Expression for the Number of Spanning Trees of Line Graphs of Arbitrary Connected Graphs

For any graph G, let be the number of spanning trees of G, be the line graph of G, and for any nonnegative integer r, be the graph obtained from G by replacing each edge e by a path of length connecting the two ends of e. In this article, we obtain an expression for in terms of spanning trees of G by a combinatorial approach. This result generalizes some known results on the relation between and and gives an explicit expression if G is of order and size in which s vertices are of degree 1 and the others are of degree k. Thus we prove a conjecture on for such a graph G.     

The Maximum Number of Complete Subgraphs of Fixed Size in a Graph with Given Maximum Degree

In this article, we make progress on a question related to one of Galvin that has attracted substantial attention recently. The question is that of determining among all graphs G with n vertices and , which has the most complete subgraphs of size t, for . The conjectured extremal graph is , where with . Gan et al. (Combin Probab Comput 24(3) (2015), 521–527) proved the conjecture when , and also reduced the general conjecture to the case . We prove the conjecture for and also establish a weaker form of the conjecture for all r.     

Graph Sharing Game and the Structure of Weighted Graphs with a Forbidden Subdivision

In the graph sharing game, two players share a connected graph G with nonnegative weights assigned to the vertices claiming and collecting the vertices of G one by one, while keeping the set of all claimed vertices connected through the whole game. Each player wants to maximize the total weight of the vertices they have gathered by the end of the game, when the whole G has been claimed. It is proved that for any class of graphs with an odd number of vertices and with forbidden subdivision of a fixed graph (e.g., for the class of planar graphs with an odd number of vertices), there is a constant such that the first player can secure at least the proportion of the total weight of G whenever . Known examples show that such a constant does no longer exist if any of the two conditions on the class (an odd number of vertices or a forbidden subdivision) is removed. The main ingredient in the proof is a new structural result on weighted graphs with a forbidden subdivision.     

On Crossing Numbers of Complete Tripartite and Balanced Complete Multipartite Graphs

The crossing number cr(G) of a graph G is the minimum number of crossings in a drawing of G in the plane with no more than two edges intersecting at any point that is not a vertex. The rectilinear crossing number of G is the minimum number of crossings in a such drawing of G with edges as straight line segments. Zarankiewicz proved in 1952 that . We generalize the upper bound to and prove . We also show that for n large enough, and , with the tighter rectilinear lower bound established through the use of flag algebras. A complete multipartite graph is balanced if the partite sets all have the same cardinality. We study asymptotic behavior of the crossing number of the balanced complete r‐partite graph. Richter and Thomassen proved in 1997 that the limit as of over the maximum number of crossings in a drawing of exists and is at most . We define and show that for a fixed r and the balanced complete r‐partite graph, is an upper bound to the limit superior of the crossing number divided by the maximum number of crossings in a drawing.     

Jacobsthal Numbers in Generalized Petersen Graphs

We prove that the number of 1‐factorizations of a generalized Petersen graph of the type is equal to the kth Jacobsthal number when k is odd, and equal to when k is even. Moreover, we verify the list coloring conjecture for .     

The Game Saturation Number of a Graph

Given a family and a host graph H, a graph is ‐saturated relative to H if no subgraph of G lies in but adding any edge from to G creates such a subgraph. In the ‐saturation game on H, players Max and Min alternately add edges of H to G, avoiding subgraphs in , until G becomes ‐saturated relative to H. They aim to maximize or minimize the length of the game, respectively; denotes the length under optimal play (when Max starts). Let denote the family of odd cycles and the family of n‐vertex trees, and write F for when . Our results include , for , for , and for . We also determine ; with , it is n when n is even, m when n is odd and m is even, and when is odd. Finally, we prove the lower bound . The results are very similar when Min plays first, except for the P₄‐saturation game on .     

Cayley Graphs of Diameter Two from Difference Sets

Let and be the largest order of a Cayley graph and a Cayley graph based on an abelian group, respectively, of degree d and diameter k. When , it is well known that with equality if and only if the graph is a Moore graph. In the abelian case, we have . The best currently lower bound on is for all sufficiently large d. In this article, we consider the construction of large graphs of diameter 2 using generalized difference sets. We show that for sufficiently large d and if , and m is odd.     

