Path Partitions and Pn-free Sets

The detour order τ(G) of a graph G is the order of a longest path of G. A partition (A, B) of V is called an (a, b)-partition of G if τ(G[A]) ≤ a and τ(G[B]) ≤ b. The Path Partition Conjecture is the following:For any graph G, with detour order τ(G) = a + b, there exists an (a, b)-partition of G.We introduce and examine a conjecture which is possibly stronger: If M is a maximum P_n+1-free set of vertices of G, with n < τ(G), then τ(G − M) ≤ τ(G)− n.     

Degree sum and connectivity conditions for dominating cycles

For a graph G, let σ_k(G) be the minimum degree sum of an independent set of k vertices. Ore showed that if G is a graph of order n?3 with σ₂(G)?n then G is hamiltonian. Let κ(G) be the connectivity of a graph G. Bauer, Broersma, Li and Veldman proved that if G is a 2-connected graph on n vertices with σ₃(G)?n+κ(G), then G is hamiltonian. On the other hand, Bondy showed that if G is a 2-connected graph on n vertices with σ₃(G)?n+2, then each longest cycle of G is a dominating cycle. In this paper, we prove that if G is a 3-connected graph on n vertices with σ₄(G)?n+κ(G)+3, then G contains a longest cycle which is a dominating cycle.     

Representing edge intersection graphs of paths on degree 4 trees

Let P be a collection of nontrivial simple paths on a host tree T. The edge intersection graph of P, denoted by EPT(P), has vertex set that corresponds to the members of P, and two vertices are joined by an edge if and only if the corresponding members of P share at least one common edge in T. An undirected graph G is called an edge intersection graph of paths in a tree if G=EPT(P) for some P and T. The EPT graphs are useful in network applications. Scheduling undirected calls in a tree network or assigning wavelengths to virtual connections in an optical tree network are equivalent to coloring its EPT graph.An undirected graph G is chordal if every cycle in G of length greater than 3 possesses a chord. Chordal graphs correspond to vertex intersection graphs of subtrees on a tree. An undirected graph G is weakly chordal if every cycle of length greater than 4 in G and in its complement possesses a chord. It is known that the EPT graphs restricted to host trees of vertex degree 3 are precisely the chordal EPT graphs. We prove a new analogous result that weakly chordal EPT graphs are precisely the EPT graphs with host tree restricted to degree 4. Moreover, this provides an algorithm to reduce a given EPT representation of a weakly chordal EPT graph to an EPT representation on a degree 4 tree. Finally, we raise a number of intriguing open questions regarding related families of graphs.     

Some connected ramsey numbers

A graph G is co-connected if both G and its complement ? are connected and nontrivial. For two graphs A and B, the connected Ramsey number r_c(A, B) is the smallest integer n such that there exists a co-connected graph of order n, and if G is a co-connected graph on at least n vertices, then A ? G or B ? ?. If neither A or B contains a bridge, then it is known that r_c(A, B) = r(A, B), where r(A, B) denotes the usual Ramsey number of A and B. In this paper r_c(A, B) is calculated for some pairs (A, B) when r(A, B) is known and at least one of the graphs A or B has a bridge. In particular, r_c(A, B) is calculated for A a path and B either a cycle, star, or complete graph, and for A a star and B a complete graph.     

Polynomials on graphs

Let G be a simple graph with adjacency matrix A, and p(x) a polynomial with rational coefficients. If p(A) is the adjacency matrix of a graph, we denote that graph by p(G). We consider the question: Given a graph G, which polynomials p(x) give rise to a graph p(G) and what are those graphs? We give a complete answer if G is a distance-regular graph. We then derive some general relations between the polynomials p(x), the spectrum of A, and the automorphism group of G.     

Distances in orientations of graphs

We prove that there is a function h(k) such that every undirected graph G admits an orientation H with the following property: If an edge uv belongs to a cycle of length k in G, then uv or vu belongs to a directed cycle of length at most h(k) in H. Next, we show that every undirected bridgeless graph of radius r admits an orientation of radius at most r² + r, and this bound is best possible. We consider the same problem with radius replaced by diameter. Finilly, we show that the problem of deciding whether an undirected graph admits an orientation of diameter (resp. radius) 2 belongs to a class of problems called NP-hard.     

On the reduced signless Laplacian spectrum of a degree maximal graph

For a (simple) graph G, the signless Laplacian of G is the matrix A(G)+D(G), where A(G) is the adjacency matrix and D(G) is the diagonal matrix of vertex degrees of G; the reduced signless Laplacian of G is the matrix Δ(G)+B(G), where B(G) is the reduced adjacency matrix of G and Δ(G) is the diagonal matrix whose diagonal entries are the common degrees for vertices belonging to the same neighborhood equivalence class of G. A graph is said to be (degree) maximal if it is connected and its degree sequence is not majorized by the degree sequence of any other connected graph. For a maximal graph, we obtain a formula for the characteristic polynomial of its reduced signless Laplacian and use the formula to derive a localization result for its reduced signless Laplacian eigenvalues, and to compare the signless Laplacian spectral radii of two well-known maximal graphs. We also obtain a necessary condition for a maximal graph to have maximal signless Laplacian spectral radius among all connected graphs with given numbers of vertices and edges.     

