On the Validations of the Asymptotic Matching Conjectures

In this paper we review the asymptotic matching conjectures for r-regular bipartite graphs, and their connections in estimating the monomer-dimer entropies in d-dimensional integer lattice and Bethe lattices. We prove new rigorous upper and lower bounds for the monomer-dimer entropies, which support these conjectures. We describe a general construction of infinite families of r-regular tori graphs and give algorithms for computing the monomer-dimer entropy of density p, for any p∈[0,1], for these graphs. Finally we use tori graphs to test the asymptotic matching conjectures for certain infinite r-regular bipartite graphs.     

Finding thet-join structure of graphs

t-joins are generalizations of postman tours, matchings, and paths;t-cuts contain planar multicommodity flows as a special case. In this paper we present a polynomial time combinatorial algorithm that determines a minimumt-join and a maximum packing oft-cuts and that ends up with a Gallai-Edmonds type structural decompostion of (G, t) pairs, independent of the running of the algorithm. It only uses simple combinatorial steps such as the symmetric difference of two sets of edges and does not use any shrinking operations.     

Geometric localization of the threshold in two-dimensional Ising ±J spin glasses forT=0

Following an approach of Toulouse, ground states in random 2D Ising ±J spin glasses (without external magnetic field), on square lattices, and with concentrations 0p0.5 of antiferromagnetic bonds are studied by means of minimal matchings of frustrated plaquettes. Lete(p) be the ground-state energy per spin in the thermodynamic limit. Then the well-known equatione(p)=–2+(p)f(p) holds, wheref(p) is the concentration of frustrated plaquettes and(p) is the average connection length between paired frustrated plaquettes in minimal matchings. Introducing (p) as the probability that a frustrated plaquette is matched to another frustrated plaquette by a connection of length (in a minimal matching), the average length(p) can be rewritten asgl(p)=(p). The study of(p) and its components (p) leads to an intervalp ^*pp ₂ (p ^*0.121±0.008,p ₂0.161±0.008) where the threshold between ferromagnet and paramagnet forT=0 lies. Analyzing a similar so-called adjoined average lengthl(p) admits further insight.     

On Some Structural Properties of Fullerene Graphs

We show how some important structural properties of general fullerene graphs follow from the recently proved fact that all fullerene graphs are cyclically 4-edge connected. These properties, in turn, give us upper and lower bounds for various graph invariants. In particular, we establish the best currently known lower bound for the number of perfect matchings in fullerene graphs.     

Neighborhood hypergraphs of bipartite graphs

Matrix symmetrization and several related problems have an extensive literature, with a recurring ambiguity regarding their complexity and relation to graph isomorphism. We present a short survey of these problems to clarify their status. In particular, we recall results from the literature showing that matrix symmetrization is in fact NP‐hard; furthermore, it is equivalent with the problem of recognizing whether a hypergraph can be realized as the neighborhood hypergraph of a graph. There are several variants of the latter problem corresponding to the concepts of open, closed, or mixed neighborhoods. While all these variants are NP‐hard in general, one of them restricted to the bipartite graphs is known to be equivalent with graph isomorphism. Extending this result, we consider several other variants of the bipartite neighborhood recognition problem and show that they all are either polynomial‐time solvable, or equivalent with graph isomorphism. Also, we study uniqueness of neighborhood realizations of hypergraphs and show that, in general, for all variants of the problem, a realization may be not unique. However, we prove uniqueness in two special cases: for the open and closed neighborhood hypergraphs of the bipartite graphs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58: 69–95, 2008     

On Cubic Bridgeless Graphs Whose Edge‐Set Cannot be Covered by Four Perfect Matchings

The problem of establishing the number of perfect matchings necessary to cover the edge‐set of a cubic bridgeless graph is strictly related to a famous conjecture of Berge and Fulkerson. In this article, we prove that deciding whether this number is at most four for a given cubic bridgeless graph is NP‐complete. We also construct an infinite family of snarks (cyclically 4‐edge‐connected cubic graphs of girth at least 5 and chromatic index 4) whose edge‐set cannot be covered by four perfect matchings. Only two such graphs were known. It turns out that the family also has interesting properties with respect to the shortest cycle cover problem. The shortest cycle cover of any cubic bridgeless graph with m edges has length at least , and we show that this inequality is strict for graphs of . We also construct the first known snark with no cycle cover of length less than .     

