Degree powers in graphs with a forbidden forest

Given a positive integer $p$ and a graph $G$ with degree sequence $d_1,\dots ,d_n$, we define $e_p\left(G\right)={\sum }_{i=1}^n{d}_i^p$. Caro and Yuster introduced a Turán-type problem for $e_p\left(G\right)$: Given a positive integer $p$ and a graph $H$, determine the function ${\text{ex}}_p(n,H)$, which is the maximum value of $e_p\left(G\right)$ taken over all graphs $G$ on $n$ vertices that do not contain $H$ as a subgraph. Clearly, ${\text{ex}}_1(n,H)=2\text{ex}(n,H)$, where $\text{ex}(n,H)$ denotes the classical Turán number. Caro and Yuster determined the function ${\text{ex}}_p(n,P_{?})$ for sufficiently large $n$, where $p\ge 2$ and $P_{?}$ denotes the path on $?$ vertices. In this paper, we generalise this result and determine ${\text{ex}}_p(n,F)$ for sufficiently large $n$, where $p\ge 2$ and $F$ is a linear forest. We also determine ${\text{ex}}_p(n,S)$, where $S$ is a star forest; and ${\text{ex}}_p(n,B)$, where $B$ is a broom graph with diameter at most six.     

Complete graphs and complete bipartite graphs without rainbow path

Motivated by Ramsey-type questions, we consider edge-colorings of complete graphs and complete bipartite graphs without rainbow path. Given two graphs $G$ and $H$, the $k$-colored Gallai–Ramsey number $g{r}_k(G:H)$ is defined to be the minimum integer $n$ such that $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)\ge k$ and for every $N\ge n$, every rainbow $G$-free coloring (using all $k$ colors) of the complete graph $K_N$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. In this paper, we first provide some exact values and bounds of $g{r}_k(P_5:K_t)$. Moreover, we define the $k$-colored bipartite Gallai–Ramsey number $bg{r}_k(G:H)$ as the minimum integer $n$ such that $n^2\ge k$ and for every $N\ge n$, every rainbow $G$-free coloring (using all $k$ colors) of the complete bipartite graph $K_{N,N}$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. Furthermore, we describe the structures of complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ with no rainbow $P_4$ and $P_5$, respectively. Finally, we find the exact values of $bg{r}_k(P_4:K_{s,t})$ ($1\le s\le t$), $bg{r}_k(P_4:F)$ (where $F$ is a subgraph of $K_{s,t}$), $bg{r}_k(P_5:K_{1,t})$ and $bg{r}_k(P_5:K_{2,t})$ by using the structural results.     

Fractional chromatic numbers of tensor products of three graphs

The tensor product $(G_1,G_2,G_3)$ of graphs $G_1$, $G_2$ and $G_3$ is defined by $V(G_1,G_2,G_3)=V\left(G_1\right)\times V\left(G_2\right)\times V\left(G_3\right)$and $E(G_1,G_2,G_3)=\left\{\left((u_1,u_2,u_3),(v_1,v_2,v_3)\right):\left|\{i:(u_i,v_i)\in E\left(G_i\right)\}\right|\ge 2\right\}.$Let ${\chi }_f\left(G\right)$ be the fractional chromatic number of a graph $G$. In this paper, we prove that if one of the three graphs $G_1$, $G_2$ and $G_3$ is a circular clique, ${\chi }_f(G_1,G_2,G_3)=min\{{\chi }_f\left(G_1\right){\chi }_f\left(G_2\right),{\chi }_f\left(G_1\right){\chi }_f\left(G_3\right),{\chi }_f\left(G_2\right){\chi }_f\left(G_3\right)\}.$     

Monochromatic k-edge-connection colorings of graphs

A path in an edge-colored graph $G$ is called monochromatic if any two edges on the path have the same color. For $k\ge 2$, an edge-colored graph $G$ is said to be monochromatic $k$-edge-connected if every two distinct vertices of $G$ are connected by at least $k$ edge-disjoint monochromatic paths, and $G$ is said to be uniformly monochromatic $k$-edge-connected if every two distinct vertices are connected by at least $k$ edge-disjoint monochromatic paths such that all edges of these $k$ paths are colored with a same color. We use $m{c}_k\left(G\right)$ and $um{c}_k\left(G\right)$ to denote the maximum number of colors that ensures $G$ to be monochromatic $k$-edge-connected and, respectively, $G$ to be uniformly monochromatic $k$-edge-connected. In this paper, we first conjecture that for any $k$-edge-connected graph $G$, $m{c}_k\left(G\right)=e\left(G\right)-e\left(H\right)+\lfloor \frac{k}{2}\rfloor$, where $H$ is a minimum $k$-edge-connected spanning subgraph of $G$. We verify the conjecture for $k=2$. We also prove the conjecture for $G=K_{k+1}$ and $G=K_{k,n}$ with $n\ge k\ge 3$. When $G$ is a minimal $k$-edge-connected graph, we give an upper bound of $m{c}_k\left(G\right)$, i.e., $m{c}_k\left(G\right)\le k-1$. For the uniformly monochromatic $k$-edge-connectivity, we prove that for all $k$, $um{c}_k\left(G\right)=e\left(G\right)-e\left(H\right)+1$, where $H$ is a minimum $k$-edge-connected spanning subgraph of $G$.     

