Characterization Of A Class Of Graphs Related To Pairs Of Disjoint Matchings

For a given graph consider a pair of disjoint matchings the union of which contains as many edges as possible. Furthermore, consider the relation of the cardinalities of a maximum matching and the largest matching in those pairs. It is known that this relation does not exceed 5/4 for any graph. We characterize the class of graphs for which this relation is precisely 5/4. Our characterization implies that these graphs contain a spanning subgraph, every component of which is the minimal graph of this class.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

Pairs of disjoint matchings and related classes of graphs

For a finite graph $G$, we study the maximum $2$-edge colorable subgraph problem and a related ratio $\frac{\mu(G)}{\nu(G)}$, where $\nu(G)$ is the matching number of $G$, and $\mu(G)$ is the size of the largest matching in any pair $(H,H')$ of disjoint matchings maximizing $|H| + |H'|$ (equivalently, forming a maximum $2$-edge colorable subgraph). Previously, it was shown that $\frac{4}{5} \le \frac{\mu(G)}{\nu(G)} \le 1$, and the class of graphs achieving $\frac{4}{5}$ was completely characterized. We show here that any rational number between $\frac{4}{5}$ and $1$ can be achieved by a connected graph. Furthermore, we prove that every graph with ratio less than $1$ must admit special subgraphs

Spanning trees of 3-uniform hypergraphs

Masbaum and Vaintrob's "Pfaffian matrix tree theorem" implies that counting spanning trees of a 3-uniform hypergraph (abbreviated to 3-graph) can be done in polynomial time for a class of "3-Pfaffian" 3-graphs, comparable to and related to the class of Pfaffian graphs. We prove a complexity result for recognizing a 3-Pfaffian 3-graph and describe two large classes of 3-Pfaffian 3-graphs -- one of these is given by a forbidden subgraph characterization analogous to Little's for bipartite Pfaffian graphs, and the other consists of a class of partial Steiner triple systems for which the property of being 3-Pfaffian can be reduced to the property of an associated graph being Pfaffian. We exhibit an infinite set of partial Steiner triple systems that are not 3-Pfaffian, none of which can be reduced to any other by deletion or contraction of triples. We also find some necessary or sufficient conditions for the existence of a spanning tree of a 3-graph (much more succinct than can be obtained by the currently fastest polynomial-time algorithm of Gabow and Stallmann for finding a spanning tree) and a superexponential lower bound on the number of spanning trees of a Steiner triple system.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure

On disjoint matchings in cubic graphs

For $i=2,3$ and a cubic graph $G$ let $\nu_{i}(G)$ denote the maximum number of edges that can be covered by $i$ matchings. We show that $\nu_{2}(G)\geq {4/5}| V(G)|$ and $\nu_{3}(G)\geq {7/6}| V(G)|$. Moreover, it turns out that $\nu_{2}(G)\leq \frac{|V(G)|+2\nu_{3}(G)}{4}$.Comment: 41 pages, 8 figures, minor chage

Bi-Criteria and Approximation Algorithms for Restricted Matchings

In this work we study approximation algorithms for the \textit{Bounded Color Matching} problem (a.k.a. Restricted Matching problem) which is defined as follows: given a graph in which each edge $e$ has a color $c_e$ and a profit $p_e \in \mathbb{Q}^+$, we want to compute a maximum (cardinality or profit) matching in which no more than $w_j \in \mathbb{Z}^+$ edges of color $c_j$ are present. This kind of problems, beside the theoretical interest on its own right, emerges in multi-fiber optical networking systems, where we interpret each unique wavelength that can travel through the fiber as a color class and we would like to establish communication between pairs of systems. We study approximation and bi-criteria algorithms for this problem which are based on linear programming techniques and, in particular, on polyhedral characterizations of the natural linear formulation of the problem. In our setting, we allow violations of the bounds $w_j$ and we model our problem as a bi-criteria problem: we have two objectives to optimize namely (a) to maximize the profit (maximum matching) while (b) minimizing the violation of the color bounds. We prove how we can "beat" the integrality gap of the natural linear programming formulation of the problem by allowing only a slight violation of the color bounds. In particular, our main result is \textit{constant} approximation bounds for both criteria of the corresponding bi-criteria optimization problem

Embedding large subgraphs into dense graphs

What conditions ensure that a graph G contains some given spanning subgraph H? The most famous examples of results of this kind are probably Dirac's theorem on Hamilton cycles and Tutte's theorem on perfect matchings. Perfect matchings are generalized by perfect F-packings, where instead of covering all the vertices of G by disjoint edges, we want to cover G by disjoint copies of a (small) graph F. It is unlikely that there is a characterization of all graphs G which contain a perfect F-packing, so as in the case of Dirac's theorem it makes sense to study conditions on the minimum degree of G which guarantee a perfect F-packing. The Regularity lemma of Szemeredi and the Blow-up lemma of Komlos, Sarkozy and Szemeredi have proved to be powerful tools in attacking such problems and quite recently, several long-standing problems and conjectures in the area have been solved using these. In this survey, we give an outline of recent progress (with our main emphasis on F-packings, Hamiltonicity problems and tree embeddings) and describe some of the methods involved

Graphs Identified by Logics with Counting

We classify graphs and, more generally, finite relational structures that are identified by C2, that is, two-variable first-order logic with counting. Using this classification, we show that it can be decided in almost linear time whether a structure is identified by C2. Our classification implies that for every graph identified by this logic, all vertex-colored versions of it are also identified. A similar statement is true for finite relational structures. We provide constructions that solve the inversion problem for finite structures in linear time. This problem has previously been shown to be polynomial time solvable by Martin Otto. For graphs, we conclude that every C2-equivalence class contains a graph whose orbits are exactly the classes of the C2-partition of its vertex set and which has a single automorphism witnessing this fact. For general k, we show that such statements are not true by providing examples of graphs of size linear in k which are identified by C3 but for which the orbit partition is strictly finer than the Ck-partition. We also provide identified graphs which have vertex-colored versions that are not identified by Ck.Comment: 33 pages, 8 Figure