The lollipop graph is determined by its Q-spectrum

A graph G is said to be determined by its Q-spectrum if with respect to the signless Laplacian matrix Q, any graph having the same spectrum as G is isomorphic to G. The lollipop graph, denoted by H_n,p, is obtained by appending a cycle C_p to a pendant vertex of a path P_n−p. In this paper, it is proved that all lollipop graphs are determined by their Q-spectra.     

Partitioning graphs into complete and empty graphs

Given integers j and k and a graph G, we consider partitions of the vertex set of G into j+k parts where j of these parts induce empty graphs and the remaining k induce cliques. If such a partition exists, we say G is a (j,k)-graph. For a fixed j and k we consider the maximum order n where every graph of order n is a (j,k)-graph. The split-chromatic number of G is the minimum j where G is a (j,j)-graph. Further, the cochromatic number is the minimum j+k where G is a (j,k)-graph. We examine some relations between cochromatic, split-chromatic and chromatic numbers. We also consider some computational questions related to chordal graphs and cographs.     

A note on Berge-Fulkerson coloring

The Berge-Fulkerson Conjecture states that every cubic bridgeless graph has six perfect matchings such that every edge of the graph is contained in exactly two of these perfect matchings. In this paper, a useful technical lemma is proved that a cubic graphGadmits a Berge-Fulkerson coloring if and only if the graphGcontains a pair of edge-disjoint matchingsM₁andM₂ such that (i) M₁∪M₂induces a 2-regular subgraph ofG and (ii) the suppressed graph, the graph obtained fromG?M_iby suppressing all degree-2-vertices, is 3-edge-colorable for eachi=1,2. This lemma is further applied in the verification of Berge-Fulkerson Conjecture for some families of non-3-edge-colorable cubic graphs (such as, Goldberg snarks, flower snarks).     

Isometric embeddings of subdivided connected graphs into hypercubes

Isometric subgraphs of hypercubes are known as partial cubes. These graphs have first been investigated by Graham and Pollack [R.L. Graham, H. Pollack, On the addressing problem for loop switching, Bell System Technol. J. 50 (1971) 2495-2519; and D. Djokovi?, Distance preserving subgraphs of hypercubes, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 14 (1973) 263-267]. Several papers followed with various characterizations of partial cubes. In this paper, we determine all subdivisions of a given configuration which can be embedded isometrically in the hypercube. More specifically, we deal with the case where this configuration is a connected graph of order 4, a complete graph of order 5 and the case of a k-fan F_k(k≥3).     

Shifts in Cayley graphs

An automorphism of an undirected simple graph is called a shift if it maps every vertex to an adjacent one. For all finite groups G, we determine the minimum nonzero valency of a Cayley graph on G that does not admit a shift. We also get a classification of groups with all involutions central and such that for every pair a,b of elements of the group, one of ab=ba, aba⁻¹=b⁻¹, bab⁻¹=a⁻¹ or a²=b^±2 holds.     

The clique numbers of regular graphs of matrix algebras are finite

Let F be a field, char(F)≠2, and SGL_n(F), where n is a positive integer. In this paper we show that if for every distinct elements x,yS, x+y is singular, then S is finite. We conjecture that this result is true if one replaces field with a division ring.     

Bicyclic graphs with exactly two main eigenvalues

An eigenvalue of a graph G is called a main eigenvalue if it has an eigenvector the sum of whose entries is not equal to zero, and it is well known that a graph has exactly one main eigenvalue if and only if it is regular. In this work, all connected bicyclic graphs with exactly two main eigenvalues are determined.     

Netlike partial cubes III. The median cycle property

A graph G has the Median Cycle Property (MCP) if every triple (u₀,u₁,u₂) of vertices of G admits a unique median or a unique median cycle, that is a gated cycle C of G such that for all i,j,k∈{0,1,2}, if x_i is the gate of u_i in C, then: {x_i,x_j}⊆I_G(u_i,u_j) if i≠j, and d_G(x_i,x_j)<d_G(x_i,x_k)+d_G(x_k,x_j). We prove that a netlike partial cube has the MCP if and only if it contains no triple of convex cycles pairwise having an edge in common and intersecting in a single vertex. Moreover a finite netlike partial cube G has the MCP if and only if G can be obtained from a set of even cycles and hypercubes by successive gated amalgamations, and equivalently, if and only if G can be obtained from K₁ by a sequence of special expansions. We also show that the geodesic interval space of a netlike partial cube having the MCP is a Pash-Peano space (i.e. a closed join space).     

Enumerating typical abelian prime-fold coverings of a circulant graph

Enumerating the isomorphism classes of several types of graph coverings is one of the central research topics in enumerative topological graph theory (see [R. Feng, J.H. Kwak, J. Kim, J. Lee, Isomorphism classes of concrete graph coverings, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 11 (1998) 265-272; R. Feng, J.H. Kwak, Typical circulant double coverings of a circulant graph, Discrete Math. 277 (2004) 73-85; R. Feng, J.H. Kwak, Y.S. Kwon, Enumerating typical circulant covering projections onto a circulant graph, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 19 (2005) 196-207; SIAM J. Discrete Math. 21 (2007) 548-550 (erratum); M. Hofmeister, Graph covering projections arising from finite vector spaces over finite fields, Discrete Math. 143 (1995) 87-97; M. Hofmeister, Enumeration of concrete regular covering projections, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 8 (1995) 51-61; M. Hofmeister, A note on counting connected graph covering projections, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 11 (1998) 286-292; J.H. Kwak, J. Chun, J. Lee, Enumeration of regular graph coverings having finite abelian covering transformation groups, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 11 (1998) 273-285; J.H. Kwak, J. Lee, Isomorphism classes of graph bundles, Canad. J. Math. XLII (1990) 747-761]). A covering is called abelian (or circulant, respectively) if its covering graph is a Cayley graph on an abelian (or a cyclic, respectively) group. A covering p from a Cayley graph onto another Cay (Q,Y) is called typical if the map p:A→Q on the vertex sets is a group epimorphism. Recently, the isomorphism classes of connected typical circulant r-fold coverings of a circulant graph are enumerated in [R. Feng, J.H. Kwak, Typical circulant double coverings of a circulant graph, Discrete Math. 277 (2004) 73-85] for r=2 and in [R. Feng, J.H. Kwak, Y.S. Kwon, Enumerating typical circulant covering projections onto a circulant graph, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 19 (2005) 196-207; SIAM J. Discrete Math. 21 (2007) 548-550 (erratum)] for any r. As a continuation of these works, we enumerate in this paper the isomorphism classes of typical abelian prime-fold coverings of a circulant graph.     

An oriented coloring of planar graphs with girth at least five

An oriented k-coloring of an oriented graph G is a homomorphism from G to an oriented graph H of order k. We prove that every oriented graph with a maximum average degree less than and girth at least 5 has an oriented chromatic number at most 16. This implies that every oriented planar graph with girth at least 5 has an oriented chromatic number at most 16, that improves the previous known bound of 19 due to Borodin et al. [O.V. Borodin, A.V. Kostochka, J. Nešet?il, A. Raspaud, É. Sopena, On the maximum average degree and the oriented chromatic number of a graph, Discrete Math. 206 (1999) 77-89].