Rainbow spanning tree decompositions in complete graphs colored by cyclic 1-factorizations

Brualdi and Hollingsworth conjectured in Brualdi and Hollingsworth (1996) that in any complete graph $K_{2n}$, $n\ge 3$, which is properly colored with $2n?1$ colors, the edge set can be partitioned into $n$ edge disjoint rainbow spanning trees (where a graph is said to be rainbow if its edges have distinct colors). Constantine (2002) strengthened this conjecture asking the rainbow spanning trees to be pairwise isomorphic. He also showed an example satisfying his conjecture for every $2n\in \{2^s:s\ge 3\}\cup \{5?2^s,s\ge 1\}$ . Caughmann, Krussel and Mahoney (2017) recently showed a first infinite family of edge colorings for which the conjecture of Brualdi and Hollingsworth can be verified. In the present paper, we extend this result to all edge-colorings arising from cyclic 1-factorizations of $K_{2n}$ constructed by Hartman and Rosa (1985). Finally, we remark that our constructions permit to extend Constatine’s result also to all $2n\in \{2^{s}d:s\ge 1,d>3\text{odd}\}$.     

On the number of rainbow spanning trees in edge-colored complete graphs

A spanning tree of a properly edge-colored complete graph, $K_n$, is rainbow provided that each of its edges receives a distinct color. In 1996, Brualdi and Hollingsworth conjectured that if $K_{2m}$ is properly $(2m?1)$-edge-colored, then the edges of $K_{2m}$ can be partitioned into $m$ rainbow spanning trees except when $m=2$. By means of an explicit, constructive approach, in this paper we construct $?\sqrt{6m+9}∕3?$ mutually edge-disjoint rainbow spanning trees for any positive value of $m$. Not only are the rainbow trees produced, but also some structure of each rainbow spanning tree is determined in the process. This improves upon best constructive result to date in the literature which produces exactly three rainbow trees.     

Hamiltonian decompositions of complete graphs

It is well known that K_{2n + 1} can be decomposed into n edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. A novel method for constructing Hamiltonian decompositions of K_{2n + 1} is given and a procedure for obtaining all Hamiltonian decompositions of of K_{2n + 1} is outlined. This method is applied to find a necessary and sufficient condition for a decomposition of the edge set of K_r (r ≤ 2n) into n classes, each class consisting of disjoint paths to be extendible to a Hamiltonian decomposition of K_{2n + 1} so that each of the classes forms part of a Hamilton cycle.     

Commuting decompositions of complete graphs

We say that two graphs G and H with the same vertex set commute if their adjacency matrices commute. In this article, we show that for any natural number r, the complete multigraph K is decomposable into commuting perfect matchings if and only if n is a 2‐power. Also, it is shown that the complete graph K_n is decomposable into commuting Hamilton cycles if and only if n is a prime number. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs     

The decompositions of line graphs,middle graphs and total graphs of complete graphs into forests

We construct decompositions of L(K_n), M(K_n) and T(K_n) into the minimum number of line-disjoint spanning forests by applying the usual criterion for a graph to be eulerian. This gives a realization of the arboricity of each of these three graphs.     

Sharp bounds for decompositions of graphs into complete r-partite subgraphs

If G is a graph on n vertices and r ≥ 2, we let m_r(G) denote the minimum number of complete multipartite subgraphs, with r or fewer parts, needed to partition the edge set, E(G). In determining m_r(G), we may assume that no two vertices of G have the same neighbor set. For such reducedgraphs G, we prove that m_r(G) ≥ log₂ (n + r − 1)/r. Furthermore, for each k ≥ 0 and r ≥ 2, there is a unique reduced graph G = G(r, k) with m_r(G) = k for which equality holds. We conclude with a short proof of the known eigenvalue bound m_r(G) ≥ max{n₊ (G, n₋(G)/(r − 1)}, and show that equality holds if G = G(r, k). © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Rainbow spanning trees in complete graphs colored by one‐factorizations

