On geodesic structures of weakly median graphs I. Decomposition and octahedral graphs

We prove that the non-trivial (finite or infinite) weakly median graphs which are undecomposable with respect to gated amalgamation and Cartesian multiplication are the 5-wheels, the subhyperoctahedra different from K₁, the path K_1,2 and the 4-cycle K_2,2, and the two-connected K₄- and K_1,1,3-free bridged graphs. These prime graphs are exactly the weakly median graphs which do not have any proper gated subgraphs other than singletons. For finite graphs, these results were already proved in [H.-J. Bandelt, V.C. Chepoi, The algebra of metric betweenness I: subdirect representation, retracts, and axiomatics of weakly median graphs, preprint, 2002]. A graph G is said to have the half-space copoint property (HSCP) if every non-trivial half-space of the geodesic convexity of G is a copoint at each of its neighbors. It turns out that any median graph has the HSCP. We characterize the weakly median graphs having the HSCP. We prove that the class of these graphs is closed under gated amalgamation and Cartesian multiplication, and we describe the prime and the finite regular elements of this class.     

Note on the longest paths in {K 1,4, K 1,4 + e}-free graphs

A graph G is {K 1,4,K 1,4 + e}-free if G contains no induced subgraph isomorphic to K 1,4 or K 1,4 + e.In this paper,we show that G has a path which is either hamiltonian or of length at least 2δ(G) + 2 if G is a connected {K 1,4,K 1,4 + e}-free graph on at least 7 vertices.     

Minimal 2-matching-covered graphs

A perfect 2-matching M of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G such that each component of M is either an edge or a cycle. A graph G is said to be 2-matching-covered if every edge of G lies in some perfect 2-matching of G. A 2-matching-covered graph is equivalent to a “regularizable” graph, which was introduced and studied by Berge. A Tutte-type characterization for 2-matching-covered graph was given by Berge. A 2-matching-covered graph is minimal if G−e is not 2-matching-covered for all edges e of G. We use Berge’s theorem to prove that the minimum degree of a minimal 2-matching-covered graph other than K₂ and K₄ is 2 and to prove that a minimal 2-matching-covered graph other than K₄ cannot contain a complete subgraph with at least 4 vertices.     

On a property of minimal triangulations

A graph H has the property MT, if for all graphs G, G is H-free if and only if every minimal (chordal) triangulation of G is H-free. We show that a graph H satisfies property MT if and only if H is edgeless, H is connected and is an induced subgraph of P₅, or H has two connected components and is an induced subgraph of 2P₃.This completes the results of Parra and Scheffler, who have shown that MT holds for H=P_k, the path on k vertices, if and only if k?5 [A. Parra, P. Scheffler, Characterizations and algorithmic applications of chordal graph embeddings, Discrete Applied Mathematics 79 (1997) 171-188], and of Meister, who proved that MT holds for ?P₂, ? copies of a P₂, if and only if ??2 [D. Meister, A complete characterisation of minimal triangulations of 2K₂-free graphs, Discrete Mathematics 306 (2006) 3327-3333].     

Graphs omitting sums of complete graphs

For every finite m and n there is a finite set {G₁, …, G_l} of countable (m · K_n)-free graphs such that every countable (m · K_n)-free graph occurs as an induced subgraph of one of the graphs G_l © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

K3,3-free intersection graphs of finite groups

The intersection graph of a group G is an undirected graph without loops and multiple edges defined as follows: the vertex set is the set of all proper non-trivial subgroups of G, and there is an edge between two distinct vertices H and K if and only if H∩K≠1 where 1 denotes the trivial subgroup of G. In this paper we classify all finite groups whose intersection graphs are K_3,3-free.     

Distance-residual subgraphs

For a connected finite graph G and a subset V₀ of its vertex set, a distance-residual subgraph is a subgraph induced on the set of vertices at the maximal distance from V₀. Some properties and examples of distance-residual subgraphs of vertex-transitive, edge-transitive, bipartite and semisymmetric graphs are presented. The relations between the distance-residual subgraphs of product graphs and their factors are explored.     

