Upper total domination in claw‐free graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G is a total dominating set of G if every vertex of G is adjacent to some vertex in S (other than itself). The maximum cardinality of a minimal total dominating set of G is the upper total domination number of G, denoted by Γ_t(G). We establish bounds on Γ_t(G) for claw‐free graphs G in terms of the number n of vertices and the minimum degree δ of G. We show that if if , and if δ ≥ 5. The extremal graphs are characterized. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 44: 148–158, 2003     

Explicit sparse almost‐universal graphs for ${\bf {{\cal G}(n, {k \over n})}}$

For any integer n, let be a probability distribution on the family of graphs on n vertices (where every such graph has nonzero probability associated with it). A graph Γ is ‐almost‐universal if Γ satisifies the following: If G is chosen according to the probability distribution , then G is isomorphic to a subgraph of Γ with probability 1 ‐ . For any p ∈ [0,1], let (n,p) denote the probability distribution on the family of graphs on n vertices, where two vertices u and v form an edge with probability p, and the events {u and v form an edge}; u,v ∈ V (G) are mutually independent. For k ≥ 4 and n sufficiently large we construct a ‐almost‐universal‐graph on n vertices and with O(n)polylog(n) edges, where q = ? ? for such k ≤ 6, and where q = ? ? for k ≥ 7. The number of edges is close to the lower bound of Ω( ) for the number of edges in a universal graph for the family of graphs with n vertices and maximum degree k. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2010     

The isoperimetric constant of the random graph process

The isoperimetric constant of a graph G on n vertices, i(G), is the minimum of , taken over all nonempty subsets S ⊂ V (G) of size at most n/2, where ∂S denotes the set of edges with precisely one end in S. A random graph process on n vertices, , is a sequence of graphs, where is the edgeless graph on n vertices, and is the result of adding an edge to , uniformly distributed over all the missing edges. The authors show that in almost every graph process equals the minimal degree of as long as the minimal degree is o(log n). Furthermore, it is shown that this result is essentially best possible, by demonstrating that along the period in which the minimum degree is typically Θ(log n), the ratio between the isoperimetric constant and the minimum degree falls from 1 to , its final value. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2008     

Eulerian subgraphs in 3‐edge‐connected graphs and Hamiltonian line graphs

In this paper, we show that if G is a 3‐edge‐connected graph with and , then either G has an Eulerian subgraph H such that , or G can be contracted to the Petersen graph in such a way that the preimage of each vertex of the Petersen graph contains at least one vertex in S. If G is a 3‐edge‐connected planar graph, then for any , G has an Eulerian subgraph H such that . As an application, we obtain a new result on Hamiltonian line graphs. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 42: 308–319, 2003     

Construction of graphs with given circular flow numbers

Suppose r ≥ 2 is a real number. A proper r‐flow of a directed multi‐graph is a mapping such that (i) for every edge , ; (ii) for every vertex , . The circular flow number of a graph G is the least r for which an orientation of G admits a proper r‐flow. The well‐known 5‐flow conjecture is equivalent to the statement that every bridgeless graph has circular flow number at most 5. In this paper, we prove that for any rational number r between 2 and 5, there exists a graph G with circular flow number r. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 304–318, 2003     

The circular chromatic number of the Mycielskian of G

In a search for triangle-free graphs with arbitrarily large chromatic numbers, Mycielski developed a graph transformation that transforms a graph G into a new graph μ(G), we now call the Mycielskian of G, which has the same clique number as G and whose chromatic number equals χ(G) + 1. Chang, Huang, and Zhu [G. J. Chang, L. Huang, & X. Zhu, Discrete Math, to appear] have investigated circular chromatic numbers of Mycielskians for several classes of graphs. In this article, we study circular chromatic numbers of Mycielskians for another class of graphs G. The main result is that χ_c(μ(G)) = χ(μ(G)), which settles a problem raised in [G. J. Chang, L. Huang, & X. Zhu, Discrete Math, to appear, and X. Zhu, to appear]. As χ_c(G) = and χ(G) = , consequently, there exist graphs G such that χ_c(G) is as close to χ(G) − 1 as you want, but χ_c(μ(G)) = χ(μ(G)). © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 32: 63–71, 1999     

Ore‐type degree conditions for a graph to be H‐linked

Given a fixed multigraph H with V(H) = {h₁,…, h_m}, we say that a graph G is H‐linked if for every choice of m vertices v₁, …, _vm in G, there exists a subdivision of H in G such that for every i, v_i is the branch vertex representing h_i. This generalizes the notion of k‐linked graphs (as well as some other notions). For a family of graphs, a graph G is ‐linked if G is H‐linked for every . In this article, we estimate the minimum integer r = r(n, k, d) such that each n‐vertex graph with is ‐linked, where is the family of simple graphs with k edges and minimum degree at least . © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58: 14–26, 2008     

