On multiplicative graphs and the product conjecture

We study the following problem: which graphsG have the property that the class of all graphs not admitting a homomorphism intoG is closed under taking the product (conjunction)? Whether all undirected complete graphs have the property is a longstanding open problem due to S. Hedetniemi. We prove that all odd undirected cycles and all prime-power directed cycles have the property. The former result provides the first non-trivial infinite family of undirected graphs known to have the property, and the latter result verifies a conjecture of Ne?et?il and Pultr These results allow us (in conjunction with earlier results of Ne?et?il and Pultr [17], cf also [7]) to completely characterize all (finite and infinite, directed and undirected) paths and cycles having the property. We also derive the property for a wide class of 3-chromatic graphs studied by Gerards, [5].     

On random mapping patterns

Random mapping patterns may be represented by unlabelled directed graphs in which each point has out-degree one. We determine the asymptotic behaviour of various parameters associated with such graphs, such as the expected number of points belonging to cycles and the expected number of components. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

Extreme values of the stationary distribution of random walks on directed graphs

We examine the stationary distribution of random walks on directed graphs. In particular, we focus on the principal ratio, which is the ratio of maximum to minimum values of vertices in the stationary distribution. We give an upper bound for this ratio over all strongly connected graphs on n vertices. We characterize all graphs achieving the upper bound and we give explicit constructions for these extremal graphs. Additionally, we show that under certain conditions, the principal ratio is tightly bounded. We also provide counterexamples to show the principal ratio cannot be tightly bounded under weaker conditions.     

Commute times for a directed graph using an asymmetric Laplacian

The expected commute times for a strongly connected directed graph are related to an asymmetric Laplacian matrix as a direct extension to similar well known formulas for undirected graphs. We show the close relationships between the asymmetric Laplacian and the so-called Fundamental matrix. We give bounds for the commute times in terms of the stationary probabilities for a random walk over the graph together with the asymmetric Laplacian and show how this can be approximated by a symmetrized Laplacian derived from a related weighted undirected graph.     

Algebraic connectivity of directed graphs

We consider a generalization of Fiedler's notion of algebraic connectivity to directed graphs. We show that several properties of Fiedler's definition remain valid for directed graphs and present properties peculiar to directed graphs. We prove inequalities relating the algebraic connectivity to quantities such as the bisection width, maximum directed cut and the isoperimetric number. Finally, we illustrate an application to the synchronization in networks of coupled chaotic systems.     

Algebraic connectivity of directed graphs

We consider a generalization of Fiedler's notion of algebraic connectivity to directed graphs. We show that several properties of Fiedler's definition remain valid for directed graphs and present properties peculiar to directed graphs. We prove inequalities relating the algebraic connectivity to quantities such as the bisection width, maximum directed cut and the isoperimetric number. Finally, we illustrate an application to the synchronization in networks of coupled chaotic systems.     

Random walks and local cuts in graphs

For a specified subset S of vertices in a graph G we consider local cuts that separate a subset of S. We consider the local Cheeger constant which is the minimum Cheeger ratio over all subsets of S, and we examine the relationship between the local Cheeger constant and the Dirichlet eigenvalue of the induced subgraph on S. These relationships are summarized in a local Cheeger inequality. The proofs are based on the methods of establishing isoperimetric inequalities using random walks and the spectral methods for eigenvalues with Dirichlet boundary conditions.     

Planar acyclic oriented graphs

A plane Hasse representation of an acyclic oriented graph is a drawing of the graph in the Euclidean plane such that all arcs are straight-line segments directed upwards and such that no two arcs cross. We characterize completely those oriented graphs which have a plane Hasse representation such that all faces are bounded by convex polygons. From this we derive the Hasse representation analogue, due to Kelly and Rival of Fary's theorem on straight-line representations of planar graphs and the Kuratowski type theorem of Platt for acyclic oriented graphs with only one source and one sink. Finally, we describe completely those acyclic oriented graphs which have a vertex dominating all other vertices and which have no plane Hasse representation, a problem posed by Trotter.     

The spectral radii of a graph and its line graph

The spectral radius of a (directed) graph is the largest eigenvalue of adjacency matrix of the (directed) graph. We give the relation on the characteristic polynomials of a directed graph and its line graph, and obtain sharp bounds on the spectral radius of directed graphs. We also give the relation on the spectral radii of a graph and its line graph. As a consequence, the spectral radius of a connected graph does not exceed that of its line graph except that the graph is a path.     

Cones of alternating and cut submodular set functions

We describe facets of the cones of alternating set functions and cut submodular set functions generated by directed and undirected graphs and by uniform even hypergraphs. This answers a question asked by L. Lovász at the Bonn Mathematical Programming Conference in 1982. We show that there is a network flow algorithm for minimizing a hypergraph cut set function.     

Directed cut transversal packing for source-sink connected graphs

Concerning the conjecture that in every directed graph, a maximum packing of directed cut transversals is equal in cardinality to a minimum directed cut, a proof is given for the side coboundaries of a graph. This case includes, and is essentially equivalent to, all source-sink connected graphs, for which Schrijver has given a proof. The method used here first reduces the assertion to a packing theorem for bi-transversals. A packing of bi-transversals of the required size is constructed one edge at a time, by maintaining a Hall-like feasibility condition as each edge is added.     

