Further analysis of the number of spanning trees in circulant graphs

Let 1?s₁<s₂<?<s_k?⌊n/2⌋ be given integers. An undirected even-valent circulant graph, has n vertices 0,1,2,…, n-1, and for each and j(0?j?n-1) there is an edge between j and . Let stand for the number of spanning trees of . For this special class of graphs, a general and most recent result, which is obtained in [Y.P. Zhang, X. Yong, M. Golin, [The number of spanning trees in circulant graphs, Discrete Math. 223 (2000) 337-350]], is that where a_n satisfies a linear recurrence relation of order 2^s_k-1. And, most recently, for odd-valent circulant graphs, a nice investigation on the number a_n is [X. Chen, Q. Lin, F. Zhang, The number of spanning trees in odd-valent circulant graphs, Discrete Math. 282 (2004) 69-79].In this paper, we explore further properties of the numbers a_n from their combinatorial structures. Comparing with the previous work, the differences are that (1) in finding the coefficients of recurrence formulas for a_n, we avoid solving a system of linear equations with exponential size, but instead, we give explicit formulas; (2) we find the asymptotic functions and therefore we ‘answer’ the open problem posed in the conclusion of [Y.P. Zhang, X. Yong, M. Golin, The number of spanning trees in circulant graphs, Discrete Math. 223 (2000) 337-350]. As examples, we describe our technique and the asymptotics of the numbers.     

Topological graph dimension

In the invited chapter Discrete Spatial Models of the book Handbook of Spatial Logics, we have introduced the concept of dimension for graphs, which is inspired by Evako’s idea of dimension of graphs [A.V. Evako, R. Kopperman, Y.V. Mukhin, Dimensional properties of graphs and digital spaces, J. Math. Imaging Vision 6 (1996) 109-119]. Our definition is analogous to that of (small inductive) dimension in topology. Besides the expected properties of isomorphism-invariance and monotonicity with respect to subgraph inclusion, it has the following distinctive features:

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Local aspect. That is, dimension at a vertex is basic, and the dimension of a graph is obtained as the sup over its vertices.

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Dimension of a strong product G×H is dim(G)+dim(H) (for non-empty graphs G,H).

In this paper we present a short account of the basic theory, with several new applications and results.     

Tutte’s 5-flow conjecture for highly cyclically connected cubic graphs

In 1954, Tutte conjectured that every bridgeless graph has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. Let ω(G) be the minimum number of odd cycles in a 2-factor of a bridgeless cubic graph G. Tutte’s conjecture is equivalent to its restriction to cubic graphs with ω≥2. We show that if a cubic graph G has no edge cut with fewer than edges that separates two odd cycles of a minimum 2-factor of G, then G has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. This implies that if a cubic graph G is cyclically n-edge connected and , then G has a nowhere-zero 5-flow.     

Path factors and parallel knock-out schemes of almost claw-free graphs

An H₁,{H₂}-factor of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G with exactly one component isomorphic to the graph H₁ and all other components (if there are any) isomorphic to the graph H₂. We completely characterise the class of connected almost claw-free graphs that have a P₇,{P₂}-factor, where P₇ and P₂ denote the paths on seven and two vertices, respectively. We apply this result to parallel knock-out schemes for almost claw-free graphs. These schemes proceed in rounds in each of which each surviving vertex eliminates one of its surviving neighbours. A graph is reducible if such a scheme eliminates every vertex in the graph. Using our characterisation, we are able to classify all reducible almost claw-free graphs, and we can show that every reducible almost claw-free graph is reducible in at most two rounds. This leads to a quadratic time algorithm for determining if an almost claw-free graph is reducible (which is a generalisation and improvement upon the previous strongest result that showed that there was a O(n^5.376) time algorithm for claw-free graphs on n vertices).     

Acyclic improper colourings of graphs with bounded maximum degree

For graphs of bounded maximum degree, we consider acyclic t-improper colourings, that is, colourings in which each bipartite subgraph consisting of the edges between two colour classes is acyclic, and each colour class induces a graph with maximum degree at most t.We consider the supremum, over all graphs of maximum degree at most d, of the acyclic t-improper chromatic number and provide t-improper analogues of results by Alon, McDiarmid and Reed [N. Alon, C.J.H. McDiarmid, B. Reed, Acyclic coloring of graphs, Random Structures Algorithms 2 (3) (1991) 277-288] and Fertin, Raspaud and Reed [G. Fertin, A. Raspaud, B. Reed, Star coloring of graphs, J. Graph Theory 47 (3) (2004) 163-182].     

A lower bound on the number of removable ears of 1-extendable graphs

Let G be a 1-extendable graph distinct from K₂ and C_2n. A classical result of Lovász and Plummer (1986) [5, Theorem 5.4.6] states that G has a removable ear. Carvalho et al. (1999) [3] proved that G has at least Δ(G) edge-disjoint removable ears, where Δ(G) denotes the maximum degree of G. In this paper, the authors improve the lower bound and prove that G has at least m(G) edge-disjoint removable ears, where m(G) denotes the minimum number of perfect matchings needed to cover all edges of G.     

Grundy number and products of graphs

The Grundy number of a graph G, denoted by Γ(G), is the largest k such that G has a greedyk-colouring, that is a colouring with k colours obtained by applying the greedy algorithm according to some ordering of the vertices of G. In this paper, we study the Grundy number of the lexicographic and cartesian products of two graphs in terms of the Grundy numbers of these graphs.Regarding the lexicographic product, we show that Γ(G)×Γ(H)≤Γ(G[H])≤2^Γ(G)−1(Γ(H)−1)+Γ(G). In addition, we show that if G is a tree or Γ(G)=Δ(G)+1, then Γ(G[H])=Γ(G)×Γ(H). We then deduce that for every fixed c≥1, given a graph G, it is CoNP-Complete to decide if Γ(G)≤c×χ(G) and it is CoNP-Complete to decide if Γ(G)≤c×ω(G).Regarding the cartesian product, we show that there is no upper bound of Γ(G□H) as a function of Γ(G) and Γ(H). Nevertheless, we prove that Γ(G□H)≤Δ(G)⋅2^Γ(H)−1+Γ(H).     

The boundary and the shape of binary images

In this paper we will consider an unknown binary image, of which the length of the boundary and the area of the image are given. These two values together contain some information about the general shape of the image. We will study two properties of the shape in particular. First, we will prove sharp lower bounds for the size of the largest connected component. Second, we will derive some results about the size of the largest ball containing only ones, both in the case that the connected components are all simply connected and in the general case.     

On distance two graphs of upper bound graphs

For a poset P=(X,≤), the upper bound graph (UB-graph) of P is the graph U=(X,E_U), where uv∈E_U if and only if u≠v and there exists m∈X such that u,v≤m. For a graph G, the distance two graph DS₂(G) is the graph with vertex set V(DS₂(G))=V(G) and u,v∈V(DS₂(G)) are adjacent if and only if d_G(u,v)=2. In this paper, we deal with distance two graphs of upper bound graphs. We obtain a characterization of distance two graphs of split upper bound graphs.