Clique-transversal sets in 4-regular claw-free graphs

A clique-transversal set D of a graph G is a set of vertices of G such that D meets all cliques of G. The clique-transversal number, denoted by τ _c (G), is the minimum cardinality of a clique-transversal set in G. In this paper we give the exact value of the clique-transversal number for the line graph of a complete graph. Also, we give a lower bound on the clique-transversal number for 4-regular claw-free graphs and characterize the extremal graphs achieving the lower bound.     

Bounds on total domination in claw-free cubic graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G is a total dominating set, denoted by TDS, of G if every vertex of G is adjacent to some vertex in S (other than itself). The minimum cardinality of a TDS of G is the total domination number of G, denoted by γ_t(G). If G does not contain K_1,3 as an induced subgraph, then G is said to be claw-free. It is shown in [D. Archdeacon, J. Ellis-Monaghan, D. Fischer, D. Froncek, P.C.B. Lam, S. Seager, B. Wei, R. Yuster, Some remarks on domination, J. Graph Theory 46 (2004) 207-210.] that if G is a graph of order n with minimum degree at least three, then γ_t(G)?n/2. Two infinite families of connected cubic graphs with total domination number one-half their orders are constructed in [O. Favaron, M.A. Henning, C.M. Mynhardt, J. Puech, Total domination in graphs with minimum degree three, J. Graph Theory 34(1) (2000) 9-19.] which shows that this bound of n/2 is sharp. However, every graph in these two families, except for K₄ and a cubic graph of order eight, contains a claw. It is therefore a natural question to ask whether this upper bound of n/2 can be improved if we restrict G to be a connected cubic claw-free graph of order at least 10. In this paper, we answer this question in the affirmative. We prove that if G is a connected claw-free cubic graph of order n?10, then γ_t(G)?5n/11.     

Small cycle double covers of 4-connected planar graphs

Acycle double cover of a graph,G, is a collection of cycles,C, such that every edge ofG lies in precisely two cycles ofC. TheSmall Cycle Double Cover Conjecture, proposed by J. A. Bondy, asserts that every simple bridgeless graph onn vertices has a cycle double cover with at mostn–1 cycles, and is a strengthening of the well-knownCycle Double Cover Conjecture. In this paper, we prove Bondy's conjecture for 4-connected planar graphs.     

OnK 4-free subgraphs of random graphs

For 0<1 and graphsG andH, writeGH if any -proportion of the edges ofG spans at least one copy ofH inG. As customary, writeK ^r for the complete graph onr vertices. We show that for every fixed real >0 there exists a constantC=C() such that almost every random graphG _n,p withp=p(n)Cn ^–2/5 satisfiesG _{n,p 2/3+} K ⁴. The proof makes use of a variant of Szemerédi's regularity lemma for sparse graphs and is based on a certain superexponential estimate for the number of pseudo-random tripartite graphs whose triangles are not too well distributed. Related results and a general conjecture concerningH-free subgraphs of random graphs in the spirit of the Erds-Stone theorem are discussed.The first author was partially supported by FAPESP (Proc. 93/0603-1) and by CNPq (Proc. 300334/93-1 and ProTeM-CC-II Project ProComb). Part of this work was done while the second author was visiting the University of São Paulo, supported by FAPESP (Proc. 94/4276-8). The third author was partially supported by the NSF grant DMS-9401559.     

Large faces in 4-critical planar graphs with minimum degree 4

We prove that the size of the largest face of a 4-critical planar graph with 4 is at most one half the number of its vertices. Letf(n) denote the maximum of the sizes of largest faces of all such graphs withn vertices (n sufficiently large). We present an infinite family of graphs that shows .All three authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

The edge density of 4-critical planar graphs

Several constructions of 4-critical planar graphs are given. These provide answers to two questions of B. Grünbaum and give improved bounds for the maximum edge density of such graphs.     

Total domination in claw-free graphs with minimum degree 2

A set S of vertices in a graph G is a total dominating set (TDS) of G if every vertex of G is adjacent to some vertex in S. The minimum cardinality of a TDS of G is the total domination number of G, denoted by γ_t(G). A graph is claw-free if it does not contain K_1,3 as an induced subgraph. It is known [M.A. Henning, Graphs with large total domination number, J. Graph Theory 35(1) (2000) 21-45] that if G is a connected graph of order n with minimum degree at least two and G∉{C₃,C₅, C₆, C₁₀}, then γ_t(G)?4n/7. In this paper, we show that this upper bound can be improved if G is restricted to be a claw-free graph. We show that every connected claw-free graph G of order n and minimum degree at least two satisfies γ_t(G)?(n+2)/2 and we characterize those graphs for which γ_t(G)=⌊(n+2)/2⌋.     

