Induced path transit function, monotone and Peano axioms

The induced path transit function J(u,v) in a graph consists of the set of all vertices lying on any induced path between the vertices u and v. A transit function J satisfies monotone axiom if x,y∈J(u,v) implies J(x,y)⊆J(u,v). A transit function J is said to satisfy the Peano axiom if, for any u,v,w∈V,x∈J(v,w), y∈J(u,x), there is a z∈J(u,v) such that y∈J(w,z). These two axioms are equivalent for the induced path transit function of a graph. Planar graphs for which the induced path transit function satisfies the monotone axiom are characterized by forbidden induced subgraphs.     

The induced path function, monotonicity and betweenness

The geodesic interval function I of a connected graph allows an axiomatic characterization involving axioms on the function only, without any reference to distance, as was shown by Nebeský [20]. Surprisingly, Nebeský [23] showed that, if no further restrictions are imposed, the induced path function J of a connected graph G does not allow such an axiomatic characterization. Here J(u,v) consists of the set of vertices lying on the induced paths between u and v. This function is a special instance of a transit function. In this paper we address the question what kind of restrictions could be imposed to obtain axiomatic characterizations of J. The function J satisfies betweenness if w∈J(u,v), with w≠u, implies u∉J(w,v) and x∈J(u,v) implies J(u,x)⊆J(u,v). It is monotone if x,y∈J(u,v) implies J(x,y)⊆J(u,v). In the case where we restrict ourselves to functions J that satisfy betweenness, or monotonicity, we are able to provide such axiomatic characterizations of J by transit axioms only. The graphs involved can all be characterized by forbidden subgraphs.     

A characterization of block graphs

A block graph is a graph whose blocks are cliques. For each edge e=uv of a graph G, let N_e(u) denote the set of all vertices in G which are closer to u than v. In this paper we prove that a graph G is a block graph if and only if it satisfies two conditions: (a) The shortest path between any two vertices of G is unique; and (b) For each edge e=uv∈E(G), if x∈N_e(u) and y∈N_e(v), then, and only then, the shortest path between x and y contains the edge e. This confirms a conjecture of Dobrynin and Gutman [A.A. Dobrynin, I. Gutman, On a graph invariant related to the sum of all distances in a graph, Publ. Inst. Math., Beograd. 56 (1994) 18-22].     

Distance-hereditary graphs and signpost systems

An ordered pair (U,R) is called a signpost system if U is a finite nonempty set, R⊆U×U×U, and the following axioms hold for all u,v,w∈U: (1) if (u,v,w)∈R, then (v,u,u)∈R; (2) if (u,v,w)∈R, then (v,u,w)∉R; (3) if u≠v, then there exists t∈U such that (u,t,v)∈R. (If F is a (finite) connected graph with vertex set U and distance function d, then U together with the set of all ordered triples (u,v,w) of vertices in F such that d(u,v)=1 and d(v,w)=d(u,w)−1 is an example of a signpost system). If (U,R) is a signpost system and G is a graph, then G is called the underlying graph of (U,R) if V(G)=U and xy∈E(G) if and only if (x,y,y)∈R (for all x,y∈U). It is possible to say that a signpost system shows a way how to travel in its underlying graph. The following result is proved: Let (U,R) be a signpost system and let G denote the underlying graph of (U,R). Then G is connected and every induced path in G is a geodesic in G if and only if (U,R) satisfies axioms (4)-(8) stated in this paper; note that axioms (4)-(8)-similarly as axioms (1)-(3)-can be formulated in the language of the first-order logic.     

A study of 3-arc graphs

An arc of a graph is an oriented edge and a 3-arc is a 4-tuple (v,u,x,y) of vertices such that both (v,u,x) and (u,x,y) are paths of length two. The 3-arc graph of a graph G is defined to have the arcs of G as vertices such that two arcs uv,xy are adjacent if and only if (v,u,x,y) is a 3-arc of G. In this paper, we study the independence, domination and chromatic numbers of 3-arc graphs and obtain sharp lower and upper bounds for them. We introduce a new notion of arc-coloring of a graph in studying vertex-colorings of 3-arc graphs.     

Kernels and some operations in edge-coloured digraphs

Let D be an edge-coloured digraph, V(D) will denote the set of vertices of D; a set N⊆V(D) is said to be a kernel by monochromatic paths of D if it satisfies the following two conditions: For every pair of different vertices u,v∈N there is no monochromatic directed path between them and; for every vertex x∈V(D)−N there is a vertex y∈N such that there is an xy-monochromatic directed path.In this paper we consider some operations on edge-coloured digraphs, and some sufficient conditions for the existence or uniqueness of kernels by monochromatic paths of edge-coloured digraphs formed by these operations from another edge-coloured digraphs.     

