Multi-part Nordhaus-Gaddum type problems for tree-width, Colin de Verdi\`ere type parameters, and Hadwiger number

A traditional Nordhaus-Gaddum problem for a graph parameter $\beta$ is to find a (tight) upper or lower bound on the sum or product of $\beta(G)$ and $\beta(\bar{G})$ (where $\bar{G}$ denotes the complement of $G$). An $r$-decomposition $G_1,\dots,G_r$ of the complete graph $K_n$ is a partition of the edges of $K_n$ among $r$ spanning subgraphs $G_1,\dots,G_r$. A traditional Nordhaus-Gaddum problem can be viewed as the special case for $r=2$ of a more general $r$-part sum or product Nordhaus-Gaddum type problem. We determine the values of the $r$-part sum and product upper bounds asymptotically as $n$ goes to infinity for the parameters tree-width and its variants largeur d'arborescence, path-width, and proper path-width. We also establish ranges for the lower bounds for these parameters, and ranges for the upper and lower bounds of the $r$-part Nordhaus-Gaddum type problems for the parameters Hadwiger number, the Colin de Verdi\`ere number $\mu$ that is used to characterize planarity, and its variants $\nu$ and $\xi$

Nordhaus-Gaddum-type theorem for conflict-free connection number of graphs

An edge-colored graph $G$ is \emph{conflict-free connected} if, between each pair of distinct vertices, there exists a path containing a color used on exactly one of its edges. The \emph{conflict-free connection number} of a connected graph $G$, denoted by $cfc(G)$, is defined as the smallest number of colors that are needed in order to make $G$ conflict-free connected. In this paper, we determine all trees $T$ of order $n$ for which $cfc(T)=n-t$, where $t\geq 1$ and $n\geq 2t+2$. Then we prove that $1\leq cfc(G)\leq n-1$ for a connected graph $G$, and characterize the graphs $G$ with $cfc(G)=1,n-4,n-3,n-2,n-1$, respectively. Finally, we get the Nordhaus-Gaddum-type theorem for the conflict-free connection number of graphs, and prove that if $G$ and $\overline{G}$ are connected, then $4\leq cfc(G)+cfc(\overline{G})\leq n$ and $4\leq cfc(G)\cdot cfc(\overline{G})\leq2(n-2)$, and moreover, $cfc(G)+cfc(\overline{G})=n$ or $cfc(G)\cdot cfc(\overline{G})=2(n-2)$ if and only if one of $G$ and $\overline{G}$ is a tree with maximum degree $n-2$ or a $P_5$, and the lower bounds are sharp.Comment: 25 page

A Nordhaus-Gaddum conjecture for the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a graph

We propose a Nordhaus-Gaddum conjecture for $q(G)$, the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix corresponding to a graph $G$: for every graph $G$ excluding four exceptions, we conjecture that $q(G)+q(G^c)\le |G|+2$, where $G^c$ is the complement of $G$. We compute $q(G^c)$ for all trees and all graphs $G$ with $q(G)=|G|-1$, and hence we verify the conjecture for trees, unicyclic graphs, graphs with $q(G)\le 4$, and for graphs with $|G|\le 7$

Some extremal results on the colorful monochromatic vertex-connectivity of a graph

A path in a vertex-colored graph is called a \emph{vertex-monochromatic path} if its internal vertices have the same color. A vertex-coloring of a graph is a \emph{monochromatic vertex-connection coloring} (\emph{MVC-coloring} for short), if there is a vertex-monochromatic path joining any two vertices in the graph. For a connected graph $G$, the \emph{monochromatic vertex-connection number}, denoted by $mvc(G)$, is defined to be the maximum number of colors used in an \emph{MVC-coloring} of $G$. These concepts of vertex-version are natural generalizations of the colorful monochromatic connectivity of edge-version, introduced by Caro and Yuster. In this paper, we mainly investigate the Erd\H{o}s-Gallai-type problems for the monochromatic vertex-connection number $mvc(G)$ and completely determine the exact value. Moreover, the Nordhaus-Gaddum-type inequality for $mvc(G)$ is also given.Comment: 15 page

The (vertex-)monochromatic index of a graph

A tree $T$ in an edge-colored graph $H$ is called a \emph{monochromatic tree} if all the edges of $T$ have the same color. For $S\subseteq V(H)$, a \emph{monochromatic $S$-tree} in $H$ is a monochromatic tree of $H$ containing the vertices of $S$. For a connected graph $G$ and a given integer $k$ with $2\leq k\leq |V(G)|$, the \emph{$k$-monochromatic index $mx_k(G)$} of $G$ is the maximum number of colors needed such that for each subset $S\subseteq V(G)$ of $k$ vertices, there exists a monochromatic $S$-tree. In this paper, we prove that for any connected graph $G$, $mx_k(G)=|E(G)|-|V(G)|+2$ for each $k$ such that $3\leq k\leq |V(G)|$. A tree $T$ in a vertex-colored graph $H$ is called a \emph{vertex-monochromatic tree} if all the internal vertices of $T$ have the same color. For $S\subseteq V(H)$, a \emph{vertex-monochromatic $S$-tree} in $H$ is a vertex-monochromatic tree of $H$ containing the vertices of $S$. For a connected graph $G$ and a given integer $k$ with $2\leq k\leq |V(G)|$, the \emph{$k$-monochromatic vertex-index $mvx_k(G)$} of $G$ is the maximum number of colors needed such that for each subset $S\subseteq V(G)$ of $k$ vertices, there exists a vertex-monochromatic $S$-tree. We show that for a given a connected graph $G$, and a positive integer $L$ with $L\leq |V(G)|$, to decide whether $mvx_k(G)\geq L$ is NP-complete for each integer $k$ such that $2\leq k\leq |V(G)|$. We also obtain some Nordhaus-Gaddum-type results for the $k$-monochromatic vertex-index.Comment: 13 page

