On extremal k-outconnected graphs

Let G be a minimally k-connected graph with n nodes and m edges. Mader proved that if n?3k-2 then m?k(n-k), and for n?3k-1 an equality is possible if, and only if, G is the complete bipartite graph K_k,n-k. Cai proved that if n?3k-2 then m?⌊(n+k)²/8⌋, and listed the cases when this bound is tight.In this paper we prove a more general theorem, which implies similar results for minimally k-outconnected graphs; a graph is called k-outconnected from r if it contains k internally disjoint paths from r to every other node.     

Construction for bicritical graphs and k-extendable bipartite graphs

A graph G is said to be bicritical if G-u-v has a perfect matching for every choice of a pair of points u and v. Bicritical graphs play a central role in decomposition theory of elementary graphs with respect to perfect matchings. As Plummer pointed out many times, the structure of bicritical graphs is far from completely understood. This paper presents a concise structure characterization on bicritical graphs in terms of factor-critical graphs and transversals of hypergraphs. A connected graph G with at least 2k+2 points is said to be k-extendable if it contains a matching of k lines and every such matching is contained in a perfect matching. A structure characterization for k-extendable bipartite graphs is given in a recursive way. Furthermore, this paper presents an O(mn) algorithm for determining the extendability of a bipartite graph G, the maximum integer k such that G is k-extendable, where n is the number of points and m is the number of lines in G.     

On low degree k-ordered graphs

A simple graph G is k-ordered (respectively, k-ordered hamiltonian) if, for any sequence of k distinct vertices v₁,…,v_k of G, there exists a cycle (respectively, a hamiltonian cycle) in G containing these k vertices in the specified order. In 1997 Ng and Schultz introduced these concepts of cycle orderability, and motivated by the fact that k-orderedness of a graph implies (k-1)-connectivity, they posed the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs. We construct an infinite family of graphs, which we call bracelet graphs, that are (k-1)-regular and are k-ordered hamiltonian for odd k. This result provides the best possible answer to the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs for odd k. We further show that for even k, there exist no k-ordered bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree less than k+2, and we exhibit an infinite family of bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree k+2 that are k-ordered for even k. A concept related to k-orderedness, namely that of k-edge-orderedness, is likewise strongly related to connectivity properties. We study this relation and give bounds on the connectivity necessary to imply k-(edge-)orderedness properties.     

Coloring some classes of mixed graphs

We consider the coloring problem for mixed graphs, that is, for graphs containing edges and arcs. A mixed coloring c is a coloring such that for every edge [x_i,x_j], c(x_i)≠c(x_j) and for every arc (x_p,x_q), c(x_p)<c(x_q). We will analyse the complexity status of this problem for some special classes of graphs.     

The d-precoloring problem for k-degenerate graphs

In this paper we deal with the d-PRECOLORING EXTENSION (d-PREXT) problem in various classes of graphs. The d-PREXT problem is the special case of PRECOLORING EXTENSION problem where, for a fixed constant d, input instances are restricted to contain at most d precolored vertices for every available color. The goal is to decide if there exists an extension of given precoloring using only available colors or to find it.We present a linear time algorithm for both, the decision and the search version of d-PREXT, in the following cases: (i) restricted to the class of k-degenerate graphs (hence also planar graphs) and with sufficiently large set S of available colors, and (ii) restricted to the class of partial k-trees (without any size restriction on S). We also study the following problem related to d-PREXT: given an instance of the d-PREXT problem which is extendable by colors of S, what is the minimum number of colors of S sufficient to use for precolorless vertices over all such extensions? We establish lower and upper bounds on this value for k-degenerate graphs and its various subclasses (e.g., planar graphs, outerplanar graphs) and prove tight results for the class of trees.     

A lower bound on the number of removable ears of 1-extendable graphs

Let G be a 1-extendable graph distinct from K₂ and C_2n. A classical result of Lovász and Plummer (1986) [5, Theorem 5.4.6] states that G has a removable ear. Carvalho et al. (1999) [3] proved that G has at least Δ(G) edge-disjoint removable ears, where Δ(G) denotes the maximum degree of G. In this paper, the authors improve the lower bound and prove that G has at least m(G) edge-disjoint removable ears, where m(G) denotes the minimum number of perfect matchings needed to cover all edges of G.     

