where μ_n = c₁ log n, where {μ_n} : = μ_n – ?μ? denotes the fractional part of μ_n and where c_o, c₁, and η_∞ are knnown constants, givenb approximately by c₀ = 3.262 …, c₁ = 0.9227 …, and η_∞ = 0.3383…. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Optimal labelling of a product of two paths

If G is a graph with p vertices and at least one edge, we set φ (G) = m n max |f(u) ? f(v)|, where the maximum is taken over all edges uv and the minimum over all one-to-one mappings f : V(G) → {1, 2, …, p}: V(G) denotes the set of vertices of G.P_n will denote a path of length n whose vertices are integers 1, 2, …, n with i adjacent to j if and only if |i ? j| = 1. P_m × P_n will denote a graph whose vertices are elements of {1, 2, …, m} × {1, 2, …, n} and in which (i, j), (r, s) are adjacent whenever either i = r and |j ? s| = 1 or j = s and |i ? r| = 1.Theorem.If max(m, n) ? 2, thenφ(P_m × P_n) = min(m, n).     

Connectivity properties of locally semicomplete digraphs

It is shown that every k-connected locally semicomplete digraph D with minimum outdegree at least 2k and minimum indegree at least 2k ? 2 has at least m = max{2, k} vertices x₁, x₂, ?, x_m such that D ? x_i is k-connected for i = 1, 2, ?, m.     

On factors with all degrees odd

A {1,3,...,2n−1}-factor of a graphG is defined to be a spanning subgraph ofG each degree of whose vertices is one of {1,3,...,2n−1}, wheren is a positive integer. In this paper, we give criterions for the existence of a {1,3,...,2n−1}-factor in a tree and in a graph.     

Decomposing <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-ARc-Strong Tournaments Into Strong Spanning Subdigraphs

  The so-called Kelly conjecture states that every regular tournament on 2k+1 vertices has a decomposition into k-arc-disjoint hamiltonian cycles. In this paper we formulate a generalization of that conjecture, namely we conjecture that every k-arc-strong tournament contains k arc-disjoint spanning strong subdigraphs. We prove several results which support the conjecture:If D = (V, A) is a 2-arc-strong semicomplete digraph then it contains 2 arc-disjoint spanning strong subdigraphs except for one digraph on 4 vertices.Every tournament which has a non-trivial cut (both sides containing at least 2 vertices) with precisely k arcs in one direction contains k arc-disjoint spanning strong subdigraphs. In fact this result holds even for semicomplete digraphs with one exception on 4 vertices.Every k-arc-strong tournament with minimum in- and out-degree at least 37k contains k arc-disjoint spanning subdigraphs H ₁, H ₂, . . . , H _k such that each H _i is strongly connected.The last result implies that if T is a 74k-arc-strong tournament with speci.ed not necessarily distinct vertices u ₁, u ₂, . . . , u _k , v ₁, v ₂, . . . , v _k then T contains 2k arc-disjoint branchings where is an in-branching rooted at the vertex u _i and is an out-branching rooted at the vertex v _i , i=1,2, . . . , k. This solves a conjecture of Bang-Jensen and Gutin [3].We also discuss related problems and conjectures.

Spectra of generalized Bethe trees attached to a path

A generalized Bethe tree is a rooted tree in which vertices at the same distance from the root have the same degree. Let P_m be a path of m vertices. Let {B_i:1?i?m} be a set of generalized Bethe trees. Let P_m{B_i:1?i?m} be the tree obtained from P_m and the trees B₁,B₂,…,B_m by identifying the root vertex of B_i with the i-th vertex of P_m. We give a complete characterization of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian and adjacency matrices of P_m{B_i:1?i?m}. In particular, we characterize their spectral radii and the algebraic conectivity. Moreover, we derive results concerning their multiplicities. Finally, we apply the results to the case B₁=B₂=…=B_m.     

Maximizing the distance between center,centroid and characteristic set of a tree

Consider a tree P_n-g,g , n≥ 2, 1≤ g≤ n-1 on n vertices which is obtained from a path on [1,2,?…?,n-g] vertices by adding g pendant vertices to the pendant vertex n-g. We prove that over all trees on n?≥?5 vertices, the distance between center and characteristic set, centroid and characteristic set, and center and centroid is maximized by trees of the form P_n-g,g , 2?≤?g?≤?n-3. For n≥ 5, we also supply the precise location of the characteristic set of the tree P_n-g,g , 2?≤?g?≤?n-3.