New proofs for Levine’s theorems

Recently, Levine [9] expressed the vertex weighted complexity on spanning trees (with a fixed root) of the directed line graph of a digraph D in terms of the edge weighted complexity on spanning trees (with a fixed root) of D. We present new proofs for two Levine’s Theorems. Furthermore, we express the number of unicycles of the directed line graph of a digraph D in terms of the number of unicycles of D.     

Ordering trees by the Laplacian coefficients

Motivated by a Mohar’s paper proposing “how to order trees by the Laplacian coefficients”, we investigate a partial ordering of trees with diameters 3 and 4 by the Laplacian coefficients. These results are used to determine several orderings of trees by the Laplacian coefficients.     

Analysis for an N-stepped Rayleigh bar with sections of complex geometry

In this paper we analyse the vibrations of an N-stepped Rayleigh bar with sections of complex geometry, supported by end lumped masses and springs. Equations of motion and boundary conditions are derived from the Hamilton’s variational principal. The solutions for tapered and exponential sections are given. Two types of orthogonality for the eigenfunctions are obtained. The analytic solution to the N-stepped Rayleigh model is constructed in terms of Green function.     

A Combinatorial Proof of Kneser’s Conjecture*

Knesers conjecture, first proved by Lovász in 1978, states that the graph with all k-element subsets of {1, 2, . . . , n} as vertices and with edges connecting disjoint sets has chromatic number n–2k+2. We derive this result from Tuckers combinatorial lemma on labeling the vertices of special triangulations of the octahedral ball. By specializing a proof of Tuckers lemma, we obtain self-contained purely combinatorial proof of Knesers conjecture.* Research supported by Charles University grants No. 158/99 and 159/99 and by ETH Zürich.     

Alexandrov’s inequality and conjectures on some Toeplitz matrices

We study determinant inequalities for certain Toeplitz-like matrices over C. For fixed n and N ? 1, let Q be the n × (n + N − 1) zero-one Toeplitz matrix with Q_ij = 1 for 0 ? j − i ? N − 1 and Q_ij = 0 otherwise. We prove that det(QQ^∗) is the minimum of det(RR^∗) over all complex matrices R with the same dimensions as Q satisfying ∣R_ij∣ ? 1 whenever Q_ij = 1 and R_ij = 0 otherwise. Although R has a Toeplitz-like band structure, it is not required to be actually Toeplitz. Our proof involves Alexandrov’s inequality for polarized determinants and its generalizations. This problem is motivated by Littlewood’s conjecture on the minimum 1-norm of N-term exponential sums on the unit circle. We also discuss polarized Bazin-Reiss-Picquet identities, some connections with k-tree enumeration, and analogous conjectured inequalities for the elementary symmetric functions of QQ^∗.     

The Collector’s Brotherhood Problem using the Newman-Shepp symbolic method

Further computations are made on the traditional coupon collectors problem when the collector shares his harvest with his younger brothers. When the book of the p-th brother of the collector is completed, the books of the younger brothers have certain numbers of empty spots. On the average, how many? Several answers can be brought to that question.To Gian-Carlo Rota, in memoriam     

Geršgorin variations III: On a theme of Brualdi and Varga

Brualdi brought to Geršgorin Theory the concept that the digraph G(A) of a matrix A is important in studying whether A is singular. He proved, for example, that if, for every directed cycle of G(A), the product of the diagonal entries exceeds the product of the row sums of the moduli of the off-diagonal entries, then the matrix is nonsingular. We will show how, in polynomial time, that condition can be tested and (if satisfied) produce a diagonal matrix D, with positive diagonal entries, such that AD (where A is any nonnnegative matrix satisfying the conditions) is strictly diagonally dominant (and so, A is nonsingular). The same D works for all matrices satisfying the conditions. Varga raised the question of whether Brualdi’s conditions are sharp. Improving Varga’s results, we show, if G is scwaltcy (strongly connected with at least two cycles), and if the Brualdi conditions do not hold, how to construct (again in polynomial time) a complex matrix whose moduli satisfy the given specifications, but is singular.     

The energy of random graphs

In 1970s, Gutman introduced the concept of the energy E(G) for a simple graph G, which is defined as the sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues of G. This graph invariant has attracted much attention, and many lower and upper bounds have been established for some classes of graphs among which bipartite graphs are of particular interest. But there are only a few graphs attaining the equalities of those bounds. We however obtain an exact estimate of the energy for almost all graphs by Wigner’s semi-circle law, which generalizes a result of Nikiforov. We further investigate the energy of random multipartite graphs by considering a generalization of Wigner matrix, and obtain some estimates of the energy for random multipartite graphs.     

Quivers of finite mutation type and skew-symmetric matrices

Quivers of finite mutation type are certain directed graphs that first arised in Fomin-Zelevinsky’s theory of cluster algebras. It has been observed that these quivers are also closely related with different areas of mathematics. In fact, main examples of finite mutation type quivers are the quivers associated with triangulations of surfaces. In this paper, we study structural properties of finite mutation type quivers in relation with the corresponding skew-symmetric matrices. We obtain a characterization of finite mutation type quivers that are associated with triangulations of surfaces and give a new numerical invariant for their mutation classes.     

Graph homomorphisms and nodal domains

In this paper, we derive some necessary spectral conditions for the existence of graph homomorphisms in which we also consider some parameters related to the corresponding eigenspaces such as nodal domains. In this approach, we consider the combinatorial Laplacian and co-Laplacian as well as the adjacency matrix. Also, we present some applications in graph decompositions where we prove a general version of Fisher’s inequality for G-designs.     