On 3-regular 4-ordered graphs

A simple graph G is k-ordered (respectively, k-ordered hamiltonian), if for any sequence of k distinct vertices v₁,…,v_kof G there exists a cycle (respectively, hamiltonian cycle) in G containing these k vertices in the specified order. In 1997 Ng and Schultz introduced these concepts of cycle orderability and posed the question of the existence of 3-regular 4-ordered (hamiltonian) graphs other than K₄ and K_3,3. Ng and Schultz observed that a 3-regular 4-ordered graph on more than 4 vertices is triangle free. We prove that a 3-regular 4-ordered graph G on more than 6 vertices is square free,and we show that the smallest graph that is triangle and square free, namely the Petersen graph, is 4-ordered. Furthermore, we prove that the smallest graph after K₄ and K_3,3 that is 3-regular 4-ordered hamiltonianis the Heawood graph. Finally, we construct an infinite family of 3-regular 4-ordered graphs.     

Highly connected multicoloured subgraphs of multicoloured graphs

Suppose the edges of the complete graph on n vertices, E(K_n), are coloured using r colours; how large a k-connected subgraph are we guaranteed to find, which uses only at most s of the colours? This question is due to Bollobás, and the case s=1 was considered in Liu et al. [Highly connected monochromatic subgraphs of multicoloured graphs, J. Graph Theory, to appear]. Here we shall consider the case s2, proving in particular that when s=2 and r+1 is a power of 2 then the answer lies between 4n/(r+1)-17kr(r+2k+1) and 4n/(r+1)+4, that if r=2s+1 then the answer lies between and , and that phase transitions occur at s=r/2 and . We shall also mention some of the more glaring open problems relating to this question.     

Spanning maximal planar subgraphs of random graphs

We study the threshold for the existence of a spanning maximal planar subgraph in the random graph G_{n, p} . We show that it is very near p = 1/n^? We also discuss the threshold for the existence of a spanning maximal outerplanar subgraph. This is very near p = 1/n^½.     

A characterization of k-hyponormality via weak subnormality

An operator T acting on a Hilbert space is said to be weakly subnormal if there exists an extension acting on such that for all . When such partially normal extensions exist, we denote by m.p.n.e.(T) the minimal one. On the other hand, for k?1, T is said to be k-hyponormal if the operator matrix is positive. We prove that a 2-hyponormal operator T always satisfies the inequality T∗[T∗,T]T?‖T‖2[T∗,T], and as a result T is automatically weakly subnormal. Thus, a hyponormal operator T is 2-hyponormal if and only if there exists B such that BA∗=A∗T and is hyponormal, where A:=[T∗,T]1/2. More generally, we prove that T is (k+1)-hyponormal if and and only if T is weakly subnormal and m.p.n.e.(T) is k-hyponormal. As an application, we obtain a matricial representation of the minimal normal extension of a subnormal operator as a block staircase matrix.     

The fine structure of octahedron-free graphs

This paper is one of a series of papers in which, for a family L of graphs, we describe the typical structure of graphs not containing any L∈L. In this paper, we prove sharp results about the case L={O₆}, where O₆ is the graph with 6 vertices and 12 edges, given by the edges of an octahedron. Among others, we prove the following results.(a) The vertex set of almost every O₆-free graph can be partitioned into two classes of almost equal sizes, U₁ and U₂, where the graph spanned by U₁ is a C₄-free and that by U₂ is P₃-free.(b) Similar assertions hold when L is the family of all graphs with 6 vertices and 12 edges.(c) If H is a graph with a color-critical edge and χ(H)=p+1, then almost every sH-free graph becomes p-chromatic after the deletion of some s−1 vertices, where sH is the graph formed by s vertex disjoint copies of H.These results are natural extensions of theorems of classical extremal graph theory. To show that results like those above do not hold in great generality, we provide examples for which the analogs of our results do not hold.     

Total minus domination in k-partite graphs

A function f defined on the vertices of a graph G=(V,E),f:V→{-1,0,1} is a total minus dominating function (TMDF) if the sum of its values over any open neighborhood is at least one. The weight of a TMDF is the sum of its function values over all vertices. The total minus domination number, denoted by , of G is the minimum weight of a TMDF on G. In this paper, a sharp lower bound on of k-partite graphs is given.     