A Framework for Representing Reticulate Evolution

Acyclic directed graphs (ADGs) are increasingly being viewed as more appropriate for representing certain evolutionary relationships, particularly in biology, than rooted trees. In this paper, we develop a framework for the analysis of these graphs which we call hybrid phylogenies. We are particularly interested in the problem whereby one is given a set of phylogenetic trees and wishes to determine a hybrid phylogeny that embeds each of these trees and which requires the smallest number of hybridisation events. We show that this quantity can be greatly reduced if additional species are involved, and investigate other combinatorial aspects of this and related questions.Received November 12, 2003     

On products and line graphs of signed graphs, their eigenvalues and energy

In this article we examine the adjacency and Laplacian matrices and their eigenvalues and energies of the general product (non-complete extended p-sum, or NEPS) of signed graphs. We express the adjacency matrix of the product in terms of the Kronecker matrix product and the eigenvalues and energy of the product in terms of those of the factor graphs. For the Cartesian product we characterize balance and compute expressions for the Laplacian eigenvalues and Laplacian energy. We give exact results for those signed planar, cylindrical and toroidal grids which are Cartesian products of signed paths and cycles.We also treat the eigenvalues and energy of the line graphs of signed graphs, and the Laplacian eigenvalues and Laplacian energy in the regular case, with application to the line graphs of signed grids that are Cartesian products and to the line graphs of all-positive and all-negative complete graphs.     

Tutte sets in graphs II: The complexity of finding maximum Tutte sets

A well-known formula of Tutte and Berge expresses the size of a maximum matching in a graph G in terms of what is usually called the deficiency. A subset X of V(G) for which this deficiency is attained is called a Tutte set of G. While much is known about maximum matchings, less is known about the structure of Tutte sets. We explored the structural aspects of Tutte sets in another paper. Here, we consider the algorithmic complexity of finding Tutte sets in a graph. We first give two polynomial algorithms for finding a maximal Tutte set. We then consider the complexity of finding a maximum Tutte set, and show it is NP-hard for general graphs, as well as for several interesting restricted classes such as planar graphs. By contrast, we show we can find maximum Tutte sets in polynomial time for graphs of level 0 or 1, elementary graphs, and 1-tough graphs.     

Equiangular tight frames from complex Seidel matrices containing cube roots of unity

We derive easily verifiable conditions which characterize when complex Seidel matrices containing cube roots of unity have exactly two eigenvalues. The existence of such matrices is equivalent to the existence of equiangular tight frames for which the inner product between any two frame vectors is always a common multiple of the cube roots of unity. We also exhibit a relationship between these equiangular tight frames, complex Seidel matrices, and highly regular, directed graphs. We construct examples of such frames with arbitrarily many vectors.     

Multi-way dual Cheeger constants and spectral bounds of graphs

We introduce a set of multi-way dual Cheeger constants and prove universal higher-order dual Cheeger inequalities for eigenvalues of normalized Laplace operators on weighted finite graphs. Our proof proposes a new spectral clustering phenomenon deduced from metrics on real projective spaces. We further extend those results to a general reversible Markov operator and find applications in characterizing its essential spectrum.     

Packing 4-Cycles in Eulerian and Bipartite Eulerian Tournaments with an Application to Distances in Interchange Graphs

We prove that every Eulerian orientation of K_m,n contains arc-disjoint directed 4-cycles, improving earlier lower bounds. Combined with a probabilistic argument, this result is used to prove that every regular tournament with n vertices contains arc-disjoint directed 4-cycles. The result is also used to provide an upper bound for the distance between two antipodal vertices in interchange graphs.Received February 6, 2004     

Minimum cycle bases of graphs on surfaces

In this paper we study the cycle base structures of embedded graphs on surfaces. We first give a sufficient and necessary condition for a set of facial cycles to be contained in a minimum cycle base (or MCB in short) and then set up a 1-1 correspondence between the set of MCBs and the set of collections of nonseparating cycles which are in general positions on surfaces and are of shortest total length. This provides a way to enumerate MCBs in a graph via nonseparating cycles. In particular, some known results such as P.F. Stadler's work on Halin graphs [Minimum cycle bases of Halin graphs, J. Graph Theory 43 (2003) 150-155] and Leydold and Stadler's results on outer-planar graphs [Minimum cycle bases of outerplanar graphs, Electronic J. Combin. 5(16) (1998) 14] are concluded. As applications, the number of MCBs in some types of graphs embedded in lower surfaces (with arbitrarily high genera) is found. Finally, we present an interpolation theorem for the number of one-sided cycles contained in MCB of an embedded graph.     

Diperfect graphs

Gallai and Milgram have shown that the vertices of a directed graph, with stability number α(G), can be covered by exactly α(G) disjoint paths. However, the various proofs of this result do not imply the existence of a maximum stable setS and of a partition of the vertex-set into paths μ₁, μ₂, ..., μ_k such tht |μ_i ∩S|=1 for alli. Later, Gallai proved that in a directed graph, the maximum number of vertices in a path is at least equal to the chromatic number; here again, we do not know if there exists an optimal coloring (S ₁,S ₂, ...,S _k) and a path μ such that |μ ∩S _i|=1 for alli. In this paper we show that many directed graphs, like the perfect graphs, have stronger properties: for every maximal stable setS there exists a partition of the vertex set into paths which meet the stable set in only one point. Also: for every optimal coloring there exists a path which meets each color class in only one point. This suggests several conjecties similar to the perfect graph conjecture. Dedicated to Tibor Gallai on his seventieth birthday     

Limit theorem concerning random mapping patterns

Mapping patterns may be represented by unlabelled directed graphs in which each point has out-degree one. Assuming uniform probability distribution on the set of all mapping patterns onn points, we obtain limit distributions of some characteristics associated with the graphs of mapping patterns (connected and disconnected), asn. In particular, we study the number of points belonging to cycles, the number of cycles and components having prescribed (fixed) number of points and the total number of components.