Cube intersection concepts in median graphs

In this paper, we study different classes of intersection graphs of maximal hypercubes of median graphs. For a median graph G and k≥0, the intersection graph Q_k(G) is defined as the graph whose vertices are maximal hypercubes (by inclusion) in G, and two vertices H_x and H_y in Q_k(G) are adjacent whenever the intersection H_x∩H_y contains a subgraph isomorphic to Q_k. Characterizations of clique-graphs in terms of these intersection concepts when k>0, are presented. Furthermore, we introduce the so-called maximal 2-intersection graph of maximal hypercubes of a median graph G, denoted , whose vertices are maximal hypercubes of G, and two vertices are adjacent if the intersection of the corresponding hypercubes is not a proper subcube of some intersection of two maximal hypercubes. We show that a graph H is diamond-free if and only if there exists a median graph G such that H is isomorphic to . We also study convergence of median graphs to the one-vertex graph with respect to all these operations.     

A contribution to queens graphs: A substitution method

A graph G is a queens graph if the vertices of G can be mapped to queens on the chessboard such that two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding queens attack each other, i.e. they are in horizontal, vertical or diagonal position.We prove a conjecture of Beineke, Broere and Henning that the Cartesian product of an odd cycle and a path is a queens graph. We show that the same does not hold for two odd cycles. The representation of the Cartesian product of an odd cycle and an even cycle remains an open problem.We also prove constructively that any finite subgraph of the rectangular grid or the hexagonal grid is a queens graph.Using a small computer search we solve another conjecture of the authors mentioned above, saying that K_3,4 minus an edge is a minimal non-queens graph.     

Vertex-disjoint K_1+(K_1 ∪ K_2) in K_(1,4)-free Graphs with Minimum Degree at Least Four

A graph is said to be K1,4-free if it does not contain an induced subgraph isomorphic to K1,4.Let k be an integer with k≥2.We prove that ifG is a K1,4-free graph of order at least 11k-10 with minimum degree at least four,then G contains k vertex-disjoint copies of K1+(K1∪K2).     

Quasi-kernels and quasi-sinks in infinite graphs

Given a directed graph G=(V,E) an independent set A⊂V is called quasi-kernel (quasi-sink) iff for each point v there is a path of length at most 2 from some point of A to v (from v to some point of A). Every finite directed graph has a quasi-kernel. The plain generalization for infinite graphs fails, even for tournaments. We study the following conjecture: for any digraph G=(V,E) there is a a partition (V₀,V₁) of the vertex set such that the induced subgraph G[V₀] has a quasi-kernel and the induced subgraph G[V₁] has a quasi-sink.     

Light graphs in families of polyhedral graphs with prescribed minimum degree, face size, edge and dual edge weight

A graph H is defined to be light in a family H of graphs if there exists a finite number φ(H,H) such that each G∈H which contains H as a subgraph, contains also a subgraph K≅H such that the Δ_G(K)≤φ(H,H). We study light graphs in families of polyhedral graphs with prescribed minimum vertex degree δ, minimum face degree ρ, minimum edge weight w and dual edge weight w^∗. For those families, we show that there exists a variety of small light cycles; on the other hand, we also present particular constructions showing that, for certain families, the spectrum of short cycles contains irregularly scattered cycles that are not light.     

Entire choosability of near-outerplane graphs

It is proved that if G is a plane embedding of a K₄-minor-free graph with maximum degree Δ, then G is entirely 7-choosable if Δ≤4 and G is entirely (Δ+2)-choosable if Δ≥5; that is, if every vertex, edge and face of G is given a list of max{7,Δ+2} colours, then every element can be given a colour from its list such that no two adjacent or incident elements are given the same colour. It is proved also that this result holds if G is a plane embedding of a K_2,3-minor-free graph or a -minor-free graph. As a special case this proves that the Entire Coluring Conjecture, that a plane graph is entirely (Δ+4)-colourable, holds if G is a plane embedding of a K₄-minor-free graph, a K_2,3-minor-free graph or a -minor-free graph.     