Symmetry classes of spanning trees of Aztec diamonds and perfect matchings of odd squares with a unit hole

We say that two graphs are similar if their adjacency matrices are similar matrices. We show that the square grid G _n of order n is similar to the disjoint union of two copies of the quartered Aztec diamond QAD _n−1 of order n−1 with the path P _n ⁽²⁾ on n vertices having edge weights equal to 2. Our proof is based on an explicit change of basis in the vector space on which the adjacency matrix acts. The arguments verifying that this change of basis works are combinatorial. It follows in particular that the characteristic polynomials of the above graphs satisfy the equality P(G _n )=P(P _n ⁽²⁾)[P(QAD _n−1)]². On the one hand, this provides a combinatorial explanation for the “squarishness” of the characteristic polynomial of the square grid—i.e., that it is a perfect square, up to a factor of relatively small degree. On the other hand, as formulas for the characteristic polynomials of the path and the square grid are well known, our equality determines the characteristic polynomial of the quartered Aztec diamond. In turn, the latter allows computing the number of spanning trees of quartered Aztec diamonds. We present and analyze three more families of graphs that share the above described “linear squarishness” property of square grids: odd Aztec diamonds, mixed Aztec diamonds, and Aztec pillowcases—graphs obtained from two copies of an Aztec diamond by identifying the corresponding vertices on their convex hulls. We apply the above results to enumerate all the symmetry classes of spanning trees of the even Aztec diamonds, and all the symmetry classes not involving rotations of the spanning trees of odd and mixed Aztec diamonds. We also enumerate all but the base case of the symmetry classes of perfect matchings of odd square grids with the central vertex removed. In addition, we obtain a product formula for the number of spanning trees of Aztec pillowcases. Research supported in part by NSF grant DMS-0500616.     

A constrained independent set problem for matroids

In this note, we study a constrained independent set problem for matroids. The problem can be regarded as an ordered version of the matroid parity problem. By a reduction of this problem to matroid intersection, we prove a min-max formula. We show how earlier results of Hefner and Kleinschmidt on the so-called MS-matchings fit in our framework.     

Enumeration of perfect matchings of graphs with reflective symmetry by Pfaffians

The Pfaffian method enumerating perfect matchings of plane graphs was discovered by Kasteleyn. We use this method to enumerate perfect matchings in a type of graphs with reflective symmetry which is different from the symmetric graphs considered in [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 77 (1997) 67, MATCH—Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 48 (2003) 117]. Here are some of our results: (1) If G is a reflective symmetric plane graph without vertices on the symmetry axis, then the number of perfect matchings of G can be expressed by a determinant of order |G|/2, where |G| denotes the number of vertices of G. (2) If G contains no subgraph which is, after the contraction of at most one cycle of odd length, an even subdivision of K_2,3, then the number of perfect matchings of G×K₂ can be expressed by a determinant of order |G|. (3) Let G be a bipartite graph without cycles of length 4s, s{1,2,…}. Then the number of perfect matchings of G×K₂ equals ∏(1+θ²)^m_θ, where the product ranges over all non-negative eigenvalues θ of G and m_θ is the multiplicity of eigenvalue θ. Particularly, if T is a tree then the number of perfect matchings of T×K₂ equals ∏(1+θ²)^m_θ, where the product ranges over all non-negative eigenvalues θ of T and m_θ is the multiplicity of eigenvalue θ.     

Semistrong edge coloring of graphs

Weakening the notion of a strong (induced) matching of graphs, in this paper, we introduce the notion of a semistrong matching. A matching M of a graph G is called semistrong if each edge of M has a vertex, which is of degree one in the induced subgraph G[M]. We strengthen earlier results by showing that for the subset graphs and for the Kneser graphs the sizes of the maxima of the strong and semistrong matchings are equal and so are the strong and semistrong chromatic indices. Similar properties are conjectured for the n‐dimensional cube. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 39–47, 2005