On the degree distance of a graph

If G is a connected graph with vertex set V, then the degree distance of G, D^′(G), is defined as , where degw is the degree of vertex w, and d(u,v) denotes the distance between u and v. We prove the asymptotically sharp upper bound for graphs of order n and diameter d. As a corollary we obtain the bound for graphs of order n. This essentially proves a conjecture by Tomescu [I. Tomescu, Some extremal properties of the degree distance of a graph, Discrete Appl. Math. (98) (1999) 159-163].     

On hamiltonian colorings for some graphs

For a connected graph G and any two vertices u and v in G, let D(u,v) denote the length of a longest u-v path in G. A hamiltonian coloring of a connected graph G of order n is an assignment c of colors (positive integers) to the vertices of G such that |c(u)−c(v)|+D(u,v)≥n−1 for every two distinct vertices u and v in G. The value of a hamiltonian coloring c is the maximum color assigned to a vertex of G. The hamiltonian chromatic number of G is taken over all hamiltonian colorings c of G. In this paper we discuss the hamiltonian chromatic number of graphs G with . As examples, we determine the hamiltonian chromatic number for a class of caterpillars, and double stars.     

Covering line graphs with equivalence relations

An equivalence graph is a disjoint union of cliques, and the equivalence number of a graph G is the minimum number of equivalence subgraphs needed to cover the edges of G. We consider the equivalence number of a line graph, giving improved upper and lower bounds: . This disproves a recent conjecture that is at most three for triangle-free G; indeed it can be arbitrarily large.To bound we bound the closely related invariant σ(G), which is the minimum number of orientations of G such that for any two edges e,f incident to some vertex v, both e and f are oriented out of v in some orientation. When G is triangle-free, . We prove that even when G is triangle-free, it is NP-complete to decide whether or not σ(G)≤3.     

Complexity results in graph reconstruction

We investigate the relative complexity of the graph isomorphism problem (GI) and problems related to the reconstruction of a graph from its vertex-deleted or edge-deleted subgraphs (in particular, deck checking (DC) and legitimate deck (LD) problems). We show that these problems are closely related for all amounts c?1 of deletion:

(1)

, , , and .

(2)

For all k?2, and .

(3)

For all k?2, .

(4)

.

(5)

For all k?2, .

For many of these results, even the c=1 case was not previously known.Similar to the definition of reconstruction numbers vrn_∃(G) [F. Harary, M. Plantholt, The graph reconstruction number, J. Graph Theory 9 (1985) 451-454] and ern_∃(G) (see [J. Lauri, R. Scapellato Topics in Graph Automorphism and Reconstruction, London Mathematical Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p. 120]), we introduce two new graph parameters, vrn_∀(G) and ern_∀(G), and give an example of a family {G_n}_n?4 of graphs on n vertices for which vrn_∃(G_n)<vrn_∀(G_n). For every k?2 and n?1, we show that there exists a collection of k graphs on (2^k-1+1)n+k vertices with 2ⁿ 1-vertex-preimages, i.e., one has families of graph collections whose number of 1-vertex-preimages is huge relative to the size of the graphs involved.     

Hyper- and reverse-Wiener indices of F-sums of graphs

The Wiener index W(G)=∑_{u,v}⊂V(G)d(u,v), the hyper-Wiener index and the reverse-Wiener index , where d(u,v) is the distance of two vertices u,v in G, d²(u,v)=d(u,v)², n=|V(G)| and D is the diameter of G. In [M. Eliasi, B. Taeri, Four new sums of graphs and their Wiener indices, Discrete Appl. Math. 157 (2009) 794-803], Eliasi and Taeri introduced the F-sums of two connected graphs. In this paper, we determine the hyper- and reverse-Wiener indices of the F-sum graphs and, subject to some condition, we present some exact expressions of the reverse-Wiener indices of the F-sum graphs.     

Independence polynomials of k-tree related graphs

An independent set of a graph G is a set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices. Let α(G) denote the cardinality of a maximum independent set and f_s(G) for 0≤s≤α(G) denote the number of independent sets of s vertices. The independence polynomial defined first by Gutman and Harary has been the focus of considerable research recently. Wingard bounded the coefficients f_s(T) for trees T with n vertices: for s≥2. We generalize this result to bounds for a very large class of graphs, maximal k-degenerate graphs, a class which includes all k-trees. Additionally, we characterize all instances where our bounds are achieved, and determine exactly the independence polynomials of several classes of k-tree related graphs. Our main theorems generalize several related results known before.     

Inequalities of Nordhaus-Gaddum type for doubly connected domination number

A set S of vertices of a connected graph G is a doubly connected dominating set if every vertex not in S is adjacent to some vertex in S and the subgraphs induced by S and V−S are connected. The doubly connected domination numberγ_cc(G) is the minimum size of such a set. We prove that when G and are both connected of order n, and we describe the two infinite families of extremal graphs achieving the bound.     

