On crossing numbers of geometric proximity graphs

Let P be a set of n points in the plane. A geometric proximity graph on P is a graph where two points are connected by a straight-line segment if they satisfy some prescribed proximity rule. We consider four classes of higher order proximity graphs, namely, the k-nearest neighbor graph, the k-relative neighborhood graph, the k-Gabriel graph and the k-Delaunay graph. For k=0 (k=1 in the case of the k-nearest neighbor graph) these graphs are plane, but for higher values of k in general they contain crossings. In this paper, we provide lower and upper bounds on their minimum and maximum number of crossings. We give general bounds and we also study particular cases that are especially interesting from the viewpoint of applications. These cases include the 1-Delaunay graph and the k-nearest neighbor graph for small values of k.     

Witness (Delaunay) graphs

Proximity graphs are used in several areas in which a neighborliness relationship for input data sets is a useful tool in their analysis, and have also received substantial attention from the graph drawing community, as they are a natural way of implicitly representing graphs. However, as a tool for graph representation, proximity graphs have some limitations that may be overcome with suitable generalizations.We introduce a generalization, witness graphs, that encompasses both the goal of more power and flexibility for graph drawing issues and a wider spectrum for neighborhood analysis. We study in detail two concrete examples, both related to Delaunay graphs, and consider as well some problems on stabbing geometric objects and point set discrimination, that can be naturally described in terms of witness graphs.     

Approximation Schemes for the Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem

A graph Γ is called a Deza graph if it is regular and the number of common neighbors of any two distinct vertices is one of two fixed values. A Deza graph is called a strictly Deza graph if it has diameter 2 and is not strongly regular. In 1992, Gardiner et al. proved that a strongly regular graph that contains a vertex with disconnected second neighborhood is a complete multipartite graph with parts of the same size greater than 2. In this paper, we study strictly Deza graphs with disconnected second neighborhoods of vertices. In Section 2, we prove that, if each vertex of a strictly Deza graph has disconnected second neighborhood, then the graph is either edge-regular or coedge-regular. In Sections 3 and 4, we consider strictly Deza graphs that contain at least one vertex with disconnected second neighborhood. In Section 3, we show that, if such a graph is edge-regular, then it is the s-coclique extension of a strongly regular graph with parameters (n, k, λ, μ), where s is an integer, s ≥ 2, and λ = μ. In Section 4, we show that, if such a graph is coedge-regular, then it is the 2-clique extension of a complete multipartite graph with parts of the same size greater than or equal to 3.     

Further characterizations of cubic lattice graphs

A cubic lattice graph with characteristic n is a graph whose points can be identified with the ordered triplets on n symbols and two points are adjacent whenever the corresponding triplets have two coordinates in common. An L₂ graph is a graph whose points can be identified with the ordered pairs on n symbols such that two points are adjacent if and only if the corresponding pairs have a common coordinate. The main result of this paper is two new characterizations and shows the relation between cubic lattice and L₂ graphs. The main result also suggests a conjecture concerning the characterization of interchange graphs of complete m-partite graphs.     

A characterization of complete matroid base graphs

This study grew from an attempt to give a local analysis of matroid base graphs. A neighborhood-preserving covering of graphs p:G → H is one such that p restricted to every neighborhood in G is an isomorphism. This concept arises naturally when considering graphs with a prescribed set of local properties. A characterization is given of all connected graphs with two local properties: (a) there is a pair of adjacent points, the intersection of whose neighborhoods does not contain three mutually nonadjacent points; (b) the intersection of the neigh-borhoods of points two apart is a 4-cycle. Such graphs have neighborhoods of the form K_n × K_m for fixed n, m and are either complete matroid base graphs or are their images under neighborhood-preserving coverings. If n ≠ m, the graph is unique; if n = m, there are n ? 3 such images which are nontrivial. These examples prove that no set of properties of bounded diameter can characterize matroid base graphs.     

