Disjoint skolem sequences and related disjoint structures

A Skolem sequence of order n is a sequence S = (s₁, s₂…, s²ⁿ) of 2n integers satisfying the following conditions: (1) for every k ∈ {1, 2,… n} there exist exactly two elements s_i,S_j such that S_i = S_j = k; (2) If s_i = s_j = k,i < j then j ? i = k. In this article we show the existence of disjoint Skolem, disjoint hooked Skolem, and disjoint near-Skolem sequences. Then we apply these concepts to the existence problems of disjoint cyclic Steiner and Mendelsohn triple systems and the existence of disjoint 1-covering designs. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Partitions of a graph into paths with prescribed endvertices and lengths

For a graph G, let σ₂(G) denote the minimum degree sum of a pair of nonadjacent vertices. We conjecture that if |V(G)| = n = Σ^k_{i = 1} a_i and σ₂(G) ≥ n + k − 1, then for any k vertices v₁, v₂,…, v_k in G, there exist vertex‐disjoint paths P₁, P₂,…, P_k such that |V(P_i)| = a_i and v_i is an endvertex of P_i for 1 ≤ i ≤ k. In this paper, we verify the conjecture for the cases where almost all a_i ≤ 5, and the cases where k ≤ 3. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 34: 163–169, 2000     

An asymptotic version of a conjecture by Enomoto and Ota

In 2000, Enomoto and Ota [J Graph Theory 34 (2000), 163–169] stated the following conjecture. Let G be a graph of order n, and let n₁, n₂, …, n_k be positive integers with \begin{eqnarray*}\sum\nolimits_{{{i}} = {{1}}}^{{{k}}} {{n}}_{{{i}}} = {{n}}\end{eqnarray*}. If σ₂(G)≥n+ k?1, then for any k distinct vertices x₁, x₂, …, x_k in G, there exist vertex disjoint paths P₁, P₂, …, P_k such that |P_i|=n_i and x_i is an endpoint of P_i for every i, 1≤i≤k. We prove an asymptotic version of this conjecture in the following sense. For every k positive real numbers γ₁, …, γ_k with \begin{eqnarray*}\sum\nolimits_{{{i}} = {{1}}}^{{{k}}} \gamma_{{{i}}} = {{1}}\end{eqnarray*}, and for every ε>0, there exists n₀ such that for every graph G of order n≥n₀ with σ₂(G)≥n+ k?1, and for every choice of k vertices x₁, …, x_k∈V(G), there exist vertex disjoint paths P₁, …, P_k in G such that \begin{eqnarray*}\sum\nolimits_{{{i}} = {{1}}}^{{{k}}} |{{P}}_{{{i}}}| = {{n}}\end{eqnarray*}, the vertex x_i is an endpoint of the path P_i, and (γ_i?ε)n<|P_i|<(γ_i + ε)n for every i, 1≤i≤k. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 64: 37–51, 2010     

Graph decompositions without isolated vertices III

Let G be a graph of order n, and n = Σ^k_i=1 a_i be a partition of n with a_i ≥ 2. In this article we show that if the minimum degree of G is at least 3k−2, then for any distinct k vertices v₁,…, v_k of G, the vertex set V(G) can be decomposed into k disjoint subsets A₁,…, A_k so that |A_i| = a_i,v_iisA_i is an element of A_i and “the subgraph induced by A_i contains no isolated vertices” for all i, 1 ≥ i ≥ k. Here, the bound on the minimum degree is sharp. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Edge disjoint cycles in graphs

Ore proved in 1960 that if G is a graph of order n and the sum of the degrees of any pair of nonadjacent vertices is at least n, then G has a hamiltonian cycle. In 1986, Li Hao and Zhu Yongjin showed that if n ? 20 and the minimum degree δ is at least 5, then the graph G above contains at least two edge disjoint hamiltonian cycles. The result of this paper is that if n ? 2δ², then for any 3 ? l₁ ? l₂ ? ? ? l_k ? n, 1 = k = [(δ - 1)/2], such graph has K edge disjoint cycles with lengths l₁, l₂…l_k, respectively. In particular, when l₁ = l₂ = ? = l_k = n and k = [(δ - 1)/2], the graph contains [(δ - 1)/2] edge disjoint hamiltonian cycles.     

