A note on G-intersecting families

Consider a graph G and a k-uniform hypergraph on common vertex set [n]. We say that is G-intersecting if for every pair of edges in there are vertices xX and yY such that x=y or x and y are joined by an edge in G. This notion was introduced by Bohman, Frieze, Ruszinkó and Thoma who proved a natural generalization of the Erd s–Ko–Rado Theorem for G-intersecting k-uniform hypergraphs for G sparse and k=O(n^1/4). In this note, we extend this result to .     

Pseudo-Hamiltonian-connected graphs

Given a graph G and a positive integer k, denote by G[k] the graph obtained from G by replacing each vertex of G with an independent set of size k. A graph G is called pseudo-k Hamiltonian-connected if G[k] is Hamiltonian-connected, i.e., every two distinct vertices of G[k] are connected by a Hamiltonian path. A graph G is called pseudo Hamiltonian-connected if it is pseudo-k Hamiltonian-connected for some positive integer k. This paper proves that a graph G is pseudo-Hamiltonian-connected if and only if for every non-empty proper subset X of V(G), |N(X)|>|X|. The proof of the characterization also provides a polynomial-time algorithm that decides whether or not a given graph is pseudo-Hamiltonian-connected. The characterization of pseudo-Hamiltonian-connected graphs also answers a question of Richard Nowakowski, which motivated this paper.     

ContributionsFinitary bases and formal generating functions

Let k be a nonzero, commutative ring with 1, and let R be a k-algebra with a countably-infinite ordered free k-basis B = [p_n: n 0]. We characterize and analyze those bases from which one can construct a k-algebra of ‘formal B-series’ of the form f=∑c_n p_n, with c_n ε k, showing inter alia that many classical polynomial bases fail to have this property.     

A Note on Strong Edge Coloring of Sparse Graphs

A strong edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring where the edges at distance at most 2 receive distinct colors. The strong chromatic index χ'_s(G) of a graph G is the minimum number of colors used in a strong edge coloring of G. In an ordering Q of the vertices of G, the back degree of a vertex x of G in Q is the number of vertices adjacent to x, each of which has smaller index than x in Q. Let G be a graph of maximum degree Δ and maximum average degree at most 2 k. Yang and Zhu [J. Graph Theory, 83, 334–339(2016)] presented an algorithm that produces an ordering of the edges of G in which each edge has back degree at most 4 kΔ-2 k in the square of the line graph of G, implying that χ'_s(G) ≤ 4 kΔ-2 k + 1. In this note, we improve the algorithm of Yang and Zhu by introducing a new procedure dealing with local structures. Our algorithm generates an ordering of the edges of G in which each edge has back degree at most(4 k-1)Δ-2 k in the square of the line graph of G, implying that χ'_s(G) ≤(4 k-1)Δ-2 k + 1.     

A reversal index for tournament matrices

Given a tournament matrix T, its reversal indexi_R(T), is the minimum k such that the reversal of the orientation of k arcs in the directed graph associated with T results in a reducible matrix. We give a formula for i_R(T) in terms of the score vector of T which generalizes a simple criterion for a tournament matrix to be irreducible. We show that i_R(T)≤[(n-1)/2] for any tournament matrix T of order n, with equality holding if and only if T is regular or almost regular, according as n is odd or even. We construct, for each k between 1 and [(n-1)/2], a tournament matrix of order n whose reversal index is k. Finally, we suggest a few problems.     

路的字典积的邻和可区别边染色

图G的正常[k]-边染色σ是指颜色集合为[k]={1,2,…,k}的G的一个正常边染色.用w_σ（x）表示顶点x关联边的颜色之和,即w_σ（x）=∑_e∋x σ（e）,并称w_σ（x）关于σ的权.图G的k-邻和可区别边染色是指相邻顶点具有不同权的正常[k]-边染色,最小的k值称为G的邻和可区别边色数,记为χ'_∑（G）.现得到了路P_n与简单连通图H的字典积P_n[H]的邻和可区别边色数的精确值,其中H分别为正则第一类图、路、完全图的补图.     

