Acyclic systems of representatives and acyclic colorings of digraphs

A natural digraph analog of the graph theoretic concept of “an independent set” is that of “an acyclic set of vertices,” namely a set not spanning a directed cycle. By this token, an analog of the notion of coloring of a graph is that of decomposition of a digraph into acyclic sets. We extend some known results on independent sets and colorings in graphs to acyclic sets and acyclic colorings of digraphs. In particular, we prove bounds on the topological connectivity of the complex of acyclic sets, and using them we prove sufficient conditions for the existence of acyclic systems of representatives of a system of sets of vertices. These bounds generalize a result of Tardos and Szabó. We prove a fractional version of a strong‐acyclic‐coloring conjecture for digraphs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 59: 177–189, 2008     

Nonseparating trees in 2-connected graphs and oriented trees in strongly connected digraphs

Mader (2010) conjectured that for every positive integer $k$ and every finite tree $T$ with order $m$, every $k$-connected, finite graph $G$ with $\delta \left(G\right)\ge \lfloor \frac{3}{2}k\rfloor +m-1$ contains a subtree $T^{\prime }$ isomorphic to $T$ such that $G-V\left(T^{\prime }\right)$ is $k$-connected. The conjecture has been verified for paths, trees when $k=1$, and stars or double-stars when $k=2$. In this paper we verify the conjecture for two classes of trees when $k=2$.For digraphs, Mader (2012) conjectured that every $k$-connected digraph $D$ with minimum semi-degree $\delta \left(D\right)=min\{{\delta }^{+}\left(D\right),{\delta }^{-}\left(D\right)\}\ge 2k+m-1$ for a positive integer $m$ has a dipath $P$ of order $m$ with $\kappa (D-V\left(P\right))\ge k$. The conjecture has only been verified for the dipath with $m=1$, and the dipath with $m=2$ and $k=1$. In this paper, we prove that every strongly connected digraph with minimum semi-degree $\delta \left(D\right)=min\{{\delta }^{+}\left(D\right),{\delta }^{-}\left(D\right)\}\ge m+1$ contains an oriented tree $T$ isomorphic to some given oriented stars or double-stars with order $m$ such that $D-V\left(T\right)$ is still strongly connected.     

Locally-finite connected-homogeneous digraphs

A digraph is connected-homogeneous if any isomorphism between finite connected induced subdigraphs extends to an automorphism of the digraph. We consider locally-finite connected-homogeneous digraphs with more than one end. In the case that the digraph embeds a triangle we give a complete classification, obtaining a family of tree-like graphs constructed by gluing together directed triangles. In the triangle-free case we show that these digraphs are highly arc-transitive. We give a classification in the two-ended case, showing that all examples arise from a simple construction given by gluing along a directed line copies of some fixed finite directed complete bipartite graph. When the digraph has infinitely many ends we show that the descendants of a vertex form a tree, and the reachability graph (which is one of the basic building blocks of the digraph) is one of: an even cycle, a complete bipartite graph, the complement of a perfect matching, or an infinite semiregular tree. We give examples showing that each of these possibilities is realised as the reachability graph of some connected-homogeneous digraph, and in the process we obtain a new family of highly arc-transitive digraphs without property Z.     

Properties of digraphs connected with some congruence relations

The paper extends the results given by M. Křížek and L. Somer, On a connection of number theory with graph theory, Czech. Math. J. 54 (129) (2004), 465–485 (see [5]). For each positive integer n define a digraph Γ(n) whose set of vertices is the set H = {0, 1, ..., n − 1} and for which there is a directed edge from a ∈ H to b ∈ H if a ³ ≡ b (mod n). The properties of such digraphs are considered. The necessary and the sufficient condition for the symmetry of a digraph Γ(n) is proved. The formula for the number of fixed points of Γ(n) is established. Moreover, some connection of the length of cycles with the Carmichael λ-function is presented.      