Geodesic-pancyclic graphs

A shortest path connecting two vertices u and v is called a u-v geodesic. The distance between u and v in a graph G, denoted by d_G(u,v), is the number of edges in a u-v geodesic. A graph G with n vertices is panconnected if, for each pair of vertices u,v∈V(G) and for each integer k with d_G(u,v)?k?n-1, there is a path of length k in G that connects u and v. A graph G with n vertices is geodesic-pancyclic if, for each pair of vertices u,v∈V(G), every u-v geodesic lies on every cycle of length k satisfying max{2d_G(u,v),3}?k?n. In this paper, we study sufficient conditions of geodesic-pancyclic graphs. In particular, we show that most of the known sufficient conditions of panconnected graphs can be applied to geodesic-pancyclic graphs.     

Diameter and connectivity of 3-arc graphs

An arc of a graph is an oriented edge and a 3-arc is a 4-tuple (v,u,x,y) of vertices such that both (v,u,x) and (u,x,y) are paths of length two. The 3-arc graph of a given graph G, X(G), is defined to have vertices the arcs of G. Two arcs uv,xy are adjacent in X(G) if and only if (v,u,x,y) is a 3-arc of G. This notion was introduced in recent studies of arc-transitive graphs. In this paper we study diameter and connectivity of 3-arc graphs. In particular, we obtain sharp bounds for the diameter and connectivity of X(G) in terms of the corresponding invariant of G.     

Hamiltonicity of 3-Arc Graphs

An arc of a graph is an oriented edge and a 3-arc is a 4-tuple (v, u, x, y) of vertices such that both (v, u, x) and (u, x, y) are paths of length two. The 3-arc graph of a graph G is defined to have vertices the arcs of G such that two arcs uv, xy are adjacent if and only if (v, u, x, y) is a 3-arc of G. We prove that any connected 3-arc graph is hamiltonian, and all iterative 3-arc graphs of any connected graph of minimum degree at least three are hamiltonian. As a corollary we obtain that any vertex-transitive graph which is isomorphic to the 3-arc graph of a connected arc-transitive graph of degree at least three must be hamiltonian. This confirms the conjecture, for this family of vertex-transitive graphs, that all vertex-transitive graphs with finitely many exceptions are hamiltonian. We also prove that if a graph with at least four vertices is Hamilton-connected, then so are its iterative 3-arc graphs.     

Subpancyclicity of line graphs and degree sums along paths

A graph is called subpancyclic if it contains a cycle of length ? for each ? between 3 and the circumference of the graph. We show that if G is a connected graph on n?146 vertices such that d(u)+d(v)+d(x)+d(y)>(n+10/2) for all four vertices u,v,x,y of any path P=uvxy in G, then the line graph L(G) is subpancyclic, unless G is isomorphic to an exceptional graph. Moreover, we show that this result is best possible, even under the assumption that L(G) is hamiltonian. This improves earlier sufficient conditions by a multiplicative factor rather than an additive constant.     

Bounding the diameter of a distance-transitive graph

A graph Γ is distance-transitive if for all vertices u, v, x, y such that d(u, v) = d(x, y) there is an automorphism h of Γ such that uh = x, vh = y. We show how to find a bound for the diameter of a bipartite distance-transitive graph given a bound for the order |G_α| of the stabilizer of a vertex.     

Constructions for overlarge sets of disjoint pure directed triple systems

Let X be a v-set, v≥3. A transitive triple (x,y,z) on X is a set of three ordered pairs (x,y),(y,z) and (x,z) of X. A directed triple system of order v, denoted by DTS(v), is a pair (X,?), where X is a v-set and ? is a collection of transitive triples on X such that every ordered pair of X belongs to exactly one triple of ?. A DTS(v) is called pure and denoted by PDTS(v) if (x,y,z)∈? implies (z,y,x)??. An overlarge set of disjoint PDTS(v) is denoted by OLPDTS(v). In this paper, we establish some recursive constructions for OLPDTS(v), so we obtain some results.     

Boundary regularity for viscosity solutions to degenerate elliptic PDEs

Sufficient conditions are given for the solutions to the (fully nonlinear, degenerate) elliptic equation F(x,u,Du,D²u)=0 in Ω to satisfy |u(x)−u(y)|?Cα|x−y| for some α∈(0,1) when x∈Ω and y∈∂Ω.     