Constructing a Family of 4‐Critical Planar Graphs with High Edge Density

A graph is a k‐critical graph if G is not ‐colorable but every proper subgraph of G is ‐colorable. In this article, we construct a family of 4‐critical planar graphs with n vertices and edges. As a consequence, this improves the bound for the maximum edge density attained by Abbott and Zhou. We conjecture that this is the largest edge density for a 4‐critical planar graph.     

On the Minimum Number of Spanning Trees in k‐Edge‐Connected Graphs

We show that a k‐edge‐connected graph on n vertices has at least spanning trees. This bound is tight if k is even and the extremal graph is the n‐cycle with edge multiplicities . For k odd, however, there is a lower bound , where . Specifically, and . Not surprisingly, c₃ is smaller than the corresponding number for 4‐edge‐connected graphs. Examples show that . However, we have no examples of 5‐edge‐connected graphs with fewer spanning trees than the n‐cycle with all edge multiplicities (except one) equal to 3, which is almost 6‐regular. We have no examples of 5‐regular 5‐edge‐connected graphs with fewer than spanning trees, which is more than the corresponding number for 6‐regular 6‐edge‐connected graphs. The analogous surprising phenomenon occurs for each higher odd edge connectivity and regularity.     

Maximizing H‐Colorings of a Regular Graph

For graphs G and H, a homomorphism from G to H, or H‐coloring of G, is an adjacency preserving map from the vertex set of G to the vertex set of H. Our concern in this article is the maximum number of H‐colorings admitted by an n‐vertex, d‐regular graph, for each H. Specifically, writing for the number of H‐colorings admitted by G, we conjecture that for any simple finite graph H (perhaps with loops) and any simple finite n‐vertex, d‐regular, loopless graph G, we have where is the complete bipartite graph with d vertices in each partition class, and is the complete graph on vertices.Results of Zhao confirm this conjecture for some choices of H for which the maximum is achieved by . Here, we exhibit for the first time infinitely many nontrivial triples for which the conjecture is true and for which the maximum is achieved by .We also give sharp estimates for and in terms of some structural parameters of H. This allows us to characterize those H for which is eventually (for all sufficiently large d) larger than and those for which it is eventually smaller, and to show that this dichotomy covers all nontrivial H. Our estimates also allow us to obtain asymptotic evidence for the conjecture in the following form. For fixed H, for all d‐regular G, we have where as . More precise results are obtained in some special cases.     

Even Embeddings of the Complete Graphs and Their Cycle Parities

The complete graph on n vertices can be quadrangularly embedded on an orientable (resp. nonorientable) closed surface F² with Euler characteristic if and only if (resp. and ). In this article, we shall show that if quadrangulates a closed surface F², then has a quadrangular embedding on F² so that the length of each closed walk in the embedding has the parity specified by any given homomorphism , called the cycle parity.     

On the Neighbor Sum Distinguishing Index of Planar Graphs

Let c be a proper edge coloring of a graph with integers . Then , while Vizing's theorem guarantees that we can take . On the course of investigating irregularities in graphs, it has been conjectured that with only slightly larger k, that is, , we could enforce an additional strong feature of c, namely that it attributes distinct sums of incident colors to adjacent vertices in G if only this graph has no isolated edges and is not isomorphic to C₅. We prove the conjecture is valid for planar graphs of sufficiently large maximum degree. In fact an even stronger statement holds, as the necessary number of colors stemming from the result of Vizing is proved to be sufficient for this family of graphs. Specifically, our main result states that every planar graph G of maximum degree at least 28, which contains no isolated edges admits a proper edge coloring such that for every edge of G.     