A Ramsey-type theorem for traceable graphs

A graph G is traceable if there is a path passing through all the vertices of G. It is proved that every infinite traceable graph either contains arbitrarily large finite chordless paths, or contains a subgraph isomorphic to graph A, illustrated in the text. A corollary is that every finitely generated infinite lattice of length 3 contains arbitrarily large finite fences. It is also proved that every infinite traceable graph containing no chordless four-point path contains a subgraph isomorphic to K_ω,ω. The versions of these results for finite graphs are discussed.     

On the perfect orderability of unions of two graphs

A graph G is perfectly orderable, if it admits an order < on its vertices such that the sequential coloring algorithm delivers an optimum coloring on each induced subgraph (H, <) of (G, <). A graph is a threshold graph, if it contains no P₄, 2K₂, and C₄ as induced subgraph. A theorem of Chvátal, Hoàng, Mahadev, and de Werra states that a graph is perfectly orderable, if it is the union of two threshold graphs. In this article, we investigate possible generalizations of the above theorem. Hoàng has conjectured that, if G is the union of two graphs G₁ and G₂, then G is perfectly orderable whenever G₁ and G₂ are both P₄‐free and 2K₂‐free. We show that the complement of the chordless cycle with at least five vertices cannot be a counter‐example to this conjecture, and we prove a special case of it: if G₁ and G₂ are two edge‐disjoint graphs that are P₄‐free and 2K₂‐free, then the union of G₁ and G₂ is perfectly orderable. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 33: 32–43, 2000     

Disjoint cycles in star-free graphs

A graph is claw-free if it does not contain K_1.3 as an induced subgraph. It is K_1.r-free if it does not contain K_1.r as an induced subgraph. We show that if a graph is K_1.r-free (r ≥ 4), only p + 2r − 1 edges are needed to insure that G has two disjoint cycles. As an easy consequence we get a well-known result of Pósa's. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On integral sum graphs

A graph G is said to be an integral sum graph if its nodes can be given a labeling f with distinct integers, so that for any two distinct nodes u and v of G, uv is an edge of G if and only if f(u)+f(v)=f(w) for some node w in G. A node of G is called a saturated node if it is adjacent to every other node of G. We show that any integral sum graph which is not K₃ has at most two saturated nodes. We determine the structure for all integral sum graphs with exactly two saturated nodes, and give an upper bound for the number of edges of a connected integral sum graph with no saturated nodes. We introduce a method of identification on constructing new connected integral sum graphs from given integral sum graphs with a saturated node. Moreover, we show that every graph is an induced subgraph of a connected integral sum graph. Miscellaneous related results are also presented.     

The number of possibilities for random dating

Let G be a regular graph and H a subgraph on the same vertex set. We give surprisingly compact formulas for the number of copies of H one expects to find in a random subgraph of G.     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect and coordinated graphs: Superclasses of triangle-free graphs

A graph G is clique-perfect if the cardinality of a maximum clique-independent set of H equals the cardinality of a minimum clique-transversal of H, for every induced subgraph H of G. 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 equals 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 complete lists of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the classes of clique-perfect and coordinated graphs are not known, but some partial characterizations have been obtained. In this paper, we characterize clique-perfect and coordinated graphs by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph is either paw-free or {gem, W₄, bull}-free, both superclasses of triangle-free graphs.     

Matchings in 3-vertex-critical graphs: The odd case

A subset of vertices D of a graph G is a dominating set for G if every vertex of G not in D is adjacent to one in D. The cardinality of any smallest dominating set in G is denoted by γ(G) and called the domination number of G. Graph G is said to be γ-vertex-critical if γ(G-v)<γ(G), for every vertex v in G. A graph G is said to be factor-critical if G-v has a perfect matching for every choice of v∈V(G).In this paper, we present two main results about 3-vertex-critical graphs of odd order. First we show that any such graph with positive minimum degree and at least 11 vertices which has no induced subgraph isomorphic to the bipartite graph K_1,5 must contain a near-perfect matching. Secondly, we show that any such graph with minimum degree at least three which has no induced subgraph isomorphic to the bipartite graph K_1,4 must be factor-critical. We then show that these results are best possible in several senses and close with a conjecture.