Vol. 11 no. 2


1. On economical set representations of graphs

Jing Kong ; Yaokun Wu.
In this paper we discuss the bounds of and relations among various kinds of intersection numbers of graphs. Especially, we address extremal graphs with respect to the established bounds. The uniqueness of the minimum-size intersection representations for some graphs is also studied. In the course of this work, we introduce a superclass of chordal graphs, defined in terms of a generalization of simplicial vertex and perfect elimination ordering.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

2. Edge condition for long cycles in bipartite graphs

Lech Adamus.
The following problem was solved by Woodall in 1972: for any pair of nonnegative integers n and k < n/2 - 1 find the minimum integer g(n, k) such that every graph with n vertices and at least g(n, k) edges contains a cycle of length n - k. Woodall proved even more: the size g(n, k), in fact, guarantees the existence of cycles C, for all 3 <= p <= n - k. <br> <br> In the paper an analogous problem for bipartite graphs is considered. It is proved that every bipartite graph with color classes of cardinalities m and n, m <= n, and size greater than n(m - k - 1) + k + 1 contains a cycle of length 2m - 2k, where m >= 1/2k(2) + 3/2k + 4, k is an element of N. The bound on the number of edges is best possible. Moreover, this size condition guarantees the existence of cycles of all even lengths up to 2m - 2k. We also characterize all extremal graphs for this problem. Finally, we conjecture that the condition on the order may be relaxed to m >= 2k + 2.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

3. Clique-transversal sets and weak 2-colorings in graphs of small maximum degree

Gábor Bacsó ; Zsolt Tuza.
A clique-transversal set in a graph is a subset of the vertices that meets all maximal complete subgraphs on at least two vertices. We prove that every connected graph of order n and maximum degree three has a clique-transversal set of size left perpendicular19n/30 + 2/15right perpendicular. This bound is tight, since 19n/30 - 1/15 is a lower bound for infinitely many values of n. We also prove that the vertex set of any connected claw-free graph of maximum degree at most four, other than an odd cycle longer than three, can be partitioned into two clique-transversal sets. The proofs of both results yield polynomial-time algorithms that find corresponding solutions.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

4. Determinants of rational knots

Louis H. Kauffman ; Pedro Lopes.
We study the Fox coloring invariants of rational knots. We express the propagation of the colors down the twists of these knots and ultimately the determinant of them with the help of finite increasing sequences whose terms of even order are even and whose terms of odd order are odd.
Section: Combinatorics

5. Directed figure codes are decidable

Michal Kolarz ; Wlodzimierz Moczurad.
Two-dimensional structures of various kinds can be viewed as generalizations of words. Codicity verification and the defect effect, important properties related to word codes, are studied also in this context. Unfortunately, both are lost in the case of two common structures, polyominoes and figures. We consider directed figures defined as labelled polyominoes with designated start and end points, equipped with catenation operation that uses a merging function to resolve possible conflicts. We prove that in this setting verification whether a given finite set of directed figures is a code is decidable and we give a constructive algorithm. We also clarify the status of the defect effect for directed figures.
Section: Automata, Logic and Semantics

6. Gray codes avoiding matchings

Darko Dimitrov ; Tomáš Dvořák ; Petr Gregor ; Riste Škrekovski.
A (cyclic) n-bit Gray code is a (cyclic) ordering of all 2(n) binary strings of length n such that consecutive strings differ in a single bit. Equivalently, an n-bit Gray code can be viewed as a Hamiltonian path of the n-dimensional hypercube Q(n), and a cyclic Gray code as a Hamiltonian cycle of Q(n). In this paper we study (cyclic) Gray codes avoiding a given set of faulty edges that form a matching. Given a matching M and two vertices u, v of Q(n), n >= 4, our main result provides a necessary and sufficient condition, expressed in terms of forbidden configurations for M, for the existence of a Gray code between u and v that avoids M. As a corollary. we obtain a similar characterization for a cyclic Gray code avoiding M. In particular, in the case that M is a perfect matching, Q(n) has a (cyclic) Gray code that avoids M if and only if Q(n) - M is a connected graph. This complements a recent result of Fink, who proved that every perfect matching of Q(n) can be extended to a Hamiltonian cycle. Furthermore, our results imply that the problem of Hamilionicity of Q(n) with faulty edges, which is NP-complete in general, becomes polynomial for up to 2(n-1) edges provided they form a matching.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

7. Adjoint functors and tree duality

Jan Foniok ; Claude Tardif.
A family T of digraphs is a complete set of obstructions for a digraph H if for an arbitrary digraph G the existence of a homomorphism from G to H is equivalent to the non-existence of a homomorphism from any member of T to G. A digraph H is said to have tree duality if there exists a complete set of obstructions T consisting of orientations of trees. We show that if H has tree duality, then its arc graph delta H also has tree duality, and we derive a family of tree obstructions for delta H from the obstructions for H. Furthermore we generalise our result to right adjoint functors on categories of relational structures. We show that these functors always preserve tree duality, as well as polynomial CSPs and the existence of near-unanimity functions.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

8. Ore and Erdős type conditions for long cycles in balanced bipartite graphs

Janusz Adamus ; Lech Adamus.
We conjecture Ore and Erdős type criteria for a balanced bipartite graph of order 2n to contain a long cycle C(2n-2k), where 0 <= k < n/2. For k = 0, these are the classical hamiltonicity criteria of Moon and Moser. The main two results of the paper assert that our conjectures hold for k = 1 as well.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

9. On the chromatic number of some flip graphs

Ruy Fabila-Monroy ; David Flores-Peñaloza ; Clemens Huemer ; Ferran Hurtado ; Jorge Urrutia ; David R. Wood.
This paper studies the chromatic number of the following four flip graphs (under suitable definitions of a flip): the flip graph of perfect matchings of a complete graph of even order, the flip graph of triangulations of a convex polygon (the associahedron), the flip graph of non-crossing Hamiltonian paths of a set of points in convex position, and the flip graph of triangles in a convex point set. We give tight bounds for the latter two cases and upper bounds for the first two.
Section: Graph and Algorithms

10. A construction of small regular bipartite graphs of girth 8

Camino Balbuena.
Let q be a prime a power and k an integer such that 3 ≤ k ≤ q. In this paper we present a method using Latin squares to construct adjacency matrices of k-regular bipartite graphs of girth 8 on 2(kq2 -- q) vertices. Some of these graphs have the smallest number of vertices among the known regular graphs with girth 8.

11. Spectral characterizations of sun graphs and broken sun graphs

Romain Boulet.
Several matrices can be associated to a graph such as the adjacency matrix or the Laplacian matrix. The spectrum of these matrices gives some informations about the structure of the graph and the question ''Which graphs are determined by their spectrum?'' remains a difficult problem in algebraic graph theory. In this article we enlarge the known families of graphs determined by their spectrum by considering some unicyclic graphs. An odd (resp. even) sun is a graph obtained by appending a pendant vertex to each vertex of an odd (resp. even) cycle. A broken sun is a graph obtained by deleting pendant vertices of a sun. In this paper we prove that a sun is determined by its Laplacian spectrum, an odd sun is determined by its adjacency spectrum (counter-examples are given for even suns) and we give some spectral characterizations of broken suns.
Section: Graph and Algorithms