3 research outputs found
Edge-Stable Equimatchable Graphs
A graph is \emph{equimatchable} if every maximal matching of has the
same cardinality. We are interested in equimatchable graphs such that the
removal of any edge from the graph preserves the equimatchability. We call an
equimatchable graph \emph{edge-stable} if , that is the
graph obtained by the removal of edge from , is also equimatchable for
any . After noticing that edge-stable equimatchable graphs are
either 2-connected factor-critical or bipartite, we characterize edge-stable
equimatchable graphs. This characterization yields an time recognition algorithm. Lastly, we introduce and shortly
discuss the related notions of edge-critical, vertex-stable and vertex-critical
equimatchable graphs. In particular, we emphasize the links between our work
and the well-studied notion of shedding vertices, and point out some open
questions
The number of maximum matchings in a tree
We determine upper and lower bounds for the number of maximum matchings
(i.e., matchings of maximum cardinality) of a tree of given order.
While the trees that attain the lower bound are easily characterised, the trees
with largest number of maximum matchings show a very subtle structure. We give
a complete characterisation of these trees and derive that the number of
maximum matchings in a tree of order is at most (the
precise constant being an algebraic number of degree 14). As a corollary, we
improve on a recent result by G\'orska and Skupie\'n on the number of maximal
matchings (maximal with respect to set inclusion).Comment: 38 page