Hamiltonian path saturated graphs with small size

A graph G is said to be hamiltonian path saturated (HPS for short), if G has no hamiltonian path but any addition of a new edge in G creates a hamiltonian path in G. It is known that an HPS graph of order n has size at most and, for n?6, the only HPS graph of order n and size is K_n-1∪K₁. Denote by sat(n,HP) the minimum size of an HPS graph of order n. We prove that sat(n,HP)?⌊(3n-1)/2⌋-2. Using some properties of Isaacs’ snarks we give, for every n?54, an HPS graph G_n of order n and size ⌊(3n-1)/2⌋. This proves sat(n,HP)?⌊(3n-1)/2⌋ for n?54. We also consider m-path cover saturated graphs and P_m-saturated graphs with small size.     

(2,1)-Total labelling of outerplanar graphs

The (2,1)-total labelling number of a graph G is the width of the smallest range of integers that suffices to label the vertices and the edges of G such that no two adjacent vertices have the same label, no two adjacent edges have the same label and the difference between the labels of a vertex and its incident edges is at least 2. In this paper we prove that if G is an outerplanar graph with maximum degree Δ(G), then if Δ(G)?5, or Δ(G)=3 and G is 2-connected, or Δ(G)=4 and G contains no intersecting triangles.     

A result on the total colouring of powers of cycles

The total chromatic number χ_T(G) is the least number of colours needed to colour the vertices and edges of a graph G such that no incident or adjacent elements (vertices or edges) receive the same colour. The Total Colouring Conjecture (TCC) states that for every simple graph G, χ_T(G)?Δ(G)+2. This work verifies the TCC for powers of cycles even and 2<k<n/2, showing that there exists and can be polynomially constructed a (Δ(G)+2)-total colouring for these graphs.     

Three supplements to Reid’s theorem in multipartite tournaments

An n-partite tournament is an orientation of a complete n-partite graph. In this paper, we give three supplements to Reid’s theorem [K.B. Reid, Two complementary circuits in two-connected tournaments, Ann. Discrete Math. 27 (1985) 321-334] in multipartite tournaments. The first one is concerned with the lengths of cycles and states as follows: let D be an (α(D)+1)-strong n-partite tournament with n≥6, where α(D) is the independence number of D, then D contains two disjoint cycles of lengths 3 and n−3, respectively, unless D is isomorphic to the 7-tournament containing no transitive 4-subtournament (denoted by ). The second one is obtained by considering the number of partite sets that cycles pass through: every (α(D)+1)-strong n-partite tournament D with n≥6 contains two disjoint cycles which contain vertices from exactly 3 and n−3 partite sets, respectively, unless it is isomorphic to . The last one is about two disjoint cycles passing through all partite sets.     

Packing directed cycles efficiently

Let G be a simple digraph. The dicycle packing number of G, denoted ν_c(G), is the maximum size of a set of arc-disjoint directed cycles in G. Let G be a digraph with a nonnegative arc-weight function w. A function ψ from the set C of directed cycles in G to R₊ is a fractional dicycle packing of G if ∑_e∈C∈Cψ(C)?w(e) for each e∈E(G). The fractional dicycle packing number, denoted , is the maximum value of ∑_C∈Cψ(C) taken over all fractional dicycle packings ψ. In case w≡1 we denote the latter parameter by .Our main result is that where n=|V(G)|. Our proof is algorithmic and generates a set of arc-disjoint directed cycles whose size is at least ν_c(G)-o(n²) in randomized polynomial time. Since computing ν_c(G) is an NP-Hard problem, and since almost all digraphs have ν_c(G)=Θ(n²) our result is a FPTAS for computing ν_c(G) for almost all digraphs.The result uses as its main lemma a much more general result. Let F be any fixed family of oriented graphs. For an oriented graph G, let ν_F(G) denote the maximum number of arc-disjoint copies of elements of F that can be found in G, and let denote the fractional relaxation. Then, . This lemma uses the recently discovered directed regularity lemma as its main tool.It is well known that can be computed in polynomial time by considering the dual problem. We present a polynomial algorithm that finds an optimal fractional dicycle packing. Our algorithm consists of a solution to a simple linear program and some minor modifications, and avoids using the ellipsoid method. In fact, the algorithm shows that a maximum fractional dicycle packing with at most O(n²) dicycles receiving nonzero weight can be found in polynomial time.     

Inducing regulation of any digraphs

For a given structure D (digraph, multidigraph, or pseudodigraph) and an integer r large enough, a smallest inducing r-regularization of D is constructed. This regularization is an r-regular superstructure of the smallest possible order with bounded arc multiplicity, and containing D as an induced substructure. The sharp upper bound on the number, ρ, of necessary new vertices among such superstructures for n-vertex general digraphs D is determined, ρ being called the inducing regulation number of D. For being the maximum among semi-degrees in D, simple n-vertex digraphs D with largest possible ρ are characterized if either or (where the case is not a trivial subcase of ).