A characterization of block graphs

A block graph is a graph whose blocks are cliques. For each edge e=uv of a graph G, let N_e(u) denote the set of all vertices in G which are closer to u than v. In this paper we prove that a graph G is a block graph if and only if it satisfies two conditions: (a) The shortest path between any two vertices of G is unique; and (b) For each edge e=uv∈E(G), if x∈N_e(u) and y∈N_e(v), then, and only then, the shortest path between x and y contains the edge e. This confirms a conjecture of Dobrynin and Gutman [A.A. Dobrynin, I. Gutman, On a graph invariant related to the sum of all distances in a graph, Publ. Inst. Math., Beograd. 56 (1994) 18-22].     

Matching signatures and Pfaffian graphs

Perfect matchings of k-Pfaffian graphs may be enumerated in polynomial time on the number of vertices, for fixed k. In general, this enumeration problem is #P-complete. We give a Composition Theorem of 2r-Pfaffian graphs from r Pfaffian spanning subgraphs. Constructions of k-Pfaffian graphs known prior to this seem to be of a very different and essentially topological nature. We apply our Composition Theorem to produce a bipartite graph on 10 vertices that is 6-Pfaffian but not 4-Pfaffian. This is a counter-example to a conjecture of Norine (2009) [8], which states that the Pfaffian number of a graph is a power of four.     

Minimum degree of minimal defect -extendable bipartite graphs

A near perfect matching is a matching saturating all but one vertex in a graph. If G is a connected graph and any n independent edges in G are contained in a near perfect matching, then G is said to be defect n-extendable. If for any edge e in a defect n-extendable graph G, G−e is not defect n-extendable, then G is minimal defect n-extendable. The minimum degree and the connectivity of a graph G are denoted by δ(G) and κ(G) respectively. In this paper, we study the minimum degree of minimal defect n-extendable bipartite graphs. We prove that a minimal defect 1-extendable bipartite graph G has δ(G)=1. Consider a minimal defect n-extendable bipartite graph G with n≥2, we show that if κ(G)=1, then δ(G)≤n+1 and if κ(G)≥2, then 2≤δ(G)=κ(G)≤n+1. In addition, graphs are also constructed showing that, in all cases but one, there exist graphs with minimum degree that satisfies the established bounds.     

Bandwidth theorem for random graphs

A graph G is said to have bandwidth at most b, if there exists a labeling of the vertices by 1,2,…,n, so that |i−j|?b whenever {i,j} is an edge of G. Recently, Böttcher, Schacht, and Taraz verified a conjecture of Bollobás and Komlós which says that for every positive r, Δ, γ, there exists β such that if H is an n-vertex r-chromatic graph with maximum degree at most Δ which has bandwidth at most βn, then any graph G on n vertices with minimum degree at least (1−1/r+γ)n contains a copy of H for large enough n. In this paper, we extend this theorem to dense random graphs. For bipartite H, this answers an open question of Böttcher, Kohayakawa, and Taraz. It appears that for non-bipartite H the direct extension is not possible, and one needs in addition that some vertices of H have independent neighborhoods. We also obtain an asymptotically tight bound for the maximum number of vertex disjoint copies of a fixed r-chromatic graph H₀ which one can find in a spanning subgraph of G(n,p) with minimum degree (1−1/r+γ)np.     

A vertex ordering characterization of simple-triangle graphs

Consider two horizontal lines in the plane. A point on the top line and an interval on the bottom line define a triangle between two lines. The intersection graph of such triangles is called a simple-triangle graph. This paper shows a vertex ordering characterization of simple-triangle graphs as follows: a graph is a simple-triangle graph if and only if there is a linear ordering of the vertices that contains both an alternating orientation of the graph and a transitive orientation of the complement of the graph.     

Isometric path numbers of graphs

An isometric path between two vertices in a graph G is a shortest path joining them. The isometric path number of G, denoted by ip(G), is the minimum number of isometric paths needed to cover all vertices of G. In this paper, we determine exact values of isometric path numbers of complete r-partite graphs and Cartesian products of 2 or 3 complete graphs.