On clique covers and independence numbers of graphs

Relationships between the following graph invariants are studied: The node clique cover number, θ₀(>G); the clique cover number θ₁(G); node independence number, β₀(G); and an edge independence number, β′₁(G), We extend a theorem of Choudum, Parthasarathy and Ravindra with further statements equivalent to θ₀(G) = θ₁(G). More general results regarding the inequality θ₀(G) ? 0₁(G) are presented.     

Sphericity, cubicity, and edge clique covers of graphs

The sphericity sph(G) of a graph G is the minimum dimension d for which G is the intersection graph of a family of congruent spheres in R^d. The edge clique cover number θ(G) is the minimum cardinality of a set of cliques (complete subgraphs) that covers all edges of G. We prove that if G has at least one edge, then sph(G)?θ(G). Our upper bound remains valid for intersection graphs defined by balls in the L_p-norm for 1?p?∞.     

Construction of matroidal families by partly closed sets

A matroidal family of graphs is a set $\text{M}$≠Ø of connected finite graphs such that for every finite graph G the edge sets of those subgraphs of G which are isomorphic to some element of $\text{M}$ are the circuits of a matroid on the edge set of G. In [9], Schmidt shows that, for n?0, ?2n<r?1, n, $\text{r∈}\text{Z}$, the set $\text{M}\text{(n, r)={G∣G}$ is a graph with β(G)=nα(G)+r and α(G )>, and is minimal with this property (with respect to the relation ?))} is a matroidal family of graphs. He also describes a method to construct new matroidal families of graphs by means of so-called partly closed sets. In this paper, an extension of this construction is given. By means of s-partly closed subsets of $\text{M}\text{(n, r)}$, s?r, we are able to give sufficient and necessary conditions for a subset $\text{P}\text{(n, r)}$ of $\text{M}\text{(n, r)}$ to yield a matroidal family of graphs when joined with the set $\text{I}\text{(n, s)}$ of all graphs $\text{G∈}\text{M}\text{(n, s)}$ which satisfy: If $\text{H∈}\text{P}\text{(n, r)}$, then H?G. In particular, it is shown that $\text{M}\text{(n, r)}$ is not a matroidal family of graphs for r?2. Furthermore, for n?0, 1?2n<r, n, $\text{r∈}\text{Z}$, the set of bipartite elements of $\text{M}\text{(n, r)}$ can be used to construct new matroidal families of graphs if and only if s?min(n+r, 1).     

Several parameters of generalized Mycielskians

The generalized Mycielskians (also known as cones over graphs) are the natural generalization of the Mycielski graphs (which were first introduced by Mycielski in 1955). Given a graph G and any integer m?0, one can transform G into a new graph μ_m(G), the generalized Mycielskian of G. This paper investigates circular clique number, total domination number, open packing number, fractional open packing number, vertex cover number, determinant, spectrum, and biclique partition number of μ_m(G).     

On a generalization of linecritical graphs

Let β(G) be the maximal β such that for any edge xy of G there is an independent β-set that contains no neighbours of x and y. Then $\text{0}\text{}\text{?}\text{β(G)}\text{}\text{?}\text{α(G)?1}$ and G is linecritical iff β(G) = α(G)?1. We determine the minimal connected graphs for any given β(G) or for any given β(G) and α(G). We study the case when β(G)??2 and give upper bounds for the minimal valencies. We generalize some results on linecritical graphs of [1] and [4].     

Equivariant collapses and the homotopy type of iterated clique graphs

The clique graph K(G) of a simple graph G is the intersection graph of its maximal complete subgraphs, and we define iterated clique graphs by K⁰(G)=G, Kⁿ⁺¹(G)=K(Kⁿ(G)). We say that two graphs are homotopy equivalent if their simplicial complexes of complete subgraphs are so. From known results, it can be easily inferred that Kⁿ(G) is homotopy equivalent to G for every n if G belongs to the class of clique-Helly graphs or to the class of dismantlable graphs. However, in both of these cases the collection of iterated clique graphs is finite up to isomorphism. In this paper, we show two infinite classes of clique-divergent graphs that satisfy G?Kⁿ(G) for all n, moreover Kⁿ(G) and G are simple-homotopy equivalent. We provide some results on simple-homotopy type that are of independent interest.     

