On the perfect 1-factorisation problem for circulant graphs of degree 4

A 1-factorisation of a graph G is a partition of the edge set of G into 1 factors (perfect matchings); a perfect 1-factorisation of G is a 1-factorisation of G in which the union of any two of the 1-factors is a Hamilton cycle in G. It is known that for bipartite 4-regular circulant graphs, having order 2 (mod 4) is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the existence of a perfect 1-factorisation. The only known non-bipartite 4-regular circulant graphs that admit a perfect 1-factorisation are trivial (on 6 vertices). We prove several construction results for perfect 1-factorisations of a large class of bipartite 4-regular circulant graphs. In addition, we show that no member of an infinite family of non-bipartite 4-regular circulant graphs admits a perfect 1-factorisation. This supports the conjecture that there are no perfect 1-factorisations of any connected non-bipartite 4-regular circulant graphs of order at least 8

More nonexistence results for symmetric pair coverings

A $(v,k,\lambda)$-covering is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$, where $V$ is a $v$-set of points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ (called blocks), such that every unordered pair of points in $V$ is contained in at least $\lambda$ blocks in $\mathcal{B}$. The excess of such a covering is the multigraph on vertex set $V$ in which the edge between vertices $x$ and $y$ has multiplicity $r_{xy}-\lambda$, where $r_{xy}$ is the number of blocks which contain the pair $\{x,y\}$. A covering is symmetric if it has the same number of blocks as points. Bryant et al.(2011) adapted the determinant related arguments used in the proof of the Bruck-Ryser-Chowla theorem to establish the nonexistence of certain symmetric coverings with $2$-regular excesses. Here, we adapt the arguments related to rational congruence of matrices and show that they imply the nonexistence of some cyclic symmetric coverings and of various symmetric coverings with specified excesses.Comment: Submitted on May 22, 2015 to the Journal of Linear Algebra and its Application

Parity of Sets of Mutually Orthogonal Latin Squares

Every Latin square has three attributes that can be even or odd, but any two of these attributes determines the third. Hence the parity of a Latin square has an information content of 2 bits. We extend the definition of parity from Latin squares to sets of mutually orthogonal Latin squares (MOLS) and the corresponding orthogonal arrays (OA). Suppose the parity of an $\mathrm{OA}(k,n)$ has an information content of $\dim(k,n)$ bits. We show that $\dim(k,n) \leq {k \choose 2}-1$. For the case corresponding to projective planes we prove a tighter bound, namely $\dim(n+1,n) \leq {n \choose 2}$ when $n$ is odd and $\dim(n+1,n) \leq {n \choose 2}-1$ when $n$ is even. Using the existence of MOLS with subMOLS, we prove that if $\dim(k,n)={k \choose 2}-1$ then $\dim(k,N) = {k \choose 2}-1$ for all sufficiently large $N$. Let the ensemble of an $\mathrm{OA}$ be the set of Latin squares derived by interpreting any three columns of the OA as a Latin square. We demonstrate many restrictions on the number of Latin squares of each parity that the ensemble of an $\mathrm{OA}(k,n)$ can contain. These restrictions depend on $n\mod4$ and give some insight as to why it is harder to build projective planes of order $n \not= 2\mod4$ than for $n \not= 2\mod4$. For example, we prove that when $n \not= 2\mod 4$ it is impossible to build an $\mathrm{OA}(n+1,n)$ for which all Latin squares in the ensemble are isotopic (equivalent to each other up to permutation of the rows, columns and symbols)

Perfect 1-factorisations of circulants with small degree

A 1-factorisation of a graph G is a decomposition of G into edge-disjoint 1-factors (perfect matchings), and a perfect 1-factorisation is a 1-factorisation in which the union of any two of the 1-factors is a Hamilton cycle. We consider the problem of the existence of perfect 1-factorisations of even order circulant graphs with small degree. In particular, we characterise the 3-regular circulant graphs that admit a perfect 1-factorisation and we solve the existence problem for a large family of 4-regular circulants. Results of computer searches for perfect 1-factorisations of 4-regular circulant graphs of orders up to 30 are provided and some problems are posed

On Hamilton decompositions of infinite circulant graphs

The natural infinite analogue of a (finite) Hamilton cycle is a two-way-infinite Hamilton path (connected spanning 2-valent subgraph). Although it is known that every connected 2k-valent infinite circulant graph has a two-way-infinite Hamilton path, there exist many such graphs that do not have a decomposition into k edge-disjoint two-way-infinite Hamilton paths. This contrasts with the finite case where it is conjectured that every 2k-valent connected circulant graph has a decomposition into k edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. We settle the problem of decomposing 2k-valent infinite circulant graphs into k edge-disjoint two-way-infinite Hamilton paths for k=2, in many cases when k=3, and in many other cases including where the connection set is ±{1,2,...,k} or ±{1,2,...,k - 1, 1,2,...,k + 1}

Perfect 1-factorizations of a family of Cayley graphs

A 1-factorization of a graph G is a decomposition of G into edge-disjoint 1-factors (perfect matchings), and a perfect 1-factorization is a 1-factorization in which the union of any two of the 1-factors is a Hamilton cycle. We consider the problem of the existence of perfect 1-factorizations of even order 4-regular Cayley graphs, with a particular interest in circulant graphs. In this paper, we study a new family of graphs, denoted Dh,k, which are Cayley graphs if and only if k is even or h = 2. By solving the perfect 1-factorization problem for a large class of Dh,k graphs, we obtain a new class of 4-regular bipartite circulant graphs that do not have a perfect 1-factorization, answering a problem posed in [7]. With further study of Dh,k graphs, we prove the nonexistence of P1Fs in a class of 4-regular non-bipartite circulant graphs, which is further support for a conjecture made in [7]

On the possible orders of a basis for a finite cyclic group

We prove a result concerning the possible orders of a basis for the cyclic group Z(n), namely: For each k is an element of N there exists a constant c(k) > 0 such that, for all n is an element of N, if A subset of Z(n) is a basis of order greater than n/k, then the order of A is within c(k) of n/l for some integer l is an element of [1, k]. The proof makes use of various results in additive number theory concerning the growth of sumsets. Additionally, exact results are summarized for the possible basis orders greater than n/4 and less than root n. An equivalent problem in graph theory is discussed, with applications

Hamilton path decompositions of complete multipartite graphs

We prove that a complete multipartite graph K with n>1 vertices and m edges can be decomposed into edge-disjoint Hamilton paths if and only if [Formula presented] is an integer and the maximum degree of K is at most [Formula presented]