Forbidden subgraphs that imply hamiltonian‐connectedness*

It is proven that if G is a 3‐connected claw‐free graph which is also H₁‐free (where H₁ consists of two disjoint triangles connected by an edge), then G is hamiltonian‐connected. Also, examples will be described that determine a finite family of graphs such that if a 3‐connected graph being claw‐free and L‐free implies G is hamiltonian‐connected, then L . © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 40: 104–119, 2002     

The phase transition in random graphs: A simple proof

The classical result of Erd?s and Rényi asserts that the random graph G(n,p) experiences sharp phase transition around \begin{align*}p=\frac{1}{n}\end{align*} – for any ε > 0 and \begin{align*}p=\frac{1-\epsilon}{n}\end{align*}, all connected components of G(n,p) are typically of size O_ε(log n), while for \begin{align*}p=\frac{1+\epsilon}{n}\end{align*}, with high probability there exists a connected component of size linear in n. We provide a very simple proof of this fundamental result; in fact, we prove that in the supercritical regime \begin{align*}p=\frac{1+\epsilon}{n}\end{align*}, the random graph G(n,p) contains typically a path of linear length. We also discuss applications of our technique to other random graph models and to positional games. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2013     

On the irregularity strength of trees

For any graph G, let n_i be the number of vertices of degree i, and . This is a general lower bound on the irregularity strength of graph G. All known facts suggest that for connected graphs, this is the actual irregularity strength up to an additive constant. In fact, this was conjectured to be the truth for regular graphs and for trees. Here we find an infinite sequence of trees with λ(T) = n₁ but strength converging to . © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 45: 241–254, 2004     

Small degree out‐branchings

Using a suitable orientation, we give a short proof of a strengthening of a result of Czumaj and Strothmann 4 : Every 2‐edge‐connected graph G contains a spanning tree T with the property that for every vertex v. As an analogue of this result in the directed case, we prove that every 2‐arc‐strong digraph D has an out‐branching B such that . A corollary of this is that every k‐arc‐strong digraph D has an out‐branching B such that , where . We conjecture that in this case would be the right (and best possible) answer. If true, this would again imply a strengthening of a result from 4 concerning spanning trees with small degrees in k‐connected graphs when k ≥ 2. We prove that for acyclic digraphs the existence of an out‐branching satisfying prescribed bounds on the out‐degrees of each vertex can be checked in polynomial time. A corollary of this is that the existence of arc‐disjoint branchings , , where the first is an out‐branching rooted at s and the second an in‐branching rooted at t, can be checked in polynomial time for the class of acyclic digraphs © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 42: 297–307, 2003     

Law of large numbers for increasing subsequences of random permutations

Let the random variable Z_n,k denote the number of increasing subsequences of length k in a random permutation from S_n, the symmetric group of permutations of {1,…,n}. We show that Var(Z) = o((EZ)²) as n → ∞ if and only if . In particular then, the weak law of large numbers holds for Z if ; that is, We also show the following approximation result for the uniform measure U_n on S_n. Define the probability measure μ on S_n by where U denotes the uniform measure on the subset of permutations that contain the increasing subsequence {x₁,x₂,…,x}. Then the weak law of large numbers holds for Z if and only if where ∣∣˙∣∣ denotes the total variation norm. In particular then, (*) holds if . In order to evaluate the asymptotic behavior of the second moment, we need to analyze occupation times of certain conditioned two‐dimensional random walks. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2006     

Overfull conjecture for graphs with high minimum degree

Chetwynd and Hilton showed that any regular graph G of even order n which has relatively high degree has a 1‐factorization. This is equivalent to saying that under these conditions G has chromatic index equal to its maximum degree . Using this result, we show that any (not necessarily regular) graph G of even order n that has sufficiently high minimum degree has chromatic index equal to its maximum degree providing that G does not contain an “overfull” subgraph, that is, a subgraph which trivially forces the chromatic index to be more than the maximum degree. This result thus verifies the Overfull Conjecture for graphs of even order and sufficiently high minimum degree. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 73–80, 2004     

Vertex suppression in 3‐connected graphs

To suppress a vertex in a finite graph G means to delete it and add an edge from a to b if a, b are distinct nonadjacent vertices which formed the neighborhood of . Let be the graph obtained from by suppressing vertices of degree at most 2 as long as it is possible; this is proven to be well defined. Our main result states that every 3‐connected graph G has a vertex x such that is 3‐connected unless G is isomorphic to , , or to a wheel for some . This leads to a generator theorem for 3‐connected graphs in terms of series parallel extensions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 57: 41–54, 2008     

Two‐factors each component of which contains a specified vertex

It is shown that if G is a graph of order n with minimum degree δ(G), then for any set of k specified vertices {v₁,v₂,…,v_k} ? V(G), there is a 2‐factor of G with precisely k cycles {C₁,C₂,…,C_k} such that v_i ∈ V(C_i) for (1 ≤ i ≤ k) if or 3k + 1 ≤ n ≤ 4k, or 4k ≤ n ≤ 6k ? 3,δ(G) ≥ 3k ? 1 or n ≥ 6k ? 3, . Examples are described that indicate this result is sharp. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 188–198, 2003     