Forbidden Pairs of Disconnected Graphs Implying Hamiltonicity

Let H be a given graph. A graph G is said to be H‐free if G contains no induced copies of H. For a class of graphs, the graph G is ‐free if G is H‐free for every . Bedrossian characterized all the pairs of connected subgraphs such that every 2‐connected ‐free graph is hamiltonian. Faudree and Gould extended Bedrossian's result by proving the necessity part of the result based on infinite families of non‐hamiltonian graphs. In this article, we characterize all pairs of (not necessarily connected) graphs such that there exists an integer n₀ such that every 2‐connected ‐free graph of order at least n₀ is hamiltonian.     

On the Rigidity of Sparse Random Graphs

A graph with a trivial automorphism group is said to be rigid. Wright proved (Acta Math 126(1) (1971), 1–9) that for a random graph is rigid whp (with high probability). It is not hard to see that this lower bound is sharp and for with positive probability is nontrivial. We show that in the sparser case , it holds whp that G's 2‐core is rigid. We conclude that for all p, a graph in is reconstructible whp. In addition this yields for a canonical labeling algorithm that almost surely runs in polynomial time with o(1) error rate. This extends the range for which such an algorithm is currently known (T. Czajka and G. Pandurangan, J Discrete Algorithms 6(1) (2008), 85–92).     

On the Probability that a Random Subgraph Contains a Circuit

Let and . We show that, if G is a sufficiently large simple graph of average degree at least μ, and H is a random spanning subgraph of G formed by including each edge independently with probability , then H contains a cycle with probability at least .     

Highly Connected Infinite Digraphs Without Edge‐Disjoint Back and Forth Paths Between a Certain Vertex Pair

We construct for all a k‐edge‐connected digraph D with such that there are no edge‐disjoint and paths. We use in our construction “self‐similar” graphs which technique could be useful in other problems as well.     

Face 2‐Colorable Embeddings with Faces of Specified Lengths

Suppose and are arbitrary lists of positive integers. In this article, we determine necessary and sufficient conditions on M and N for the existence of a simple graph G, which admits a face 2‐colorable planar embedding in which the faces of one color have boundary lengths and the faces of the other color have boundary lengths . Such a graph is said to have a planar ‐biembedding. We also determine necessary and sufficient conditions on M and N for the existence of a simple graph G whose edge set can be partitioned into r cycles of lengths and also into t cycles of lengths . Such a graph is said to be ‐decomposable.     

Minimum Degrees of Minimal Ramsey Graphs for Almost‐Cliques

For graphs F and H, we say F is Ramsey for H if every 2‐coloring of the edges of F contains a monochromatic copy of H. The graph F is Ramsey H‐minimal if F is Ramsey for H and there is no proper subgraph of F so that is Ramsey for H. Burr et al. defined to be the minimum degree of F over all Ramsey H‐minimal graphs F. Define to be a graph on vertices consisting of a complete graph on t vertices and one additional vertex of degree d. We show that for all values ; it was previously known that , so it is surprising that is much smaller. We also make some further progress on some sparser graphs. Fox and Lin observed that for all graphs H, where is the minimum degree of H; Szabó et al. investigated which graphs have this property and conjectured that all bipartite graphs H without isolated vertices satisfy . Fox et al. further conjectured that all connected triangle‐free graphs with at least two vertices satisfy this property. We show that d‐regular 3‐connected triangle‐free graphs H, with one extra technical constraint, satisfy ; the extra constraint is that H has a vertex v so that if one removes v and its neighborhood from H, the remainder is connected.     

Petersen Cores and the Oddness of Cubic Graphs

Let G be a bridgeless cubic graph. Consider a list of k 1‐factors of G. Let be the set of edges contained in precisely i members of the k 1‐factors. Let be the smallest over all lists of k 1‐factors of G. We study lists by three 1‐factors, and call with a ‐core of G. If G is not 3‐edge‐colorable, then . In Steffen (J Graph Theory 78 (2015), 195–206) it is shown that if , then is an upper bound for the girth of G. We show that bounds the oddness of G as well. We prove that . If , then every ‐core has a very specific structure. We call these cores Petersen cores. We show that for any given oddness there is a cyclically 4‐edge‐connected cubic graph G with . On the other hand, the difference between and can be arbitrarily big. This is true even if we additionally fix the oddness. Furthermore, for every integer , there exists a bridgeless cubic graph G such that .