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.     

关于图的运算与图的Pfaffian性

关于一般的图的完美匹配计数的问题已证实是NP-hard问题.但Pfaffian图的完美匹配计数问题(以及其它相关问题)却能够在多项式时间内解决.由此可见图的Pfaffian性的重要性.在这篇文章中,我们研究了若干种影响图的Pfaffian性的运算.     

A note on minimal matching covered graphs

A graph is called matching covered if for its every edge there is a maximum matching containing it. It is shown that minimal matching covered graphs without isolated vertices contain a perfect matching.     

Generating near-bipartite bricks

Carvalho, Lucchesi and Murty (2006, How to build a brick, Discrete Math., 306, 2383-2410) gave a generation procedure for bricks. In particular, they showed that every brick may be constructed from , the triangular prism , and the Petersen graph. The object of this paper is to establish a generation procedure that is specific to the class of near-bipartite bricks. In particular, we show that every near-bipartite brick may be constructed from and so that each intermediate brick is also near-bipartite. Norine and Thomas (2007, Generating bricks, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 97, 769-817) proved a generation theorem for simple bricks. In a subsequent work with Marcelo H. de Carvalho (2017, Generating simple near-bipartite bricks, https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.08796 ), we use the results of this paper to prove a generation theorem for simple near-bipartite bricks.     

Minimally non-Pfaffian graphs

We consider the question of characterizing Pfaffian graphs. We exhibit an infinite family of non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to the matching minor relation. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, as Little [C.H.C. Little, A characterization of convertible (0,1)-matrices, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 18 (1975) 187–208] proved that every bipartite non-Pfaffian graph contains a matching minor isomorphic to K_3,3. We relax the notion of a matching minor and conjecture that there are only finitely many (perhaps as few as two) non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to this notion.We define Pfaffian factor-critical graphs and study them in the second part of the paper. They seem to be of interest as the number of near perfect matchings in a Pfaffian factor-critical graph can be computed in polynomial time. We give a polynomial time recognition algorithm for this class of graphs and characterize non-Pfaffian factor-critical graphs in terms of forbidden central subgraphs.     

Matching theory and Barnette's conjecture

Barnette's Conjecture claims that all cubic, 3-connected, planar, bipartite graphs are Hamiltonian. We give a translation of this conjecture into the matching-theoretic setting. This allows us to relax the requirement of planarity to give the equivalent conjecture that all cubic, 3-connected, Pfaffian, bipartite graphs are Hamiltonian.A graph, other than the path of length three, is a brace if it is bipartite and any two disjoint edges are part of a perfect matching. Our perspective allows us to observe that Barnette's Conjecture can be reduced to cubic, planar braces. We show a similar reduction to braces for cubic, 3-connected, bipartite graphs regarding four stronger versions of Hamiltonicity. Note that in these cases we do not need planarity.As a practical application of these results, we provide some supplements to a generation procedure for cubic, 3-connected, planar, bipartite graphs discovered by Holton et al. (1985) [14]. These allow us to check whether a graph we generated is a brace.     

Recognizing Helly Edge-Path-Tree graphs and their clique graphs

We present a unifying procedure for recognizing intersection graphs of Helly families of paths in a tree and their clique graphs. The Helly property makes it possible to look at these recognition problems as variants of the Graph Realization Problem, namely, the problem of recognizing Edge-Path-Tree matrices. Our result heavily relies on the notion of pie introduced in [M.C. Golumbic, R.E. Jamison, The edge intersection graphs of paths in a tree, Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B 38 (1985) 8-22] and on the observation that Helly Edge-Path-Tree matrices form a self-dual class of Helly matrices. Coupled to the notion of reduction presented in the paper, these facts are also exploited to reprove and slightly refine some known results for Edge-Path-Tree graphs.     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect graphs I: Subclasses of claw-free graphs

A clique-transversal of a graph G is a subset of vertices that meets all the cliques of G. A clique-independent set is a collection of pairwise vertex-disjoint cliques. The clique-transversal number and clique-independence number of G are the sizes of a minimum clique-transversal and a maximum clique-independent set of G, respectively. A graph G is clique-perfect if these two numbers are equal for every induced subgraph of G. The list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the class of clique-perfect graphs is not known. In this paper, we present a partial result in this direction; that is, we characterize clique-perfect graphs by a restricted list of forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to two different subclasses of claw-free graphs.     

