Characterization of the induced matching extendable graphs with 2n vertices and 3n edges

A graph $G$ is induced matching extendable or IM-extendable if every induced matching of $G$ is contained in a perfect matching of $G$. In 1998, Yuan proved that a connected IM-extendable graph on $2n$ vertices has at least $3n?2$ edges, and that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n$ vertices and $3n?2$ edges is $T\times K_2$ , where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices. In 2005, Zhou and Yuan proved that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n\ge 6$ vertices and $3n?1$ edges is $T\times K_2+e$, where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices and $e$ is an edge connecting two vertices that lie in different copies of $T$ and have distance 3 between them in $T\times K_2$. In this paper, we introduced the definition of $Q$-joint graph and characterized the connected IM-extendable graphs with $2n\ge 4$ vertices and $3n$ edges.     

A 4/3-approximation for TSP on cubic 3-edge-connected graphs

For a 3-edge-connected cubic graph $G=(V,E)$, we give an algorithm to construct a connected Eulerian subgraph of $2G$ using at most $?4\left|V\right|∕3?$ edges.     

A new approach to the chromatic number of the square of Kneser graph K(2k+1,k)

The vertices of Kneser graph $K(n,k)$ are the subsets of $\{1,2,\dots ,n\}$ of cardinality $k$, two vertices are adjacent if and only if they are disjoint. The square $G^2$ of a graph $G$ is defined on the vertex set of $G$ with two vertices adjacent if their distance in $G$ is at most 2. Z. Füredi, in 2002, proposed the problem of determining the chromatic number of the square of the Kneser graph. The first non-trivial problem arises when $n=2k+1$. It is believed that $\chi \left(K^2(2k+1,k)\right)=2k+c$ where $c$ is a constant, and yet the problem remains open. The best known upper bounds are by Kim and Park: $8k∕3+20∕3$ for 1$k\ge 3$ (Kim and Park, 2014) and $32k∕15+32$ for $k\ge 7$ (Kim and Park, 2016). In this paper, we develop a new approach to this coloring problem by employing graph homomorphisms, cartesian products of graphs, and linear congruences integrated with combinatorial arguments. These lead to $\chi \left(K^2(2k+1,k)\right)\le 5k∕2+c$, where $c$ is a constant in $\{5∕2,9∕2,5,6\}$, depending on $k\ge 2$.     

Properties of minimally t-tough graphs

A graph $G$ is minimally $t$-tough if the toughness of $G$ is $t$ and the deletion of any edge from $G$ decreases the toughness. Kriesell conjectured that for every minimally $1$-tough graph the minimum degree $\delta \left(G\right)=2$. We show that in every minimally $1$-tough graph $\delta \left(G\right)\le \frac{n}{3}+1$. We also prove that every minimally $1$-tough, claw-free graph is a cycle. On the other hand, we show that for every positive rational number $t$ any graph can be embedded as an induced subgraph into a minimally $t$-tough graph.     

Constructing connected bicritical graphs with edge-connectivity 2

A graph $G$ is said to be bicritical if the removal of any pair of vertices decreases the domination number of $G$. For a bicritical graph $G$ with the domination number $t$, we say that $G$ is $t$-bicritical. Let $\lambda \left(G\right)$ denote the edge-connectivity of $G$. In [2], Brigham et al. (2005) posed the following question: If $G$ is a connected bicritical graph, is it true that $\lambda \left(G\right)\ge 3?$In this paper, we give a negative answer toward this question; namely, we give a construction of infinitely many connected $t$-bicritical graphs with edge-connectivity $2$ for every integer $t\ge 5$. Furthermore, we give some sufficient conditions for a connected $5$-bicritical graph to have $\lambda \left(G\right)\ge 3$.     

On 3-stable number conditions in n-connected claw-free graphs

For a subgraph $X$ of $G$, let ${\alpha }_G^3\left(X\right)$ be the maximum number of vertices of $X$ that are pairwise distance at least three in $G$. In this paper, we prove three theorems. Let $n$ be a positive integer, and let $H$ be a subgraph of an $n$-connected claw-free graph $G$. We prove that if $n\ge 2$, then either $H$ can be covered by a cycle in $G$, or there exists a cycle $C$ in $G$ such that ${\alpha }_G^3(H?V\left(C\right))\le {\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)?n$. This result generalizes the result of Broersma and Lu that $G$ has a cycle covering all the vertices of $H$ if ${\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)\le n$. We also prove that if $n\ge 1$, then either $H$ can be covered by a path in $G$, or there exists a path $P$ in $G$ such that ${\alpha }_G^3(H?V\left(P\right))\le {\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)?n?1$. By using the second result, we prove the third result. For a tree $T$, a vertex of $T$ with degree one is called a leaf of $T$. For an integer $k\ge 2$, a tree which has at most $k$ leaves is called a $k$-ended tree. We prove that if ${\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)\le n+k?1$, then $G$ has a $k$-ended tree covering all the vertices of $H$. This result gives a positive answer to the conjecture proposed by Kano et al. (2012).     

