Minimal extensions of graphs to absolute retracts

A graph H is an absolute retract if for every isometric embedding h of, into a graph G an edge-preserving map g from G to H exists such that g · h is the identity map on H. A vertex v is embeddable in a graph G if G ? v is a retract of G. An absolute retract is uniquely determined by its set of embeddable vertices. We may regard this set as a metric space. We also prove that a graph (finite metric space with integral distance) can be isometrically embedded into only one smallest absolute retract (injective hull). All graphs in this paper are finite, connected, and without multiple edges.     

A characterization of well-covered graphs that contain neither 4- nor 5-cycles

A graph is well covered if every maximal independent set has the same cardinality. A vertex x, in a well-covered graph G, is called extendable if G – {x} is well covered and β(G) = β(G – {x}). If G is a connected, well-covered graph containing no 4- nor 5-cycles as subgraphs and G contains an extendable vertex, then G is the disjoint union of edges and triangles together with a restricted set of edges joining extendable vertices. There are only 3 other connected, well-covered graphs of this type that do not contain an extendable vertex. Moreover, all these graphs can be recognized in polynomial time.     

Graphs without isometric rays and invariant subgraph properties,I

A ray of a graph G is isometric if every path in R is a shortest path in G. A vertex x of G geodesically dominates a subset A of V(G) if, for every finite S ⊆ V(G − x), there exists an element a of A − {x} such that the interval (set of vertices of all shortest paths) between x and a is disjoint from S. A set A ⊆ V(G) is geodesically closed if it contains all vertices which geodesically dominate A. These geodesically closed sets define a topology, called the geodesic topology, on V(G). We prove that a connected graph G has no isometric rays if and only if the set V(G) endowed with the geodesic topology is compact, or equivalently if and only if the vertex set of every ray in G is geodesically dominated. We prove different invariant subgraph properties for graphs containing no isometric rays. In particular we show that every self-contraction (map which preserves or contracts the edges) of a chordal graph G stabilizes a non-empty finite simplex (complete graph) if and only if G is connected and contains no isometric rays and no infinite simplices. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 27: 99–109, 1998     

Retracts of hypercubes

An induced subgraph G of a graph H is a retract of H if there is an edge-preserving map f from H onto G such that f|_G is the identity map on G. A median graph is a connected graph such that for any three vertices u,v and w, there exists a unique vertex x which lies simultaneously on some shortest (u,v)-, (v,w)-, and (w,u)-paths. It is shown that a graph G is a retract of some hypercube if and only if G is a median graph.     

A New Class of Brittle Graphs

A graph G is perfectly orderable in the sense of Chvátal if there exists a linear order on the set of vertices of G such that no induced path with vertices a, b, c, d and edges ab, bc, cd has a < b and d < c. A perfectly orderable graph G is brittle if every induced subgraph of G contains a vertex which is either endpoint or midpoint of no induced path with three edges in G. We present a new class of brittle graphs by forbidden configurations.     

A polynomial-time algorithm for the paired-domination problem on permutation graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph H=(V,E) with no isolated vertices is a paired-dominating set of H if every vertex of H is adjacent to at least one vertex in S and if the subgraph induced by S contains a perfect matching. Let G be a permutation graph and π be its corresponding permutation. In this paper we present an O(mn) time algorithm for finding a minimum cardinality paired-dominating set for a permutation graph G with n vertices and m edges.     

The Sigma Chromatic Number of a Graph

For a nontrivial connected graph G, let ${c: V(G)\to {{\mathbb N}}}For a nontrivial connected graph G, let c: V(G)? \mathbb N{c: V(G)\to {{\mathbb N}}} be a vertex coloring of G, where adjacent vertices may be colored the same. For a vertex v of G, let N(v) denote the set of vertices adjacent to v. The color sum σ(v) of v is the sum of the colors of the vertices in N(v). If σ(u) ≠ σ(v) for every two adjacent vertices u and v of G, then c is called a sigma coloring of G. The minimum number of colors required in a sigma coloring of a graph G is called its sigma chromatic number σ(G). The sigma chromatic number of a graph G never exceeds its chromatic number χ(G) and for every pair a, b of positive integers with a ≤ b, there exists a connected graph G with σ(G) = a and χ(G) = b. There is a connected graph G of order n with σ(G) = k for every pair k, n of positive integers with k ≤n if and only if k ≠ n − 1. Several other results concerning sigma chromatic numbers are presented.     

