Expansion Of Product Replacement Graphs

We establish a connection between the expansion coefficient of the product replacement graph Γ_k(G) and the minimal expansion coefficient of a Cayley graph of G with k generators. In particular, we show that the product replacement graphs Γ_k(PSL(2,p)) form an expander family, under assumption that all Cayley graphs of PSL(2,p), with at most k generators are expanders. This gives a new explanation of the outstanding performance of the product replacement algorithm and supports the speculation that all product replacement graphs are expanders [42,52].     

Random Graph Coverings I: General Theory and Graph Connectivity

In this paper we describe a simple model for random graphs that have an n-fold covering map onto a fixed finite base graph. Roughly, given a base graph G and an integer n, we form a random graph by replacing each vertex of G by a set of n vertices, and joining these sets by random matchings whenever the corresponding vertices are adjacent in G. The resulting graph covers the original graph in the sense that the two are locally isomorphic. We suggest possible applications of the model, such as constructing graphs with extremal properties in a more controlled fashion than offered by the standard random models, and also "randomizing" given graphs. The main specific result that we prove here (Theorem 1) is that if is the smallest vertex degree in G, then almost all n-covers of G are -connected. In subsequent papers we will address other graph properties, such as girth, expansion and chromatic number. Received June 21, 1999/Revised November 16, 2000 RID="*" ID="*" Work supported in part by grants from the Israel Academy of Aciences and the Binational Israel-US Science Foundation.     

Hereditarily extended properties, quasi-random graphs and not necessarily induced subgraphs

Recently much attention has been focused on the theory of quasi-random graph and hypergraph properties. The class of quasi-random graphs is defined by certain equivalent graph properties possessed by random graphs. We shall investigate propertiesP which do not imply quasi-randomnes for sequences (G _n ) of graphs on their own, but do imply if they hold not only for the whole graphG _n but also for every sufficiently large subgraph ofG _n . Here the properties are strongly connected to countingnot necessarily induced subgraphs of a given type, while in a subsequent paper we shall investigate the properties connected with counting induced subgraphs.Dedicated to the memory of Paul ErdsResearch supported by OTKA N1909.     

Generating Random Regular Graphs

Random regular graphs play a central role in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. In this paper, we analyze a simple algorithm introduced by Steger and Wormald [10] and prove that it produces an asymptotically uniform random regular graph in a polynomial time. Precisely, for fixed d and n with d = O(n^1/3−ε), it is shown that the algorithm generates an asymptotically uniform random d-regular graph on n vertices in time O(nd²). This confirms a conjecture of Wormald. The key ingredient in the proof is a recently developed concentration inequality by the second author. The algorithm works for relatively large d in practical (quadratic) time and can be used to derive many properties of uniform random regular graphs. * Research supported in part by grant RB091G-VU from UCSD, by NSF grant DMS-0200357 and by an A. Sloan fellowship.     

Spanning trees of extended graphs

A generalization of the Prüfer coding of trees is given providing a natural correspondence between the set of codes of spanning trees of a graph and the set of codes of spanning trees of theextension of the graph. This correspondence prompts us to introduce and to investigate a notion ofthe spanning tree volume of a graph and provides a simple relation between the volumes of a graph and its extension (and in particular a simple relation between the spanning tree numbers of a graph and its uniform extension). These results can be used to obtain simple purely combinatorial proofs of many previous results obtained by the Matrix-tree theorem on the number of spanning trees of a graph. The results also make it possible to construct graphs with the maximal number of spanning trees in some classes of graphs.     

Steiner Numbers in Graphs

Abstract

The Steiner distance d(S) of a set S of vertices in a connected graph G is the minimum size of a connected subgraph of G that contains S. The Steiner number s(G) of a connected graph G of order p is the smallest positive integer m for which there exists a set S of m vertices of G such that d(S) = p—1. A smallest set S of vertices of a connected graph G of order p for which d(S) = p—1 is called a Steiner spanning set of G. It is shown that every connected graph has a unique Steiner spanning set. If G is a connected graph of order p and k is an integer with 0 ≤ k ≤ p—1, then the kth Steiner number sk(G) of G is the smallest positive integer m for which there exists a set S of m vertices of G such that d(S) = k. The sequence s_o(G),s₁ (G),…,8_p-1(G) is called the Steiner sequence of G. Steiner sequences for trees are characterized.     