The elliptic matrix completion problem

Completions of partial elliptic matrices are studied. Given an undirected graph G, it is shown that every partial elliptic matrix with graph G can be completed to an elliptic matrix if and only if the maximal cliques of G are pairwise disjoint. Further, given a partial elliptic matrix A with undirected graph G, it is proved that if G is chordal and each specified principal submatrix defined by a pair of intersecting maximal cliques is nonsingular, then A can be completed to an elliptic matrix. Conversely, if G is nonchordal or if the regularity condition is relaxed, it is shown that there exist partial elliptic matrices which are not completable to an elliptic matrix. In the process we obtain several results concerning chordal graphs that may be of independent interest.     

Edge disjoint Steiner trees in graphs without large bridges

A set A of vertices of an undirected graph G is called k‐edge‐connected in G if for all pairs of distinct vertices a, b∈A, there exist k edge disjoint a, b‐paths in G. An A‐tree is a subtree of G containing A, and an A‐bridge is a subgraph B of G which is either formed by a single edge with both end vertices in A or formed by the set of edges incident with the vertices of some component of G ? A. It is proved that (i) if A is k·(? + 2)‐edge‐connected in G and every A‐bridge has at most ? vertices in V(G) ? A or at most ? + 2 vertices in A then there exist k edge disjoint A‐trees, and that (ii) if A is k‐edge‐connected in G and B is an A‐bridge such that B is a tree and every vertex in V(B) ? A has degree 3 then either A is k‐edge‐connected in G ? e for some e∈E(B) or A is (k ? 1)‐edge‐connected in G ? E(B). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 62: 188–198, 2009     

On a graph related to permutability in finite groups

For a finite group G we define the graph Γ(G) to be the graph whose vertices are the conjugacy classes of cyclic subgroups of G and two conjugacy classes ${\mathcal {A}, \mathcal {B}}For a finite group G we define the graph Γ(G) to be the graph whose vertices are the conjugacy classes of cyclic subgroups of G and two conjugacy classes A, B{\mathcal {A}, \mathcal {B}} are joined by an edge if for some A ? A, B ? B A{A \in \mathcal {A},\, B \in \mathcal {B}\, A} and B permute. We characterise those groups G for which Γ(G) is complete.     

Length of Longest Cycles in a Graph Whose Relative Length is at Least Two

Let G be a graph. We denote p(G) and c(G) the order of a longest path and the order of a longest cycle of G, respectively. Let κ(G) be the connectivity of G, and let σ ₃(G) be the minimum degree sum of an independent set of three vertices in G. In this paper, we prove that if G is a 2-connected graph with p(G) ? c(G) ≥ 2, then either (i) c(G) ≥ σ ₃(G) ? 3 or (ii) κ(G)?=?2 and p(G) ≥ σ ₃(G) ? 1. This result implies several known results as corollaries and gives a new lower bound of the circumference.     

Long cycles in graphs without hamiltonian paths

For a graph G, p(G) and c(G) denote the order of a longest path and a longest cycle of G, respectively. Bondy and Locke [J.A. Bondy, S.C. Locke, Relative length of paths and cycles in 3-connected graphs, Discrete Math. 33 (1981) 111-122] consider the gap between p(G) and c(G) in 3-connected graphs G. Starting with this result, there are many results appeared in this context, see [H. Enomoto, J. van den Heuvel, A. Kaneko, A. Saito, Relative length of long paths and cycles in graphs with large degree sums, J. Graph Theory 20 (1995) 213-225; M. Lu, H. Liu, F. Tian, Relative length of longest paths and cycles in graphs, Graphs Combin. 23 (2007) 433-443; K. Ozeki, M. Tsugaki, T. Yamashita, On relative length of longest paths and cycles, preprint; I. Schiermeyer, M. Tewes, Longest paths and longest cycles in graphs with large degree sums, Graphs Combin. 18 (2002) 633-643]. In this paper, we investigate graphs G with p(G)−c(G) at most 1 or at most 2, but with no hamiltonian paths. Let G be a 2-connected graph of order n, which has no hamiltonian paths. We show two results as follows: (i) if , then p(G)−c(G)≤1, and (ii) if σ₄(G)≥n+3, then p(G)−c(G)≤2.     