Brualdi and Hollingsworth conjectured that, for even n, in a proper edge coloring of using precisely colors, the edge set can be partitioned into spanning trees which are rainbow (and hence, precisely one edge from each color class is in each spanning tree). They proved that there always are two edge disjoint rainbow spanning trees. Krussel, Marshall, and Verrall improved this to three edge disjoint rainbow spanning trees. Recently, Carraher, Hartke and the author proved a theorem improving this to rainbow spanning trees, even when more general edge colorings of are considered. In this article, we show that if is properly edge colored with colors, a positive fraction of the edges can be covered by edge disjoint rainbow spanning trees.     

Nomadic decompositions of bidirected complete graphs

We use to denote the bidirected complete graph on n vertices. A nomadic Hamiltonian decomposition of is a Hamiltonian decomposition, with the additional property that “nomads” walk along the Hamiltonian cycles (moving one vertex per time step) without colliding. A nomadic near-Hamiltonian decomposition is defined similarly, except that the cycles in the decomposition have length n-1, rather than length n. Bondy asked whether these decompositions of exist for all n. We show that admits a nomadic near-Hamiltonian decomposition when .     

On the spanning trees of weighted graphs

Given a weighted graph, letW ₁,W ₂,W ₃,... denote the increasing sequence of all possible distinct spanning tree weights. Settling a conjecture due to Kano, we prove that every spanning tree of weightW ₁ is at mostk–1 edge swaps away from some spanning tree of weightW _k . Three other conjectures posed by Kano are proven for two special classes of graphs. Finally, we consider the algorithmic complexity of generating a spanning tree of weightW _k .This work was supported in part by a grant from the AT&T foundation and NSF grant DCR-8351757.Primarily supported by a 1967 Science and Engineering Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

More on decompositions of edge-colored complete graphs

Let G be a family of graphs whose edges are colored with elements from a set R of r colors. We assume no two vertices of G are joined by more than one edge of color i for any i∈R, for each G∈G. will denote the complete graph with r edges joining any pair of distinct vertices, one of each of the r colors. We describe necessary and asymptotically sufficient conditions on n for the existence of a family D of subgraphs of , each of which is an isomorphic copy of some graph in G, so that each edge of appears in exactly one of the subgraphs in D.     

Hamiltonian decompositions of complete regular s-partite graphs

In this paper we give a procedure by which Hamiltonian decompositions of the s-partite graph K_n,n,…,n, where (s − 1)n is even, can be constructed. For 2t⩽s, 1⩽a₁⩽…⩽a_t⩽n, we find conditions which are necessary and sufficient for a decomposition of the edge-set of K_a1a2…,a_t into (s − 1)n/2 classes, each class consisting of disjoint paths, to be extendible to a Hamiltonian decomposition of the complete s-partite graph K_rmn,n,…,n so that each of the classes forms part of a Hamiltonian cycle.     

Closed trail decompositions of complete equipartite graphs

The complete equipartite graph $K_m * {\overline{K_n}}$ has mn vertices partitioned into m parts of size n, with two vertices adjacent if and only if they are in different parts. In this paper, we determine necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a decomposition of $K_m * {\overline{K_n}}$ into closed trails of length k. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 17: 374–403, 2009     

On cyclic decompositions of the complete graph into the 2-regular graphs

The symbol C(m₁ ⁿ ₁m₂ ⁿ ₂...m_s ⁿ _s) denotes a 2-regular graph consisting ofn _i cycles of lengthm _i , i=1, 2,…,s. In this paper, we give some construction methods of cyclic(K _v ,G)-designs, and prove that there exists a cyclic(K _v , G)-design whenG=C((4m ₁) ⁿ ₁(4m ₂) ⁿ ₂...(4m _s ) ⁿ _s andv ≡ 1 (mod 2¦G¦).