Line-graphs of cubic graphs are normal

A graph is called normal if its vertex set can be covered by cliques Q₁,Q₂,…,Q_k and also by stable sets S₁,S₂,…,S_l, such that S_i∩Q_j≠∅ for every i,j. This notion is due to Körner, who introduced the class of normal graphs as an extension of the class of perfect graphs. Normality has also relevance in information theory. Here we prove, that the line graphs of cubic graphs are normal.     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect graphs II: Diamond-free and Helly circular-arc graphs

A clique-transversal of a graph G is a subset of vertices that meets all the cliques of G. A clique-independent set is a collection of pairwise vertex-disjoint cliques. A graph G is clique-perfect if the sizes of a minimum clique-transversal and a maximum clique-independent set are equal for every induced subgraph of G. The list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the class of clique-perfect graphs is not known. Another open question concerning clique-perfect graphs is the complexity of the recognition problem. Recently we were able to characterize clique-perfect graphs by a restricted list of forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to two different subclasses of claw-free graphs. These characterizations lead to polynomial time recognition of clique-perfect graphs in these classes of graphs. In this paper we solve the characterization problem in two new classes of graphs: diamond-free and Helly circular-arc () graphs. This last characterization leads to a polynomial time recognition algorithm for clique-perfect graphs.     

Partial characterizations of coordinated graphs: line graphs and complements of forests

A graph G is coordinated if the minimum number of colors that can be assigned to the cliques of H in such a way that no two cliques with non-empty intersection receive the same color is equal to the maximum number of cliques of H with a common vertex, for every induced subgraph H of G. Coordinated graphs are a subclass of perfect graphs. The list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the class of coordinated graphs is not known. In this paper, we present a partial result in this direction, that is, we characterize coordinated graphs by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph is either a line graph, or the complement of a forest. F. Bonomo, F. Soulignac, and G. Sueiro’s research partially supported by UBACyT Grant X184 (Argentina), and CNPq under PROSUL project Proc. 490333/2004-4 (Brazil). The research of G. Durán is partially supported by FONDECyT Grant 1080286 and Millennium Science Institute “Complex Engineering Systems” (Chile), and CNPq under PROSUL project Proc. 490333/2004-4 (Brazil).     

Norms and perfect graphs

The weak Berge hypothesis states that a graph is perfect if and only if its complement is perfect. Previous proofs of this hypothesis have used combinatorial or polyhedral methods.In this paper, the concept of norms related to graphs is used to provide an alternative proof for the weak Berge hypothesis.This is a written account of an invited lecture delivered by the second author on occasion of the 12. Symposium on Operations Research, Passau, 9.–11. 9. 1987.     

Constructions for normal graphs and some consequences

Normal graphs can be considered as weaker perfect graphs in several ways. However, only few graphs are known yet to be normal, apart from perfect graphs, odd holes, and odd antiholes of length ≥ 9. Körner and de Simone [J. Körner, C. de Simone, On the odd cycles of normal graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 94 (1999) 161-169] conjectured that every ()-free graph is normal. As there exist normal graphs containing C₅, C₇, or , it is worth looking for other ways to construct or detect normal graphs. For that, we treat the behavior of normal graphs under certain construction techniques (substitution, composition, and clique identification), providing several ways to construct new normal graphs from normal and even not normal ones, and consider the corresponding structural decompositions (homogeneous sets, skew partitions, and clique cutsets). Our results imply that normal graphs cannot be characterized by means of decomposition techniques as well as by forbidden subgraphs. We address negative consequences for the algorithmic behavior of normal graphs, reflected by the fact that neither the imperfection ratio can be bounded for normal graphs nor a χ-binding function exists. The latter is even true for the class of ()-free graphs and related classes. We conclude that normal graphs are indeed only “normal”.     

Maximal IM-unextendable graphs

A graph G is maximal IM-unextendable if G is not induced matching extendable and, for every two nonadjacent vertices x and y, G+xy is induced matching extendable. We show in this paper that a graph G is maximal IM-unextendable if and only if G is isomorphic to M_r(K_s(K_n1K_n2K_nt)), where M_r is an induced matching of size r, r1, t=s+2, and each n_i is odd.     

Weighted parameters in graphs

We use the modular decomposition to give O(n(m + n) algorithms for finding a maximum weighted clique (respectively stable set) and an approximate weighted colouring (respectively partition into cliques) in a graph. As a by-product, we obtain an O(m + n) algorithm for finding a minimum weighted transversal of the C₅ in a graph.     

Characterization of the induced matching extendable graphs with 2n vertices and 3n edges

A graph $G$ is induced matching extendable or IM-extendable if every induced matching of $G$ is contained in a perfect matching of $G$. In 1998, Yuan proved that a connected IM-extendable graph on $2n$ vertices has at least $3n?2$ edges, and that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n$ vertices and $3n?2$ edges is $T\times K_2$ , where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices. In 2005, Zhou and Yuan proved that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n\ge 6$ vertices and $3n?1$ edges is $T\times K_2+e$, where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices and $e$ is an edge connecting two vertices that lie in different copies of $T$ and have distance 3 between them in $T\times K_2$. In this paper, we introduced the definition of $Q$-joint graph and characterized the connected IM-extendable graphs with $2n\ge 4$ vertices and $3n$ edges.