1‐Factorizations of pseudorandom graphs

A 1‐factorization of a graph G is a collection of edge‐disjoint perfect matchings whose union is E(G). In this paper, we prove that for any ?>0, an (n,d,λ)‐graph G admits a 1‐factorization provided that n is even, C₀ ≤ d ≤ n?1 (where C₀=C₀(?) is a constant depending only on ?), and λ ≤ d^1??. In particular, since (as is well known) a typical random d‐regular graph G_n,d is such a graph, we obtain the existence of a 1‐factorization in a typical G_n,d for all C₀ ≤ d ≤ n?1, thereby extending to all possible values of d results obtained by Janson, and independently by Molloy, Robalewska, Robinson, and Wormald for fixed d. Moreover, we also obtain a lower bound for the number of distinct 1‐factorizations of such graphs G, which is better by a factor of 2^nd/2 than the previously best known lower bounds, even in the simplest case where G is the complete graph.     

Modularity of Erdős‐Rényi random graphs

For a given graph G, each partition of the vertices has a modularity score, with higher values indicating that the partition better captures community structure in G. The modularity q^?(G) of the graph G is defined to be the maximum over all vertex partitions of the modularity score, and satisfies 0 ≤ q^?(G)<1. Modularity is at the heart of the most popular algorithms for community detection. We investigate the behaviour of the modularity of the Erd?s‐Rényi random graph G_n,p with n vertices and edge‐probability p. Two key findings are that the modularity is 1+o(1) with high probability (whp) for np up to 1+o(1) and no further; and when np ≥ 1 and p is bounded below 1, it has order (np)^?1/2 whp, in accord with a conjecture by Reichardt and Bornholdt in 2006. We also show that the modularity of a graph is robust to changes in a few edges, in contrast to the sensitivity of optimal vertex partitions.     

Mixing Times of Critical Two‐Dimensional Potts Models

We study dynamical aspects of the q‐state Potts model on an n × n box at its critical β_c(q). Heat‐bath Glauber dynamics and cluster dynamics such as Swendsen–Wang (that circumvent low‐temperature bottlenecks) are all expected to undergo “critical slowdowns” in the presence of periodic boundary conditions: the inverse spectral gap, which in the subcritical regime is O(1), should at criticality be polynomial in n for 1 < q ≤ 4, and exponential in n for q > 4 in accordance with the predicted discontinuous phase transition. This was confirmed for q = 2 (the Ising model) by the second author and Sly, and for sufficiently large q by Borgs et al. Here we show that the following holds for the critical Potts model on the torus: for q=3, the inverse gap of Glauber dynamics is n^O(1); for q = 4, it is at most n^{O(log n)}; and for every q > 4 in the phase‐coexistence regime, the inverse gaps of both Glauber dynamics and Swendsen‐Wang dynamics are exponential in n. For free or monochromatic boundary conditions and large q, we show that the dynamics at criticality is faster than on the torus (unlike the Ising model where free/periodic boundary conditions induce similar dynamical behavior at all temperatures): the inverse gap of Swendsen‐Wang dynamics is exp(n^o(1)). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sharp bounds for the number of 3‐independent partitions and the chromaticity of bipartite graphs

Given a graph G and an integer k ≥ 1, let α(G, k) denote the number of k‐independent partitions of G. Let ??^?s(p,q) (resp., ??₂^?s(p,q)) denote the family of connected (resp., 2‐connected) graphs which are obtained from the complete bipartite graph K_p,q by deleting a set of s edges, where p ≥ q ≥ 2. This paper first gives a sharp upper bound for α(G,3), where G ∈ ?? ^?s(p,q) and 0 ≤ s ≤ (p ? 1)(q ? 1) (resp., G ∈ ?? ₂^?s(p,q) and 0 ≤ s ≤ p + q ? 4). These bounds are then used to show that if G ∈ ?? ^?s(p,q) (resp., G ∈ ?? ₂^?s (p,q)), then the chromatic equivalence class of G is a subset of the union of the sets ??^?s_i(p+i,q?i) where max and s_i = s ? i(p?q+i) (resp., a subset of ??₂^?s(p,q), where either 0 ≤ s ≤ q ? 1, or s ≤ 2q ? 3 and p ≥ q + 4). By applying these results, we show finally that any 2‐connected graph obtained from K_p,q by deleting a set of edges that forms a matching of size at most q ? 1 or that induces a star is chromatically unique. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 37: 48–77, 2001     

On cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs

In 1983, the second author [D. Maru?i?, Ars Combinatoria 16B (1983), 297–302] asked for which positive integers n there exists a non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph on n vertices. (The term non‐Cayley numbers has later been given to such integers.) Motivated by this problem, Feng [Discrete Math 248 (2002), 265–269] asked to determine the smallest valency ?(n) among valencies of non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. As cycles are clearly Cayley graphs, ?(n)?3 for any non‐Cayley number n. In this paper a goal is set to determine those non‐Cayley numbers n for which ?(n) = 3, and among the latter to determine those for which the generalized Petersen graphs are the only non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. It is known that for a prime p every vertex‐transitive graph of order p, p² or p³ is a Cayley graph, and that, with the exception of the Coxeter graph, every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 2p, 4p or 2p² is a generalized Petersen graph. In this paper the next natural step is taken by proving that every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 4p², p>7 a prime, is a generalized Petersen graph. In addition, cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order 2p^k, where p>7 is a prime and k?p, are characterized. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 77–95, 2012     

Codiameters of 3‐connected 3‐domination critical graphs

A graph G is 3‐domination critical if its domination number γ is 3 and the addition of any edge decreases γ by 1. Let G be a 3‐connected 3‐domination critical graph of order n. In this paper, we show that there is a path of length at least n?2 between any two distinct vertices in G and the lower bound is sharp. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 39: 76–85, 2002     

Large Kr‐free subgraphs in Ks‐free graphs and some other Ramsey‐type problems

In this paper we present three Ramsey‐type results, which we derive from a simple and yet powerful lemma, proved using probabilistic arguments. Let 3 ≤ r < s be fixed integers and let G be a graph on n vertices not containing a complete graph K_s on s vertices. More than 40 years ago Erd?s and Rogers posed the problem of estimating the maximum size of a subset of G without a copy of the complete graph K_r. Our first result provides a new lower bound for this problem, which improves previous results of various researchers. It also allows us to solve some special cases of a closely related question posed by Erd?s. For two graphs G and H, the Ramsey number R(G, H) is the minimum integer N such that any red‐blue coloring of the edges of the complete graph K_N, contains either a red copy of G or a blue copy of H. The book with n pages is the graph B_n consisting of n triangles sharing one edge. Here we study the book‐complete graph Ramsey numbers and show that R(B_n, K_n) ≤ O(n³/log^3/2n), improving the bound of Li and Rousseau. Finally, motivated by a question of Erd?s, Hajnal, Simonovits, Sós, and Szemerédi, we obtain for all 0 < δ < 2/3 an estimate on the number of edges in a K₄‐free graph of order n which has no independent set of size n^1‐δ. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2005     

Certain classes of potentials for p ‐Laplacian to be non‐degenerate

Given a positive integer n and an exponent 1 ≤ α ≤ ∞. We will find explicitly the optimal bound r_n such that if the L^α norm of a potential q (t ) satisfies ‖q ‖equation/tex2gif-inf-2.gif < r_n then the n ^th Dirichlet eigenvalue of the onedimensional p ‐Laplacian with the potential q (t ): (|u ′|^{p –2} u ′)′ + (λ + q (t )) |u |^{p –2}u = 0 (1 < p < ∞) will be positive. Using these bounds, we will construct, for the Dirichlet, the Neumann, the periodic or the antiperiodic boundary conditions, certain classes of potentials q (t ) so that the p ‐Laplacian with the potential q (t ) is non‐degenerate, which means that the above equation with λ = 0 has only the trivial solution verifying the corresponding boundary condition. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Retracts of box products with odd‐angulated factors

Let G be a connected graph with odd girth 2κ+1. Then G is a (2κ+1)‐angulated graph if every two vertices of G are connected by a path such that each edge of the path is in some (2κ+1)‐cycle. We prove that if G is (2κ+1)‐angulated, and H is connected with odd girth at least 2κ+3, then any retract of the box (or Cartesian) product G□ H is S□T where S is a retract of G and T is a connected subgraph of H. A graph G is strongly (2κ+1)‐angulated if any two vertices of G are connected by a sequence of (2κ+1)‐cycles with consecutive cycles sharing at least one edge. We prove that if G is strongly (2κ+1)‐angulated, and H is connected with odd girth at least 2κ+1, then any retract of G□ H is S□T where S is a retract of G and T is a connected subgraph of H or |V(S)|=1 and T is a retract of H. These two results improve theorems on weakly and strongly triangulated graphs by Nowakowski and Rival [Disc Math 70 ( 13 ), 169–184]. As a corollary, we get that the core of the box product of two strongly (2κ+1)‐angulated cores must be either one of the factors or the box product itself. Furthermore, if G is a strongly (2κ+1)‐angulated core, then either Gⁿ is a core for all positive integers n, or the core of Gⁿ is G for all positive integers n. In the latter case, G is homomorphically equivalent to a normal Cayley graph [Larose, Laviolette, Tardiff, European J Combin 19 ( 12 ), 867–881]. In particular, let G be a strongly (2κ+1)‐angulated core such that either G is not vertex‐transitive, or G is vertex‐transitive and any two maximum independent sets have non‐empty intersection. Then Gⁿ is a core for any positive integer n. On the other hand, let G_i be a (2κ_i+1)‐angulated core for 1 ≤ i≤ n where κ₁ < κ₂ < … < κ_n. If G_i has a vertex that is fixed under any automorphism for 1 ≤ i ≤ n‐1, or G_i is vertex‐transitive such that any two maximum independent sets have non‐empty intersection for 1 ≤ i ≤ n‐1, then □_i=1ⁿ G_i is a core. We then apply the results to construct cores that are box products with Mycielski construction factors or with odd graph factors. We also show that K(r,2r+1) □ C_2l+1 is a core for any integers l ≥ r ≥ 2. It is open whether K(r,2r+1) □ C_2l+1 is a core for r > l ≥ 2. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Cyclic m‐cycle systems with m ≤ 32 or m = 2q with q a prime power