Preperfect graphs

We say that a vertexx of a graph is predominant if there exists another vertexy ofG such that either every maximum clique ofG containingy containsx or every maximum stable set containingx containsy. A graph is then called preperfect if every induced subgraph has a predominant vertex. We show that preperfect graphs are perfect, and that several well-known classes of perfect graphs are preperfect. We also derive a new characterization of perfect graphs.     

Cubic Ramanujan graphs

A fimily of cubic Ramanujan graph is explicitly constructed. They are realized as Cayley graphs of a certain free group acting on the 3-regular tree; this group is obtained from a definite quaternion algebra that splits at the prime 2 and has a maximal order of class number 1.     

On packing bipartite graphs

G andH, two simple graphs, can be packed ifG is isomorphic to a subgraph of , the complement ofH. A theorem of Catlin, Spencer and Sauer gives a sufficient condition for the existence of packing in terms of the product of the maximal degrees ofG andH. We improve this theorem for bipartite graphs. Our condition involves products of a maximum degree with an average degree. Our relaxed condition still guarantees a packing of the two bipartite graphs.the paper was written while the authors were graduate students at the University of Chicago and was completed while the first author was at M.I.T. The work of the first author was supported in part by the Air Force under Contract OSR-86-0076 and by DIMACS (Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center-NSF-STC88-09648. The work of the second author was supported in part by NSF grant CCR-8706518.     

RandomlyH-coverable graphs

A graph israndomly matchable if every matching of the graph is contained in a perfect matching. We generalize this notion and say that a graphG israndomly H-coverable if every set of independent subgraphs, each isomorphic toH, that does not cover the vertices ofG can be extended to a larger set of independent copies ofH. Various problems are considered for the situation whereH is a path. In particular, we characterize the graphs that are randomlyP ₃ -coverable.     

Expanding graphs contain all small trees

The assertion of the title is formulated and proved. The result is then used to construct graphs with a linear number of edges that, even after the deletion of almost all of their edges or almost all of their vertices, continue to contain all small trees.     

Cycles in weighted graphs

A weighted graph is one in which each edgee is assigned a nonnegative numberw(e), called the weight ofe. The weightw(G) of a weighted graphG is the sum of the weights of its edges. In this paper, we prove, as conjectured in [2], that every 2-edge-connected weighted graph onn vertices contains a cycle of weight at least 2w(G)/(n–1). Furthermore, we completely characterize the 2-edge-connected weighted graphs onn vertices that contain no cycle of weight more than 2w(G)/(n–1). This generalizes, to weighted graphs, a classical result of Erds and Gallai [4].     

Supersaturated graphs and hypergraphs

We shall consider graphs (hypergraphs) without loops and multiple edges. Let ? be a family of so called prohibited graphs and ex (n, ?) denote the maximum number of edges (hyperedges) a graph (hypergraph) onn vertices can have without containing subgraphs from ?. A graph (hyper-graph) will be called supersaturated if it has more edges than ex (n, ?). IfG hasn vertices and ex (n, ?)+k edges (hyperedges), then it always contains prohibited subgraphs. The basic question investigated here is: At least how many copies ofL ε ? must occur in a graphG ⁿ onn vertices with ex (n, ?)+k edges (hyperedges)?     

Subgraphs of colour-critical graphs

Some problems and results on the distribution of subgraphs in colour-critical graphs are discussed. In section 3 arbitrarily largek-critical graphs withn vertices are constructed such that, in order to reduce the chromatic number tok−2, at leastc _k n ² edges must be removed. In section 4 it is proved that a 4-critical graph withn vertices contains at mostn triangles. Further it is proved that ak-critical graph which is not a complete graph contains a (k−1)-critical graph which is not a complete graph.     

Regular subgraphs of dense graphs

Every graph onn vertices, with at leastc _k n logn edges contains ak-regular subgraph. This answers a question of Erdős and Sauer.     

Spectral radius and Hamiltonicity of graphs

Let G be a graph of order n and μ(G) be the largest eigenvalue of its adjacency matrix. Let be the complement of G.Write K_n-1+v for the complete graph on n-1 vertices together with an isolated vertex, and K_n-1+e for the complete graph on n-1 vertices with a pendent edge.We show that:If μ(G)?n-2, then G contains a Hamiltonian path unless G=K_n-1+v; if strict inequality holds, then G contains a Hamiltonian cycle unless G=K_n-1+e.If , then G contains a Hamiltonian path unless G=K_n-1+v.If , then G contains a Hamiltonian cycle unless G=K_n-1+e.