Edge-deletable IM-extendable graphs with minimum number of edges

A graph G is induced matching extendable, shortly IM-extendable, if every induced matching of G is included in a perfect matching of G. For a nonnegative integer k, a graph G is called a k-edge-deletable IM-extendable graph, if, for every F⊆E(G) with |F|=k, G−F is IM-extendable. In this paper, we characterize the k-edge-deletable IM-extendable graphs with minimum number of edges. We show that, for a positive integer k, if G is ak-edge-deletable IM-extendable graph on 2n vertices, then |E(G)|≥(k+2)n; furthermore, the equality holds if and only if either G≅K_k+2,k+2, or k=4r−2 for some integer r≥3 and G≅C₅[N_2r], where N_2r is the empty graph on 2r vertices and C₅[N_2r] is the graph obtained from C₅ by replacing each vertex with a graph isomorphic to N_2r.     

Generalization of matching extensions in graphs (III)

Proposing them as a general framework, Liu and Yu (2001) [6] introduced (n,k,d)-graphs to unify the concepts of deficiency of matchings, n-factor-criticality and k-extendability. Let G be a graph and let n,k and d be non-negative integers such that n+2k+d+2?|V(G)| and |V(G)|−n−d is even. If on deleting any n vertices from G the remaining subgraph H of G contains a k-matching and each k-matching can be extended to a defect-d matching in H, then G is called an (n,k,d)-graph. In this paper, we obtain more properties of (n,k,d)-graphs, in particular the recursive relations of (n,k,d)-graphs for distinct parameters n,k and d. Moreover, we provide a characterization for maximal non-(n,k,d)-graphs.     

On distance-3 matchings and induced matchings

For a finite undirected graph G=(V,E) and positive integer k≥1, an edge set M⊆E is a distance-k matching if the pairwise distance of edges in M is at least k in G. For k=1, this gives the usual notion of matching in graphs, and for general k≥1, distance-k matchings were called k-separated matchings by Stockmeyer and Vazirani. The special case k=2 has been studied under the names induced matching (i.e., a matching which forms an induced subgraph in G) by Cameron and strong matching by Golumbic and Laskar in various papers.Finding a maximum induced matching is NP-complete even on very restricted bipartite graphs and on claw-free graphs but it can be done efficiently on various classes of graphs such as chordal graphs, based on the fact that an induced matching in G corresponds to an independent vertex set in the square L(G)² of the line graph L(G) of G which, by a result of Cameron, is chordal for any chordal graph G.We show that, unlike for k=2, for a chordal graph G, L(G)³ is not necessarily chordal, and finding a maximum distance-3 matching, and more generally, finding a maximum distance-(2k+1) matching for k≥1, remains NP-complete on chordal graphs. For strongly chordal graphs and interval graphs, however, the maximum distance-k matching problem can be solved in polynomial time for every k≥1. Moreover, we obtain various new results for maximum induced matchings on subclasses of claw-free graphs.     

Finding monotone paths in edge-ordered graphs

An edge-ordering of a graph G=(V,E) is a one-to-one function f from E to a subset of the set of positive integers. A path P in G is called an f-ascent if f increases along the edge sequence of P. The heighth(f) of f is the maximum length of an f-ascent in G.In this paper we deal with computational problems concerning finding ascents in graphs. We prove that for a given edge-ordering f of a graph G the problem of determining the value of h(f) is NP-hard. In particular, the problem of deciding whether there is an f-ascent containing all the vertices of G is NP-complete. We also study several variants of this problem, discuss randomized and deterministic approaches and provide an algorithm for the finding of ascents of order at least k in graphs of order n in running time O(4^kn^O(1)).     

The hardness of approximating the boxicity, cubicity and threshold dimension of a graph

A k-dimensional box is the Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_k where each R_i is a closed interval on the real line. The boxicity of a graph G, denoted as , is the minimum integer k such that G can be represented as the intersection graph of a collection of k-dimensional boxes. A unit cube in k-dimensional space or a k-cube is defined as the Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_k where each R_i is a closed interval on the real line of the form [a_i,a_i+1]. The cubicity of G, denoted as , is the minimum integer k such that G can be represented as the intersection graph of a collection of k-cubes. The threshold dimension of a graph G(V,E) is the smallest integer k such that E can be covered by k threshold spanning subgraphs of G. In this paper we will show that there exists no polynomial-time algorithm for approximating the threshold dimension of a graph on n vertices with a factor of O(n^0.5−?) for any ?>0 unless NP=ZPP. From this result we will show that there exists no polynomial-time algorithm for approximating the boxicity and the cubicity of a graph on n vertices with factor O(n^0.5−?) for any ?>0 unless NP=ZPP. In fact all these hardness results hold even for a highly structured class of graphs, namely the split graphs. We will also show that it is NP-complete to determine whether a given split graph has boxicity at most 3.     

