The quartic characters of certain quadratic units

Criteria are obtained for the quartic residue character of the fundamental unit of the real quadratic field $\text{Q((2q)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$, where q is prime and either q ≡ 7(mod 8), or q ≡ 1(mod 8) and X² ? 2qY² = ?2 is solvable in integers X and Y.     

A note on the complexity of finding regular subgraphs

Given a graph G and an integer r, does there exist a regular subgraph of G with degree r? In this note we establish NP-completeness for the r-regular subgraph problem for each r ? 3 and certain restrictions on G. In particular, the cubic subgraph problem is NP-complete even for the simple case where G is a bipartite planar graph with maximum degree 4.     

Resolvable path designs

A resolvable (balanced) path design, RBPD(v, k, λ) is the decomposition of λ copies of the complete graph on v vertices into edge-disjoint subgraphs such that each subgraph consists of $\text{v}\text{k}$ vertex-disjoint paths of length k ? 1 (k vertices). It is shown that an RBPD(v, 3, λ) exists if and only if v ≡ 9 (modulo 12/gcd(4, λ)). Moreover, the RBPD(v, 3, λ) can have an automorphism of order $\text{v}\text{3}$. For k > 3, it is shown that if v is large enough, then an RBPD(v, k, 1) exists if and only if v ≡ k² (modulo lcm(2k ? 2, k)). Also, it is shown that the categorical product of a k-factorable graph and a regular graph is also k-factorable. These results are stronger than two conjectures of P. Hell and A. Rosa     

Polynomials generalizing binomial coefficients and their application to the study of Fermat's last theorem

We study properties of the polynomials φ_k(X) which appear in the formal development Π_{k ? 0}ⁿ (a + bX^k)^rk = Σ_{k ≥ 0}φ_k(X) a^{r ? k}b^k, where r_k ∈ $\text{l}$ and r = Σr_k. this permits us to obtain the coefficients of all cyclotomic polynomials. Then we use these properties to expand the cyclotomic numbers G_r(ξ) = Π_{k = 1}^{p ? 1} (a + bξ^k)^kr, where p is a prime, ξ is a primitive pth root of 1, a, b ∈ $\text{l}$ and 1 ≤ r ≤ p ? 3, modulo powers of ξ ? 1 (until (ξ ? 1)^{2(p ? 1) ? r}). This gives more information than the usual logarithmic derivative. Suppose that $\text{p ? ab(a + b)}$. Let $\text{m = ?}\text{b}\text{a}$. We prove that G_r(ξ) ≡ c^p mod p(ξ ? 1)² for some c ∈ $\text{l}$, if and only if Σ_{k = 1}^{p ? 1}k^{p ? 2 ? r}m^k ≡ 0 (mod p). We hope to show in this work that this result is useful in the study of the first case of Fermat's last theorem.     

k-Blocks and ultrablocks in graphs

A k-block is a maximal k-vertex-connected subgraph, and a k-block which does not contain a (k + 1)-block is an ultrablock. It is shown that the maximum total number of k-blocks for all k ≥ 1 in any p-vertex graph is [$\text{(2p ? 1)}\text{3}$], and the maximum number of ultrablocks in any p-vertex graph having maximum subgraph connectivity κ? is $\text{[}\text{(p ?}\text{κ}\text{?}\text{+ 1)}\text{2}\text{]}$. In contrast to the linear growth rate of the maximum number of k-blocks in a p-vertex graph, it is shown that the maximum number of critical k-vertex-connected subgraphs of an ultrablock of connectivity k can grow exponentially with p.     

A direct method to construct triple systems

A triple system is a balanced incomplete block design D(v, k, λ, b, r) with k = 3. Although it has been shown that triple systems exist for all values of the parameters satisfying the necessary conditions:

$\text{λ(ν ? 1) ≡ 0 (}\text{mod 2}\text{), λν(ν ? 1) ≡ 0 (}\text{mod 6}\text{),}$

direct methods (nonrecursive) of construction are not available in general. In this paper we give a direct method to construct a triple system for all values of the parameters satisfying the necessary conditions.     

On the cubic character of quadratic units

An elementary proof is given of the theorem: If D = ?3q or ?27q is the discriminant of a cubic field, where q ≡ 1 (mod 4) is a prime, and if p or 4p is represented by c² + ∥ D ∥ d², then the fundamental unit in the field $\text{Q(q}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ is a cubic residue of the prime p. In special cases necessary and sufficient conditions are derived.     

A surprising property of the least eigenvalue of a graph

Let λ(G) be the least eigenvalue of a graph G. A real number r has the induced subgraph property provided λ(G)<r implies G has an induced subgraph H with λ(H)=r. It is shown that the only numbers with the induced subgraph property are 0, ?1, ?$\text{2}$, and ?2.     

Antipodal covering graphs

A graph $\text{Γ}$ of valency k with a group G of automorphisms may be studied via the action of G on the vertex set $\text{V}\text{Γ}$. If G acts transitively on $\text{V}\text{Γ}$, then the notions of primitivity and imprimitivity are meaningful. We consider a natural notion of “block system” for a general graph $\text{Γ}$, which allows us to derive a “quotient” graph Γ whose vertices correspond to the blocks. The ideas are applied to antipodal systems in antipodal graphs: in particular we prove that for an antipodal distance-regular graph, the block size r cannot exceed the valency k; we further show that an antipodal distance-regular graph with r = k is (i) a circuit graph, (ii) a complete bipartite graph, or (iii) a threefold covering of Tutte's trivalent eight-cage.     

