Colourings of cubic graphs inducing isomorphic monochromatic subgraphs

A -bisection of a bridgeless cubic graph is a -colouring of its vertex set such that the colour classes have the same cardinality and all connected components in the two subgraphs induced by the colour classes ( monochromatic components in what follows) have order at most . Ban and Linial Conjectured that every bridgeless cubic graph admits a -bisection except for the Petersen graph. A similar problem for the edge set of cubic graphs has been studied: Wormald conjectured that every cubic graph with has a -edge colouring such that the two monochromatic subgraphs are isomorphic linear forests (ie, a forest whose components are paths). Finally, Ando conjectured that every cubic graph admits a bisection such that the two induced monochromatic subgraphs are isomorphic. In this paper, we provide evidence of a strong relation of the conjectures of Ban-Linial and Wormald with Ando's Conjecture. Furthermore, we also give computational and theoretical evidence in their support. As a result, we pose some open problems stronger than the above-mentioned conjectures. Moreover, we prove Ban-Linial's Conjecture for cubic-cycle permutation graphs. As a by-product of studying -edge colourings of cubic graphs having linear forests as monochromatic components, we also give a negative answer to a problem posed by Jackson and Wormald about certain decompositions of cubic graphs into linear forests.     

On the power graph and the reduced power graph of a finite group

In this paper, for a finite group, we investigate to what extent its directed (resp. undirected) reduced power graph determines its directed power graph (resp. reduced power graph). Moreover, we investigate the determination of the orders of the elements of a finite group from its directed (resp. undirected) reduced power graph. Consequently, we show that some classes of finite groups are recognizable from their undirected reduced power graphs. Also, we study the relationship between the isomorphism classes of groups corresponding to the equivalence relations induced by the isomorphism of each of these graphs on the set of all finite groups.     

Existential monadic second order logic of undirected graphs: The Le Bars conjecture is false

In 2001, J.-M. Le Bars disproved the zero-one law (that says that every sentence from a certain logic is either true asymptotically almost surely (a.a.s.), or false a.a.s.) for existential monadic second order sentences (EMSO) on undirected graphs. He proved that there exists an EMSO sentence ? such that $\mathsf{P}(G_n??)$ does not converge as $n\to \infty$ (here, the probability distribution is uniform over the set of all graphs on the labeled set of vertices $\{1,\dots ,n\}$). In the same paper, he conjectured that, for EMSO sentences with 2 first order variables, the zero-one law holds. In this paper, we disprove this conjecture.     

On the Differential Polynomial of a Graph

We introduce the differential polynomial of a graph. The differential polynomial of a graph G of order n is the polynomial B(G; x) :=∑?(G)k=-nB_k(G) x~(n+k), where B_k(G) denotes the number of vertex subsets of G with differential equal to k. We state some properties of B(G;x) and its coefficients.In particular, we compute the differential polynomial for complete, empty, path, cycle, wheel and double star graphs. We also establish some relationships between B(G; x) and the differential polynomials of graphs which result by removing, adding, and subdividing an edge from G.     

Optimal packings of two to four equal circles on any flat torus

We find explicit formulas for the radii and locations of the circles in all the optimally dense packings of two, three or four equal circles on any flat torus, defined to be the quotient of the Euclidean plane by the lattice generated by two independent vectors. We prove the optimality of the arrangements using techniques from rigidity theory and topological graph theory.     

Ends,tangles and critical vertex sets

We show that an arbitrary infinite graph G can be compactified by its ends plus its critical vertex sets, where a finite set X of vertices of an infinite graph is critical if its deletion leaves some infinitely many components each with neighbourhood precisely equal to X. We further provide a concrete separation system whose ?₀‐tangles are precisely the ends plus critical vertex sets. Our tangle compactification is a quotient of Diestel's (denoted by ), and both use tangles to compactify a graph in much the same way as the ends of a locally finite and connected graph compactify it in its Freudenthal compactification. Finally, generalising both Diestel's construction of and our construction of , we show that G can be compactified by every inverse limit of compactifications of the sets of components obtained by deleting a finite set of vertices. Diestel's is the finest such compactification, and our is the coarsest one. Both coincide if and only if all tangles are ends. This answers two questions of Diestel.     

Erratum: The average degree of an edge-chromatic critical graph II

In the article “The average degree of an edge-chromatic critical graph II” by Douglas R. Woodall (J. Graph Theory 56 (2007), 194-218), it was claimed that the average degree of an edge-chromatic critical graph with maximum degree $\mathrm{\Delta }$ is at least $\text{◂⋅▸}\frac{2}{3}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }+1\right)$ if $\mathrm{\Delta }⩾2$, at least $\text{◂+▸}\frac{2}{3}\mathrm{\Delta }+1$ if $\mathrm{\Delta }⩾8$, and at least $\text{◂⋅▸}\frac{2}{3}\left(\mathrm{\Delta }+2\right)$ if $\mathrm{\Delta }⩾15$. Unfortunately there were mistakes in the proof of the last two of these results, which are now proved only if $\mathrm{\Delta }⩾18$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }⩾30$, respectively.     

A tripling construction for mutually orthogonal symmetric hamiltonian double Latin squares

We provide two new constructions for pairs of mutually orthogonal symmetric hamiltonian double Latin squares. The first is a tripling construction, and the second is derived from known constructions of hamilton cycle decompositions of when is prime.     

On the threshold problem for Latin boxes

Let m ≤ n ≤ k. An m × n × k 0‐1 array is a Latin box if it contains exactly m n ones, and has at most one 1 in each line. As a special case, Latin boxes in which m = n = k are equivalent to Latin squares. Let be the distribution on m × n × k 0‐1 arrays where each entry is 1 with probability p, independently of the other entries. The threshold question for Latin squares asks when contains a Latin square with high probability. More generally, when does support a Latin box with high probability? Let ε > 0. We give an asymptotically tight answer to this question in the special cases where n = k and , and where n = m and . In both cases, the threshold probability is . This implies threshold results for Latin rectangles and proper edge‐colorings of K_n,n.