Hereditary dominating pair graphs

An asteroidal triple (AT) is a set of vertices such that each pair of vertices is joined by a path that avoids the neighborhood of the third. Every AT-free graph contains a dominating pair, a pair of vertices such that for every path between them, every vertex of the graph is within distance one of the path. We say that a graph is a hereditary dominating pair (HDP) graph if each of its connected induced subgraphs contains a dominating pair. In this paper we introduce the notion of frame HDP graphs in order to capture the structure of HDP graphs that contain asteroidal triples. We also determine the maximum diameter of frame HDP graphs.     

Some properties of k-Delaunay and k-Gabriel graphs

We consider two classes of higher order proximity graphs defined on a set of points in the plane, namely, the k-Delaunay graph and the k-Gabriel graph. We give bounds on the following combinatorial and geometric properties of these graphs: spanning ratio, diameter, connectivity, chromatic number, and minimum number of layers necessary to partition the edges of the graphs so that no two edges of the same layer cross.     

The smallest graphs with certain adjacency properties

A graph is said to have property P₁,_n if for every sequence of n + 1 points, there is another point adjacent only to the first point. It has previously been shown that almost all graphs have property P₁,_n. It is easy to verify that for each n, there is a cube with this property. A more delicate question asks for the construction of the smallest graphs having property P₁,_n. We find that this problem is intimately related with the discovery of the highly symmetric graphs known as cages, and are thereby enabled to resolve this question for 1?n?6.     

On the removal of forbidden graphs by edge-deletion or by edge-contraction

If π is a property on graphs, the corresponding edge deletion (edge contraction, respectively) problem is: Given a graph G, determine the minimum number of edges of G whose deletion (contraction) results in a graph satisfying property π. We show that these problems are NP-hard if π is finitely characterizable by 3-connected graphs.     

Point determination in graphs

A point determining graph is defined to be a graph in which distinct nonadjacent points have distinct neighborhoods. Those graphs which are critical with respect to this property are studied. We show that a graph is complete if and only if it is connected, point determining, but fails to remain point determining upon the removal of any edge. We also show that every connected, point determining graph contains at least two points, the removal of either of which will result again in a point determining graph. Graphs which are point determining and contain exactly two such points are shown to have the property that every point is adjacent to exactly one of these two points.     

On the NP-hardness of edge-deletion and -contraction problems

If π is a property on graphs, the corresponding edge deletion (edge contraction, respectively) problem is: Given a graph G, determine the minimum number of edges of G whose deletion (contraction) results in a graph satisfying property π. We show that these problems are NP-hard if π is finitely characterizable by 3-connected graphs.     

Theorems on partitioned matrices revisited and their applications to graph spectra

Some old results about spectra of partitioned matrices due to Goddard and Schneider or Haynsworth are re-proved. A new result is given for the spectrum of a block-stochastic matrix with the property that each off-diagonal block has equal entries and each diagonal block has equal diagonal entries and equal off-diagonal entries. The result is applied to the study of the spectra of the usual graph matrices by partitioning the vertex set of the graph according to the neighborhood equivalence relation. The concept of a reduced graph matrix is introduced. The question of when n-2 is the second largest signless Laplacian eigenvalue of a connected graph of order n is treated. A recent conjecture posed by Tam, Fan and Zhou on graphs that maximize the signless Laplacian spectral radius over all (not necessarily connected) graphs with given numbers of vertices and edges is refuted. The Laplacian spectrum of a (degree) maximal graph is reconsidered.     

Coloring, location and domination of corona graphs

A vertex coloring of a graph G is an assignment of colors to the vertices of G so that every two adjacent vertices of G have different colors. A coloring related property of a graphs is also an assignment of colors or labels to the vertices of a graph, in which the process of labeling is done according to an extra condition. A set S of vertices of a graph G is a dominating set in G if every vertex outside of S is adjacent to at least one vertex belonging to S. A domination parameter of G is related to those structures of a graph that satisfy some domination property together with other conditions on the vertices of G. In this article we study several mathematical properties related to coloring, domination and location of corona graphs. We investigate the distance-k colorings of corona graphs. Particularly, we obtain tight bounds for the distance-2 chromatic number and distance-3 chromatic number of corona graphs, through some relationships between the distance-k chromatic number of corona graphs and the distance-k chromatic number of its factors. Moreover, we give the exact value of the distance-k chromatic number of the corona of a path and an arbitrary graph. On the other hand, we obtain bounds for the Roman dominating number and the locating–domination number of corona graphs. We give closed formulaes for the k-domination number, the distance-k domination number, the independence domination number, the domatic number and the idomatic number of corona graphs.     

