Null decomposition of trees

Let $T$ be a tree. We show that the null space of the adjacency matrix of $T$ has relevant information about the structure of $T$. We introduce the Null Decomposition of trees, which is a decomposition into two different types of trees: N-trees and S-trees. N-trees are the trees that have a unique maximum (perfect) matching. S-trees are the trees with a unique maximum independent set. We obtain formulas for the independence number and the matching number of a tree using this decomposition. We also show how the number of maximum matchings and the number of maximum independent sets in a tree are related to its null decomposition.     

Matching preclusion and conditional matching preclusion for regular interconnection networks

The matching preclusion number of a graph is the minimum number of edges whose deletion results in a graph that has neither perfect matchings nor almost-perfect matchings. For many interconnection networks, the optimal sets are precisely those induced by a single vertex. Recently, the conditional matching preclusion number of a graph was introduced to look for obstruction sets beyond those induced by a single vertex. It is defined to be the minimum number of edges whose deletion results in a graph with no isolated vertices and neither perfect matchings nor almost-perfect matchings. In this paper, we prove general results regarding the matching preclusion number and the conditional matching preclusion number as well as the classification of their respective optimal sets for regular graphs. We then use these general results to study the problems for Cayley graphs generated by 2-trees and the hyper Petersen networks.     

Extensions of barrier sets to nonzero roots of the matching polynomial

In matching theory, barrier sets (also known as Tutte sets) have been studied extensively due to their connection to maximum matchings in a graph. For a root θ of the matching polynomial, we define θ-barrier and θ-extreme sets. We prove a generalized Berge-Tutte formula and give a characterization for the set of all θ-special vertices in a graph.     

Matching polynomials for chains of cycles

Došli? and Måløy (2010) [2] obtained the extremal 6-cactus chains with respect to the number of matchings and of independent sets. Motivated by the prior paper, in this paper we give recurrences for matching polynomials of ortho-chains and meta-chains, and show that they are the h-cactus chains with the most matchings.     

On forcing matching number of boron-nitrogen fullerene graphs

Let G be a graph that admits a perfect matching M. A forcing set S for a perfect matching M is a subset of M such that it is contained in no other perfect matchings of G. The smallest cardinality of forcing sets of M is called the forcing number of M. Computing the minimum forcing number of perfect matchings of a graph is an NP-complete problem. In this paper, we consider boron-nitrogen (BN) fullerene graphs, cubic 3-connected plane bipartite graphs with exactly six square faces and other hexagonal faces. We obtain the forcing spectrum of tubular BN-fullerene graphs with cyclic edge-connectivity 3. Then we show that all perfect matchings of any BN-fullerene graphs have the forcing number at least two. Furthermore, we mainly construct all seven BN-fullerene graphs with the minimum forcing number two.     

Perfect matchings in hexagonal systems

This paper deals with perfect matchings in hexagonal systems. Counterexamples are given to Sachs's conjecture in this field. A necessary and sufficient condition for a hexagonal system to have a perfect matching is obtained.     

Matchings in benzene chains

An explicit recurrence relation is derived for the matching polynomial of the general benzene chain B_n. A table is given for chains of length up to 6. Explicit formulae are then obtained for the first five coefficients of the matching polynomial of B_n. Finally, results are deduced for the number of perfect matchings and the number of matchings with two nodes.     

Matchings and independent sets of a fixed size in regular graphs

We use an entropy based method to study two graph maximization problems. We upper bound the number of matchings of fixed size ℓ in a d-regular graph on N vertices. For bounded away from 0 and 1, the logarithm of the bound we obtain agrees in its leading term with the logarithm of the number of matchings of size ℓ in the graph consisting of disjoint copies of K_d,d. This provides asymptotic evidence for a conjecture of S. Friedland et al. We also obtain an analogous result for independent sets of a fixed size in regular graphs, giving asymptotic evidence for a conjecture of J. Kahn. Our bounds on the number of matchings and independent sets of a fixed size are derived from bounds on the partition function (or generating polynomial) for matchings and independent sets.     

Hosoya and Merrifield-Simmons indices in random polyphenyl chains

The Hosoya index of a graph is the total number of matchings in it. And the Merrifield-Simmons index is the total number of independent sets in it. They are typical examples of graph invariants used in mathematical chemistry for quantifying relevant details of molecular structure. In this paper, we obtain explicit analytical expressions for the expectations of the Hosoya index and the Merrifield-Simmons index of a random polyphenyl chain.     

Ordering n-vertex cacti with matching number q by their spectral radii

Abstract

A connected graph G is a cactus if any two of its cycles have at most one common vertex. Denote by the set of n-vertex cacti with matching number q. Huang, Deng and Simi? [23] identified the unique graph with the maximum spectral radius among 2q-vertex cacti with perfect matchings. In this paper, as a continuance of it, the largest and second largest spectral radii together with the corresponding graphs among are determined. Consequently, the first two largest spectral radii together with cacti having perfect matchings are also determined.     

