A new approach to the chromatic number of the square of Kneser graph K(2k+1,k)

The vertices of Kneser graph $K(n,k)$ are the subsets of $\{1,2,\dots ,n\}$ of cardinality $k$, two vertices are adjacent if and only if they are disjoint. The square $G^2$ of a graph $G$ is defined on the vertex set of $G$ with two vertices adjacent if their distance in $G$ is at most 2. Z. Füredi, in 2002, proposed the problem of determining the chromatic number of the square of the Kneser graph. The first non-trivial problem arises when $n=2k+1$. It is believed that $\chi \left(K^2(2k+1,k)\right)=2k+c$ where $c$ is a constant, and yet the problem remains open. The best known upper bounds are by Kim and Park: $8k∕3+20∕3$ for 1$k\ge 3$ (Kim and Park, 2014) and $32k∕15+32$ for $k\ge 7$ (Kim and Park, 2016). In this paper, we develop a new approach to this coloring problem by employing graph homomorphisms, cartesian products of graphs, and linear congruences integrated with combinatorial arguments. These lead to $\chi \left(K^2(2k+1,k)\right)\le 5k∕2+c$, where $c$ is a constant in $\{5∕2,9∕2,5,6\}$, depending on $k\ge 2$.     

Properties of minimally t-tough graphs

A graph $G$ is minimally $t$-tough if the toughness of $G$ is $t$ and the deletion of any edge from $G$ decreases the toughness. Kriesell conjectured that for every minimally $1$-tough graph the minimum degree $\delta \left(G\right)=2$. We show that in every minimally $1$-tough graph $\delta \left(G\right)\le \frac{n}{3}+1$. We also prove that every minimally $1$-tough, claw-free graph is a cycle. On the other hand, we show that for every positive rational number $t$ any graph can be embedded as an induced subgraph into a minimally $t$-tough graph.     

Nowhere-zero 3-flow of graphs with small independence number

Tutte’s $3$-flow conjecture states that every $4$-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. In this paper, we characterize all graphs with independence number at most $4$ that admit a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. The characterization of $3$-flow verifies Tutte’s $3$-flow conjecture for graphs with independence number at most $4$ and with order at least $21$. In addition, we prove that every odd-$5$-edge-connected graph with independence number at most $3$ admits a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. To obtain these results, we introduce a new reduction method to handle odd wheels.     

On 3-stable number conditions in n-connected claw-free graphs

For a subgraph $X$ of $G$, let ${\alpha }_G^3\left(X\right)$ be the maximum number of vertices of $X$ that are pairwise distance at least three in $G$. In this paper, we prove three theorems. Let $n$ be a positive integer, and let $H$ be a subgraph of an $n$-connected claw-free graph $G$. We prove that if $n\ge 2$, then either $H$ can be covered by a cycle in $G$, or there exists a cycle $C$ in $G$ such that ${\alpha }_G^3(H?V\left(C\right))\le {\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)?n$. This result generalizes the result of Broersma and Lu that $G$ has a cycle covering all the vertices of $H$ if ${\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)\le n$. We also prove that if $n\ge 1$, then either $H$ can be covered by a path in $G$, or there exists a path $P$ in $G$ such that ${\alpha }_G^3(H?V\left(P\right))\le {\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)?n?1$. By using the second result, we prove the third result. For a tree $T$, a vertex of $T$ with degree one is called a leaf of $T$. For an integer $k\ge 2$, a tree which has at most $k$ leaves is called a $k$-ended tree. We prove that if ${\alpha }_G^3\left(H\right)\le n+k?1$, then $G$ has a $k$-ended tree covering all the vertices of $H$. This result gives a positive answer to the conjecture proposed by Kano et al. (2012).     

Characterization of the induced matching extendable graphs with 2n vertices and 3n edges

A graph $G$ is induced matching extendable or IM-extendable if every induced matching of $G$ is contained in a perfect matching of $G$. In 1998, Yuan proved that a connected IM-extendable graph on $2n$ vertices has at least $3n?2$ edges, and that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n$ vertices and $3n?2$ edges is $T\times K_2$ , where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices. In 2005, Zhou and Yuan proved that the only IM-extendable graph with $2n\ge 6$ vertices and $3n?1$ edges is $T\times K_2+e$, where $T$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices and $e$ is an edge connecting two vertices that lie in different copies of $T$ and have distance 3 between them in $T\times K_2$. In this paper, we introduced the definition of $Q$-joint graph and characterized the connected IM-extendable graphs with $2n\ge 4$ vertices and $3n$ edges.     

