On Perfect Matchings in Matching Covered Graphs

Let $G$ be a matching-covered graph, i.e., every edge is contained in a perfect matching. An edge subset $X$ of $G$ is feasible if there exists two perfect matchings $M_1$ and $M_2$ such that $|M_1\cap X|\not\equiv |M_2\cap X| \pmod 2$. Lukot'ka and Rollov\'a proved that an edge subset $X$ of a regular bipartite graph is not feasible if and only if $X$ is switching-equivalent to $\emptyset$, and they further ask whether a non-feasible set of a regular graph of class 1 is always switching-equivalent to either $\emptyset$ or $E(G)$? Two edges of $G$ are equivalent to each other if a perfect matching $M$ of $G$ either contains both of them or contains none of them. An equivalent class of $G$ is an edge subset $K$ with at least two edges such that the edges of $K$ are mutually equivalent. An equivalent class is not a feasible set. Lov\'asz proved that an equivalent class of a brick has size 2. In this paper, we show that, for every integer $k\ge 3$, there exist infinitely many $k$-regular graphs of class 1 with an arbitrarily large equivalent class $K$ such that $K$ is not switching-equivalent to either $\emptyset$ or $E(G)$, which provides a negative answer to the problem proposed by Lukot'ka and Rollov\'a. Further, we characterize bipartite graphs with equivalent class, and characterize matching-covered bipartite graphs of which every edge is removable.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

State transfer in strongly regular graphs with an edge perturbation

Quantum walks, an important tool in quantum computing, have been very successfully investigated using techniques in algebraic graph theory. We are motivated by the study of state transfer in continuous-time quantum walks, which is understood to be a rare and interesting phenomenon. We consider a perturbation on an edge $uv$ of a graph where we add a weight $\beta$ to the edge and a loop of weight $\gamma$ to each of $u$ and $v$. We characterize when for this perturbation results in strongly cospectral vertices $u$ and $v$. Applying this to strongly regular graphs, we give infinite families of strongly regular graphs where some perturbation results in perfect state transfer. Further, we show that, for every strongly regular graph, there is some perturbation which results in pretty good state transfer. We also show for any strongly regular graph $X$ and edge $e \in E(X)$, that $\phi(X\setminus e)$ does not depend on the choice of $e$.Comment: 25 page

Associated primes of powers of edge ideals and ear decompositions of graphs

In this paper, we give a complete description of the associated primes of every power of the edge ideal in terms of generalized ear decompositions of the graph. This result establishes a surprising relationship between two seemingly unrelated notions of Commutative Algebra and Combinatorics. It covers all previous major results in this topic and has several interesting consequences.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures. This revision contains more comments on the methods and the results of the paper. Important terminology and notations now appear in Definition environments for the convenience of the readers. That changes the numeration of the results considerably. This paper will appear in Trans. Amer. Math. So

Line-graphs of cubic graphs are normal

A graph is called normal if its vertex set can be covered by cliques and also by stable sets, such that every such clique and stable set have non-empty intersection. This notion is due to Korner, who introduced the class of normal graphs as an extension of the class of perfect graphs. Normality has also relevance in information theory. Here we prove, that the line graphs of cubic graphs are normal.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Parameterized algorithm for weighted independent set problem in bull-free graphs

The maximum stable set problem is NP-hard, even when restricted to triangle-free graphs. In particular, one cannot expect a polynomial time algorithm deciding if a bull-free graph has a stable set of size $k$, when $k$ is part of the instance. Our main result in this paper is to show the existence of an FPT algorithm when we parameterize the problem by the solution size $k$. A polynomial kernel is unlikely to exist for this problem. We show however that our problem has a polynomial size Turing-kernel. More precisely, the hard cases are instances of size $O(k^5)$. As a byproduct, if we forbid odd holes in addition to the bull, we show the existence of a polynomial time algorithm for the stable set problem. We also prove that the chromatic number of a bull-free graph is bounded by a function of its clique number and the maximum chromatic number of its triangle-free induced subgraphs. All our results rely on a decomposition theorem of bull-free graphs due to Chudnovsky which is modified here, allowing us to provide extreme decompositions, adapted to our computational purpose