On minors of the compound matrix of a Laplacian

Let L   be an n×n$n\times n$ matrix with zero row and column sums, n?3$n?3$. We obtain a formula for any minor of the (n−2)$(n-2)$-th compound of L. An application to counting spanning trees extending a given forest is given.     

On unimodular graphs

We study graphs whose adjacency matrices have determinant equal to 1 or −1, and characterize certain subclasses of these graphs. Graphs whose adjacency matrices are totally unimodular are also characterized. For bipartite graphs having a unique perfect matching, we provide a formula for the inverse of the corresponding adjacency matrix, and address the problem of when that inverse is diagonally similar to a nonnegative matrix. Special attention is paid to the case that such a graph is unicyclic.     

Dichotomy theorems for countably infinite dimensional analytic hypergraphs

We give classical proofs, strengthenings, and generalizations of Lecomte’s characterizations of analytic ω-dimensional hypergraphs with countable Borel chromatic number.     

The new methods for constructing matching-equivalence graphs

Two graphs G and H with order n are said to be matching-equivalent if and only if the number of r-matchings (i.e., the number of ways in which r disjoint edges can be chosen) is the same for each of the graphs G and H for each r, where 0?r?n. In this paper, the new methods for constructing ‘matching-equivalent’ graphs are given, and some families of non-matching unique graphs are also obtained.     

Imperfect and Nonideal Clutters: A Common Approach

We prove three theorems. First, Lovászs theorem about minimal imperfect clutters, including also Padbergs corollaries. Second, Lehmans result on minimal nonideal clutters. Third, a common generalization of these two. The endeavor of working out a common denominator for Lovászs and Lehmans theorems leads, besides the common generalization, to a better understanding and simple polyhedral proofs of both.* Visiting of the French Ministry of Research and Technology, laboratoire LEIBNIZ, Grenoble, November 1995—April 1996.     

The inverse inertia problem for graphs: Cut vertices, trees, and a counterexample

Let G be an undirected graph on n vertices and let S(G) be the set of all real symmetric n×n matrices whose nonzero off-diagonal entries occur in exactly the positions corresponding to the edges of G. The inverse inertia problem for G asks which inertias can be attained by a matrix in S(G). We give a complete answer to this question for trees in terms of a new family of graph parameters, the maximal disconnection numbers of a graph. We also give a formula for the inertia set of a graph with a cut vertex in terms of inertia sets of proper subgraphs. Finally, we give an example of a graph that is not inertia-balanced, which settles an open problem from the October 2006 AIM Workshop on Spectra of Families of Matrices described by Graphs, Digraphs and Sign Patterns. We also determine some restrictions on the inertia set of any graph.     

A family of invariants of rooted forests

Let A be a commutative k-algebra over a field of k and Ξ a linear operator defined on A. We define a family of A-valued invariants Ψ for finite rooted forests by a recurrent algorithm using the operator Ξ and show that the invariant Ψ distinguishes rooted forests if (and only if) it distinguishes rooted trees T, and if (and only if) it is finer than the quantity α(T)=|Aut(T)| of rooted trees T. We also consider the generating function with , where is the set of rooted trees with n vertices. We show that the generating function U(q) satisfies the equation . Consequently, we get a recurrent formula for U_n (n?1), namely, U₁=Ξ(1) and U_n=ΞS_n−1(U₁,U₂,…,U_n−1) for any n?2, where are the elementary Schur polynomials. We also show that the (strict) order polynomials and two well-known quasi-symmetric function invariants of rooted forests are in the family of invariants Ψ and derive some consequences about these well-known invariants from our general results on Ψ. Finally, we generalize the invariant Ψ to labeled planar forests and discuss its certain relations with the Hopf algebra in Foissy (Bull. Sci. Math. 126 (2002) 193) spanned by labeled planar forests.     

Transitive parabolic unitals in semifield planes

Every semifield plane with spread in PG(3,K), where K is a field admitting a quadratic extension K⁺, is shown to admit a transitive parabolic unital. The author gratefully acknowledges helpful comments of the referee in the writing of this article.     

A generalized characteristic polynomial of a graph having a semifree action

For an abelian group Γ, a formula to compute the characteristic polynomial of a Γ-graph has been obtained by Lee and Kim [Characteristic polynomials of graphs having a semi-free action, Linear algebra Appl. 307 (2005) 35-46]. As a continuation of this work, we give a computational formula for generalized characteristic polynomial of a Γ-graph when Γ is a finite group. Moreover, after showing that the reciprocal of the Bartholdi zeta function of a graph can be derived from the generalized characteristic polynomial of a graph, we compute the reciprocals of the Bartholdi zeta functions of wheels and complete bipartite graphs as an application of our formula.     

A new rating system for duplicate bridge

We propose a new way to rate individual duplicate bridge players, which we believe is superior to the masterpoint system currently used by the American Contract Bridge League. This method measures only a player’s current skill level, and not how long or how frequently he has played. It is based on simple ideas from the theory of statistics and from linear algebra, and should be easy to implement.One particular issue which can occur within any system proposing to rate individual players using results earned by partnerships is what we call the “nonuniqueness problem”. This refers to the occasional inability for data to distinguish who is the “good player” and who is the “bad player” within particular partnerships. We prove that under our system this problem disappears if either (a) a certain “partnership graph” has no bipartite components, or if (b) every player is required to participate in at least one individual game.Finally, we present some data from a bridge club in Reno, NV. They show that even if (a) and (b) do not hold, our system will provide (unique) ratings for most players.