Partitioning a graph into convex sets

Let G be a finite simple graph. Let S⊆V(G), its closed interval I[S] is the set of all vertices lying on shortest paths between any pair of vertices of S. The set S is convex if I[S]=S. In this work we define the concept of a convex partition of graphs. If there exists a partition of V(G) into p convex sets we say that G is p-convex. We prove that it is NP-complete to decide whether a graph G is p-convex for a fixed integer p≥2. We show that every connected chordal graph is p-convex, for 1≤p≤n. We also establish conditions on n and k to decide if the k-th power of a cycle C_n is p-convex. Finally, we develop a linear-time algorithm to decide if a cograph is p-convex.     

Well-covered circulant graphs

A graph is well-covered if every independent set can be extended to a maximum independent set. We show that it is co-NP-complete to determine whether an arbitrary graph is well-covered, even when restricted to the family of circulant graphs. Despite the intractability of characterizing the complete set of well-covered circulant graphs, we apply the theory of independence polynomials to show that several families of circulants are indeed well-covered. Since the lexicographic product of two well-covered circulants is also a well-covered circulant, our partial characterization theorems enable us to generate infinitely many families of well-covered circulants previously unknown in the literature.     

The maximum edit distance from hereditary graph properties

For a graph property , the edit distance of a graph G from , denoted , is the minimum number of edge modifications (additions or deletions) one needs to apply to G in order to turn it into a graph satisfying . What is the largest possible edit distance of a graph on n vertices from ? Denote this distance by .A graph property is hereditary if it is closed under removal of vertices. In a previous work, the authors show that for any hereditary property, a random graph essentially achieves the maximal distance from , proving: with high probability. The proof implicitly asserts the existence of such , but it does not supply a general tool for determining its value or the edit distance.In this paper, we determine the values of and for some subfamilies of hereditary properties including sparse hereditary properties, complement invariant properties, (r,s)-colorability and more. We provide methods for analyzing the maximum edit distance from the graph properties of being induced H-free for some graphs H, and use it to show that in some natural cases G(n,1/2) is not the furthest graph. Throughout the paper, the various tools let us deduce the asymptotic maximum edit distance from some well studied hereditary graph properties, such as being Perfect, Chordal, Interval, Permutation, Claw-Free, Cograph and more. We also determine the edit distance of G(n,1/2) from any hereditary property, and investigate the behavior of as a function of p.The proofs combine several tools in Extremal Graph Theory, including strengthened versions of the Szemerédi Regularity Lemma, Ramsey Theory and properties of random graphs.     

Independence polynomials of circulants with an application to music

The independence polynomial of a graph G is the generating function I(G,x)=∑_k≥0i_kx^k, where i_k is the number of independent sets of cardinality k in G. We show that the problem of evaluating the independence polynomial of a graph at any fixed non-zero number is intractable, even when restricted to circulants. We provide a formula for the independence polynomial of a certain family of circulants, and its complement. As an application, we derive a formula for the number of chords in an n-tet musical system (one where the ratio of frequencies in a semitone is 2^1/n) without ‘close’ pitch classes.     

Observable graphs

An edge-colored directed graph is observable if an agent that moves along its edges from node to node is able to determine his position in the graph after a sufficiently long observation of the edge colors, and without accessing any information about the traversed nodes. When the agent is able to determine his position only from time to time, the graph is said to be partly observable. Observability in graphs is desirable in situations where autonomous agents are moving on a network and they want to localize themselves with limited information. In this paper, we completely characterize observable and partly observable graphs and show how these concepts relate to other concepts in the literature. Based on these characterizations, we provide polynomial time algorithms to decide observability, to decide partial observability, and to compute the minimal number of observations necessary for finding the position of an agent. In particular we prove that in the worst case this minimal number of observations increases quadratically with the number of nodes in the graph. We then consider the more difficult question of assigning colors to a graph so as to make it observable and we prove that two different versions of this problem are NP-complete.     

Properly colored hamilton cycles in edge-colored complete graphs

It is shown that, for ϵ>0 and n>n₀(ϵ), any complete graph K on n vertices whose edges are colored so that no vertex is incident with more than (1-1/\sqrt2-\epsilon)n edges of the same color contains a Hamilton cycle in which adjacent edges have distinct colors. Moreover, for every k between 3 and n any such K contains a cycle of length k in which adjacent edges have distinct colors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 11 , 179–186 (1997)     

Applying an edit distance to the matching of tree ring sequences in dendrochronology

In dendrochronology wood samples are dated according to the tree rings they contain. The dating process consists of comparing the sequence of tree ring widths in the sample to a dated master sequence. Assuming that a tree forms exactly one ring per year a simple sliding algorithm solves this matching task.

But sometimes a tree produces no ring or even two rings in a year. If a sample sequence contains this kind of inconsistencies it cannot be dated correctly by the simple sliding algorithm. We therefore introduce a algorithm for dating such a sample sequence against an error-free master sequence, where n and m are the lengths of the sequences. Our algorithm takes into account that the sample might contain up to missing or double rings and suggests possible positions for these kind of inconsistencies. This is done by employing an edit distance as the distance measure.     

Edge disjoint Hamilton cycles in sparse random graphs of minimum degree at least k

Let G_n,m,k denote the space of simple graphs with n vertices, m edges, and minimum degree at least k, each graph G being equiprobable. Let G have property A_k, if G contains ⌊(k − 1)/2⌋ edge disjoint Hamilton cycles, and, if k is even, a further edge disjoint matching of size ⌊n/2⌋. We prove that, for k ≥ 3, there is a constant C_k such that if 2m ≥ C_kn then A_k occurs in G_n,m,k with probability tending to 1 as n → ∞. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Graph Theory 34: 42–59, 2000     

A result on the total colouring of powers of cycles

The total chromatic number χ_T(G) is the least number of colours needed to colour the vertices and edges of a graph G such that no incident or adjacent elements (vertices or edges) receive the same colour. The Total Colouring Conjecture (TCC) states that for every simple graph G, χ_T(G)?Δ(G)+2. This work verifies the TCC for powers of cycles even and 2<k<n/2, showing that there exists and can be polynomially constructed a (Δ(G)+2)-total colouring for these graphs.