The quasi‐randomness of hypergraph cut properties

Let satisfy and suppose a k‐uniform hypergraph on n vertices satisfies the following property; in any partition of its vertices into k sets of sizes , the number of edges intersecting is (asymptotically) the number one would expect to find in a random k‐uniform hypergraph. Can we then infer that H is quasi‐random? We show that the answer is negative if and only if . This resolves an open problem raised in 1991 by Chung and Graham [J AMS 4 (1991), 151–196]. While hypergraphs satisfying the property corresponding to are not necessarily quasi‐random, we manage to find a characterization of the hypergraphs satisfying this property. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that (essentially) there is a unique non quasi‐random hypergraph satisfying this property. The proofs combine probabilistic and algebraic arguments with results from the theory of association schemes. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2011     

A generalization of the Oberwolfach problem

Let n > 1 be an integer and let a₂,a₃,…,a_n be nonnegative integers such that . Then can be factored into ‐factors, ‐factors,…, ‐factors, plus a 1‐factor. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 41: 151–161, 2002     

Turánnical hypergraphs

This paper is motivated by the question of how global and dense restriction sets in results from extremal combinatorics can be replaced by less global and sparser ones. The result we consider here as an example is Turán's theorem, which deals with graphs G = ([n],E) such that no member of the restriction set \begin{align*}\mathcal {R}\end{align*} = \begin{align*}\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {[n]} \\ r \\ \end{array} } \right)\end{align*} induces a copy of K_r. Firstly, we examine what happens when this restriction set is replaced by \begin{align*}\mathcal {R}\end{align*} = {X∈ \begin{align*}\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {[n]} \\ r \\ \end{array} } \right)\end{align*}: X ∩ [m]≠??}. That is, we determine the maximal number of edges in an n ‐vertex such that no K_r hits a given vertex set. Secondly, we consider sparse random restriction sets. An r ‐uniform hypergraph \begin{align*}\mathcal R\end{align*} on vertex set [n] is called Turánnical (respectively ε ‐Turánnical), if for any graph G on [n] with more edges than the Turán number t_r(n) (respectively (1 + ε)t_r(n) ), no hyperedge of \begin{align*}\mathcal {R}\end{align*} induces a copy of K_r in G. We determine the thresholds for random r ‐uniform hypergraphs to be Turánnical and to be ε ‐Turánnical. Thirdly, we transfer this result to sparse random graphs, using techniques recently developed by Schacht [Extremal results for random discrete structures] to prove the Kohayakawa‐?uczak‐Rödl Conjecture on Turán's theorem in random graphs.© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2012     

The generalized Randić index of trees

The generalized Randi?; index of a tree T is the sum over the edges of T of where is the degree of the vertex x in T. For all , we find the minimal constant such that for all trees on at least 3 vertices, , where is the number of vertices of T. For example, when . This bound is sharp up to the additive constant—for infinitely many n we give examples of trees T on n vertices with . More generally, fix and define , where is the number of leaves of T. We determine the best constant such that for all trees on at least 3 vertices, . Using these results one can determine (up to terms) the maximal Randi?; index of a tree with a specified number of vertices and leaves. Our methods also yield bounds when the maximum degree of the tree is restricted. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 56: 270–286, 2007     

Between ends and fibers

Let Γ be an infinite, locally finite, connected graph with distance function δ. Given a ray P in Γ and a constant C ≥ 1, a vertex‐sequence is said to be regulated by C if, for all n??, never precedes x_n on P, each vertex of P appears at most C times in the sequence, and . R. Halin (Math. Ann., 157, 3 , 125–137) defined two rays to be end‐equivalent if they are joined by infinitely many pairwise‐disjoint paths; the resulting equivalence classes are called ends. More recently H. A. Jung (Graph Structure Theory, Contemporary Mathematics, 147, 6 , 477–484) defined rays P and Q to be b‐equivalent if there exist sequences and VQ regulated by some constant C ≥ 1 such that for all n??; he named the resulting equivalence classes b‐fibers. Let denote the set of nondecreasing functions from into the set of positive real numbers. The relation (called f‐equivalence) generalizes Jung's condition to . As f runs through , uncountably many equivalence relations are produced on the set of rays that are no finer than b‐equivalence while, under specified conditions, are no coarser than end‐equivalence. Indeed, for every Γ there exists an “end‐defining function” that is unbounded and sublinear and such that implies that P and Q are end‐equivalent. Say if there exists a sublinear function such that . The equivalence classes with respect to are called bundles. We pursue the notion of “initially metric” rays in relation to bundles, and show that in any bundle either all or none of its rays are initially metric. Furthermore, initially metric rays in the same bundle are end‐equivalent. In the case that Γ contains translatable rays we give some sufficient conditions for every f‐equivalence class to contain uncountably many g‐equivalence classes (where ). We conclude with a variety of applications to infinite planar graphs. Among these, it is shown that two rays whose union is the boundary of an infinite face of an almost‐transitive planar map are never bundle‐ equivalent. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 54: 125–153, 2007