In this paper, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of cyclic 2q‐cycle and m‐cycle systems of the complete graph with q a prime power and 3 ≤ m ≤ 32 are given. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs     

Types of superregular matrices and the number of n‐arcs and complete n‐arcs in PG (r,q)

Based on the classification of superregular matrices, the numbers of non‐equivalent n‐arcs and complete n‐arcs in PG(r, q) are determined (i) for 4 ≤ q ≤ 19, 2 ≤ r ≤ q ? 2 and arbitrary n, (ii) for 23 ≤ q ≤ 32, r = 2 and n ≥ q ? 8<$>. The equivalence classes over both PGL (k, q) and PΓL(k, q) are considered throughout the examinations and computations. For the classification, an n‐arc is represented by the systematic generator matrix of the corresponding MDS code, without the identity matrix part of it. A rectangular matrix like this is superregular, i.e., it has only non‐singular square submatrices. Four types of superregular matrices are studied and the non‐equivalent superregular matrices of different types are stored in databases. Some particular results on t(r, q) and m′(r, q)—the smallest and the second largest size for complete arcs in PG(r, q)—are also reported, stating that m′(2, 31) = 22, m′(2, 32) = 24, t(3, 23) = 10, and m′(3, 23) = 16. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 363–390, 2006     

Counting without sampling: Asymptotics of the log‐partition function for certain statistical physics models

In this article we propose new methods for computing the asymptotic value for the logarithm of the partition function (free energy) for certain statistical physics models on certain type of finite graphs, as the size of the underlying graph goes to infinity. The two models considered are the hard‐core (independent set) model when the activity parameter λ is small, and also the Potts (q‐coloring) model. We only consider the graphs with large girth. In particular, we prove that asymptotically the logarithm of the number of independent sets of any r‐regular graph with large girth when rescaled is approximately constant if r ≤ 5. For example, we show that every 4‐regular n‐node graph with large girth has approximately (1.494…)ⁿ‐many independent sets, for large n. Further, we prove that for every r‐regular graph with r ≥ 2, with n nodes and large girth, the number of proper q ≥ r + 1 colorings is approximately ⁿ, for large n. We also show that these results hold for random regular graphs with high probability (w.h.p.) as well. As a byproduct of our method we obtain simple algorithms for the problem of computing approximately the logarithm of the number of independent sets and proper colorings, in low degree graphs with large girth. These algorithms are deterministic and use certain correlation decay properties for the corresponding Gibbs measures, and its implications to uniqueness of the Gibbs measures on the infinite trees, as well as some simple cavity trick which is well known in the physics and the Markov chain sampling literature.© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2008     

Vertex pancyclic in‐tournaments

An in‐tournament is an oriented graph such that the negative neighborhood of every vertex induces a tournament. The topic of this paper is to investigate vertex k‐pancyclicity of in‐tournaments of order n, where for some 3 ≤ k ≤ n, every vertex belongs to a cycle of length p for every k ≤ p ≤ n. We give sharp lower bounds for the minimum degree such that a strong in‐tournament is vertex k‐pancyclic for k ≤ 5 and k ≥ n − 3. In the latter case, we even show that the in‐tournaments in consideration are fully (n − 3)‐extendable which means that every vertex belongs to a cycle of length n − 3 and that the vertex set of every cycle of length at least n − 3 is contained in a cycle of length one greater. In accordance with these results, we state the conjecture that every strong in‐tournament of order n with minimum degree greater than is vertex k‐pancyclic for 5 < k < n − 3, and we present a family of examples showing that this bound would be best possible. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 36: 84–104, 2001     