On complementary graphs with no isolated vertices

Let $\text{G}$ denote the complement of a graph G, and x(G), β₁(G), β₄(G), α₀(G), α₁(G) denote respectively the chromatic number, line-independence number, point-independence number, point-covering number, line-covering number of G, Nordhaus and Gaddum showed that for any graph G of order $\text{p}\text{, {2√p} ? x(G) + x(}\text{G}\text{) ? p + 1}\text{and p}\text{? x(G)·x(}\text{G}\text{) ? [(}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(p + 1))}{}^2\text{]}$. Recently Chartrand and Schuster have given the corresponding inequalities for the independence numbers of any graph G. However, combining their result with Gallai's well known formula β₁(G) + α₁(G) = ?, one is not deduce the analogous bounds for the line-covering numbers of $\text{G}\text{and}\text{G}$, since Gallai's formula holds only if G contains no isolated vertex. The purpose of this note is to improve the results of Chartland and Schuster for line-independence numbers for graphs where both $\text{G}\text{and}\text{G}$ contain no isolated vertices and thereby allowing us to use Gallai's formula to get the corresponding bounds for the line-covering numbers of G.     

Lower bounds for the clique and the chromatic numbers of a graph

G is any simple graph with m edges and n vertices where these vertices have vertex degrees d(1)≥d(2)≥?≥d(n), respectively. General algorithms for the exact calculation of χ(G), the chromatic number of G, are almost always of ‘branch and bound’ type; this type of algorithm requires an easily constructed lower bound for χ(G). In this paper it is shown that, for a number of such bounds (many of which are described here for the first time), the bound does not exceed cl(G) where cl(G) is the clique number of G.In 1972 Myers and Liu showed that cl(G)≥n?(n?2m?n). Here we show that cl(G)≥ n?[n?(2m?n)(1+c²_v)^{$\text{1}\text{2}$}], where c_v is the vertex degree coefficient of variation in G, that cl(G)≥ Bondy's constructive lower bound for χ(G), and that cl(G)≥n?(n?W(G)), where W(G) is the largest positive integer such that W(G)≤d(W(G)+1) [W(G)+1 is the Welsh and Powell upper bound for χ(G)]. It is also shown that cl(G)+$\text{1}\text{3}$>n?(n?L(G))≥n?(n?λ₁) and that χ(G)≥ n?(n?λ₁); λ₁ is the largest eigenvalue of A, the adjacency matrix of G, and L(G) is a newly defined single-valued function of G similar to W(G) in its construction from the vertex degree sequence of G [L(G)≥W(G)].Finally, a ‘greedy’ lower bound for cl(G) is constructed from A and it is shown that this lower bound is never less than Bondy's bound; thereafter, for 150 random graphs with varying numbers of vertices and edge densities, the values of lower bounds given in this paper are listed, thereby illustrating that this last greedily obtained lower bound is almost always better than each of the other bounds.     

Minimum number of edges in graphs that are both P2- and Pi-connected

A simple graph with n vertices is called P_i-connected if any two distinct vertices are connected by an elementary path of length i. In this paper, lower bounds of the number of edges in graphs that are both P₂- and P_i-connected are obtained. Namely if $\text{i?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+1)}$, then |E(G)|?((4i?5)/(2i?2))(n?1), and if $\text{i >}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+ 1)}$, then |E(G)|?2(n?1) apart from one exeptional graph. Furthermore, extremal graphs are determined in the former.     

