Contractible subgraphs in k‐connected graphs

For a graph G we define a graph T(G) whose vertices are the triangles in G and two vertices of T(G) are adjacent if their corresponding triangles in G share an edge. Kawarabayashi showed that if G is a k‐connected graph and T(G) contains no edge, then G admits a k‐contractible clique of size at most 3, generalizing an earlier result of Thomassen. In this paper, we further generalize Kawarabayashi's result by showing that if G is k‐connected and the maximum degree of T(G) is at most 1, then G admits a k‐contractible clique of size at most 3 or there exist independent edges e and f of G such that e and f are contained in triangles sharing an edge and G/e/f is k‐connected. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 55: 121–136, 2007     

Graphs satisfying inequality θ(G)θ(G)

In this paper, we study the edge clique cover number of squares of graphs. More specifically, we study the inequality θ(G²)θ(G) where θ(G) is the edge clique cover number of a graph G. We show that any graph G with at most θ(G) vertices satisfies the inequality. Among the graphs with more than θ(G) vertices, we find some graphs violating the inequality and show that dually chordal graphs and power-chordal graphs satisfy the inequality. Especially, we give an exact formula computing θ(T²) for a tree T.     

Odd‐angulated graphs and cancelling factors in box products

Under what conditions is it true that if there is a graph homomorphism G □ H → G □ T, then there is a graph homomorphism H→ T? Let G be a connected graph of odd girth 2k + 1. We say that G is (2k + 1)‐angulated if every two vertices of G are joined by a path each of whose edges lies on some (2k + 1)‐cycle. We call G strongly (2k + 1)‐angulated if every two vertices are connected by a sequence of (2k + 1)‐cycles with consecutive cycles sharing at least one edge. We prove that if G is strongly (2k + 1)‐angulated, H is any graph, S, T are graphs with odd girth at least 2k + 1, and ?: G□ H→S□T is a graph homomorphism, then either ? maps G□{h} to S□{t_h} for all h∈V(H) where t_h∈V(T) depends on h; or ? maps G□{h} to {s_h}□ T for all h∈V(H) where s_h∈V(S) depends on h. This theorem allows us to prove several sufficient conditions for a cancelation law of a graph homomorphism between two box products with a common factor. We conclude the article with some open questions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58:221‐238, 2008     

On the chromatic spectrum of acyclic decompositions of graphs

If G is any graph, a G‐decomposition of a host graph H = (V, E) is a partition of the edge set of H into subgraphs of H which are isomorphic to G. The chromatic index of a G‐decomposition is the minimum number of colors required to color the parts of the decomposition so that two parts which share a node get different colors. The G‐spectrum of H is the set of all chromatic indices taken on by G‐decompositions of H. If both S and T are trees, then the S‐spectrum of T consists of a single value which can be computed in polynomial time. On the other hand, for any fixed tree S, not a single edge, there is a unicyclic host whose S‐spectrum has two values, and if the host is allowed to be arbitrary, the S‐spectrum can take on arbitrarily many values. Moreover, deciding if an integer k is in the S‐spectrum of a general bipartite graph is NP‐hard. We show that if G has c > 1 components, then there is a host H whose G‐spectrum contains both 3 and 2c + 1. If G is a forest, then there is a tree T whose G‐spectrum contains both 2 and 2c. Furthermore, we determine the complete spectra of both paths and cycles with respect to matchings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 56: 83–104, 2007     

Every DFS Tree of a 3‐Connected Graph Contains a Contractible Edge

Tutte proved that every 3‐connected graph G on more than 4 vertices contains a contractible edge. We strengthen this result by showing that every depth‐first‐search tree of G contains a contractible edge. Moreover, we show that every spanning tree of G contains a contractible edge if G is 3‐regular or if G does not contain two disjoint pairs of adjacent degree‐3 vertices.     

A Structure Theorem for Strong Immersions

A graph H is strongly immersed in G if H is obtained from G by a sequence of vertex splittings (i.e., lifting some pairs of incident edges and removing the vertex) and edge removals. Equivalently, vertices of H are mapped to distinct vertices of G (branch vertices) and edges of H are mapped to pairwise edge‐disjoint paths in G, each of them joining the branch vertices corresponding to the ends of the edge and not containing any other branch vertices. We describe the structure of graphs avoiding a fixed graph as a strong immersion. The theorem roughly states that a graph which excludes a fixed graph as a strong immersion has a tree‐like decomposition into pieces glued together on small edge cuts such that each piece of the decomposition has a path‐like linear decomposition isolating the high degree vertices.     