Degree conditions for group connectivity

Let G be a 2-edge-connected simple graph on n≥13 vertices and A an (additive) abelian group with |A|≥4. In this paper, we prove that if for every uv∉E(G), max{d(u),d(v)}≥n/4, then either G is A-connected or G can be reduced to one of K_2,3,C₄ and C₅ by repeatedly contracting proper A-connected subgraphs, where C_k is a cycle of length k. We also show that the bound n≥13 is the best possible.     

More on “Connected (n, m)-graphs with minimum and maximum zeroth-order general Randi? index”

Let G be a graph and d(u) denote the degree of a vertex u in G. The zeroth-order general Randi? index ⁰R_α(G) of the graph G is defined as ∑_u∈V(G)d(u)^α, where the summation goes over all vertices of G and α is an arbitrary real number. In this paper we correct the proof of the main Theorem 3.5 of the paper by Hu et al. [Y. Hu, X. Li, Y. Shi, T. Xu, Connected (n,m)-graphs with minimum and maximum zeroth-order general Randi? index, Discrete Appl. Math. 155 (8) (2007) 1044-1054] and give a more general Theorem. We finally characterize ¹ for α<0 the connected G(n,m)-graphs with maximum value ⁰R_α(G(n,m)), where G(n,m) is a simple connected graph with n vertices and m edges.     

On the packing chromatic number of some lattices

For a positive integer k, a k-packing in a graph G is a subset A of vertices such that the distance between any two distinct vertices from A is more than k. The packing chromatic number of G is the smallest integer m such that the vertex set of G can be partitioned as V₁,V₂,…,V_m where V_i is an i-packing for each i. It is proved that the planar triangular lattice T and the three-dimensional integer lattice Z³ do not have finite packing chromatic numbers.     

On the 3-restricted edge connectivity of permutation graphs

An edge cut W of a connected graph G is a k-restricted edge cut if G−W is disconnected, and every component of G−W has at least k vertices. The k-restricted edge connectivity is defined as the minimum cardinality over all k-restricted edge cuts. A permutation graph is obtained by taking two disjoint copies of a graph and adding a perfect matching between the two copies. The k-restricted edge connectivity of a permutation graph is upper bounded by the so-called minimum k-edge degree. In this paper some sufficient conditions guaranteeing optimal k-restricted edge connectivity and super k-restricted edge connectivity for permutation graphs are presented for k=2,3.     

The multiple originator broadcasting problem in graphs

Given a graph G and a vertex subset S of V(G), the broadcasting time with respect toS, denoted by b(G,S), is the minimum broadcasting time when using S as the broadcasting set. And the k-broadcasting number, denoted by b_k(G), is defined by b_k(G)=min{b(G,S)|S⊆V(G),|S|=k}.Given a graph G and two vertex subsets S, S^′ of V(G), define , d(S,S^′)=min{d(u,v)|u∈S, v∈S^′}, and for all v∈V(G). For all k, 1?k?|V(G)|, the k-radius of G, denoted by r_k(G), is defined as r_k(G)=min{d(G,S)|S⊆V(G), |S|=k}.In this paper, we study the relation between the k-radius and the k-broadcasting numbers of graphs. We also give the 2-radius and the 2-broadcasting numbers of the grid graphs, and the k-broadcasting numbers of the complete n-partite graphs and the hypercubes.     

Realizations of AF-algebras as graph algebras, Exel-Laca algebras, and ultragraph algebras

We give various necessary and sufficient conditions for an AF-algebra to be isomorphic to a graph C^∗-algebra, an Exel-Laca algebra, and an ultragraph C^∗-algebra. We also explore consequences of these results. In particular, we show that all stable AF-algebras are both graph C^∗-algebras and Exel-Laca algebras, and that all simple AF-algebras are either graph C^∗-algebras or Exel-Laca algebras. In addition, we obtain a characterization of AF-algebras that are isomorphic to the C^∗-algebra of a row-finite graph with no sinks.     

The Independence Number for De Bruijn networks and Kautz networks

Let D be a directed graph; the (l,ω)-Independence Number of graph D, denoted by α_l,ω(D), is an important performance parameter for interconnection networks. De Bruijn networks and Kautz networks, denoted by B(d,n) and K(d,n) respectively, are versatile and efficient topological structures of interconnection networks. For l=1,2,…,n, this paper shows that α_l,d−1(B(d,n))=dⁿ,α_l,d−1(K(d,n))=α_l,d(K(d,n))=dⁿ+dⁿ⁻¹ if d≥3 and n≤d−2. In particular, the paper shows the exact value of the Independence Number for B(d,1) and B(d,2) for any d. For the generalized situation, the paper obtains a lower bound α_l,d−1(B(d,n))≥d² if n≥3 and d≥5.     