Maximum nullity of outerplanar graphs and the path cover number

Let G=(V,E) be a graph with V={1,2,…,n}. Define S(G) as the set of all n×n real-valued symmetric matrices A=[a_ij] with a_ij≠0,i≠j if and only if ij∈E. By M(G) we denote the largest possible nullity of any matrix A∈S(G). The path cover number of a graph G, denoted P(G), is the minimum number of vertex disjoint paths occurring as induced subgraphs of G which cover all the vertices of G.There has been some success with relating the path cover number of a graph to its maximum nullity. Johnson and Duarte [5], have shown that for a tree T,M(T)=P(T). Barioli et al. [2], show that for a unicyclic graph G,M(G)=P(G) or M(G)=P(G)-1. Notice that both families of graphs are outerplanar. We show that for any outerplanar graph G,M(G)?P(G). Further we show that for any partial 2-path G,M(G)=P(G).     

Competitively Tight Graphs

The competition graph of a digraph D is a (simple undirected) graph which has the same vertex set as D and has an edge between two distinct vertices x and y if and only if there exists a vertex v in D such that (x, v) and (y, v) are arcs of D. For any graph G, G together with sufficiently many isolated vertices is the competition graph of some acyclic digraph. The competition number k(G) of a graph G is the smallest number of such isolated vertices. Computing the competition number of a graph is an NP-hard problem in general and has been one of the important research problems in the study of competition graphs. Opsut [1982] showed that the competition number of a graph G is related to the edge clique cover number θ _E (G) of the graph G via θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + 2 ≤ k(G) ≤ θ _E (G). We first show that for any positive integer m satisfying 2 ≤ m ≤ |V(G)|, there exists a graph G with k(G) = θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + m and characterize a graph G satisfying k(G) = θ _E (G). We then focus on what we call competitively tight graphs G which satisfy the lower bound, i.e., k(G) = θ _E (G) ? |V(G)| + 2. We completely characterize the competitively tight graphs having at most two triangles. In addition, we provide a new upper bound for the competition number of a graph from which we derive a sufficient condition and a necessary condition for a graph to be competitively tight.     

Invariant subspaces of analytic multiparticle Hamiltonians

The quantum mechanics of n particles interacting through analytic two-body interactions can be formulated as a problem of functional analysis on a Hilbert space $\text{G}$ consisting of analytic functions. On $\text{G}$, there is an Hamiltonian H with resolvent R(λ). These quantities are associated with families of operators H(?) and R(λ, ?) on $\text{L}$, the case ? = 0 corresponding to standard quantum mechanics. The spectrum of H(?) consists of possible isolated points, plus a number of half-lines starting at the thresholds of scattering channels and making an angle 2? with the real axis.Assuming that the two-body interactions are in the Schmidt class on the two-particle space $\text{G}$, this paper studies the resolvent R(λ, ?) in the case ? ≠ 0. It is shown that a well known Fredholm equation for R(λ, ?) can be solved by the Neumann series whenever ¦λ¦ is sufficiently large and λ is not on a singular half-line. Owing to this, R(λ, ?) can be integrated around the various half-lines to yield bounded idempotent operators P_p(?) (p = 1, 2,…) on $\text{L}$. The range of P_p(?) is an invariant subspace of H(?). As ? varies, the family of operators P_p(?) generates a bounded idempotent operator P_p on a space $\text{G}$. The range of this is an invariant subspace of H. The relevance of this result to the problem of asymptotic completeness is indicated.     

Minimally k-connected graphs of low order and maximal size

Let G be a minimally k-connected graph of order n and size e(G).Mader [4] proved that (i) $\text{e(G)?kn?(}\text{k+1}\text{2}\text{)}$; (ii) e(G)?k(n?k) if n?3k?2, and the complete bipartite graph K_k,n?k is the only minimally k-connected graph of order; n and size k(n?k) when k?2 and n?3k?1.The purpose of the present paper is to determine all minimally k-connected graphs of low order and maximal size. For each n such that k+1?n?3k?2 we prove $\text{e(G)??}\text{(n+k)}{}^2\text{8}\text{?}$ and characterize all minimally k-connected graphs of order n and size $\text{?(}\text{(n+k)}{}^2\text{8}\text{?}$.     