The complexity of irredundant sets parameterized by size

An irredundant set of vertices V′V in a graph G=(V,E) has the property that for every vertex uV′, N[V′−{u}] is a proper subset of N[V′]. We investigate the parameterized complexity of determining whether a graph has an irredundant set of size k, where k is the parameter. The interest of this problem is that while most “k-element vertex set” problems are NP-complete, several are known to be fixed-parameter tractable, and others are hard for various levels of the parameterized complexity hierarchy. Complexity classification of vertex set problems in this framework has proved to be both more interesting and more difficult. We prove that the k-element irredundant set problem is complete for W[1], and thus has the same parameterized complexity as the problem of determining whether a graph has a k-clique. We also show that the “parametric dual” problem of determining whether a graph has an irredundant set of size n−k is fixed-parameter tractable.     

A local search approximation algorithm for k-means clustering

In k-means clustering we are given a set of n data points in d-dimensional space and an integer k, and the problem is to determine a set of k points in  , called centers, to minimize the mean squared distance from each data point to its nearest center. No exact polynomial-time algorithms are known for this problem. Although asymptotically efficient approximation algorithms exist, these algorithms are not practical due to the very high constant factors involved. There are many heuristics that are used in practice, but we know of no bounds on their performance.

We consider the question of whether there exists a simple and practical approximation algorithm for k-means clustering. We present a local improvement heuristic based on swapping centers in and out. We prove that this yields a (9+)-approximation algorithm. We present an example showing that any approach based on performing a fixed number of swaps achieves an approximation factor of at least (9−) in all sufficiently high dimensions. Thus, our approximation factor is almost tight for algorithms based on performing a fixed number of swaps. To establish the practical value of the heuristic, we present an empirical study that shows that, when combined with Lloyd's algorithm, this heuristic performs quite well in practice.     

Optimal fault-tolerant routings with small routing tables for k-connected graphs

We study the problem of designing fault-tolerant routings with small routing tables for a k-connected network of n processors in the surviving route graph model. The surviving route graph R(G,ρ)/F for a graph G, a routing ρ and a set of faults F is a directed graph consisting of nonfaulty nodes of G with a directed edge from a node x to a node y iff there are no faults on the route from x to y. The diameter of the surviving route graph could be one of the fault-tolerance measures for the graph G and the routing ρ and it is denoted by D(R(G,ρ)/F). We want to reduce the total number of routes defined in the routing, and the maximum of the number of routes defined for a node (called route degree) as least as possible. In this paper, we show that we can construct a routing λ for every n-node k-connected graph such that n2k², in which the route degree is , the total number of routes is O(k²n) and D(R(G,λ)/F)3 for any fault set F (|F|<k). In particular, in the case that k=2 we can construct a routing λ′ for every biconnected graph in which the route degree is , the total number of routes is O(n) and D(R(G,λ′)/{f})3 for any fault f. We also show that we can construct a routing ρ₁ for every n-node biconnected graph, in which the total number of routes is O(n) and D(R(G,ρ₁)/{f})2 for any fault f, and a routing ρ₂ (using ρ₁) for every n-node biconnected graph, in which the route degree is , the total number of routes is and D(R(G,ρ₂)/{f})2 for any fault f.     

Pseudo-orthogonality for graph 1-Laplacian eigenvectors and applications to higher Cheeger constants and data clustering

The data clustering problem consists in dividing a data set into prescribed groups of homogeneous data. This is an NP-hard problem that can be relaxed in the spectral graph theory, where the optimal cuts of a graph are related to the eigenvalues of graph 1-Laplacian. In this paper, we first give new notations to describe the paths, among critical eigenvectors of the graph 1-Laplacian, realizing sets with prescribed genus. We introduce the pseudo-orthogonality to characterize m₃(G), a special eigenvalue for the graph 1-Laplacian. Furthermore, we use it to give an upper bound for the third graph Cheeger constant h₃(G), that is, h₃(G) 6 m₃(G). This is a first step for proving that the k-th Cheeger constant is the minimum of the 1-Laplacian Raylegh quotient among vectors that are pseudo-orthogonal to the vectors realizing the previous k - 1 Cheeger constants. Eventually, we apply these results to give a method and a numerical algorithm to compute m₃(G), based on a generalized inverse power method.     