On packing 3‐vertex paths in a graph

Let G be a connected graph and let eb(G) and λ(G) denote the number of end‐blocks and the maximum number of disjoint 3‐vertex paths Λ in G. We prove the following theorems on claw‐free graphs: (t1) if G is claw‐free and eb(G) ≤ 2 (and in particular, G is 2‐connected) then λ(G) = ⌊| V(G)|/3⌋; (t2) if G is claw‐free and eb(G) ≥ 2 then λ(G) ≥ ⌊(| V(G) | − eb(G) + 2)/3 ⌋; and (t3) if G is claw‐free and Δ^*‐free then λ(G) = ⌊| V(G) |/3⌋ (here Δ^* is a graph obtained from a triangle Δ by attaching to each vertex a new dangling edge). We also give the following sufficient condition for a graph to have a Λ‐factor: Let n and p be integers, 1 ≤ p ≤ n − 2, G a 2‐connected graph, and |V(G)| = 3n. Suppose that G − S has a Λ‐factor for every S ⊆ V(G) such that |S| = 3p and both V(G) − S and S induce connected subgraphs in G. Then G has a Λ‐factor. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 36: 175–197, 2001     

Inexpensive d‐dimensional matchings

Suppose that independent U(0, 1) weights are assigned to the ${d\choose 2}n^{2}$ edges of the complete d‐partite graph with n vertices in each of the d maximal independent sets. Then the expected weight of the minimum‐weight perfect d‐dimensional matching is at least $\frac{3}{16}n^{1-(2/d)}$. We describe a randomized algorithm that finds a perfect d‐dimensional matching whose expected weight is at most 5d³n^1?(2/d)+d¹⁵ for all d≥3 and n≥1. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 20, 50–58, 2002     

A non‐existence result on Cameron–Liebler line classes

Cameron–Liebler line classes are sets of lines in PG(3, q) that contain a fixed number x of lines of every spread. Cameron and Liebler classified Cameron–Liebler line classes for x ∈ {0, 1, 2, q² ? 1, q², q² + 1} and conjectured that no others exist. This conjecture was disproven by Drudge for q = 3 [8] and his counterexample was generalized to a counterexample for any odd q by Bruen and Drudge [4]. A counterexample for q even was found by Govaerts and Penttila [9]. Non‐existence results on Cameron–Liebler line classes were found for different values of x. In this article, we improve the non‐existence results on Cameron–Liebler line classes of Govaerts and Storme [11], for q not a prime. We prove the non‐existence of Cameron–Liebler line classes for 3 ≤ x < q/2. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 16: 342–349, 2008     

On the independence number of the Erdős‐Rényi and projective norm graphs and a related hypergraph

The Erd?s‐Rényi and Projective Norm graphs are algebraically defined graphs that have proved useful in supplying constructions in extremal graph theory and Ramsey theory. Their eigenvalues have been computed and this yields an upper bound on their independence number. Here we show that in many cases, this upper bound is sharp in the order of magnitude. Our result for the Erd?s‐Rényi graph has the following reformulation: the maximum size of a family of mutually non‐orthogonal lines in a vector space of dimension three over the finite field of order q is of order q^3/2. We also prove that every subset of vertices of size greater than q^2/2 + q^3/2 + O(q) in the Erd?s‐Rényi graph contains a triangle. This shows that an old construction of Parsons is asymptotically sharp. Several related results and open problems are provided. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 56: 113–127, 2007     

Facial non‐repetitive edge‐coloring of plane graphs

A sequence r₁, r₂, …, r_2n such that r_i=r_{n+ i} for all 1≤i≤n is called a repetition. A sequence S is called non‐repetitive if no block (i.e. subsequence of consecutive terms of S) is a repetition. Let G be a graph whose edges are colored. A trail is called non‐repetitive if the sequence of colors of its edges is non‐repetitive. If G is a plane graph, a facial non‐repetitive edge‐coloring of G is an edge‐coloring such that any facial trail (i.e. a trail of consecutive edges on the boundary walk of a face) is non‐repetitive. We denote π′_f(G) the minimum number of colors of a facial non‐repetitive edge‐coloring of G. In this article, we show that π′_f(G)≤8 for any plane graph G. We also get better upper bounds for π′_f(G) in the cases when G is a tree, a plane triangulation, a simple 3‐connected plane graph, a hamiltonian plane graph, an outerplanar graph or a Halin graph. The bound 4 for trees is tight. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 66: 38–48, 2010     

Sparse pseudo‐random graphs are Hamiltonian

In this article we study Hamilton cycles in sparse pseudo‐random graphs. We prove that if the second largest absolute value λ of an eigenvalue of a d‐regular graph G on n vertices satisfies and n is large enough, then G is Hamiltonian. We also show how our main result can be used to prove that for every c >0 and large enough n a Cayley graph X (G,S), formed by choosing a set S of c log⁵ n random generators in a group G of order n, is almost surely Hamiltonian. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 42: 17–33, 2003