More on rainbow disconnection in graphs

Let $G$ be a nontrivial edge-colored connected graph. An edge-cut $R$ of $G$ is called a rainbow cut if no two edges of it are colored the same. An edge-colored graph $G$ is rainbow disconnected if for every two vertices $u$ and $v$, there exists a $u-v$ rainbow cut. For a connected graph $G$, the rainbow disconnection number of $G$, denoted by $rd(G)$, is defined as the smallest number of colors that are needed in order to make $G$ rainbow disconnected. In this paper, we first solve a conjecture that determines the maximum size of a connected graph $G$ of order $n$ with $rd(G) = k$ for given integers $k$ and $n$ with $1\leq k\leq n-1$, where $n$ is odd, posed by Chartrand et al. in \cite{CDHHZ}. Secondly, we discuss bounds of the rainbow disconnection numbers for complete multipartite graphs, critical graphs, minimal graphs with respect to chromatic index and regular graphs, and give the rainbow disconnection numbers for several special graphs. Finally, we get the Nordhaus-Gaddum-type theorem for the rainbow disconnection number of graphs. We prove that if $G$ and $\overline{G}$ are both connected, then $n-2 \leq rd(G)+rd(\overline{G})\leq 2n-5$ and $n-3\leq rd(G)\cdot rd(\overline{G})\leq (n-2)(n-3)$. Furthermore, examples are given to show that the upper bounds are sharp for $n\geq 6$, and the lower bounds are sharp when $G=\overline{G}=P_4$.Comment: 14 page

Packing parameters in graphs: New bounds and a solution to an open problem

In this paper, we investigate the packing parameters in graphs. By applying the Mantel's theorem, We give upper bounds on packing and open packing numbers of triangle-free graphs along with characterizing the graphs for which the equalities hold and exhibit sharp Nordhaus-Gaddum type inequalities for packing numbers. We also solve the open problem of characterizing all connected graphs with $\rho_{o}(G)=n-\omega(G)$ posed in [S. Hamid and S. Saravanakumar, {\em Packing parameters in graphs}, Discuss Math. Graph Theory, 35 (2015), 5--16]

On the regular k-independence number of graphs

The \emph{regular independence number}, introduced by Albertson and Boutin in 1990, is the maximum cardinality of an independent set of $G$ in which all vertices have equal degree in $G$. Recently, Caro, Hansberg and Pepper introduced the concept of regular $k$-independence number, which is a natural generalization of the regular independence number. A \emph{$k$-independent set} is a set of vertices whose induced subgraph has maximum degree at most $k$. The \emph{regular $k$-independence number} of $G$, denoted by $\alpha_{k-reg}(G)$, is defined as the maximum cardinality of a $k$-independent set of $G$ in which all vertices have equal degree in $G$. In this paper, the exact values of the regular $k$-independence numbers of some special graphs are obtained. We also get some lower and upper bounds for the regular $k$-independence number of trees with given diameter, and the lower bounds for the regular $k$-independence number of line graphs. For a simple graph $G$ of order $n$, we show that $1\leq\alpha_{k-reg}(G)\leq n$ and characterize the extremal graphs. The Nordhaus-Gaddum-type results for the regular $k$-independence number of graphs are also obtained.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1306.5026 by other author

The Steiner diameter of a graph

The Steiner distance of a graph, introduced by Chartrand, Oellermann, Tian and Zou in 1989, is a natural generalization of the concept of classical graph distance. For a connected graph $G$ of order at least $2$ and $S\subseteq V(G)$, the \emph{Steiner distance} $d(S)$ among the vertices of $S$ is the minimum size among all connected subgraphs whose vertex sets contain $S$. Let $n,k$ be two integers with $2\leq k\leq n$. Then the \emph{Steiner $k$-eccentricity $e_k(v)$} of a vertex $v$ of $G$ is defined by $e_k(v)=\max \{d(S)\,|\,S\subseteq V(G), \ |S|=k, \ and \ v\in S \}$. Furthermore, the \emph{Steiner $k$-diameter} of $G$ is $sdiam_k(G)=\max \{e_k(v)\,|\, v\in V(G)\}$. In 2011, Chartrand, Okamoto and Zhang showed that $k-1\leq sdiam_k(G)\leq n-1$. In this paper, graphs with $sdiam_3(G)=2,3,n-1$ are characterized, respectively. We also consider the Nordhaus-Gaddum-type results for the parameter $sdiam_k(G)$. We determine sharp upper and lower bounds of $sdiam_k(G)+sdiam_k(\overline{G})$ and $sdiam_k(G)\cdot sdiam_k(\overline{G})$ for a graph $G$ of order $n$. Some graph classes attaining these bounds are also given.Comment: 14 page

Further results on the global cyclicity index of graphs

Being motivated in terms of mathematical concepts from the theory of electrical networks, Klein & Ivanciuc introduced and studied a new graph-theoretic cyclicity index--the global cyclicity index (Graph cyclicity, excess conductance, and resistance deficit, J. Math. Chem. 30 (2001) 271--287). In this paper, by utilizing techniques from graph theory, electrical network theory and real analysis, we obtain some further results on this new cyclicity measure, including the strictly monotone increasing property, some lower and upper bounds, and some Nordhuas-Gaddum-type results. In particular, we establish a relationship between the global cyclicity index $C(G)$ and the cyclomatic number $\mu(G)$ of a connected graph $G$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges: $$\frac{m}{n-1}\mu(G)\leq C(G)\leq \frac{n}{2}\mu(G).$$Comment: 17pages, 1 figur