Resolutions of Stanley-Reisner rings and Alexander duality

Associated to any simplicial complex Δ on n vertices is a square-free monomial ideal I_Δ in the polynomial ring A = k[x₁, …, x_n], and its quotient k[Δ] = A/I_Δ known as the Stanley-Reisner ring. This note considers a simplicial complex Δ^* which is in a sense a canonical Alexander dual to Δ, previously considered in [1, 5]. Using Alexander duality and a result of Hochster computing the Betti numbers dim_k Tor_i^A (k[Δ],k), it is shown (Proposition 1) that these Betti numbers are computable from the homology of links of faces in Δ^*. As corollaries, we prove that I_Δ has a linear resolution as A-module if and only if Δ^* is Cohen-Macaulay over k, and show how to compute the Betti numbers dim_k Tor_i^A (k[Δ],k) in some cases where Δ^* is wellbehaved (shellable, Cohen-Macaulay, or Buchsbaum). Some other applications of the notion of shellability are also discussed.     

Pancyclicity mod k of claw-free graphs and K1,4-free graphs

For any natural number k, a graph G is said to be pancyclic mod k if it contains a cycle of every length modulo k. In this paper, we show that every K_1,4-free graph G with minimum degree δ(G)k+3 is pancyclic mod k and every claw-free graph G with δ(G)k+1 is pancyclic mod k, which confirms Thomassen's conjecture (J. Graph Theory 7 (1983) 261–271) for claw-free graphs.     

Path optimization for graph partitioning problems

This paper presents a new heuristic for graph partitioning called Path Optimization (PO), and the results of an extensive set of empirical comparisons of the new algorithm with two very well-known algorithms for partitioning: the Kernighan-Lin algorithm and simulated annealing. Our experiments are described in detail, and the results are presented in such a way as to reveal performance trends based on several variables. Sufficient trials are run to obtain 99% confidence intervals small enough to lead to a statistical ranking of the implementations for various circumstances. The results for geometric graphs, which have become a frequently used benchmark in the evaluation of partitioning algorithms, show that PO holds an advantage over the others.

In addition to the main test suite described above, comparisons of PO to more recent partitioning approaches are also given. We present the results of comparisons of PO with a parallelized implementation of Goemans' and Williamson's 0.878 approximation algorithm, a flow-based heuristic due to Lang and Rao, and the multilevel algorithm of Hendrickson and Leland.     

A special k-coloring for a connected k-chromatic graph

For each positive integer k we consider the smallest positive integer f(k) (dependent only on k) such that the following holds: Each connected graph G with chromatic number χ(G) = k can be properly vertex colored by k colors so that for each pair of vertices x_o and x_p in any color class there exist vertices x₁, x₂, …, x_p-1 of the same class with dist(x_i, x_i+1) f(k) for each i, 0 i p − 1. Thus, the graph is k-colorable with the vertices of each color class placed throughout the graph so that no subset of the class is at a distance > f(k) from the remainder of the class.

We prove that f(k) < 12k when the order of the graph is k(k − 2) + 1.     

Compound connection matrices

Suppose T is an incidence, basis circuit or basis cut set matrix of a connected graph and T^(k) is the k compound of T. It is proven that any second order minor of T^(k) is equal +1, −1, or 0. For the case of an incidence matrix this result is applied to tree counting and some structural properties of T^(k) are given.     