A note on Hadwiger’s conjecture for W5-free graphs with independence number two

The Hadwiger number of a graph $G$, denoted $h\left(G\right)$, is the largest integer $t$ such that $G$ contains $K_t$ as a minor. A famous conjecture due to Hadwiger in 1943 states that for every graph $G$, $h\left(G\right)\ge \chi \left(G\right)$, where $\chi \left(G\right)$ denotes the chromatic number of $G$. Let $\alpha \left(G\right)$ denote the independence number of $G$. A graph is $H$-free if it does not contain the graph $H$ as an induced subgraph. In 2003, Plummer, Stiebitz and Toft proved that $h\left(G\right)\ge \chi \left(G\right)$ for all $H$-free graphs $G$ with $\alpha \left(G\right)\le 2$, where $H$ is any graph on four vertices with $\alpha \left(H\right)\le 2$, $H=C_5$, or $H$ is a particular graph on seven vertices. In 2010, Kriesell subsequently generalized the statement to include all forbidden subgraphs $H$ on five vertices with $\alpha \left(H\right)\le 2$. In this note, we prove that $h\left(G\right)\ge \chi \left(G\right)$ for all $W_5$-free graphs $G$ with $\alpha \left(G\right)\le 2$, where $W_5$ denotes the wheel on six vertices.     

Point partition numbers: Decomposable and indecomposable critical graphs

Graphs considered in this paper are finite, undirected and loopless, but we allow multiple edges. The point partition number ${\chi }_t(G)$ is the least integer k for which G admits a coloring with k colors such that each color class induces a $(t?1)$-degenerate subgraph of G. So ${\chi }_1$ is the chromatic number and ${\chi }_2$ is the point arboricity. The point partition number ${\chi }_t$ with $t\ge 1$ was introduced by Lick and White. A graph G is called ${\chi }_t$-critical if every proper subgraph H of G satisfies ${\chi }_t(H)<{\chi }_t(G)$. In this paper we prove that if G is a ${\chi }_t$-critical graph whose order satisfies $|G|\le 2{\chi }_t(G)?2$, then G can be obtained from two non-empty disjoint subgraphs $G_1$ and $G_2$ by adding t edges between any pair $u,v$ of vertices with $u\in V(G_1)$ and $v\in V(G_2)$. Based on this result we establish the minimum number of edges possible in a ${\chi }_t$-critical graph G of order n and with ${\chi }_t(G)=k$, provided that $n\le 2k?1$ and t is even. For $t=1$ the corresponding two results were obtained in 1963 by Tibor Gallai.     

Spanning trees with at most 4 leaves in K1,5-free graphs

In 2009, Kyaw proved that every $n$-vertex connected $K_{1,4}$-free graph $G$ with ${\sigma }_4\left(G\right)\ge n?1$ contains a spanning tree with at most 3 leaves. In this paper, we prove an analogue of Kyaw’s result for connected $K_{1,5}$-free graphs. We show that every $n$-vertex connected $K_{1,5}$-free graph $G$ with ${\sigma }_5\left(G\right)\ge n?1$ contains a spanning tree with at most 4 leaves. Moreover, the degree sum condition “${\sigma }_5\left(G\right)\ge n?1$” is best possible.     

A note on the Hambleton-Taylor-Williams conjecture

I. Hambleton, L. Taylor and B. Williams conjectured a general formula in the spirit of H. Lenstra for the decomposition of $G_n(RG)$ for any finite group G and noetherian ring R. The conjectured decomposition was shown to hold for some large classes of finite groups. D. Webb and D. Yao discovered that the conjecture failed for the symmetric group $S_5$, but remarked that it still might be reasonable to expect the HTW-decomposition for solvable groups. In this paper we show that the solvable group $\mathrm{SL}(2,{\mathbb{F}}_3)$ is also a counterexample to the conjectured HTW-decomposition. Nevertheless, we prove that for any finite group G the rank of $G_1(\mathbb{Z}G)$ does not exceed the rank of the expression in the HTW-decomposition. We also show that the HTW-decomposition predicts correct torsion for $G_1(\mathbb{Z}G)$ for any finite group G. Furthermore, we prove that for any degree other than $n=1$ the conjecture gives a correct prediction for the rank of $G_n(\mathbb{Z}G)$.     

On the local geometry of graphs in terms of their spectra

In this paper we consider the relation between the spectrum and the number of short cycles in large graphs. Suppose $G_1,G_2,G_3,\dots$ is a sequence of finite and connected graphs that share a common universal cover $T$ and such that the proportion of eigenvalues of $G_n$ that lie within the support of the spectrum of $T$ tends to 1 in the large $n$ limit. This is a weak notion of being Ramanujan. We prove such a sequence of graphs is asymptotically locally tree-like. This is deduced by way of an analogous theorem proved for certain infinite sofic graphs and unimodular networks, which extends results for regular graphs and certain infinite Cayley graphs.     

On the signless Laplacian spectral radius of weighted digraphs

Let $G=(V\left(G\right),E\left(G\right))$ be a weighted digraph with vertex set $V\left(G\right)=\{v_1,v_2,\dots ,v_n\}$ and arc set $E\left(G\right)$, where the arc weights are nonzero nonnegative symmetric matrices. In this paper, we obtain an upper bound on the signless Laplacian spectral radius of a weighted digraph $G$, and if $G$ is strongly connected, we also characterize the digraphs achieving the upper bound. Moreover, we show that an upper bound of weighted digraphs or unweighted digraphs can be deduced from our upper bound.