Total Colorings Of Degenerate Graphs

A total coloring of a graph G is a coloring of all elements of G, i.e. vertices and edges, such that no two adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. A graph G is s-degenerate for a positive integer s if G can be reduced to a trivial graph by successive removal of vertices with degree ≤s. We prove that an s-degenerate graph G has a total coloring with Δ+1 colors if the maximum degree Δ of G is sufficiently large, say Δ≥4s+3. Our proof yields an efficient algorithm to find such a total coloring. We also give a lineartime algorithm to find a total coloring of a graph G with the minimum number of colors if G is a partial k-tree, that is, the tree-width of G is bounded by a fixed integer k.     

On a Problem of Cameron’s on Inexhaustible Graphs

A graph G is inexhaustible if whenever a vertex of G is deleted the remaining graph is isomorphic to G. We address a question of Cameron [6], who asked which countable graphs are inexhaustible. In particular, we prove that there are continuum many countable inexhaustible graphs with properties in common with the infinite random graph, including adjacency properties and universality. Locally finite inexhaustible graphs and forests are investigated, as is a semigroup structure on the class of inexhaustible graphs. We extend a result of [7] on homogeneous inexhaustible graphs to pseudo-homogeneous inexhaustible graphs.The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).     

Planar graphs and poset dimension

We view the incidence relation of a graph G=(V. E) as an order relation on its vertices and edges, i.e. a<_G b if and only of a is a vertex and b is an edge incident on a. This leads to the definition of the order-dimension of G as the minimum number of total orders on V E whose intersection is <_G. Our main result is the characterization of planar graphs as the graphs whose order-dimension does not exceed three. Strong versions of several known properties of planar graphs are implied by this characterization. These properties include: each planar graph has arboricity at most three and each planar graph has a plane embedding whose edges are straight line segments. A nice feature of this embedding is that the coordinates of the vertices have a purely combinatorial meaning.     

A note on strong embeddings of maximal planar graphs on non-orientable sufraces

Abstract. In this paper, it is shown that for every maximal planar graph     

Colorings and orientations of graphs

Bounds for the chromatic number and for some related parameters of a graph are obtained by applying algebraic techniques. In particular, the following result is proved: IfG is a directed graph with maximum outdegreed, and if the number of Eulerian subgraphs ofG with an even number of edges differs from the number of Eulerian subgraphs with an odd number of edges then for any assignment of a setS(v) ofd+1 colors for each vertexv ofG there is a legal vertex-coloring ofG assigning to each vertexv a color fromS(v).Research supported in part by a United States-Israel BSF Grant and by a Bergmann Memorial Grant.     

Graph congruences and what they connote

Abstract

The algebraic notion of a “congruence” seems to be foreign to contemporary graph theory. We propound that it need not be so by developing a theory of congruences of graphs: a congruence on a graph G = (V, E) being a pair (～, ) of which ～ is an equivalence relation on V and is a set of unordered pairs of vertices of G with a special relationship to ～ and E. Kernels and quotient structures are used in this theory to develop homomorphism and isomorphism theorems which remind one of similar results in an algebraic context. We show that this theory can be applied to deliver structural decompositions of graphs into “factor” graphs having very special properties, such as the result that each graph, except one, is a subdirect product of graphs with universal vertices. In a final section, we discuss corresponding concepts and briefly describe a corresponding theory for graphs which have a loop at every vertex and which we call loopy graphs. They are in a sense more “algebraic” than simple graphs, with their meet-semilattices of all congruences becoming complete algebraic lattices.     