Constructions for cyclic Moebius ladder systems

J.A. Gallian has proved [J.A. Gallian, Labeling prisms and prism related graphs, Congr. Numer. 59 (1987) 89-100] that every cubic graph M_2k obtainable from a 2k-cycle by adding its k diameters (the so-called Moebius Ladder of order 2k) is graceful. Here, in the case of k even, we propose a new graceful labeling that besides being simpler than Gallian’s one is able to give, at the same time, a graceful labeling of the prism of order 2k. Most importantly in the case of k odd, namely in the bipartite case, we prove that M_2k also admits an α-labeling. This implies that there exists a cyclic decomposition of the complete graph K_6kt+1 into copies of M_2k for every pair of positive integers k and t with k odd.In some cases we are able to give such decompositions also when k is even. Apart from the case of t=1 that is an obvious consequence of the gracefulness of M_2k, this happens, for instance, when k≡2 (mod 4) and 6kt+1 is a prime.     

On time-relaxed broadcasting networks

Given a communication network (modelled as a graph), a message is transmitted to at one vertex transmits to all other vertices in such a way that each message transmission takes one time unit and each vertex participates in at most one transmission to its neighbor per time step. We call this process broadcasting. For t≥0, let B_t(n) be the number of edges in the sparsest possible graph on n vertices in which broadcasting can be accomplished in ⌈log₂n⌉+t steps regardless of the originator. Shastri [A. Shastri, Time-relaxed broadcasting in communication networks, Discrete Applied mathematics 83 (1998) 263-278] conjectured that B₁(22)=24 and B₂(n)=n+1 for 25≤n≤29. In this paper, we show that B₁(22)=24, B₂(n)=n for 25≤n≤28 and 37≤n≤44, B₂(n)≤n+1 for 45≤n≤49, B₂(n)≤n+4 for 50≤n≤56, and B₃(n)=n for 55≤n≤64.     

Maximum transversal in partial Latin squares and rainbow matchings

In a partial Latin square P a set of distinct entries, such that no two of which are in the same row or column is called a transversal. By the size of a transversal T, we mean the number of its entries. We define a duplex to be a partial Latin square of order n containing 2n entries such that exactly two entries lie in each row and column and each of n symbols occurs exactly twice. We show that determining the maximum size of a transversal in a given duplex is an NP-complete problem. This problem relates to independent sets in certain subfamilies of cubic graphs. Generalizing the concept of transversals in edge coloring of graphs we are led to introduce the concept of rainbow matching. We show that if each color appears at most twice then it is a polynomial time problem to know whether there exists a rainbow matching of size at least ⌊n/2⌋-t for each fixed t, where n is the order of the graph. As an application we show that for any fixed t, there is a polynomial time algorithm which decides whether α(G)?n-t, for any graph G on 2n vertices containing a perfect matching. At the end we mention some other applications of rainbow matching.     

Minimum monopoly in regular and tree graphs

In this paper we consider a graph optimization problem called minimum monopoly problem, in which it is required to find a minimum cardinality set S⊆V, such that, for each u∈V, |N[u]∩S|?|N[u]|/2 in a given graph G=(V,E). We show that this optimization problem does not have a polynomial-time approximation scheme for k-regular graphs (k?5), unless P=NP. We show this by establishing two L-reductions (an approximation preserving reduction) from minimum dominating set problem for k-regular graphs to minimum monopoly problem for 2k-regular graphs and to minimum monopoly problem for (2k-1)-regular graphs, where k?3. We also show that, for tree graphs, a minimum monopoly set can be computed in linear time.     

Hilbert series of invariants, constant terms and Kostka-Foulkes polynomials

A problem that arose in the study of the mass of the neutrino led us to the evaluation of a constant term with a variety of ramifications into several areas from Invariant Theory, Representation Theory, the Theory of Symmetric Functions and Combinatorics. A significant by-product of our evaluation is the construction of a trigraded Cohen Macaulay basis for the Invariants under an action of SL_n(C) on a space of 2n+n² variables.     

On the colored Tutte polynomial of a graph of bounded treewidth

We observe that a formula given by Negami [Polynomial invariants of graphs, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 299 (1987) 601-622] for the Tutte polynomial of a k-sum of two graphs generalizes to a colored Tutte polynomial. Consequently, an algorithm of Andrzejak [An algorithm for the Tutte polynomials of graphs of bounded treewidth, Discrete Math. 190 (1998) 39-54] may be directly adapted to compute the colored Tutte polynomial of a graph of bounded treewidth in polynomial time. This result has also been proven by Makowsky [Colored Tutte polynomials and Kauffman brackets for graphs of bounded tree width, Discrete Appl. Math. 145 (2005) 276-290], using a different algorithm based on logical techniques.     

Saturated packings and reduced coverings obtained by perturbing tilings

Let a normed space X possess a tiling T consisting of unit balls. We show that any packing P of X obtained by a small perturbation of T is completely translatively saturated; that is, one cannot replace finitely many elements of P by a larger number of unit balls such that the resulting arrangement is still a packing.In contrast with that, given a tiling T of Rⁿ with images of a convex body C under Euclidean isometries, there may exist packings P consisting of isometric images of C obtained from T by arbitrarily small perturbations which are no longer completely saturated. This means that there exists some positive integer k such that one can replace k−1 members of P by k isometric copies of C without violating the packing property. However, we quantify a tradeoff between the size of the perturbation and the minimal k such that the above phenomenon occurs.Analogous results are obtained for coverings.