Strictly Deza line graphs

For a given graph G, its line graph L(G) is defined as the graph with vertex set equal to the edge set of G in which two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding edges of G have exactly one common vertex. A k-regular graph of diameter 2 on υ vertices is called a strictly Deza graph with parameters (υ, k, b, a) if it is not strongly regular and any two vertices have a or b common neighbors. We give a classification of strictly Deza line graphs.     

The minimum degree of Ramsey‐minimal graphs

We write H → G if every 2‐coloring of the edges of graph H contains a monochromatic copy of graph G. A graph H is G‐minimal if H → G, but for every proper subgraph H′ of H, H′ ? G. We define s(G) to be the minimum s such that there exists a G‐minimal graph with a vertex of degree s. We prove that s(K_k) = (k ? 1)² and s(K_a,b) = 2 min(a,b) ? 1. We also pose several related open problems. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 54: 167–177, 2007     

[a,b]-factorization of a graph

Let a and b be integers such that 0 ? a ? b. Then a graph G is called an [a, b]-graph if a ? d_G(x) ? b for every x ? V(G), and an [a, b]-factor of a graph is defined to be its spanning subgraph F such that a ? d_F(x) ? b for every vertex x, where d_G(x) and d_F(x) denote the degrees of x in G and F, respectively. If the edges of a graph can be decomposed into [a.b]-factors then we say that the graph is [2a, 2a]-factorable. We prove the following two theorems: (i) a graph G is [2a, 2b)-factorable if and only if G is a [2am,2bm]-graph for some integer m, and (ii) every [8m + 2k, 10m + 2k]-graph is [1,2]-factorable.     

Vertex Coverings by Coloured Induced Graphs—Frames and Umbrellas

A graph G homogeneously embeds in a graph H if for every vertex x of G and every vertex y of H there is an induced copy of G in H with x at y. The graph G uniformly embeds in H if for every vertex y of H there is an induced copy of G in H containing y. For positive integer k, let f_k(G) (respectively, g_k(G)) be the minimum order of a graph H whose edges can be k-coloured such that for each colour, G homogeneously embeds (respectively, uniformly embeds) in the graph given by V(H) and the edges of that colour. We investigate the values f₂(G) and g₂(G) for special classes of G, in particular when G is a star or balanced complete bipartite graph. Then we investigate f_k(G) and g_k(G) when k ≥ 3 and G is a complete graph.     

Roman and Total Domination

Abstract

A set S of vertices is a total dominating set of a graph G if every vertex of G is adjacent to some vertex in S. The minimum cardinality of a total dominating set is the total domination number ^γt(G). A Roman dominating function on a graph G is a function f : V (G) → {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u with f (u)=0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v of G for which f (v)=2. The minimum of f (V (G))=∑_{u ∈ V (G)} f (u) over all such functions is called the Roman domination number γR (G). We show that γt(G) ≤ γR (G) with equality if and only if ^γt(G)=2γ(G), where γ(G) is the domination number of G. Moreover, we characterize the extremal graphs for some graph families.     

Mangoes and Blueberries

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős We prove the following conjecture of Erdős and Hajnal: For every integer k there is an f(k) such that if for a graph G, every subgraph H of G has a stable set containing vertices, then G contains a set X of at most f(k) vertices such that G−X is bipartite. This conjecture was related to me by Paul Erdős at a conference held in Annecy during July of 1996. I regret not being able to share the answer with him. Received: August 20, 1997     

Local and global average degree in graphs and multigraphs

A vertex v of a graph G is called groupie if the average degree t_v of all neighbors of v in G is not smaller than the average degree t_G of G. Every graph contains a groupie vertex; the problem of whether or not every simple graph on ≧2 vertices has at least two groupie vertices turned out to be surprisingly difficult. We present various sufficient conditions for a simple graph to contain at least two groupie vertices. Further, we investigate the function f(n) = max min_v (t_v/t_G), where the maximum ranges over all simple graphs on n vertices, and prove that f(n) = 1/42n + o(1). The corresponding result for multigraphs is in sharp contrast with the above. We also characterize trees in which the local average degree t_v is constant.     