Hamiltonian connectedness in 3-connected line graphs

We investigate graphs G such that the line graph L(G) is hamiltonian connected if and only if L(G) is 3-connected, and prove that if each 3-edge-cut contains an edge lying in a short cycle of G, then L(G) has the above mentioned property. Our result extends Kriesell’s recent result in [M. Kriesell, All 4-connected line graphs of claw free graphs are hamiltonian-connected, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 82 (2001) 306-315] that every 4-connected line graph of a claw free graph is hamiltonian connected. Another application of our main result shows that if L(G) does not have an hourglass (a graph isomorphic to K₅−E(C₄), where C₄ is an cycle of length 4 in K₅) as an induced subgraph, and if every 3-cut of L(G) is not independent, then L(G) is hamiltonian connected if and only if κ(L(G))≥3, which extends a recent result by Kriesell [M. Kriesell, All 4-connected line graphs of claw free graphs are hamiltonian-connected, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 82 (2001) 306-315] that every 4-connected hourglass free line graph is hamiltonian connected.     

On graphs whose least eigenvalue exceeds − 1 − √2

Let G be a graph, A(G) its adjacency matrix. We prove that, if the least eigenvalue of A(G) exceeds -1 ? √2 and every vertex of G has large valence, then the least eigenvalue is at least -2 and G is a generalized line graph.     

Malliavin's theorem for weak synthesis on nonabelian groups

Malliavin's celebrated theorem on the failure of spectral synthesis for the Fourier algebra A(G) on nondiscrete abelian groups was strengthened to give failure of weak synthesis by Parthasarathy and Varma. We extend this to nonabelian groups by proving that weak synthesis holds for A(G) if and only if G is discrete. We give the injection theorem and the inverse projection theorem for weak X-spectral synthesis, as well as a condition for the union of two weak X-spectral sets to be weak X-spectral for an A(G)-submodule X of VN(G). Relations between weak X-synthesis in A(G) and A(G×G) and the Varopoulos algebra V(G) are explored. The concept of operator synthesis was introduced by Arveson. We extend several recent investigations on operator synthesis by defining and studying, for a V^∞(G)-submodule M of B(L²(G)), sets of weak M-operator synthesis. Relations between X-Ditkin sets and M-operator Ditkin sets and between weak X-spectral synthesis and weak M-operator synthesis are explored.     

The competition number of a graph and the dimension of its hole space

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 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 G is the smallest number of such isolated vertices. In general, it is hard to compute the competition number k(G) for a graph G and it has been one of the important research problems in the study of competition graphs to characterize a graph by its competition number. Recently, the relationship between the competition number and the number of holes of a graph has been studied. A hole of a graph is a cycle of length at least 4 as an induced subgraph. In this paper, we conjecture that the dimension of the hole space of a graph is not smaller than the competition number of the graph. We verify this conjecture for various kinds of graphs and show that our conjectured inequality is indeed an equality for connected triangle-free graphs.     

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).     

Structural Properties and Hamiltonicity of Neighborhood Graphs

Let G = (V, E) be a simple undirected graph. N(G) =  (V, E _N ) is the neighborhood graph of the graph G, if and only if $$E_N = \{\{a,b\}\,|\, a \neq b\,\wedge\,\exists\, x \, \in V: \{x,a\} \in E \, \wedge \, \{x,b\} \in E \}.$$ We present several structural properties of N(G) and characterize the hamiltonicity of N(G) by means of chords of a hamiltonian cycle in G.     

Finite 2-groups with exactly one nonmetacyclic maximal subgroup

We determine here the structure of the title groups. All such groups G will be given in terms of generators and relations, and many important subgroups of these groups will be described. Let d(G) be the minimal number of generators of G. We have here d(G) ≤ 3 and if d(G) = 3, then G′ is elementary abelian of order at most 4. Suppose d(G) = 2. Then G′ is abelian of rank ≤ 2 and G/G′ is abelian of type (2, 2^m), m ≥ 2. If G′ has no cyclic subgroup of index 2, then m = 2. If G′ is noncyclic and G/Φ(G ₀) has no normal elementary abelian subgroup of order 8, then G′ has a cyclic subgroup of index 2 and m = 2. But the most important result is that for all such groups (with d(G) = 2) we have G = AB, for suitable cyclic subgroups A and B. Conversely, if G = AB is a finite nonmetacyclic 2-group, where A and B are cyclic, then G has exactly one nonmetacyclic maximal subgroup. Hence, in this paper the nonmetacyclic 2-groups which are products of two cyclic subgroups are completely determined. This solves a long-standing problem studied from 1953 to 1956 by B. Huppert, N. Itô and A. Ohara. Note that if G = AB is a finite p-group, p > 2, where A and B are cyclic, then G is necessarily metacyclic (Huppert [4]). Hence, we have solved here problem Nr. 776 from Berkovich [1].