An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $α_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. Clearly, $α_b(G)$ is at least the independence number $α(G)$ for every connected graph $G$. Our main result implies $α_b(G)\leq 4α(G)$. We prove a tight inequality and characterize all extremal graphs.
An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $α_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. We describe an efficient algorithm that determines the broadcast independence number of a given tree. Furthermore, we show NP-hardness of the broadcast independence …
A broadcast on a nontrivial connected graph G is a function f from the vertices of G to the non-negative integers such that f(v) does not exceed e(v) (the eccentricity of v) for each vertex v. If G is disconnected, we define a broadcast on G as the union of broadcasts on its components. In a search for the best way to generalise the concept of independent sets in graphs to independent broadcasts, there are several ways to look at an independent set X of a graph G. One way is from the point of view of the vertices in X: no two vertices are adjacent -- the usual definition. Another way is from t…
An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $α_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. It is known that $α(G)\leq α_b(G)\leq 4α(G)$ for every connected graph $G$, where $α(G)$ is the independence number of $G$. If $G$ has girth $g$ and minimum degree $…
A broadcast on a nontrivial connected graph G with vertex set V is a function f from V to {0,1,...,diam(G)} such that f(v) is at most the eccentricity of v for all v in V. The weight of f is the sum of the function values taken over V. A vertex u hears f from v if f(v) is positive and d(u,v) is at most f(v). A broadcast f is dominating if every vertex of G hears f. The upper broadcast number of G is Γ_{b}(G), which is the maximum weight of a minimal dominating broadcast on G. A broadcast f is boundary independent if, for any vertex w that hears f from vertices v_{1},...,v_{k}, where k is at le…
A broadcast on a nontrivial connected graph G with vertex set V is a function f from V to {0,1,...,diam(G)} such that f(v) is at most the eccentricity of v for all vertices v. The weight of f is the sum of the function values taken over V. A vertex u hears f from v if f(v) is positive and d(u,v) is at most f(v). A broadcast f is boundary independent if, for any vertex w that hears f from vertices v_{1},...,v_{k}, where k is at least 2, d(w,v_{i}) equals f(v_{i}) for each i. The maximum weight of a boundary independent broadcast on G is denoted by α_{bn}(G). We prove a sharp upper bound on α_{b…
A broadcast on a nontrivial connected graph G is a function f from V(G) to the set {0,1,...,diam(G)} such that f(v) is at most the eccentricity of v for all vertices v of G. The weight of f is the sum of the function values over V(G). A vertex u hears f from v if f(v) is positive and u is within distance f(v) from v. A broadcast f is boundary independent if any vertex that hears f from two or more vertices is at distance f(v) from each such vertex v. The maximum weight of a boundary independent broadcast on G is denoted by α_{bn}(G). We prove a sharp lower bound on α_{bn}(T) for a tree T. Comb…
An independent broadcast on a graph $G$ is a function $f: V \longrightarrow \{0,\ldots,{\rm diam}(G)\}$ such that $(i)$ $f(v)\leq e(v)$ for every vertex $v\in V(G)$, where $\operatorname{diam}(G)$ denotes the diameter of $G$ and $e(v)$ the eccentricity of vertex $v$, and $(ii)$ $d(u,v) > \max \{f(u), f(v)\}$ for every two distinct vertices $u$ and $v$ with $f(u)f(v)>0$. The broadcast independence number $β_b(G)$ of $G$ is then the maximum value of $\sum_{v \in V} f(v)$, taken over all independent broadcasts on $G$. We prove that every circulant graph of the form $C(n;1,a)$, $3\le a\le \lfloor\…
In this paper we study relationships between the \emph{matching number}, written $μ(G)$, and the \emph{independence number}, written $α(G)$. Our first main result is to show \[ α(G) \le μ(G) + |X| - μ(G[N_G[X]]), \] where $X$ is \emph{any} intersection of maximum independent sets in $G$. Our second main result is to show \[ δ(G)α(G) \le Δ(G)μ(G), \] where $δ(G)$ and $Δ(G)$ denote the minimum and maximum vertex degrees of $G$, respectively. These results improve on and generalize known relations between $μ(G)$ and $α(G)$. Further, we also give examples showing these improvements.