Mutually orthogonal graph squares

A decomposition ??={G₁, G₂,…,G_s} of a graph G is a partition of the edge set of G into edge‐disjoint subgraphs G₁, G₂,…,G_s. If G_i?H for all i∈{1, 2, …, s}, then ?? is a decomposition of G by H. Two decompositions ??={G₁, G₂, …, G_n} and ?={F₁, F₂,…,F_n} of the complete bipartite graph K_n,n are orthogonal if |E(G_i)∩E(F_j)|=1 for all i,j∈{1, 2, …, n}. A set of decompositions {??₁, ??₂, …, ??_k} of K_{n, n} is a set of k mutually orthogonal graph squares (MOGS) if ??_i and ??_j are orthogonal for all i, j∈{1, 2, …, k} and i≠j. For any bipartite graph G with n edges, N(n, G) denotes the maximum number k in a largest possible set {??₁, ??₂, …, ??_k} of MOGS of K_{n, n} by G. El‐Shanawany conjectured that if p is a prime number, then N(p, P_{p+ 1})=p, where P_{p+ 1} is the path on p+ 1 vertices. In this article, we prove this conjecture. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 17: 369–373, 2009     

An improved linear edge bound for graph linkages

A graph is said to be k-linked if it has at least 2k vertices and for every sequence s₁,…,s_k,t₁,…,t_k of distinct vertices there exist disjoint paths P₁,…,P_k such that the ends of P_i are s_i and t_i. Bollobás and Thomason showed that if a simple graph G on n vertices is 2k-connected and G has at least 11kn edges, then G is k-linked. We give a relatively simple inductive proof of the stronger statement that 8kn edges and 2k-connectivity suffice, and then with more effort improve the edge bound to 5kn.     

Covering a graph with cycles passing through given edges

We propose a conjecture: for each integer k ≥ 2, there exists N(k) such that if G is a graph of order n ≥ N(k) and d(x) + d(y) ≥ n + 2k - 2 for each pair of non-adjacent vertices x and y of G, then for any k independent edges e₁, …, e_k of G, there exist k vertex-disjoint cycles C₁, …, C_k in G such that e_i ∈ E(C_i) for all i ∈ {1, …, k} and V(C₁ ∪ ···∪ C_k) = V(G). If this conjecture is true, the condition on the degrees of G is sharp. We prove this conjecture for the case k = 2 in the paper. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 26: 105–109, 1997     

On 2-factors with cycles containing specified vertices in a bipartite graph

Let k≥1 be an integer and G=(V ₁,V ₂;E) a bipartite graph with |V ₁|=|V ₂|=n such that n≥2k+2. Our result is as follows: If $d(x)+d(y)\geq \lceil\frac{4n+k}{3}\rceil$ for any nonadjacent vertices x∈V ₁ and y∈V ₂, then for any k distinct vertices z ₁,…,z _k , G contains a 2-factor with k+1 cycles C ₁,…,C _k+1 such that z _i ∈V(C _i ) and l(C _i )=4 for each i∈{1,…,k}.     

Induced disjoint paths problem in a planar digraph

As an extension of the disjoint paths problem, we introduce a new problem which we call the induced disjoint paths problem. In this problem we are given a graph G and a collection of vertex pairs {(s₁,t₁),…,(s_k,t_k)}. The objective is to find k paths P₁,…,P_k such that P_i is a path from s_i to t_i and P_i and P_j have neither common vertices nor adjacent vertices for any distinct i,j.The induced disjoint paths problem has several variants depending on whether k is a fixed constant or a part of the input, whether the graph is directed or undirected, and whether the graph is planar or not. We investigate the computational complexity of several variants of the induced disjoint paths problem. We show that the induced disjoint paths problem is (i) solvable in polynomial time when k is fixed and G is a directed (or undirected) planar graph, (ii) NP-hard when k=2 and G is an acyclic directed graph, (iii) NP-hard when k=2 and G is an undirected general graph.As an application of our first result, we show that we can find in polynomial time certain structures called a “hole” and a “theta” in a planar graph.     

Edge-disjoint paths and cycles in n-edge-connected graphs

We consider finite undirected loopless graphs G in which multiple edges are possible. For integers k,l ≥ 0 let g(k, l) be the minimal n ≥ 0 with the following property: If G is an n-edge-connected graph, s₁, ?,s_k, t₁, ?,t_k are vertices of G, and f₁, ?,f_l, g₁, ?,g_l, are pairwise distinct edges of G, then for each i = 1, ?, k there exists a path P_i in G, connecting s_i and t_i and for each i = 1, ?,l there exists a cycle C_i in G containing f_i and g_i such that P₁, ?,P_k, C₁, ?, C_l are pairwise edge-disjoint. We give upper and lower bounds for g(k, l).     

Chromatic factorizations of a graph

Let n₁ ? n₂ ? …? ? n_k ? 2 be integers. We say that G has an (n₁, n₂, …?, n_k-chromatic factorization if G) can be edge-factored as G₁ ⊕ G₂ ⊕ …? ⊕ G_k with χ(G_i) = nA_i, for i = 1,2,…, k. The following results are proved:

• i If (n₁ ? 1)n₂ …? n_k < χ(G) ? n₁n₂ …? n_k, then G has an (n₁, n₂, …?, n_k)-chromatic factorization.
• ii If n₁ + n₂ + …? + n_k ? (k - 1) ? n ? n₁n₂ …? n_k, then K_n has an (n₁, n₂, …?, n_k)-chromatic factorization.