Enumeration of matchings in families of self-similar graphs

The number of matchings of a graph G is an important graph parameter in various contexts, notably in statistical physics (dimer-monomer model). Following recent research on graph parameters of this type in connection with self-similar, fractal-like graphs, we study the asymptotic behavior of the number of matchings in families of self-similar graphs that are constructed by a very general replacement procedure. Under certain conditions on the geometry of the graphs, we are able to prove that the number of matchings generally follows a doubly exponential growth. The proof depends on an independence theorem for the number of matchings that has been used earlier to treat the special case of Sierpiński graphs. We also further extend the technique to the matching-generating polynomial (equivalent to the partition function for the dimer-monomer model) and provide a variety of examples.     

On the spectral radii of unicyclic graphs with fixed matching number

In this paper, the first five sharp upper bounds on the spectral radii of unicyclic graphs with fixed matching number are presented. The first ten spectral radii over the class of unicyclic graphs on a given number of vertices and the first four spectral radii of unicyclic graphs with perfect matchings are also given, respectively.     

Rank of maximum matchings in a graph

The matching polytope is the convex hull of the incidence vectors of all (not necessarily perfect) matchings of a graphG. We consider here the problem of computing the dimension of the face of this polytope which contains the maximum cardinality matchings ofG and give a good characterization of this quantity, in terms of the cyclomatic number of the graph and families of odd subsets of the nodes which are always nearly perfectly matched by every maximum matching.This is equivalent to finding a maximum number of linearly independent representative vectors of maximum matchings ofG; the size of such a set is called thematching rank ofG. We also give in the last section a way of computing that rank independently of those parameters.Note that this gives us a good lower bound on the number of those matchings.     

Linear-time computation of optimal subgraphs of decomposable graphs

A general problem in computational graph theory is that of finding an optimal subgraph H of a given weighted graph G. The matching problem (which is easy) and the traveling salesman problem (which is not) are well-known examples of this general problem. In the literature one can also find a variety of ad hoc algorithms for solving certain special cases in linear time. We suggest a general approach for constructing linear-time algorithms in the case where the graph G is defined by certain rules of composition (as are trees, series-parallel graphs, and outerplanar graphs) and the desired subgraph H satisfies a property that is “regular” with respect to these rules of composition (as do matchings, dominating sets, and independent sets for all the classes just mentioned). This approach is applied to obtain a linear-time algorithm for computing the irredundance number of a tree, a problem for which no polynomial-time algorithm was previously known.     

Extremal Hosoya index and Merrifield-Simmons index of hexagonal spiders

For any graph G, let m(G) and i(G) be the numbers of matchings (i.e., the Hosoya index) and the number of independent sets (i.e., the Merrifield-Simmons index) of G, respectively. In this paper, we show that the linear hexagonal spider and zig-zag hexagonal spider attain the extremal values of Hosoya index and Merrifield-Simmons index, respectively.     

Alternating cycle-free matchings

The investigation of alternating cycle-free matchings is motivated by the Jump-number problem for partially ordered sets and the problem of counting maximum cardinality matchings in hexagonal systems.We show that the problem of deciding whether a given chordal bipartite graph has an alternating cycle-free matching of a given cardinality is NP-complete. A weaker result, for bipartite graphs only, has been known for some time. Also, the alternating cycle-free matching problem remains NP-complete for strongly chordal split graphs of diameter 2.In contrast, we give algorithms to solve the alternating cycle-free matching problem in polynomial time for bipartite distance hereditary graphs (time O(m ²) on graphs with m edges) and distance hereditary graphs (time O(m ⁵)).     

Efficient edge domination in regular graphs

An induced matching of a graph G is a matching having no two edges joined by an edge. An efficient edge dominating set of G is an induced matching M such that every other edge of G is adjacent to some edge in M. We relate maximum induced matchings and efficient edge dominating sets, showing that efficient edge dominating sets are maximum induced matchings, and that maximum induced matchings on regular graphs with efficient edge dominating sets are efficient edge dominating sets. A necessary condition for the existence of efficient edge dominating sets in terms of spectra of graphs is established. We also prove that, for arbitrary fixed p≥3, deciding on the existence of efficient edge dominating sets on p-regular graphs is NP-complete.     

Total matchings and total coverings of graphs

In graph theory, the related problems of deciding when a set of vertices or a set of edges constitutes a maximum matching or a minimum covering have been extensively studied. In this paper we generalize these ideas by defining total matchings and total coverings, and show that these sets, whose elements in general consist of both vertices and edges, provide a way to unify these concepts. Parameters denoting the maximum and the minimum cardinality of these sets are introduced and upper and lower bounds depending only on the order of the graph are obtained for the number of elements in arbitrary total matchings and total coverings. Precise values of all the parameters are found for several general classes of graphs, and these are used to establish the sharpness of most of the bounds. In addition, variations of some well known equalities due to Gallai relating covering and matching numbers are obtained.     

Matchings in pentagonal chains

An explicit recurrence is derived for the matching polynomial of the pentagonal chain. From this, explicit formulae are obtained for the number of defect-d matchings in the pentagonal chain, for various values of d.