On the minimal number of edges in color-critical graphs

A graphG isk-critical if it has chromatic numberk, but every proper subgraph of it is (k?1)-colorable. This paper is devoted to investigating the following question: for givenk andn, what is the minimal number of edges in ak-critical graph onn vertices, with possibly some additional restrictions imposed? Our main result is that for everyk≥4 andn>k this number is at least $\left( {\frac{{k - 1}}{2} + \frac{{k - 3}}{{2(k^2 - 2k - 1)}}} \right)n$ , thus improving a result of Gallai from 1963. We discuss also the upper bounds on the minimal number of edges ink-critical graphs and provide some constructions of sparsek-critical graphs. A few applications of the results to Ramsey-type problems and problems about random graphs are described.     

A maximum degree theorem for diameter-2-critical graphs

A graph is diameter-2-critical if its diameter is two and the deletion of any edge increases the diameter. Let G be a diameter-2-critical graph of order n. Murty and Simon conjectured that the number of edges in G is at most ?n ²/4? and that the extremal graphs are the complete bipartite graphs K _?n/2?,?n/2?. Fan [Discrete Math. 67 (1987), 235–240] proved the conjecture for n ≤ 24 and for n = 26, while Füredi [J. Graph Theory 16 (1992), 81–98] proved the conjecture for n > n ₀ where n ₀ is a tower of 2’s of height about 10¹⁴. The conjecture has yet to be proven for other values of n. Let Δ denote the maximum degree of G. We prove the following maximum degree theorems for diameter-2-critical graphs. If Δ ≥ 0.7 n, then the Murty-Simon Conjecture is true. If n ≥ 2000 and Δ ≥ 0.6789 n, then the Murty-Simon Conjecture is true.     

Triangle-free partial graphs and edge covering theorems

In section 1 some lower bounds are given for the maximal number of edges ofa (p ? 1)- colorable partial graph. Among others we show that a graph on n vertices with m edges has a (p?1)-colorable partial graph with at least mT_n.p/(ⁿ₂) edges, where T_n.p denotes the so called Turán number. These results are used to obtain upper bounds for special edge covering numbers of graphs. In Section 2 we prove the following theorem: If G is a simple graph and μ is the maximal cardinality of a triangle-free edge set of G, then the edges of G can be covered by μ triangles and edges. In Section 3 related questions are examined.     

Non-Hamiltonian simple 3-polytopes having just two types of faces

It is shown that for every value of an integer k, k?11, there exist 3-valent 3-connected planar graphs having just two types of faces, pentagons and k-gons, and which are non- Hamiltonian. Moreover, there exist ?=?(k) > 0, for these values of k, and sequences (G_n)^∞_n=1 of the said graphs for which V(G_n)→∞ and the size of a largest circuit of G_n is at most (1??)V(G_n); similar result for the size of a largest path in such graphs is established for all k, k?11, except possibly for k = 14, 17, 22 and k = 5m+ 5 for all m?2.     

Removable edges in a 5-connected graph and a construction method of 5-connected graphs

An edge e of a k-connected graph G is said to be a removable edge if G?e is still k-connected. A k-connected graph G is said to be a quasi (k+1)-connected if G has no nontrivial k-separator. The existence of removable edges of 3-connected and 4-connected graphs and some properties of quasi k-connected graphs have been investigated [D.A. Holton, B. Jackson, A. Saito, N.C. Wormale, Removable edges in 3-connected graphs, J. Graph Theory 14(4) (1990) 465-473; H. Jiang, J. Su, Minimum degree of minimally quasi (k+1)-connected graphs, J. Math. Study 35 (2002) 187-193; T. Politof, A. Satyanarayana, Minors of quasi 4-connected graphs, Discrete Math. 126 (1994) 245-256; T. Politof, A. Satyanarayana, The structure of quasi 4-connected graphs, Discrete Math. 161 (1996) 217-228; J. Su, The number of removable edges in 3-connected graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 75(1) (1999) 74-87; J. Yin, Removable edges and constructions of 4-connected graphs, J. Systems Sci. Math. Sci. 19(4) (1999) 434-438]. In this paper, we first investigate the relation between quasi connectivity and removable edges. Based on the relation, the existence of removable edges in k-connected graphs (k?5) is investigated. It is proved that a 5-connected graph has no removable edge if and only if it is isomorphic to K₆. For a k-connected graph G such that end vertices of any edge of G have at most k-3 common adjacent vertices, it is also proved that G has a removable edge. Consequently, a recursive construction method of 5-connected graphs is established, that is, any 5-connected graph can be obtained from K₆ by a number of θ⁺-operations. We conjecture that, if k is even, a k-connected graph G without removable edge is isomorphic to either K_k+1 or the graph H_k/2+1 obtained from K_k+2 by removing k/2+1 disjoint edges, and, if k is odd, G is isomorphic to K_k+1.     