Weinberg bounds over nonspherical graphs

Let Aut(G) and E(G) denote the automorphism group and the edge set of a graph G, respectively. Weinberg's Theorem states that 4 is a constant sharp upper bound on the ratio |Aut(G)|/|E(G)| over planar (or spherical) 3‐connected graphs G. We have obtained various analogues of this theorem for nonspherical graphs, introducing two Weinberg‐type bounds for an arbitrary closed surface Σ, namely: where supremum is taken over the polyhedral graphs G with respect to Σ for W_P(Σ) and over the graphs G triangulating Σ for W_T(Σ). We have proved that Weinberg bounds are finite for any surface; in particular: W_P = W_T = 48 for the projective plane, and W_T = 240 for the torus. We have also proved that the original Weinberg bound of 4 holds over the graphs G triangulating the projective plane with at least 8 vertices and, in general, for the graphs of sufficiently large order triangulating a fixed closed surface Σ. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 33: 220–236, 2000     

The number of vertices of degree 5 in a contraction-critically 5-connected graph

An edge of a 5-connected graph is said to be 5-contractible if the contraction of the edge results in a 5-connected graph. A 5-connected graph with no 5-contractible edge is said to be contraction-critically 5-connected. Let V(G) and V₅(G) denote the vertex set of a graph G and the set of degree 5 vertices of G, respectively. We prove that each contraction-critically 5-connected graph G has at least |V(G)|/2 vertices of degree 5. We also show that there is a sequence of contraction-critically 5-connected graphs {G_i} such that lim_i→∞|V₅(G_i)|/|V(G_i)|=1/2.     

Minor and minimum cycle bases of a 3-connected planar graph

In this paper, we prove that if any set of ｜E（G）｜- ｜V（G）｜ ＋ 1 facial cycles of a 3-connected planar graph G embedded in the plane doesn＇t form a minimum cycle base of G, then any minimum cycle base of G contains a separating cycle, and G has a minor isomorphic to T6, where T6 is the graph obtained from the complete graph K6 by deleting a path with four edges.     

Acyclic List Edge Coloring of Graphs

A proper edge coloring of a graph is said to be acyclic if any cycle is colored with at least three colors. An edge-list L of a graph G is a mapping that assigns a finite set of positive integers to each edge of G. An acyclic edge coloring ? of G such that for any is called an acyclic L-edge coloring of G. A graph G is said to be acyclically k-edge choosable if it has an acyclic L‐edge coloring for any edge‐list L that satisfies for each edge e. The acyclic list chromatic index is the least integer k such that G is acyclically k‐edge choosable. We develop techniques to obtain bounds for the acyclic list chromatic indices of outerplanar graphs, subcubic graphs, and subdivisions of Halin graphs.     

Decomposition of bipartite graphs into closed trails

Let Lct(G) denote the set of all lengths of closed trails that exist in an even graph G. A sequence (t ₁,..., t _p ) of elements of Lct(G) adding up to |E(G)| is G-realisable provided there is a sequence (T ₁,..., t _p ) of pairwise edge-disjoint closed trails in G such that T _i is of length T _i for i = 1,..., p. The graph G is arbitrarily decomposable into closed trails if all possible sequences are G-realisable. In the paper it is proved that if a ⩾ 1 is an odd integer and M _a,a is a perfect matching in K _a,a , then the graph K _a,a -M _a,a is arbitrarily decomposable into closed trails.      

Acyclic edge colorings of planar graphs and seriesparallel graphs

A proper edge coloring of a graph G is called acyclic if there is no 2-colored cycle in G. The acyclic edge chromatic number of G, denoted by a′(G), is the least number of colors in an acyclic edge coloring of G. Alon et al. conjectured that a′(G) ⩽ Δ(G) + 2 for any graphs. For planar graphs G with girth g(G), we prove that a′(G) ⩽ max{2Δ(G) − 2, Δ(G) + 22} if g(G) ⩾ 3, a′(G) ⩽ Δ(G) + 2 if g(G) ⩾ 5, a′(G) ⩽ Δ(G) + 1 if g(G) ⩾ 7, and a′(G) = Δ(G) if g(G) ⩾ 16 and Δ(G) ⩾ 3. For series-parallel graphs G, we have a′(G) ⩽ Δ(G) + 1. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10871119) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Y2008A20).     