The relationship between k-forcing and k-power domination

Zero forcing and power domination are iterative processes on graphs where an initial set of vertices are observed, and additional vertices become observed based on some rules. In both cases, the goal is to eventually observe the entire graph using the fewest number of initial vertices. The concept of $k$-power domination was introduced by Chang et al. (2012) as a generalization of power domination and standard graph domination. Independently, $k$-forcing was defined by Amos et al. (2015) to generalize zero forcing. In this paper, we combine the study of $k$-forcing and $k$-power domination, providing a new approach to analyze both processes. We give a relationship between the $k$-forcing and the $k$-power domination numbers of a graph that bounds one in terms of the other. We also obtain results using the contraction of subgraphs that allow the parallel computation of $k$-forcing and $k$-power dominating sets.     

Mappings preserving B-orthogonality

It is well known that a linear mapping $T:X\to Y$ preserving the Birkhoff orthogonality (i.e. ${?}_{x,y\in X}x{\perp }_{\text{B}}y?Tx{\perp }_{\text{B}}Ty$), has to be a similarity. For real spaces it has been proved by Koldobsky (1993); a proof including both real and complex spaces has been given by Blanco and Turn?ek (2006). In the present paper the author would like to present a somewhat simpler proof of this nice theorem. Moreover, we extend the Koldobsky theorem; more precisely, we show that the linearity assumption may be replaced by additivity.     

2p-cycle decompositions of some regular graphs and digraphs

In this paper, we consider $2k$-cycle decomposition of $K_m\times K_n$ and directed $2k$-cycle decompositions of ${(K_m°{\overline{K}}_n)}^1$ and ${(K_m\times K_n)}^1$, where $°$ and $\times$ denote the wreath product and tensor product of graphs, respectively. Using the results obtained here, we prove that for $m,n\ge 3$, the obvious necessary conditions for the existence of a $C_{2k}$-decomposition of $K_m\times K_n$ are sufficient whenever $k\in \{p,2^{?}\},$ where $p$ is a prime and $?\ge 2$. Also, we show that the necessary conditions for the existence of ${\overrightarrow{C}}_{2p}$-decompositions of ${(K_m°{\overline{K}}_n)}^1$ and ${(K_m\times K_n)}^1$ are sufficient whenever $p$ is a prime, where ${\overrightarrow{C}}_{2p}$ denotes the directed cycle of length $2p$.     

Bijections between generalized Catalan families of types A and C

Motivated by the relation ${\mathsf{N}}^m\left(C_n\right)=(mn+1){\mathsf{N}}^m\left(A_{n?1}\right)$, holding for the $m$-generalized Catalan numbers of type $A$ and $C$, the connection between dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n?1}$ and $C_n$ is investigated. More precisely, it is explicitly shown how $mn+1$ copies of the set of dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n?1}$, biject onto the set of type $C_n$ such regions. This is achieved by exploiting two different viewpoints of the representative alcove of each region: the Shi tableau and the abacus diagram. In the same line of thought, a bijection between $mn+1$ copies of the set of $m$-Dyck paths of height $n$ and the set of $N?E$ lattice paths inside an $n\times mn$ rectangle is provided.     

List r-hued chromatic number of graphs with bounded maximum average degrees

For integers $k,r>0$, a $(k,r)$-coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper coloring $c$ with at most $k$ colors such that for any vertex $v$ with degree $d\left(v\right)$, there are at least min$\{d\left(v\right),r\}$ different colors present at the neighborhood of $v$. The $r$-hued chromatic number of $G$, ${\chi }_r\left(G\right)$, is the least integer $k$ such that a $(k,r)$-coloring of $G$ exists. The list$r$-hued chromatic number${\chi }_{L,r}\left(G\right)$ of $G$ is similarly defined. Thus if $\Delta \left(G\right)\ge r$, then ${\chi }_{L,r}\left(G\right)\ge {\chi }_r\left(G\right)\ge r+1$. We present examples to show that, for any sufficiently large integer $r$, there exist graphs with maximum average degree less than 3 that cannot be $(r+1,r)$-colored. We prove that, for any fraction $q<\frac{14}{5}$, there exists an integer $R=R\left(q\right)$ such that for each $r\ge R$, every graph $G$ with maximum average degree $q$ is list $(r+1,r)$-colorable. We present examples to show that for some $r$ there exist graphs with maximum average degree less than 4 that cannot be $r$-hued colored with less than $\frac{3r}{2}$ colors. We prove that, for any sufficiently small real number $?>0$, there exists an integer $h=h\left(?\right)$ such that every graph $G$ with maximum average degree $4??$ satisfies ${\chi }_{L,r}\left(G\right)\le r+h\left(?\right)$. These results extend former results in Bonamy et al. (2014).     

