Brick assignments and homogeneously almost self-complementary graphs

AbstractA graph is called almost self-complementary if it is isomorphic to the graph obtained from its complement by removing a 1-factor. In this paper, we study a special class of vertex-transitive almost self-complementary graphs called homogeneously almost self-complementary. These graphs occur as factors of symmetric index-2 homogeneous factorizations of the “cocktail party graphs” K2n−nK2. We construct several infinite families of homogeneously almost self-complementary graphs, study their structure, and prove several classification results, including the characterization of all integers n of the form n=pr and n=2p with p prime for which there exists a homogeneously almost self-complementary graph on 2n vertices

On finite edge-primitive and edge-quasiprimitive graphs

Many famous graphs are edge-primitive, for example, the Heawood graph, the Tutte--Coxeter graph and the Higman--Sims graph. In this paper we systematically analyse edge-primitive and edge-quasiprimitive graphs via the O'Nan--Scott Theorem to determine the possible edge and vertex actions of such graphs. Many interesting examples are given and we also determine all $G$-edge-primitive graphs for $G$ an almost simple group with socle $PSL(2,q)$.Comment: 30 pages To appear in Journal of Combinatorial Theory Series

Sharply transitive 1-factorizations of complete multipartite graphs

Given a finite group G of even order, which graphs T have a 1-factorization admitting G as an automorphism group with a sharply transitive action on the vertex-set? Starting from this question we prove some general results and develop an exhustive analysis when T is a complete multipartite graph and G is cyclic

Sharply transitive 1-factorizations of complete multipartite graphs

Given a finite group G of even order, which graphs T have a 1-factorization admitting G as an automorphism group with a sharply transitive action on the vertex-set? Starting from this question we prove some general results and develop an exhustive analysis when T is a complete multipartite graph and G is cyclic

Contributions at the Interface Between Algebra and Graph Theory

In this thesis, we make some contributions at the interface between algebra and graph theory. In Chapter 1, we give an overview of the topics and also the definitions and preliminaries. In Chapter 2, we estimate the number of possible types degree patterns of k-lacunary polynomials of degree t < p which split completely modulo p. The result is based on a rather unusual combination of two techniques: a bound on the number of zeros of lacunary polynomials and a bound on the so-called domination number of a graph. In Chapter 3, we deal with the determinant of bipartite graphs. The nullity of a graph G is the multiplicity of 0 in the spectrum of G. Nullity of a (molecular) graph (e.g., a bipartite graph corresponding to an alternant hydrocarbon) has important applications in quantum chemistry and Huckel molecular orbital (HMO) theory. A famous problem, posed by Collatz and Sinogowitz in 1957, asks to characterize all graphs with positive nullity. Clearly, examining the determinant of a graph is a way to attack this problem. In this Chapter, we show that the determinant of a bipartite graph with at least two perfect matchings and with all cycle lengths divisible by four, is zero. In Chapter 4, we first introduce an application of spectral graph theory in proving trigonometric identities. This is a very simple double counting argument that gives very short proofs for some of these identities (and perhaps the only existed proof in some cases!). In the rest of Chapter 4, using some properties of the well-known Chebyshev polynomials, we prove some theorems that allow us to evaluate the number of spanning trees in join of graphs, Cartesian product of graphs, and nearly regular graphs. In the last section of Chapter 4, we obtain the number of spanning trees in an (r,s)-semiregular graph and its line graph. Note that the same results, as in the last section, were proved by I. Sato using zeta functions. But our proofs are much shorter based on some well-known facts from spectral graph theory. Besides, we do not use zeta functions in our arguments. In Chapter 5, we present the conclusion and also some possible projects

A new family of posets generalizing the weak order on some Coxeter groups

We construct a poset from a simple acyclic digraph together with a valuation on its vertices, and we compute the values of its M\"obius function. We show that the weak order on Coxeter groups of type A, B, affine A, and the flag weak order on the wreath product $\mathbb{Z} \_r \wr S\_n$ introduced by Adin, Brenti and Roichman, are special instances of our construction. We conclude by associating a quasi-symmetric function to each element of these posets. In the $A$ and $\widetilde{A}$ cases, this function coincides respectively with the classical Stanley symmetric function, and with Lam's affine generalization