Extremal product-one free sequences in Dihedral and Dicyclic Groups

Let $G$ be a finite group, written multiplicatively. The Davenport constant of $G$ is the smallest positive integer $D\left(G\right)$ such that every sequence of $G$ with $D\left(G\right)$ elements has a non-empty subsequence with product $1$. Let $D_{2n}$ be the Dihedral Group of order $2n$ and $Q_{4n}$ be the Dicyclic Group of order $4n$. Zhuang and Gao (2005) showed that $D\left(D_{2n}\right)=n+1$ and Bass (2007) showed that $D\left(Q_{4n}\right)=2n+1$. In this paper, we give explicit characterizations of all sequences $S$ of $G$ such that $\left|S\right|=D\left(G\right)?1$ and $S$ is free of subsequences whose product is 1, where $G$ is equal to $D_{2n}$ or $Q_{4n}$ for some $n$.     

On the facial Thue choice index of plane graphs

Let $G$ be a plane graph, and let $\phi$ be a colouring of its edges. The edge colouring $\phi$ of $G$ is called facial non-repetitive if for no sequence $r_1,r_2,\dots ,r_{2n}$, $n\ge 1$, of consecutive edge colours of any facial path we have $r_i=r_{n+i}$ for all $i=1,2,\dots ,n$. Assume that each edge $e$ of a plane graph $G$ is endowed with a list $L\left(e\right)$ of colours, one of which has to be chosen to colour $e$. The smallest integer $k$ such that for every list assignment with minimum list length at least $k$ there exists a facial non-repetitive edge colouring of $G$ with colours from the associated lists is the facial Thue choice index of $G$, and it is denoted by ${\pi }_{fl}\left(G\right)$. In this article we show that ${\pi }_{fl}^{\prime }\left(G\right)\le 291$ for arbitrary plane graphs $G$. Moreover, we give some better bounds for special classes of plane graphs.     

A note on degree sum conditions for 2-factors with a prescribed number of cycles in bipartite graphs

Let $G$ be a balanced bipartite graph of order $2n\ge 4$, and let ${\sigma }_{1,1}\left(G\right)$ be the minimum degree sum of two non-adjacent vertices in different partite sets of $G$. In 1963, Moon and Moser proved that if ${\sigma }_{1,1}\left(G\right)\ge n+1$, then $G$ is hamiltonian. In this note, we show that if $k$ is a positive integer, then the Moon–Moser condition also implies the existence of a 2-factor with exactly $k$ cycles for sufficiently large graphs. In order to prove this, we also give a ${\sigma }_{1,1}$ condition for the existence of $k$ vertex-disjoint alternating cycles with respect to a chosen perfect matching in $G$.     

The list L(2,1)-labeling of planar graphs

Let $\mathbf{N}$ be the set of all positive integers. A list assignment of a graph $G$ is a function $L:V\left(G\right)?2^{\mathbf{N}}$ that assigns each vertex $v$ a list $L\left(v\right)$ for all $v\in V\left(G\right)$. We say that $G$ is $L$-$(2,1)$-choosable if there exists a function $?$ such that $?\left(v\right)\in L\left(v\right)$ for all $v\in V\left(G\right)$, $|?\left(u\right)??\left(v\right)|\ge 2$ if $u$ and $v$ are adjacent, and $|?\left(u\right)??\left(v\right)|\ge 1$ if $u$ and $v$ are at distance 2. The list-$L(2,1)$-labeling number ${\lambda }_l\left(G\right)$ of $G$ is the minimum $k$ such that for every list assignment $L=\{L\left(v\right):|L\left(v\right)|=k,v\in V\left(G\right)\}$, $G$ is $L$-$(2,1)$-choosable. We prove that if $G$ is a planar graph with girth $g\ge 8$ and its maximum degree $\Delta$ is large enough, then ${\lambda }_l\left(G\right)\le \Delta +3$. There are graphs with large enough $\Delta$ and $g\ge 8$ having ${\lambda }_l\left(G\right)=\Delta +3$.