Homomorphism complexes and k-cores

For any fixed graph $G$, we prove that the topological connectivity of the graph homomorphism complex Hom($G,K_m$) is at least $m?D\left(G\right)?2$, where $D\left(G\right)={max}_{H?G}\delta \left(H\right)$, for $\delta \left(H\right)$ the minimum degree of a vertex in a subgraph $H$. This generalizes a theorem of C?uki? and Kozlov, in which the maximum degree $\Delta \left(G\right)$ was used in place of $D\left(G\right)$, and provides a high-dimensional analogue of the graph theoretic bound for chromatic number, $\chi \left(G\right)\le D\left(G\right)+1$, as $\chi \left(G\right)=min\{m:\text{Hom}(G,K_m)\ne ?\}$. Furthermore, we use this result to examine homological phase transitions in the random polyhedral complexes Hom$(G(n,p),K_m)$ when $p=c∕n$ for a fixed constant $c>0$.     

Combinatorics of n-color cyclic compositions

Integer compositions and related enumeration problems have been of interest to combinatorialists and number theorists for a long time. The cyclic and colored analogues of this concept, although interesting, have not been extensively studied. In this paper we explore the combinatorics of $n$-color cyclic compositions, presenting generating functions, bijections, asymptotic formulas related to the number of such compositions, the number of parts, and the number of restricted parts.     

d-matching in 3-uniform hypergraphs

A matching in a 3-uniform hypergraph is a set of pairwise disjoint edges. A $d$-matching in a 3-uniform hypergraph $H$ is a matching of size $d$. Let $V_1,V_2$ be a partition of $n$ vertices such that $\left|V_1\right|=2d?1$ and $\left|V_2\right|=n?2d+1$. Denote by $E_3(2d?1,n?2d+1)$ the 3-uniform hypergraph with vertex set $V_1\cup V_2$ consisting of all those edges which contain at least two vertices of $V_1$. Let $H$ be a 3-uniform hypergraph of order $n\ge 9d^2$ such that $deg\left(u\right)+deg\left(v\right)>2\left[\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n?1}{2}\right)?\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n?d}{2}\right)\right]$ for any two adjacent vertices $u,v\in V\left(H\right)$. In this paper, we prove $H$ contains a $d$-matching if and only if $H$ is not a subgraph of $E_3(2d?1,n?2d+1)$.     

Planar graphs without 3-cycles adjacent to cycles of length 3 or 5 are (3,1)-colorable

Given a nonnegative integer $d$ and a positive integer $k$, a graph $G$ is said to be $(k,d)$-colorable if the vertices of $G$ can be colored with $k$ colors such that every vertex has at most $d$ neighbors receiving the same color as itself. Let $?$ be the family of planar graphs without $3$-cycles adjacent to cycles of length 3 or 5. This paper proves that everyone in $?$ is $(3,1)$-colorable. This is the best possible in the sense that there are members in $?$ which are not $(3,0)$-colorable.     

On the spanning connectivity of the generalized Petersen graphs P(n,3)

In this paper, we employed lattice model to describe the three internally vertex-disjoint paths that span the vertex set of the generalized Petersen graph $P(n,3)$. We showed that the $P(n,3)$ is 3-spanning connected for odd $n$. Based on the lattice model, five amalgamated and one extension mechanisms are introduced to recursively establish the 3-spanning connectivity of the $P(n,3)$. In each amalgamated mechanism, a particular lattice trail was amalgamated with the lattice trails that was dismembered, transferred, or extended from parts of the lattice trails for $P(n?6,3)$, where a lattice tail is a trail in the lattice model that represents a path in $P(n,3)$.     

On q-Steiner systems from rank metric codes

In this paper we prove that rank metric codes with special properties imply the existence of $q$-analogs of suitable designs. More precisely, we show that the minimum weight vectors of a $[2d,d,d]$ dually almost MRD code $C\le {\mathbb{F}}_{q^m}^{2d}$$(2d\le m)$ which has no code words of rank weight $d+1$ form a $q$-Steiner system $S{(d?1,d,2d)}_q$. This is the q-analog of a result in classical coding theory and it may be seen as a first step to prove a q-analog of the famous Assmus–Mattson Theorem.     

On Lie p-algebras of cohomological dimension one

We prove that a Lie $p$-algebra of cohomological dimension one is one-dimensional, and discuss related questions.