In this paper we introduce a generalization of the well known concept of a
graceful labeling. Given a graph G with e=dm edges, we call d-graceful labeling
of G an injective function from V(G) to the set {0,1,2,..., d(m+1)-1} such that
{|f(x)-f(y)| | [x,y]\in E(G)}
={1,2,3,...,d(m+1)-1}-{m+1,2(m+1),...,(d-1)(m+1)}. In the case of d=1 and of
d=e we find the classical notion of a graceful labeling and of an odd graceful
labeling, respectively. Also, we call d-graceful \alpha-labeling of a bipartite
graph G a d-graceful labeling of G with the property that its maximum value on
one of the two bipartite sets does not reach its minimum value on the other
one. We show that these new concepts allow to obtain certain cyclic graph
decompositions. We investigate the existence of d-graceful \alpha-labelings for
several classes of bipartite graphs, completely solving the problem for paths
and stars and giving partial results about cycles of even length and ladders.Comment: In press on Ars Combi