On edges crossing few other edges in simple topological complete graphs

We study the existence of edges having few crossings with the other edges in drawings of the complete graph (more precisely, in simple topological complete graphs). A topological graphT=(V,E) is a graph drawn in the plane with vertices represented by distinct points and edges represented by Jordan curves connecting the corresponding pairs of points (vertices), passing through no other vertices, and having the property that any intersection point of two edges is either a common end-point or a point where the two edges properly cross. A topological graph is simple if any two edges meet in at most one common point.Let h=h(n) be the smallest integer such that every simple topological complete graph on n vertices contains an edge crossing at most h other edges. We show that Ω(n^3/2)≤h(n)≤O(n²/log^1/4n). We also show that the analogous function on other surfaces (torus, Klein bottle) grows as cn².     

Nuclei for totally point determining graphs

The nucleus (edge nucleus) of a point determining graph is defined by Geoffroy and Sumner to be the set of all points (edges) whose removal leaves the graph point determining. It is the purpose of this paper to develop the analogous concepts for totally point determining graphs, that is, graphs in which distinct points have distinct neighborhoods and closed neighborhoods.     

On 1-factors of point determining graphs

A graph G is said to be point determining if and only if distinct points of G have distinct neighborhoods. For such a graph G, the nucleus is defined to be the set G″ consisting of all points ν of G for which G-ν is a point determining graph.In [4], Summer exhibited several families of graphs H such that if G⁰ = H, for some point determining graph G, then G has a 1-factor. In this paper, we extend this class of graphs.     

Witness Rectangle Graphs

In a witness rectangle graph (WRG) on vertex point set P with respect to witness point set W in the plane, two points x, y in P are adjacent whenever the open isothetic rectangle with x and y as opposite corners contains at least one point in W. WRGs are representative of a larger family of witness proximity graphs introduced in two previous papers. We study graph-theoretic properties of WRGs. We prove that any WRG has at most two non-trivial connected components. We bound the diameter of the non-trivial connected components of a WRG in both the one-component and two-component cases. In the latter case, we prove that a graph is representable as a WRG if and only if each component is a connected co-interval graph, thereby providing a complete characterization of WRGs of this type. We also completely characterize trees drawable as WRGs. In addition, we prove that a WRG with no isolated vertices has domination number at most four. Moreover, we show that any combinatorial graph can be drawn as a WRG using a combination of positive and negative witnesses. Finally, we conclude with some related results on the number of points required to stab all the rectangles defined by a set of n points.     

The nucleus of a point determining graph

A graph is point determining if distinct points have distinct neighborhoods. In this paper we investigate the nucleus G⁰={υ?G:G–υ is point determining} of a point determining graph G. In particular, we characterize those graphs that are the nucleus of some connected point determining graph.     

Coloring copoints of a planar point set

To a set of n points in the plane, one can associate a graph that has less than n² vertices and has the property that k-cliques in the graph correspond vertex sets of convex k-gons in the point set. We prove an upper bound of 2^k-1 on the size of a planar point set for which the graph has chromatic number k, matching the bound conjectured by Szekeres for the clique number. Constructions of Erd?s and Szekeres are shown to yield graphs that have very low chromatic number. The constructions are carried out in the context of pseudoline arrangements.     

Bounds for the b-chromatic number of some families of graphs

In this paper we obtain some upper bounds for the b-chromatic number of K_1,s-free graphs, graphs with given minimum clique partition and bipartite graphs. These bounds are given in terms of either the clique number or the chromatic number of a graph or the biclique number for a bipartite graph. We show that all the bounds are tight.