Matching extension and minimum degree

Let G be a simple connected graph on 2n vertices with a perfect matching. For a given positive integer k, 1 k n − 1, G is k-extendable if for every matching M of size k in G, there exists a perfect matching in G containing all the edges of M. The problem that arises is that of characterizing k-extendable graphs. In this paper, we establish a necessary condition, in terms of minimum degree, for k-extendable graphs. Further, we determine the set of realizable values for minimum degree of k-extendable graphs. In addition, we establish some results on bipartite graphs including a sufficient condition for a bipartite graph to be k-extendable.     

A linear programming approach for linear programs with probabilistic constraints

We study a class of mixed-integer programs for solving linear programs with joint probabilistic constraints from random right-hand side vectors with finite distributions. We present greedy and dual heuristic algorithms that construct and solve a sequence of linear programs. We provide optimality gaps for our heuristic solutions via the linear programming relaxation of the extended mixed-integer formulation of Luedtke et al. (2010) [13] as well as via lower bounds produced by their cutting plane method. While we demonstrate through an extensive computational study the effectiveness and scalability of our heuristics, we also prove that the theoretical worst-case solution quality for these algorithms is arbitrarily far from optimal. Our computational study compares our heuristics against both the extended mixed-integer programming formulation and the cutting plane method of Luedtke et al. (2010) [13]. Our heuristics efficiently and consistently produce solutions with small optimality gaps, while for larger instances the extended formulation becomes intractable and the optimality gaps from the cutting plane method increase to over 5%.     

Adaptive automated construction of hybrid heuristics for exam timetabling and graph colouring problems

In this paper, we present a random iterative graph based hyper-heuristic to produce a collection of heuristic sequences to construct solutions of different quality. These heuristic sequences can be seen as dynamic hybridisations of different graph colouring heuristics that construct solutions step by step. Based on these sequences, we statistically analyse the way in which graph colouring heuristics are automatically hybridised. This, to our knowledge, represents a new direction in hyper-heuristic research. It is observed that spending the search effort on hybridising Largest Weighted Degree with Saturation Degree at the early stage of solution construction tends to generate high quality solutions. Based on these observations, an iterative hybrid approach is developed to adaptively hybridise these two graph colouring heuristics at different stages of solution construction. The overall aim here is to automate the heuristic design process, which draws upon an emerging research theme on developing computer methods to design and adapt heuristics automatically. Experimental results on benchmark exam timetabling and graph colouring problems demonstrate the effectiveness and generality of this adaptive hybrid approach compared with previous methods on automatically generating and adapting heuristics. Indeed, we also show that the approach is competitive with the state of the art human produced methods.     

Combinatorial aspects of geometric graphs

As a special case of our main result, we show that for all L> 0, each k-nearest neighbor graph in d dimensions excludes K_h as a depth L minor if h = Ω(L^d). More generally, we prove that the overlap graphs defined by Miller, Teng, Thurston and Vavasis (1993) have this combinatorial property. By a construction of Plotkin, Rao and Smith (1994), our result implies that overlap graphs have “good” cut-covers, answering an open question of Kaklamanis, Krizanc and Rao (1993). Consequently, overlap graphs can be emulated on hypercube graphs with a constant factor of slow-down and on butterfly graphs with a factor of O(log^* n) slow-down. Therefore, computations on overlap graphs, such as finite element and finite difference methods on “well-conditioned” meshes and image processing on k-nearest neighbor graphs, can be performed on hypercubic parallel machines with a linear speed-up. Our result, in conjunction with a result of Plotkin, Rao and Smith, also yields a combinatorial proof that overlap graphs have separators of sublinear size. We also show that with high probability, the Delaunay diagram, the relative neighborhood graph, and the k-nearest neighbor graph of a random point set exclude K_h as a depth L minor if h = Ω(L^d/2 log n).     

Maximum number of edges in a critically k-connected graph

A k-connected graph G is said to be critically k-connected if G−v is not k-connected for any vV(G). We show that if n,k are integers with k4 and nk+2, and G is a critically k-connected graph of order n, then |E(G)|n(n−1)/2−p(n−k)+p²/2, where p=(n/k)+1 if n/k is an odd integer and p=n/k otherwise. We also characterize extremal graphs.