The Signed k-Submatchings in Graphs

A signed k-submatching of a graph G is a function f : E(G) → {?1,1} satisfying f (E _G (v)) ≤ 1 for at least k vertices ${v \in V(G)}$ . The maximum of the values of f (E(G)), taken over all signed k-submatchings f, is called the signed k-submatching number and is denoted by ${\beta_S^{k}(G)}$ . In this paper, sharp bounds on ${\beta_S^{k}(G)}$ for general graphs are presented. Exact values of ${\beta_S^{k}(G)}$ for several classes of graphs are found.