     

A sufficient condition for a graph to be weakly k-linked

For a pair (s, t) of vertices of a graph G, let λ_G(s, t) denote the maximal number of edge-disjoint paths between s and t. Let (s₁, t₁), (s₂, t₂), (s₃, t₃) be pairs of vertices of G and k > 2. It is shown that if λ_G(s_i, t_i) ≥ 2k + 1 for each i = 1, 2, 3, then there exist 2k + 1 edge-disjoint paths such that one joins s₁ and t₁, another joins s₂ and t₂ and the others join s₃ and t₃. As a corollary, every (2k + 1)-edge-connected graph is weakly (k + 2)-linked for k ≥ 2, where a graph is weakly k-linked if for any k vertex pairs (s_i, t_i), 1 ≤ i ≤ k, there exist k edge-disjoint paths P₁, P₂,…, P_k such that P_i joins s_i and t_i for i = 1, 2,…, k.     

Optimal labelling of a product of two paths

If G is a graph with p vertices and at least one edge, we set φ (G) = m n max |f(u) ? f(v)|, where the maximum is taken over all edges uv and the minimum over all one-to-one mappings f : V(G) → {1, 2, …, p}: V(G) denotes the set of vertices of G.P_n will denote a path of length n whose vertices are integers 1, 2, …, n with i adjacent to j if and only if |i ? j| = 1. P_m × P_n will denote a graph whose vertices are elements of {1, 2, …, m} × {1, 2, …, n} and in which (i, j), (r, s) are adjacent whenever either i = r and |j ? s| = 1 or j = s and |i ? r| = 1.Theorem.If max(m, n) ? 2, thenφ(P_m × P_n) = min(m, n).     

Two‐factors each component of which contains a specified vertex

It is shown that if G is a graph of order n with minimum degree δ(G), then for any set of k specified vertices {v₁,v₂,…,v_k} ? V(G), there is a 2‐factor of G with precisely k cycles {C₁,C₂,…,C_k} such that v_i ∈ V(C_i) for (1 ≤ i ≤ k) if or 3k + 1 ≤ n ≤ 4k, or 4k ≤ n ≤ 6k ? 3,δ(G) ≥ 3k ? 1 or n ≥ 6k ? 3, . Examples are described that indicate this result is sharp. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 188–198, 2003     

Mixed ramsey numbers: Chromatic numbers versus graphs

For positive integers n₁, n₂, …, n_I and graphs G_I+1, G_I+2, …, G_k, 1 ≤ / < k, the mixed Ramsey number _χ(n₁, …, n₁, G_I+1, …, G_k) is define as the least positive integer p such that for each factorization K_p = F₁⊕ … ⊕ F_⊕ F_I+1⊕ … ⊕ F_k, it it follows that χ(F_i) ≥ n_i for some i, 1 ? i ? l, or G_i is a subgraph of F_i for some i, l < i ? k. Formulas are presented for maxed Ramsey numbers in which the graphs G_I+1, G_I+2, …, G_k are connected, and in which k = I+1 and G_I+1 is arbitray.     

Partitioning complete multipartite graphs by monochromatic trees

The tree partition number of an r‐edge‐colored graph G, denoted by t_r(G), is the minimum number k such that whenever the edges of G are colored with r colors, the vertices of G can be covered by at most k vertex‐disjoint monochromatic trees. We determine t₂(K(n₁, n₂,…, n_k)) of the complete k‐partite graph K(n₁, n₂,…, n_k). In particular, we prove that t₂(K(n, m)) = ? (m‐2)/2ⁿ? + 2, where 1 ≤ n ≤ m. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 133–141, 2005     

Long cycles passing through a specified path in a graph

For a graph G and an integer k ≥ 1, let ς_k(G) = d_G(v_i): {v₁, …, v_k} is an independent set of vertices in G}. Enomoto proved the following theorem. Let s ≥ 1 and let G be a (s + 2)-connected graph. Then G has a cycle of length ≥ min{|V(G)|, ς₂(G) − s} passing through any path of length s. We generalize this result as follows. Let k ≥ 3 and s ≥ 1 and let G be a (k + s − 1)-connected graph. Then G has a cycle of length ≥ min{|V(G)|, − s} passing through any path of length s. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Graph Theory 29: 177–184, 1998     

The extremal function for 3-linked graphs

A graph is k-linked if for every set of 2k distinct vertices {s₁,…,s_k,t₁,…,t_k} there exist disjoint paths P₁,…,P_k such that the endpoints of P_i are s_i and t_i. We prove every 6-connected graph on n vertices with 5n−14 edges is 3-linked. This is optimal, in that there exist 6-connected graphs on n vertices with 5n−15 edges that are not 3-linked for arbitrarily large values of n.