Note on a conjecture of toft

A conjecture of Toft [17] asserts that any 4-critical graph (or equivalently, every 4-chromatic graph) contains a fully odd subdivision ofK ₄. We show that if a graphG has a degree three nodev such thatG-v is 3-colourable, then eitherG is 3-colourable or it contains a fully oddK ₄. This resolves Toft's conjecture in the special case where a 4-critical graph has a degree three node, which is in turn used to prove the conjecture for line-graphs. The proof is constructive and yields a polynomial algorithm which given a 3-degenerate graph either finds a 3-colouring or exhibits a subgraph that is a fully odd subdivision ofK ₄. (A graph is 3-degenerate if every subgraph has some node of degree at most three.)     

An approximate Dirac-type theorem for k-uniform hypergraphs

A k-uniform hypergraph is hamiltonian if for some cyclic ordering of its vertex set, every k consecutive vertices form an edge. In 1952 Dirac proved that if the minimum degree in an n-vertex graph is at least n/2 then the graph is hamiltonian. We prove an approximate version of an analogous result for uniform hypergraphs: For every K ≥ 3 and γ > 0, and for all n large enough, a sufficient condition for an n-vertex k-uniform hypergraph to be hamiltonian is that each (k − 1)-element set of vertices is contained in at least (1/2 + γ)n edges. Research supported by NSF grant DMS-0300529. Research supported by KBN grant 2P03A 015 23 and N201036 32/2546. Part of research performed at Emory University, Atlanta. Research supported by NSF grant DMS-0100784.     

An introduction to the k-defect polynomials

The 0-defect polynomial of a graph is just the chromatic polynomial. This polynomial has been widely studied in the literature. Yet little is known about the properties of k-defect polynomials of graphs in general, when 0 < k ≤ |E(G)|. In this survey we give some properties of k-defect polynomials, in particular we highlight the properties of chromatic polynomials which also apply to k-defect polynomials. We discuss further research which can be done on the k-defect polynomials.     

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     

A topological approach to evasiveness

The complexity of a digraph property is the number of entries of the vertex adjacency matrix of a digraph which must be examined in worst case to determine whether the graph has the property. Rivest and Vuillemin proved the result (conjectured by Aanderaa and Rosenberg) that every graph property that is monotone (preserved by addition of edges) and nontrivial (holds for some but not all graphs) has complexity Ω(v ²) wherev is the number of vertices. Karp conjectured that every such property is evasive, i.e., requires that every entry of the incidence matrix be examined. In this paper the truth of Karp’s conjecture is shown to follow from another conjecture concerning group actions on topological spaces. A special case of the conjecture is proved which is applied to prove Karp’s conjecture for the case of properties of graphs on a prime power number of vertices. Supported in part by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship Supported in part by NSF under grant No. MCS-8102248     

Recursive construction for 3-regular expanders

We present an algorithm which inn ³ (logn)³ time constructs a 3-regular expander graph onn vertices. In each step we substitute a pair of edges of the graph by a new pair of edges so that the total number of cycles of lengths=clogn decreases (for some fixed absolute constantc). When we reach a local minimum in the number of cycles of lengths the graph is an expander.     

Equiarboreal graphs

A graphX is said to beequiarboreal if the number of spanning trees containing a specified edge inX is independent of the choice of edge. We prove that any graph which is a colour class in an association scheme (and thus any distance regular graph) is equiarboreal. We note that a connected equiarboreal graph withM edges andn vertices has edge-connectivity at leastM/(n−1).     

How Many Ways Can One Draw A Graph?

Using results from extremal graph theory, we determine the asymptotic number of string graphs with n vertices, i.e., graphs that can be obtained as the intersection graph of a system of continuous arcs in the plane. The number becomes much smaller, for any fixed d, if we restrict our attention to systems of arcs, any two of which cross at most d times. As an application, we estimate the number of different drawings of the complete graph K_n with n vertices under various side conditions. Dedicated to Miklós Simonovits on his sixtieth birthday * Supported by NSF grant CR-00-98246, PSC-CUNY Research Award 62450-0031 and OTKA-T-032452. † Supported by OTKA-T-032452 and OTKA-T-038397.