Graphs isomorphic to their maximum matching graphs

The maximum matching graph M（G） of a graph G is a simple graph whose vertices are the maximum matchings of G and where two maximum matchings are adjacent in M（G） if they differ by exactly one edge. In this paper, we prove that if a graph is isomorphic to its maximum matching graph, then every block of the graph is an odd cycle.     

The edge‐bandwidth of theta graphs

An edge‐labeling f of a graph G is an injection from E(G) to the set of integers. The edge‐bandwidth of G is B′(G) = min_f {B′(f)} where B′(f) is the maximum difference between labels of incident edges of G. The theta graph Θ(l₁,…,l_m) is the graph consisting of m pairwise internally disjoint paths with common endpoints and lengths l₁ ≤ ··· ≤ l_m. We determine the edge‐bandwidth of all theta graphs. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 35: 89–98, 2000     

Hitting times for random walks on subdivision and triangulation graphs

Let G be a connected graph. The subdivision graph of G, denoted by S(G), is the graph obtained from G by inserting a new vertex into every edge of G. The triangulation graph of G, denoted by R(G), is the graph obtained from G by adding, for each edge uv, a new vertex whose neighbours are u and v. In this paper, we first provide complete information for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the probability transition matrix of a random walk on S(G) (res. R(G)) in terms of those of G. Then we give an explicit formula for the expected hitting time between any two vertices of S(G) (res. R(G)) in terms of those of G. Finally, as applications, we show that, the relations between the resistance distances, the number of spanning trees and the multiplicative degree-Kirchhoff index of S(G) (res. R(G)) and G can all be deduced from our results directly.     

A sufficient condition for bipartite graphs to be type one

The total chromatic number χ_T(G) of graph G is the least number of colors assigned to V(G) ∪ E(G) such that no adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. In this article, we give a sufficient condition for a bipartite graph G to have χ_T(G) = Δ(G) + 1. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Graph Theory 29: 133–137, 1998     

Packing triangles in a graph and its complement

How few edge‐disjoint triangles can there be in a graph G on n vertices and in its complement ? This question was posed by P. Erd?s, who noticed that if G is a disjoint union of two complete graphs of order n/2 then this number is n²/12 + o(n²). Erd?s conjectured that any other graph with n vertices together with its complement should also contain at least that many edge‐disjoint triangles. In this paper, we show how to use a fractional relaxation of the above problem to prove that for every graph G of order n, the total number of edge‐disjoint triangles contained in G and is at least n²/13 for all sufficiently large n. This bound improves some earlier results. We discuss a few related questions as well. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 203–216, 2004     

On finite groups with the cayley isomorphism property

Let G be a finite group, and let Cay(G, S) be a Cayley digraph of G. If, for all T ⊂ G, Cay(G, S) ≅ Cay(G, T) implies S^α = T for some α ∈ Aut(G), then Cay(G, S) is called a CI-graph of G. For a group G, if all Cayley digraphs of valency m are CI-graphs, then G is said to have the m-DCI property; if all Cayley graphs of valency m are CI-graphs, then G is said to have the m-CI property. It is shown that every finite group of order greater than 2 has a nontrivial CI-graph, and all finite groups with the m-CI property and with the m-DCI property are characterized for small values of m. A general investigation is made of the structure of Sylow subgroups of finite groups with the m-DCI property and with the m-CI property for large values of m. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 27: 21–31, 1998     

Removable edges in cycles of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-connected graph

An edge e of a k-connected graph G is said to be a removable edge if G ⊖ e is still k-connected, where G ⊖ e denotes the graph obtained from G by deleting e to get G − e, and for any end vertex of e with degree k − 1 in G − e, say x, delete x, and then add edges between any pair of non-adjacent vertices in N _G−e (x). The existence of removable edges of k-connected graphs and some properties of 3-connected graphs and 4-connected graphs have been investigated. In the present paper, we investigate some properties of k-connected graphs and study the distribution of removable edges on a cycle in a k-connected graph (k ≥ 4).