On subgraph number independence in trees

For finite graphs F and G, let N_F(G) denote the number of occurrences of F in G, i.e., the number of subgraphs of G which are isomorphic to F. If $\text{F}$ and $\text{G}$ are families of graphs, it is natural to ask then whether or not the quantities N_F(G), F∈$\text{F}$, are linearly independent when G is restricted to $\text{G}$. For example, if $\text{F}$ = {K₁, K₂} (where K_n denotes the complete graph on n vertices) and $\text{F}$ is the family of all (finite) trees, then of course N_K1(T) ? N_K2(T) = 1 for all T∈$\text{F}$. Slightly less trivially, if $\text{F}$ = {S_n: n = 1, 2, 3,…} (where S_n denotes the star on n edges) and $\text{G}$ again is the family of all trees, then Σ_n=1^∞(?1)ⁿ⁺¹N_Sn(T)=1 for all T∈$\text{G}$. It is proved that such a linear dependence can never occur if $\text{F}$ is finite, no F∈$\text{F}$ has an isolated point, and $\text{G}$ contains all trees. This result has important applications in recent work of L. Lovász and one of the authors (Graham and Lovász, to appear).     

On the number of conjugacy classes in SL(2,Z)

Let $\text{H}\text{(t)}$ be the number of conjugacy classes of elements in SL(2, $\text{L}$) with trace t, and let $\text{h}\text{(n)}$ be the number of equivalence classes of binary quadratic forms with discriminant n. Then for t≠±2, $\text{H}\text{(t)=}\text{h}\text{(t}{}^2\text{?4)}$. For all real θ > 0 there is a T(θ) such that whenever |t|>T(θ), $\text{H}\text{(t)>|t|}{}^{\mathrm{1?\theta }}$. There is a c>0 such that for those t such that t²?4 is squarefree, $\text{H}\text{(t)≤c|t|}$.     

Smoothness and absolute convergence of Fourier series in compact totally disconnected groups

In this paper we study in the context of compact totally disconnected groups the relationship between the smoothness of a function and its membership in the Fourier algebra $\text{G}$G. Specifically, we define a notion of smoothness which is natural for totally disconnected groups. This in turn leads to the notions of Lipshitz condition and bounded variation. We then give a condition on α which if satisfied implies Lip_α(G) ? $\text{R}$(G). On certain groups this condition becomes: $\text{α >}\text{1}\text{2}$ (Bernstein's theorem). We then give a similar condition on α which if satisfied implies that Lip_α(G) ∈ BV(G) ? $\text{R}$(G). On certain groups this condition becomes: α > 0 (Zygmund's theorem). Moreover we show that $\text{α >}\text{1}\text{2}$ is best possible by showing that $\text{Lip}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(G)}$ ? $\text{R}$(G).     

On the Colin de Verdière number of graphs

Let μ(G) and ω(G) be the Colin de Verdière and clique numbers of a graph G, respectively. It is well-known that μ(G)?ω(G)-1 for all graphs. Our main results include μ(G)?ω(G) for all chordal graphs; μ(G)?tw(G)+1 for all graphs (where tw is the tree-width), and a characterization of those split (⊆ chordal) graphs for which μ(G)=ω(G). The bound μ(G)?tw(G)+1 improves a result of Colin de Verdière by a factor of 2.     

Fixing subgraphs and Ulam's conjecture

A spanning subgraph U of a graph G belongs to the set $\text{J}$(G) of fixing subgraphs (see [5]) of G if every embedding of U into G can be extended to an automorphism of G. Clearly G ∈ $\text{J}$(G). G is free if …$\text{J}$(G)… = 1. We establish a connection between Ulam's conjecture and free graphs and continue with an investigation of free graphs.     

Arbres avec un nombre maximum de sommets pendants

This article is an attempt to study the following problem: Given a connected graph G, what is the maximum number of vertices of degree 1 of a spanning tree of G? For cubic graphs with n vertices, we prove that this number is bounded by $\text{1}\text{4}\text{n}$ and $\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n ? 2)}$.