Pancyclic graphs and a conjecture of Bondy and Chvátal

A p-vertex graph is called pancyclic if it contains cycles of every length l, 3 ≤ l ≤ p. In this paper we prove the following conjecture of Bondy and Chvátal: If a graph G has vertex degree sequence d₁ ≤ d₂ ≤ … ≤ d_ν, and if $\text{d}{}_{\mathrm{k}}\text{≤ k <}\text{p}\text{2}$ implies d_ν?k ≥ p ? k, then G is pancyclic or bipartite.     

Long cycles in bipartite graphs

Let G be a 2-connected bipartite graph with bipartition (A, B), where |A| ≥ |B|. It is shown that if each vertex of A has degree at least k, and each vertex of B has degree at least l, then G contains a cycle of length at least 2min(|B|, k + l ? 1, 2k ? 2). Then this result is used to determine the minimum number of edges required in a bipartite graph to ensure a cycle of length at least 2m, for any integer m ≥ 2.     

Results on the edge-connectivity of graphs

It is shown that if G is a graph of order p ≥ 2 such that deg u + deg v ≥ p ? 1 for all pairs u, v of nonadjacent vertices, then the edge-connectivity of G equals the minimum degree of G. Furthermore, if deg u + deg v ≥ p for all pairs u, v of nonadjacent vertices, then either p is even and G is isomorphic to $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>p</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{× K}{}_2$ or every minimum cutset of edges of G consists of the collection of edges incident with a vertex of least degree.     

Spanning Star Trees in Regular Graphs

For a subset W of vertices of an undirected graph G, let S(W) be the subgraph consisting of W, all edges incident to at least one vertex in W, and all vertices adjacent to at least one vertex in W. If S(W) is a tree containing all the vertices of G, then we call it a spanning star tree of G. In this case W forms a weakly connected but strongly acyclic dominating set for G. We prove that for every r ≥ 3, there exist r-regular n-vertex graphs that have spanning star trees, and there exist r-regular n-vertex graphs that do not have spanning star trees, for all n sufficiently large (in terms of r). Furthermore, the problem of determining whether a given regular graph has a spanning star tree is NP-complete.     

On maximum planar induced subgraphs

The nonplanar vertex deletion or vertex deletion vd(G) of a graph G is the smallest nonnegative integer k, such that the removal of k vertices from G produces a planar graph G^′. In this case G^′ is said to be a maximum planar induced subgraph of G. We solve a problem proposed by Yannakakis: find the threshold for the maximum degree of a graph G such that, given a graph G and a nonnegative integer k, to decide whether vd(G)?k is NP-complete. We prove that it is NP-complete to decide whether a maximum degree 3 graph G and a nonnegative integer k satisfy vd(G)?k. We prove that unless P=NP there is no polynomial-time approximation algorithm with fixed ratio to compute the size of a maximum planar induced subgraph for graphs in general. We prove that it is Max SNP-hard to compute vd(G) when restricted to a cubic input G. Finally, we exhibit a polynomial-time -approximation algorithm for finding a maximum planar induced subgraph of a maximum degree 3 graph.     

On a conjecture of bondy

Bondy conjectured [1] that: if G is a k-connected graph, where k ≥ 2, such that the degree-sum of any k + 1 independent vertices is at least m, then G contains a cycle of length at least: $\text{Min}\text{(}\text{2m}\text{(k + 1)}\text{, n)}$ (n denotes the order of G). We prove here that this result is true.     

Ordered colourings of graphs

An ordered colouring of a graph with k colours is a vertex colouring with colours {1, 2,…,k} such that each vertex coloured j is joined to at least one vertex-of colour i for each i less than j. Examples of ordered colourings are those produced by the greedy colouring algorithm. Some properties are investigated of τ(G), the maximum k for which the graph G has an ordered k-colouring (in fact τ(G) is an upper bound for the number of colours used by the greedy algorithm). It is shown that if G has order n, then $\text{τ(G) + τ(}\text{G}\text{) ≤ [}\text{(5n + 2)}\text{4}\text{]}$.     

Some tree-star Ramsey Numbers

The Ramsey Number r(G₁, G₂) is the least integer N such that for every graph G with N vertices, either G has the graph G₁ as a subgraph or $\text{G}$, the complement of G, has the graph G₂ as a subgraph.In this paper we embed the paths P_m in a much larger class $\text{T}$ of trees and then show how some evaluations by T. D. Parsons of Ramsey numbers r(P_m, K_1,n), where K_1,n is the star of degree n, are also valid for r(T_m, K_1,n) where T_m ∈ $\text{T}$.     

A class of facet producing graphs for vertex packing polyhedra

We examine a family of graphs called webs. For integers n ? 2 and $\text{k, 1 ? k ?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{n}$, the web W(n, k) has vertices V_n = {1, …, n} and edges {(i, j): j = i+k, …, i+n ? k, for i?V_n (sums mod n)}. A characterization is given for the vertex packing polyhedron of W(n, k) to contain a facet, none of whose projections is a facet for the lower dimensional vertex packing polyhedra of proper induced subgraphs of W(n, k). Simple necessary and sufficient conditions are given for W(n, k) to contain W(n′, k′) as an induced subgraph; these conditions are used to show that webs satisfy the Strong Perfect Graph Conjecture. Complements of webs are also studied and it is shown that if both a graph and its complement are webs, then the graph is either an odd hole or its complement.     

Planar graphs without specific cycles are 2-degenerate

A graph G is k-degenerate if each subgraph of G has a vertex of degree at most k. It is known that every simple planar graph with girth 6, or equivalently without 3-, 4-, and 5-cycles, is 2-degenerate. In this work, we investigate for which k every planar graph without 4-, 6-, … , and 2k-cycles is 2-degenerate. We determine that k is 5 and the result is tight since the truncated dodecahedral graph is a 3-regular planar graph without 4-, 6-, and 8-cycles. As a related result, we also show that every planar graph without 4-, 6-, 9-, and 10-cycles is 2-degenerate.