Pretty good state transfer on double stars

Let A be the adjacency matrix of a graph $X$ and suppose U(t)=exp(itA). We view A as acting on \cx^{V(X)} and take the standard basis of this space to be the vectors $e_u$ for $u$ in $V(X)$. Physicists say that we have perfect state transfer from vertex $u$ to $v$ at time $\tau$ if there is a scalar $\gamma$ such that $U(\tau)e_u = \gamma e_v$. (Since $U(t)$ is unitary, \norm\gamma=1.) For example, if $X$ is the $d$-cube and $u$ and $v$ are at distance $d$ then we have perfect state transfer from $u$ to $v$ at time $\pi/2$. Despite the existence of this nice family, it has become clear that perfect state transfer is rare. Hence we consider a relaxation: we say that we have pretty good state transfer from $u$ to $v$ if there is a complex number $\gamma$ and, for each positive real $\epsilon$ there is a time $t$ such that \norm{U(t)e_u - \gamma e_v} < \epsilon. Again we necessarily have $|\gamma|=1$. Godsil, Kirkland, Severini and Smith showed that we have have pretty good state transfer between the end vertices of the path $P_n$ if and only $n+1$ is a power of two, a prime, or twice a prime. (There is perfect state transfer between the end vertices only for $P_2$ and $P_3$.) It is something of a surprise that the occurrence of pretty good state transfer is characterized by a number-theoretic condition. In this paper we study double-star graphs, which are trees with two vertices of degree $k+1$ and all other vertices with degree one. We prove that there is never perfect state transfer between the two vertices of degree $k+1$, and that there is pretty good state transfer between them if and only if $4k+1$ is a perfect square.Comment: 15 pages, 2 EPS figure

Polynomial-time algorithms for minimum weighted colorings of (P5,Pˉ5P_5, \bar{P}_5)-free graphs and related graph classes

We design an $O(n^3)$ algorithm to find a minimum weighted coloring of a ($P_5, \bar{P}_5$)-free graph. Furthermore, the same technique can be used to solve the same problem for several classes of graphs, defined by forbidden induced subgraphs, such as (diamond, co-diamond)-free graphs

A Canonical Characterization of the Family of Barriers in General Graphs

Given a graph, a barrier is a set of vertices determined by the Berge formula---the min-max theorem characterizing the size of maximum matchings. The notion of barriers plays important roles in numerous contexts of matching theory, since barriers essentially coincides with dual optimal solutions of the maximum matching problem. In a special class of graphs called the elementary graphs, the family of maximal barriers forms a partition of the vertices; this partition was found by Lov\'asz and is called the canonical partition. The canonical partition has produced many fundamental results in matching theory, such as the two ear theorem. However, in non-elementary graphs, the family of maximal barriers never forms a partition, and there has not been the canonical partition for general graphs. In this paper, using our previous work, we give a canonical description of structures of the odd-maximal barriers---a class of barriers including the maximal barriers---for general graphs; we also reveal structures of odd components associated with odd-maximal barriers. This result of us can be regarded as a generalization of Lov\'asz's canonical partition.Comment: 22 pages, no figure

On Brambles, Grid-Like Minors, and Parameterized Intractability of Monadic Second-Order Logic

Brambles were introduced as the dual notion to treewidth, one of the most central concepts of the graph minor theory of Robertson and Seymour. Recently, Grohe and Marx showed that there are graphs G, in which every bramble of order larger than the square root of the treewidth is of exponential size in |G|. On the positive side, they show the existence of polynomial-sized brambles of the order of the square root of the treewidth, up to log factors. We provide the first polynomial time algorithm to construct a bramble in general graphs and achieve this bound, up to log-factors. We use this algorithm to construct grid-like minors, a replacement structure for grid-minors recently introduced by Reed and Wood, in polynomial time. Using the grid-like minors, we introduce the notion of a perfect bramble and an algorithm to find one in polynomial time. Perfect brambles are brambles with a particularly simple structure and they also provide us with a subgraph that has bounded degree and still large treewidth; we use them to obtain a meta-theorem on deciding certain parameterized subgraph-closed problems on general graphs in time singly exponential in the parameter. The second part of our work deals with providing a lower bound to Courcelle's famous theorem, stating that every graph property that can be expressed by a sentence in monadic second-order logic (MSO), can be decided by a linear time algorithm on classes of graphs of bounded treewidth. Using our results from the first part of our work we establish a strong lower bound for tractability of MSO on classes of colored graphs

On the strong chromatic index and induced matching of tree-cographs, permutation graphs and chordal bipartite graphs

We show that there exist linear-time algorithms that compute the strong chromatic index and a maximum induced matching of tree-cographs when the decomposition tree is a part of the input. We also show that there exist efficient algorithms for the strong chromatic index of (bipartite) permutation graphs and of chordal bipartite graphs.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1110.169