A note on the weakly convex and convex domination numbers of a torus

The distanced_G(u,v) between two vertices u and v in a connected graph G is the length of the shortest (u,v) path in G. A (u,v) path of length d_G(u,v) is called a (u,v)-geodesic. A set X⊆V is called weakly convex in G if for every two vertices a,b∈X, exists an (a,b)-geodesic, all of whose vertices belong to X. A set X is convex in G if for all a,b∈X all vertices from every (a,b)-geodesic belong to X. The weakly convex domination number of a graph G is the minimum cardinality of a weakly convex dominating set of G, while the convex domination number of a graph G is the minimum cardinality of a convex dominating set of G. In this paper we consider weakly convex and convex domination numbers of tori.     

Triangle path transit functions, betweenness and pseudo-modular graphs

The geodesic and induced path transit functions are the two well-studied interval functions in graphs. Two important transit functions related to the geodesic and induced path functions are the triangle path transit functions which consist of all vertices on all u,v-shortest (induced) paths or all vertices adjacent to two adjacent vertices on all u,v-shortest (induced) paths, for any two vertices u and v in a connected graph G. In this paper we study the two triangle path transit functions, namely the I^Δ and J^Δ on G. We discuss the betweenness axioms, for both triangle path transit functions. Also we present a characterization of pseudo-modular graphs using the transit function I^Δ by forbidden subgraphs.     

On dynamic programming equations for utility indifference pricing under delta constraints

In this paper we study the problem of utility indifference pricing in a constrained financial market, using a utility function defined over the positive real line. We present a convex risk measure −v(•:y) satisfying q(x,F)=x+v(F:u₀(x)), where u₀(x) is the maximal expected utility of a small investor with the initial wealth x, and q(x,F) is a utility indifference buy price for a European contingent claim with a discounted payoff F. We provide a dynamic programming equation associated with the risk measure (−v), and characterize v as a viscosity solution of this equation.     

Vertex pancyclicity in quasi-claw-free graphs

A graph G is called quasi-claw-free if for any two vertices x and y with distance two there exists a vertex u∈N(x)∩N(y) such that N[u]⊆N[x]∪N[y]. This concept is a natural extension of the classical claw-free graphs. In this paper, we present two sufficient conditions for vertex pancyclicity in quasi-claw-free graphs, namely, quasilocally connected and almost locally connected graphs. Our results include some well-known results on claw-free graphs as special cases. We also give an affirmative answer to a problem proposed by Ainouche.     

Hamiltonian paths with prescribed edges in hypercubes

Given a set P of at most 2n-4 prescribed edges (n?5) and vertices u and v whose mutual distance is odd, the n-dimensional hypercube Q_n contains a hamiltonian path between u and v passing through all edges of P iff the subgraph induced by P consists of pairwise vertex-disjoint paths, none of them having u or v as internal vertices or both of them as endvertices. This resolves a problem of Caha and Koubek who showed that for any n?3 there exist vertices u,v and 2n-3 edges of Q_n not contained in any hamiltonian path between u and v, but still satisfying the condition above. The proof of the main theorem is based on an inductive construction whose basis for n=5 was verified by a computer search. Classical results on hamiltonian edge-fault tolerance of hypercubes are obtained as a corollary.     

On CCE graphs of doubly partial orders

Let D be a digraph. The competition-common enemy graph (CCE graph) of D has the same set of vertices as D and an edge between vertices u and v if and only if there are vertices w and x in D such that (w,u), (w,v), (u,x), and (v,x) are arcs of D. We call a graph a CCE graph if it is the CCE graph of some digraph. In this paper, we show that if the CCE graph of a doubly partial order does not contain C₄ as an induced subgraph, it is an interval graph. We also show that any interval graph together with enough isolated vertices is the CCE graph of some doubly partial order.     

Clique or hole in claw-free graphs

Given a claw-free graph and two non-adjacent vertices x and y without common neighbours we prove that there exists a hole through x and y unless the graph contains the obvious obstruction, namely a clique separating x and y. We derive two applications: We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an induced x-z path through y, where x,y,z are prescribed vertices in a claw-free graph; and we prove an induced version of Menger?s theorem between four terminal vertices. Finally, we improve the running time for detecting a hole through x and y and for the Three-in-a-Tree problem, if the input graph is claw-free.