Total weight choosability of graphs

A graph G = (V, E) is called (k, k′)‐total weight choosable if the following holds: For any total list assignment L which assigns to each vertex x a set L(x) of k real numbers, and assigns to each edge e a set L(e) of k′ real numbers, there is a mapping f: V∪E→? such that f(y)∈L(y) for any y∈V∪Eand for any two adjacent vertices x, x′, . We conjecture that every graph is (2, 2)‐total weight choosable and every graph without isolated edges is (1, 3)‐total weight choosable. It follows from results in [7] that complete graphs, complete bipartite graphs, trees other than K₂ are (1, 3)‐total weight choosable. Also a graph G obtained from an arbitrary graph H by subdividing each edge with at least three vertices is (1, 3)‐total weight choosable. This article proves that complete graphs, trees, generalized theta graphs are (2, 2)‐total weight choosable. We also prove that for any graph H, a graph G obtained from H by subdividing each edge with at least two vertices is (2, 2)‐total weight choosable as well as (1, 3)‐total weight choosable. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 66:198‐212, 2011     

Randomly Orthogonal (g,f)-factorizations in Graphs

Let G be a graph with vertex set V(G) and edge set E(G) and let g and f be two integer-valued functions defined on V(G) such that 2k − 2 ≤ f(x) for all x ∈ V(G). Let H be a subgraph of G with mk edges. In this paper it is proved that every (mg + m − 1,mf − m + 1)-graph G has (g,f)-factorizations randomly k-orthogonal to H and shown that the result is best possible.     

An Upper Bound for the Total Domination Subdivision Number of a Graph

A set S of vertices of a graph G = (V, E) without isolated vertex is a total dominating set if every vertex of V(G) is adjacent to some vertex in S. The total domination number γ _t (G) is the minimum cardinality of a total dominating set of G. The total domination subdivision number sd_gt(G){{\rm sd}_{\gamma_t}(G)} is the minimum number of edges that must be subdivided (each edge in G can be subdivided at most once) in order to increase the total domination number. In this paper, we prove that sd_gt(G) ￡ 2g_t(G)-1{{\rm sd}_{\gamma_t}(G)\leq 2\gamma_t(G)-1} for every simple connected graph G of order n ≥ 3.     

Finite common coverings of pairs of regular graphs

The graph G is a covering of the graph H if there exists a (projection) map p from the vertex set of G to the vertex set of H which induces a one-to-one correspondence between the vertices adjacent to v in G and the vertices adjacent to p(v) in H, for every vertex v of G. We show that for any two finite regular graphs G and H of the same degree, there exists a finite graph K that is simultaneously a covering both of G and H. The proof uses only Hall's theorem on 1-factors in regular bipartite graphs.     

Group connectivity and group colorings of graphs — A survey

In 1950s, Tutte introduced the theory of nowhere-zero flows as a tool to investigate the coloring problem of maps, together with his most fascinating conjectures on nowhere-zero flows. These have been extended by Jaeger et al. in 1992 to group connectivity, the nonhomogeneous form of nowhere-zero flows. Let G be a 2-edge-connected undirected graph, A be an (additive) abelian group and A* = A − {0}. The graph G is A-connected if G has an orientation D(G) such that for every map b: V (G) ↦ A satisfying Σ _v∈V(G) b(v) = 0, there is a function f: E(G) ↦ A* such that for each vertex v ∈ V (G), the total amount of f-values on the edges directed out from v minus the total amount of f-values on the edges directed into v is equal to b(v). The group coloring of a graph arises from the dual concept of group connectivity. There have been lots of investigations on these subjects. This survey provides a summary of researches on group connectivity and group colorings of graphs. It contains the following sections.

The Forcing Convexity Number of a Graph

For two vertices u and v of a connected graph G, the set I(u,v) consists of all those vertices lying on a u-v geodesic in G. For a set S of vertices of G, the union of all sets I(u,v) for u, v S is denoted by I(S). A set S is a convex set if I(S) = S. The convexity number con(G) of G is the maximum cardinality of a proper convex set of G. A convex set S in G with |S| = con(G) is called a maximum convex set. A subset T of a maximum convex set S of a connected graph G is called a forcing subset for S if S is the unique maximum convex set containing T. The forcing convexity number f(S, con) of S is the minimum cardinality among the forcing subsets for S, and the forcing convexity number f(G, con) of G is the minimum forcing convexity number among all maximum convex sets of G. The forcing convexity numbers of several classes of graphs are presented, including complete bipartite graphs, trees, and cycles. For every graph G, f(G, con) con(G). It is shown that every pair a, b of integers with 0 a b and b is realizable as the forcing convexity number and convexity number, respectively, of some connected graph. The forcing convexity number of the Cartesian product of H × K ₂ for a nontrivial connected graph H is studied.