Minimum number of edges in graphs that are both P2- and Pi-connected

A simple graph with n vertices is called P_i-connected if any two distinct vertices are connected by an elementary path of length i. In this paper, lower bounds of the number of edges in graphs that are both P₂- and P_i-connected are obtained. Namely if $\text{i?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+1)}$, then |E(G)|?((4i?5)/(2i?2))(n?1), and if $\text{i >}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+ 1)}$, then |E(G)|?2(n?1) apart from one exeptional graph. Furthermore, extremal graphs are determined in the former.     

A note on transitive permutation groups of prime degree

LetG be a nonsolvable transitive permutation group of prime degreep. LetP be a Sylow-p-subgroup ofG and letq be a generator of the subgroup ofN _G(P) fixing one point. Assume that |N _G(P)|=p(p?1) and that there exists an elementj inG such thatj ^?1qj=q^(p+1)/2. We shall prove that a group that satisfies the above condition must be the symmetric group onp points, andp is of the form 4n+1.     

Balanced extensions of graphs and hypergraphs

For a hypergraphG withv vertices ande _i edges of sizei, the average vertex degree isd(G)= ∑ie ₁/v. Callbalanced ifd(H)≦d(G) for all subhypergraphsH ofG. Let $$m(G) = \mathop {\max }\limits_{H \subseteqq G} d(H).$$ A hypergraphF is said to be abalanced extension ofG ifG?F, F is balanced andd(F)=m(G), i.e.F is balanced and does not increase the maximum average degree. It is shown that for every hypergraphG there exists a balanced extensionF ofG. Moreover everyr-uniform hypergraph has anr-uniform balanced extension. For a graphG let ext (G) denote the minimum number of vertices in any graph that is a balanced extension ofG. IfG hasn vertices, then an upper bound of the form ext(G) ₁ n ² is proved. This is best possible in the sense that ext(G)>c ₂ n ² for an infinite family of graphs. However for sufficiently dense graphs an improved upper bound ext(G) ₃ n can be obtained, confirming a conjecture of P. Erdõs.     

On graphsG for which all large trees areG-good

LetG be a graph satisfying x(G) = k. The following problem is considered: WhichG have the property that, if n is large enough, the Ramsey numberr(G, T) has the value (k — 1)(n — 1) + 1 for all treesT onn vertices? It is shown thatG has this property if and only if for somem, G is a subgraph of bothL _k,m andM _K.m , whereL _k,m andM _k,m are two particulark-chromatic graphs. Indeed, it is shown thatr(L _k,m ,M _k,m ,T _n ) = (k — 1)(n — 1) + 1 whenn is large.     

Sur la quasi-convexité des arcs trinomiaux

From the equationp ^n?k sinnθ?ρ ⁿ sin(n?k)θ=sinkθ we will show that the function σ=σ(θ) is increasing for the arcsA _m , obtained when one putsn=m, k=m?1 andm=3,4,5,… Next, we will study the arcsB _m obtained whenn=m, k=m?2 andm an odd integer larger than 3. In this case, σ(θ) will be shown to be a decreasing function. Finally, the Farey arcsF(p,q;r,s) are obtained whenn=s, k=q, s andq relatively prime. It will be proved that the function σ(θ) is strictly quasi-convex.     

An optimal pram algorithm for a spanning tree on trapezoid graphs

LetG be a graph withn vertices andm edges. The problem of constructing a spanning tree is to find a connected subgraph ofG withn vertices andn?1 edges. In this paper, we propose anO(logn) time parallel algorithm withO(n/logn), processors on an EREW PRAM for constructing a spanning tree on trapezoid graphs.     

On a class of degenerate extremal graph problems

Given a class ? of (so called “forbidden”) graphs, ex (n, ?) denotes the maximum number of edges a graphG ⁿ of ordern can have without containing subgraphs from ?. If ? contains bipartite graphs, then ex (n, ?)=O(n ^2?c ) for somec>0, and the above problem is calleddegenerate. One important degenerate extremal problem is the case whenC _2k , a cycle of 2k vertices, is forbidden. According to a theorem of P. Erd?s, generalized by A. J. Bondy and M. Simonovits [3₂, ex (n, {C _2k })=O(n ^1+1/k ). In this paper we shall generalize this result and investigate some related questions.     

Nonorientable genus of nearly complete bipartite graphs

LetG(m, n, k), m, n≥3,k≤min(m, n), be the graph obtained from the complete bipartite graphK _m,n by deleting an arbitrary set ofk independent edges, and let $$f(m,n,k) = [(m - 2)(n - 2) - k]/2.$$ It is shown that the nonorientable genus \(\tilde \gamma \) (G(m, n, k)) of the graphG(m, n, k) is equal to the upper integer part off(m, n, k), except in trivial cases wheref(m, n, k)≤0 and possibly in some extreme cases, the graphsG(k, k, k) andG(k + 1,k, k). These cases are also discussed, obtaining some positive and some negative results. In particular, it is shown thatG(5, 4, 4) andG(5, 5, 5) have no nonorientable quadrilateral embedding.     

