Centroidal bases in graphs

We introduce the notion of a centroidal locating set of a graph $G$, that is, a set $L$ of vertices such that all vertices in $G$ are uniquely determined by their relative distances to the vertices of $L$. A centroidal locating set of $G$ of minimum size is called a centroidal basis, and its size is the centroidal dimension $CD(G)$. This notion, which is related to previous concepts, gives a new way of identifying the vertices of a graph. The centroidal dimension of a graph $G$ is lower- and upper-bounded by the metric dimension and twice the location-domination number of $G$, respectively. The latter two parameters are standard and well-studied notions in the field of graph identification. We show that for any graph $G$ with $n$ vertices and maximum degree at least~2, $(1+o(1))\frac{\ln n}{\ln\ln n}\leq CD(G) \leq n-1$. We discuss the tightness of these bounds and in particular, we characterize the set of graphs reaching the upper bound. We then show that for graphs in which every pair of vertices is connected via a bounded number of paths, $CD(G)=\Omega\left(\sqrt{|E(G)|}\right)$, the bound being tight for paths and cycles. We finally investigate the computational complexity of determining $CD(G)$ for an input graph $G$, showing that the problem is hard and cannot even be approximated efficiently up to a factor of $o(\log n)$. We also give an $O\left(\sqrt{n\ln n}\right)$-approximation algorithm

Maker-Breaker domination number

The Maker-Breaker domination game is played on a graph $G$ by Dominator and Staller. The players alternatively select a vertex of $G$ that was not yet chosen in the course of the game. Dominator wins if at some point the vertices he has chosen form a dominating set. Staller wins if Dominator cannot form a dominating set. In this paper we introduce the Maker-Breaker domination number $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ of $G$ as the minimum number of moves of Dominator to win the game provided that he has a winning strategy and is the first to play. If Staller plays first, then the corresponding invariant is denoted $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Comparing the two invariants it turns out that they behave much differently than the related game domination numbers. The invariant $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ is also compared with the domination number. Using the Erd\H{o}s-Selfridge Criterion a large class of graphs $G$ is found for which $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G) > \gamma(G)$ holds. Residual graphs are introduced and used to bound/determine $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Using residual graphs, $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(T)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(T)$ are determined for an arbitrary tree. The invariants are also obtained for cycles and bounded for union of graphs. A list of open problems and directions for further investigations is given.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Dominating sequences in grid-like and toroidal graphs

A longest sequence $S$ of distinct vertices of a graph $G$ such that each vertex of $S$ dominates some vertex that is not dominated by its preceding vertices, is called a Grundy dominating sequence; the length of $S$ is the Grundy domination number of $G$. In this paper we study the Grundy domination number in the four standard graph products: the Cartesian, the lexicographic, the direct, and the strong product. For each of the products we present a lower bound for the Grundy domination number which turns out to be exact for the lexicographic product and is conjectured to be exact for the strong product. In most of the cases exact Grundy domination numbers are determined for products of paths and/or cycles.Comment: 17 pages 3 figure