Edge-connectivity and edge-disjoint spanning trees

Given a graph G, for an integer c∈{2,…,|V(G)|}, define λ_c(G)=min{|X|:X⊆E(G),ω(G−X)≥c}. For a graph G and for an integer c=1,2,…,|V(G)|−1, define,

     

Long cycles in subgraphs of (pseudo)random directed graphs

We study the resilience of random and pseudorandom directed graphs with respect to the property of having long directed cycles. For every 08γ81/2 we find a constant c = c(γ) such that the following holds. Let G = (V, E) be a (pseudo)random directed graph on n vertices and with at least a linear number of edges, and let G′ be a subgraph of G with (1/2 + γ)|E| edges. Then G′ contains a directed cycle of length at least (c ? o(1))n. Moreover, there is a subgraph G′′of G with (1/2 + γ ? o(1))|E| edges that does not contain a cycle of length at least cn. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 70: 284–296, 2012     

Minimum cost and list homomorphisms to semicomplete digraphs

For digraphs D and H, a mapping f:V(D)→V(H) is a homomorphism of D to H if uv∈A(D) implies f(u)f(v)∈A(H). Let H be a fixed directed or undirected graph. The homomorphism problem for H asks whether a directed or undirected input graph D admits a homomorphism to H. The list homomorphism problem for H is a generalization of the homomorphism problem for H, where every vertex x∈V(D) is assigned a set L_x of possible colors (vertices of H).The following optimization version of these decision problems generalizes the list homomorphism problem and was introduced in Gutin et al. [Level of repair analysis and minimum cost homomorphisms of graphs, Discrete Appl. Math., to appear], where it was motivated by a real-world problem in defence logistics. Suppose we are given a pair of digraphs D,H and a positive integral cost c_i(u) for each u∈V(D) and i∈V(H). The cost of a homomorphism f of D to H is . For a fixed digraph H, the minimum cost homomorphism problem for H is stated as follows: for an input digraph D and costs c_i(u) for each u∈V(D) and i∈V(H), verify whether there is a homomorphism of D to H and, if one exists, find such a homomorphism of minimum cost.We obtain dichotomy classifications of the computational complexity of the list homomorphism and minimum cost homomorphism problems, when H is a semicomplete digraph (digraph in which there is at least one arc between any two vertices). Our dichotomy for the list homomorphism problem coincides with the one obtained by Bang-Jensen, Hell and MacGillivray in 1988 for the homomorphism problem when H is a semicomplete digraph: both problems are polynomial solvable if H has at most one cycle; otherwise, both problems are NP-complete. The dichotomy for the minimum cost homomorphism problem is different: the problem is polynomial time solvable if H is acyclic or H is a cycle of length 2 or 3; otherwise, the problem is NP-hard.     

Finding cheapest cycles in vertex-weighted quasi-transitive and extended semicomplete digraphs

We consider the problem of finding a minimum cost cycle in a digraph with real-valued costs on the vertices. This problem generalizes the problem of finding a longest cycle and hence is NP-hard for general digraphs. We prove that the problem is solvable in polynomial time for extended semicomplete digraphs and for quasi-transitive digraphs, thereby generalizing a number of previous results on these classes. As a byproduct of our method we develop polynomial algorithms for the following problem: Given a quasi-transitive digraph D with real-valued vertex costs, find, for each j=1,2,…,|V(D)|, j disjoint paths P₁,P₂,…,P_j such that the total cost of these paths is minimum among all collections of j disjoint paths in D.     

Stability in coalition formation games

In the context of coalition formation games a player evaluates a partition on the basis of the set she belongs to. For this evaluation to be possible, players are supposed to have preferences over sets to which they could belong. In this paper, we suggest two extensions of preferences over individuals to preferences over sets. For the first one, derived from the most preferred member of a set, it is shown that a strict core partition always exists if the original preferences are strict and a simple algorithm for the computation of one strict core partition is derived. This algorithm turns out to be strategy proof. The second extension, based on the least preferred member of a set, produces solutions very similar to those for the stable roommates problem. Received August 1998/Final version June 20, 2000     

Arc reversal in nonhamiltonian circulant oriented graphs

Locke and Witte described infinite families of nonhamiltonian circulant oriented graphs. We show that for infinitely many of them the reversal of any arc produces a hamiltonian cycle. This solves an open problem stated by Thomassen in 1987. We also use these graphs to construct counterexamples to Ádám's conjecture on arc reversal. One of them is a counterexample with the smallest known number of vertices. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 59–68, 2005