Optimal covers with Hamilton cycles in random graphs

A packing of a graph G with Hamilton cycles is a set of edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles in G. Such packings have been studied intensively and recent results imply that a largest packing of Hamilton cycles in G _n,p a.a.s. has size ?δ(G _n,p )/2?. Glebov, Krivelevich and Szabó recently initiated research on the ‘dual’ problem, where one asks for a set of Hamilton cycles covering all edges of G. Our main result states that for \(\tfrac{{log^{117} n}} {n} \leqslant p \leqslant 1 - n^{ - 1/8}\) , a.a.s. the edges of G _n,p can be covered by ?Δ (G _n,p )/2? Hamilton cycles. This is clearly optimal and improves an approximate result of Glebov, Krivelevich and Szabó, which holds for p ≥ n ^?1+?. Our proof is based on a result of Knox, Kühn and Osthus on packing Hamilton cycles in pseudorandom graphs.     

Restricted greedy clique decompositions and greedy clique decompositions ofK 4-free graphs

A greedy clique decomposition of a graph is obtained by removing maximal cliques from a graph one by one until the graph is empty. It has recently been shown that any greedy clique decomposition of a graph of ordern has at mostn ²/4 cliques. In this paper, we extend this result by showing that for any positive integerp, 3≤p any clique decomposisitioof a graph of ordern obtained by removing maximal cliques of order at leastp one by one until none remain, in which case the remaining edges are removed one by one, has at mostt _p-1( ⁿ ) cliques. Heret _p-1( ⁿ ) is the number of edges in the Turán graph of ordern, which has no complete subgraphs of orderp. In connection with greedy clique decompositions, P. Winkler conjectured that for any greedy clique decompositionC of a graphG of ordern the sum over the number of vertices in each clique ofC is at mostn ²/2. We prove this conjecture forK ₄-free graphs and show that in the case of equality forC andG there are only two possibilities:

1. G?K _n/2,n/2
2. G is complete 3-partite, where each part hasn/3 vertices.

We show that in either caseC is completely determined.     

Graphs with unavoidable subgraphs with large degrees

Let ??(n, m) denote the class of simple graphs on n vertices and m edges and let G ∈ ?? (n, m). There are many results in graph theory giving conditions under which G contains certain types of subgraphs, such as cycles of given lengths, complete graphs, etc. For example, Turan's theorem gives a sufficient condition for G to contain a K_{k + 1} in terms of the number of edges in G. In this paper we prove that, for m = αn², α > (k - 1)/2k, G contains a K_{k + 1}, each vertex of which has degree at least f(α)n and determine the best possible f(α). For m = ?n²/4? + 1 we establish that G contains cycles whose vertices have certain minimum degrees. Further, for m = αn², α > 0 we establish that G contains a subgraph H with δ(H) ≥ f(α, n) and determine the best possible value of f(α, n).     

A problem related to Foulkes’s conjecture

In this paper we study a class of symmetric matricesT indexed by positive integers m≥ n≥2 and defined as follows: for any positive integersp andq let ?_p,q be the set of partitions ofU = {1,2,3, ...,pq} into p blocks each of sizeq. Letm ≥n ≥ 2 be positive integers. By atransversal of α = A₁/A₂/.../A_n ∈ ?_n,m we mean a partitionß = B₁/B₂/.../B_m ∈ ? _m,n such that ‖A _i ∩B _j = 1 for every i= 1,2, ...,n and everyj = 1,2, ...,m. LetM be the zero-one matrix with rows indexed by the elements of ?_n,m and columns indexed by the elements of ?_m,n such that M_αß = 1 iffß is a transversal of α. We are interested in finding the eigenvalues and eigenspaces of the symmetric matrixT = MM^t. The nonsingularity ofT implies Foulkes’s Conjecture (for these values of m andn). In the casen = 2 we completely determine the eigenvalues and eigenspaces of T and in so doing demonstrate the non-singularity ofT. Forn = 3 we develop a fast algorithm for computing the eigenvalues ofT, and give numerical results in the cases m = 3,4, 5, 6.     

Pebble game algorithms and sparse graphs

A multi-graph G on n vertices is (k,?)-sparse if every subset of n^′?n vertices spans at most kn^′-? edges. G is tight if, in addition, it has exactly kn-? edges. For integer values k and ?∈[0,2k), we characterize the (k,?)-sparse graphs via a family of simple, elegant and efficient algorithms called the (k,?)-pebble games.     

There are no de bruijn sequences of span n with complexity 2n − 1 + n + 1

If s = (s₀, s₁,…, s_2ⁿ?1) is a binary de Bruijn sequence of span n, then it has been shown that the least length of a linear recursion that generates s, called the complexity of s and denoted by c(s), is bounded for n ? 3 by 2^{n ? 1} + n ? c(s) ? 2ⁿ ?1. A numerical study of the allowable values of c(s) for 3 ? n ? 6 found that all values in this range occurred except for 2^n?1 + n + 1. It is proven in this note that there are no de Bruijn sequences of complexity 2^n?1 + n + 1 for all n ? 3.