3-Factor-criticality in double domination edge critical graphs

A vertex subset $S$ of a graph $G$ is a double dominating set of $G$ if $|N[v]\cap S|\geq 2$ for each vertex $v$ of $G$, where $N[v]$ is the set of the vertex $v$ and vertices adjacent to $v$. The double domination number of $G$, denoted by $\gamma_{\times 2}(G)$, is the cardinality of a smallest double dominating set of $G$. A graph $G$ is said to be double domination edge critical if $\gamma_{\times 2}(G+e)<\gamma_{\times 2}(G)$ for any edge $e \notin E$. A double domination edge critical graph $G$ with $\gamma_{\times 2}(G)=k$ is called $k$-$\gamma_{\times 2}(G)$-critical. A graph $G$ is $r$-factor-critical if $G-S$ has a perfect matching for each set $S$ of $r$ vertices in $G$. In this paper we show that $G$ is 3-factor-critical if $G$ is a 3-connected claw-free $4$-$\gamma_{\times 2}(G)$-critical graph of odd order with minimum degree at least 4 except a family of graphs.Comment: 14 page

The Price of Connectivity for Vertex Cover

The vertex cover number of a graph is the minimum number of vertices that are needed to cover all edges. When those vertices are further required to induce a connected subgraph, the corresponding number is called the connected vertex cover number, and is always greater or equal to the vertex cover number. Connected vertex covers are found in many applications, and the relationship between those two graph invariants is therefore a natural question to investigate. For that purpose, we introduce the {\em Price of Connectivity}, defined as the ratio between the two vertex cover numbers. We prove that the price of connectivity is at most 2 for arbitrary graphs. We further consider graph classes in which the price of connectivity of every induced subgraph is bounded by some real number $t$. We obtain forbidden induced subgraph characterizations for every real value $t \leq 3/2$. We also investigate critical graphs for this property, namely, graphs whose price of connectivity is strictly greater than that of any proper induced subgraph. Those are the only graphs that can appear in a forbidden subgraph characterization for the hereditary property of having a price of connectivity at most $t$. In particular, we completely characterize the critical graphs that are also chordal. Finally, we also consider the question of computing the price of connectivity of a given graph. Unsurprisingly, the decision version of this question is NP-hard. In fact, we show that it is even complete for the class $\Theta_2^P = P^{NP[\log]}$, the class of decision problems that can be solved in polynomial time, provided we can make $O(\log n)$ queries to an NP-oracle. This paves the way for a thorough investigation of the complexity of problems involving ratios of graph invariants.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

On Murty-Simon Conjecture II

A graph is diameter two edge-critical if its diameter is two and the deletion of any edge increases the diameter. Murty and Simon conjectured that the number of edges in a diameter two edge-critical graph on $n$ vertices is at most $\lfloor \frac{n^{2}}{4} \rfloor$ and the extremal graph is the complete bipartite graph $K_{\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor, \lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil}$. In the series papers [7-9], the Murty-Simon Conjecture stated by Haynes et al. is not the original conjecture, indeed, it is only for the diameter two edge-critical graphs of even order. In this paper, we completely prove the Murty-Simon Conjecture for the graphs whose complements have vertex connectivity $\ell$, where $\ell = 1, 2, 3$; and for the graphs whose complements have an independent vertex cut of cardinality at least three.Comment: 9 pages, submitted for publication on May 10, 201

On the Roman Bondage Number of Graphs on surfaces

A Roman dominating function on a graph $G$ is a labeling $f : V(G) \rightarrow \{0, 1, 2\}$ such that every vertex with label $0$ has a neighbor with label $2$. The Roman domination number, $\gamma_R(G)$, of $G$ is the minimum of $\Sigma_{v\in V (G)} f(v)$ over such functions. The Roman bondage number $b_R(G)$ is the cardinality of a smallest set of edges whose removal from $G$ results in a graph with Roman domination number not equal to $\gamma_R(G)$. In this paper we obtain upper bounds on $b_{R}(G)$ in terms of (a) the average degree and maximum degree, and (b) Euler characteristic, girth and maximum degree. We also show that the Roman bondage number of every graph which admits a $2$-cell embedding on a surface with non negative Euler characteristic does not exceed $15$.Comment: 5 page

Protecting a Graph with Mobile Guards

Mobile guards on the vertices of a graph are used to defend it against attacks on either its vertices or its edges. Various models for this problem have been proposed. In this survey we describe a number of these models with particular attention to the case when the attack sequence is infinitely long and the guards must induce some particular configuration before each attack, such as a dominating set or a vertex cover. Results from the literature concerning the number of guards needed to successfully defend a graph in each of these problems are surveyed.Comment: 29 pages, two figures, surve