The independence number $α(G)$ and the dissociation number ${\rm diss}(G)$ of a graph $G$ are the largest orders of induced subgraphs of $G$ of maximum degree at most $0$ and at most $1$, respectively. We consider possible improvements of the obvious inequality $2α(G)\geq {\rm diss}(G)$. For connected cubic graphs $G$ distinct from $K_4$, we show $5α(G)\geq 3{\rm diss}(G)$, and describe the rich and interesting structure of the extremal graphs in detail. For bipartite graphs, and, more generally, triangle-free graphs, we also obtain improvements. For subcubic graphs though, the inequality cann…
A dissociation set in a graph is a set of vertices inducing a subgraph of maximum degree at most $1$. Computing the dissociation number ${\rm diss}(G)$ of a given graph $G$, defined as the order of a maximum dissociation set in $G$, is algorithmically hard even when $G$ is restricted to be bipartite. Recently, Hosseinian and Butenko proposed a simple $\frac{4}{3}$-approximation algorithm for the dissociation number problem in bipartite graphs. Their result relies on the inequality ${\rm diss}(G)\leq\frac{4}{3}α(G-M)$ implicit in their work, where $G$ is a bipartite graph, $M$ is a maximum matc…
A broadcast on a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a function $f: V\longrightarrow \{0,\ldots,\operatorname{diam}(G)\}$ such that $f(v)\leq e\_G(v)$ for every vertex $v\in V$, where$\operatorname{diam}(G)$ denotes the diameter of $G$ and $e\_G(v)$ the eccentricity of $v$ in $G$. The cost of such a broadcast is then the value $\sum\_{v\in V}f(v)$.Various types of broadcast functions on graphs have been considered in the literature, in relation with domination, irredundence, independenceor packing, leading to the introduction of several broadcast numbers on graphs.In this paper, we determine these broadcast nu…
TxGraffiti is an automated conjecturing program that produces graph theoretic conjectures in the form of conjectured inequalities. This program written and maintained by the second author since 2017 was inspired by the successes of previous automated conjecturing programs including Fajtlowicz's GRAFFITI and DeLaViña's GRAFFITI.pc. In this paper we prove and generalize several conjectures generated by TxGraffiti when it was prompted to conjecture on the \emph{independence number}, the \emph{domination number}, and the \emph{matching number} (and generalizations of each of these graph invariants…
The dual concepts of coverings and packings are well studied in graph theory. Coverings of graphs with balls of radius one and packings of vertices with pairwise distances at least two are the well-known concepts of domination and independence, respectively. In 2001, Erwin introduced \emph{broadcast domination} in graphs, a covering problem using balls of various radii, where the cost of a ball is its radius. The minimum cost of a dominating broadcast in a graph $G$ is denoted by $γ_b(G)$. The dual (in the sense of linear programming) of broadcast domination is \emph{multipacking}: a multipack…
A distance graph is an undirected graph on the integers where two integers are adjacent if their difference is in a prescribed distance set. The independence ratio of a distance graph $G$ is the maximum density of an independent set in $G$. Lih, Liu, and Zhu [Star extremal circulant graphs, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 12 (1999) 491--499] showed that the independence ratio is equal to the inverse of the fractional chromatic number, thus relating the concept to the well studied question of finding the chromatic number of distance graphs. We prove that the independence ratio of a distance graph is ach…
If $A$ is an independent set of a graph $G$ such that the vertices in $A$ have different degrees, then we call $A$ an irregular independent set of $G$. If $D$ is a dominating set of $G$ such that the vertices that are not in $D$ have different numbers of neighbours in $D$, then we call $D$ an irregular dominating set of $G$. The size of a largest irregular independent set of $G$ and the size of a smallest irregular dominating set of $G$ are denoted by $α_{ir}(G)$ and $γ_{ir}(G)$, respectively. We initiate the investigation of these two graph parameters. For each of them, we obtain sharp bounds…
For a given graph $G$ without isolated vertex we consider a function $f: V(G) \rightarrow \{0,1,2\}$. For every $i\in \{0,1,2\}$, let $V_i=\{v\in V(G):\; f(v)=i\}$. The function $f$ is known to be an outer-independent total Roman dominating function for the graph $G$ if it is satisfied that; (i) every vertex in $V_0$ is adjacent to at least one vertex in $V_2$; (ii) $V_0$ is an independent set; and (iii) the subgraph induced by $V_1\cup V_2$ has no isolated vertex. The minimum possible weight $ω(f)=\sum_{v\in V(G)}f(v)$ among all outer-independent total Roman dominating functions for $G$ is ca…
Maximally recoverable codes are codes designed for distributed storage which combine quick recovery from single node failure and optimal recovery from catastrophic failure. Gopalan et al [SODA 2017] studied the alphabet size needed for such codes in grid topologies and gave a combinatorial characterization for it. Consider a labeling of the edges of the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ with labels coming from $F_2^d$ , that satisfies the following condition: for any simple cycle, the sum of the labels over its edges is nonzero. The minimal d where this is possible controls the alphabet size …
Combinatorial rigidity theory seeks to describe the rigidity or flexibility of bar-joint frameworks in R^d in terms of the structure of the underlying graph G. The goal of this article is to broaden the foundations of combinatorial rigidity theory by replacing G with an arbitrary representable matroid M. The ideas of rigidity independence and parallel independence, as well as Laman's and Recski's combinatorial characterizations of 2-dimensional rigidity for graphs, can naturally be extended to this winder setting. As we explain, many of these fundamental concepts really depend only on the matr…
In this work we study the null space of bipartite graphs without cycles of length multiple of $4$, and its relation to structural properties. We decompose them into two subgraphs: $C_N(G)$ and $C_S(G)$. $C_N(G)$ has perfect matching and its adjacency matrix is nonsingular. $C_S(G)$ has a unique maximum independent set and the dimension of its null space equals the dimension of the null space of $G$. Even more, we show that the fundamental spaces of $G$ are the direct sum of the fundamental spaces of $C_N(G)$ and $C_S(G)$. We also obtain formulas relating the independence number and the matchin…
