We prove that every digraph of independence number at most 2 and arc-connectivity at least 2 has an out-branching $B^+$ and an in-branching $B^-$ which are arc-disjoint (we call such branchings good pair).
This is best possible in terms of the arc-connectivity as there are infinitely many strong digraphs with independence number 2 and arbitrarily high minimum in-and out-degrees that have good no pair. The result settles a conjecture by Thomassen for digraphs of independence number 2. We prove that every digraph on at most 6 vertices and arc-connectivity at least 2 has a good pair and give an example of a 2-arc-strong digraph $D$ on 10 vertices with independence number 4 that has no good pair. We also show that there are infinitely many digraphs with independence number 7 and arc-connectivity 2 that have no good pair. Finally we pose a number of open problems.
Bermond and Thomassen conjectured that every digraph with minimum outdegree at least $2k-1$ contains $k$ vertex disjoint cycles. So far the conjecture was verified for $k\le 3$. Here we generalise the question asking for all outdegree sequences which force $k$ vertex disjoint cycles and give the full answer for $k\le 2$.
In this paper, we study two types of strong subgraph packing problems in digraphs, including internally disjoint strong subgraph packing problem and arc-disjoint strong subgraph packing problem. These problems can be viewed as generalizations of the famous Steiner tree packing problem and are closely related to the strong arc decomposition problem. We first prove the NP-completeness for the internally disjoint strong subgraph packing problem restricted to symmetric digraphs and Eulerian digraphs. Then we get inapproximability results for the arc-disjoint strong subgraph packing problem and the…
A conjecture by Lichiardopol states that for every $k \ge 1$ there exists an integer $g(k)$ such that every digraph of minimum out-degree at least $g(k)$ contains $k$ vertex-disjoint directed cycles of pairwise distinct lengths. Motivated by Lichiardopol's conjecture, we study the existence of vertex-disjoint directed cycles satisfying length constraints in digraphs of large connectivity or large minimum degree. Our main result is that for every $k \in \mathbb{N}$, there exists $s(k) \in \mathbb{N}$ such that every strongly $s(k)$-connected digraph contains $k$ vertex-disjoint directed cycles …
We construct for all $ k\in \mathbb{N} $ a $ k $-edge-connected digraph $ D $ with $ s,t\in V(D) $ such that there are no edge-disjoint $ s \rightarrow t $ and $t\rightarrow s $ paths. We use in our construction "self-similar" graphs which technique could be useful in other problems as well.
An out-branching $B^+_u$ (in-branching $B^-_u$) in a digraph $D$ is a connected spanning subdigraph of $D$ in which every vertex except the vertex $u$, called the root, has in-degree (out-degree) one. It is well-known that there exists a polynomial algorithm for deciding whether a given digraph has $k$ arc-disjoint out-branchings with prescribed roots ($k$ is part of the input). In sharp contrast to this, it is already NP-complete to decide if a digraph has one out-branching which is arc-disjoint from some in-branching. A digraph is {\bf semicomplete} if it has no pair of non adjacent vertices…
Let $D$ be a digraph. We define the minimum semi-degree of $D$ as $δ^{0}(D) := \min \{δ^{+}(D), δ^{-}(D)\}$. Let $k$ be a positive integer, and let $S = \{s\}$ and $T = \{t_{1}, \dots ,t_{k}\}$ be any two disjoint subsets of $V(D)$. A set of $k$ internally disjoint paths joining source set $S$ and sink set $T$ that cover all vertices $D$ are called a one-to-many $k$-disjoint directed path cover ($k$-DDPC for short) of $D$. A digraph $D$ is semicomplete if for every pair $x,y$ of vertices of it, there is at least one arc between $x$ and $y$. In this paper, we prove that every semicomplete digra…
Understanding how the cycles of a graph or digraph behave in general has always been an important point of graph theory. In this paper, we study the question of finding a set of $k$ vertex-disjoint cycles (resp. directed cycles) of distinct lengths in a given graph (resp. digraph). In the context of undirected graphs, we prove that, for every $k \geq 1$, every graph with minimum degree at least $\frac{k^2+5k-2}{2}$ has $k$ vertex-disjoint cycles of different lengths, where the degree bound is best possible. We also consider stronger situations, and exhibit degree bounds (some of which are best…
The dicycle transversal number t(D) of a digraph D is the minimum size of a dicycle transversal of D, i. e. a set T of vertices of D such that D-T is acyclic. We study the following problem: Given a digraph D, decide if there is a dicycle B in D and a cycle C in the underlying undirected graph of D such such that B,C are disjoint. It is known that there is a polynomial time algorithm for this problem when restricted to strongly connected graphs, which actually finds B,C if they exist. We generalize this to any class of digraphs D with either t(D) not equal to 1 or t(D)=1 and a bounded number o…
The energy and iota energy of signed digraphs are respectively defined as the sum of absolute values of real parts and sum of absolute values of imaginary parts of its eigenvalues. Recently, Yang and Wang (2018) find the energy and iota energy ordering of digraphs in D(n) and compute the maximal energy and iota energy, where D(n) denotes the set of vertex-disjoint bicyclic digraphs of a fixed order n. In this paper, we investigate the energy ordering of signed digraphs in D(n,s) and finds the maximal energy, where D(n,s) denotes the set of vertex-disjoint bicyclic sidigraphs of a fixed order n…
For a digraph $D$, let $δ^{0}(D) = \min \{δ^{+}(D), δ^{-}(D)\}$ be the minimum semi-degree of $D$. A set of $k$ vertex-disjoint paths, $\{P_{1}, \dots, P_{k}\}$, joining a disjoint source set $S = \{s_{1}, \dots, s_{k}\}$ and sink set $T = \{t_{1}, \dots, t_{k}\}$ is called an unpaired many-to-many $k$-disjoint directed path cover ($k$-DDPC for short) of $D$, if each $P_{j}$ joins $s_{j}$ and $t_{σ(j)}$ for some permutation $σ$ on $\{1, \dots , k\}$ and $\bigcup^{k}_{j=1} V(P_{j}) = V(D)$. In this paper, we give a new proof for the following result that every digraph $D$ with $δ^{0}(D) \geq \l…
Let $k$ be a positive integer. Bermond and Thomassen conjectured in 1981 that every digraph with minimum outdegree at least $2k-1$ contains $k$ vertex-disjoint cycles. It is famous as one of the one hundred unsolved problems selected in [Bondy, Murty, Graph Theory, Springer-Verlag London, 2008]. Lichiardopol, Por and Sereni proved in [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 23 (2) (2009) 979-992] that the above conjecture holds for $k=3$. Let $g$ be the girth, i.e., the length of the shortest cycle, of a given digraph. Bang-Jensen, Bessy and Thomassé conjectured in [J. Graph Theory 75 (3) (2014) 284-302] that …
A dicut in a directed graph is a cut for which all of its edges are directed to a common side of the cut. A famous theorem of Lucchesi and Younger states that in every finite digraph the least size of a set of edges meeting every non-empty dicut equals the maximum number of disjoint dicuts in that digraph. Such sets are called dijoins. Woodall conjectured a dual statement. He asked whether the maximum number of disjoint dijoins in a directed graph equals the minimum size of a non-empty dicut. We study a modification of this question where we restrict our attention to certain classes of non-emp…
Given $k$ pairs of vertices $(s_i,t_i)\;(1\le i\le k)$ of a digraph $G$, how can we test whether there exist vertex-disjoint directed paths from $s_i$ to $t_i$ for $1\le i\le k$? This is NP-complete in general digraphs, even for $k = 2$, but in an earlier paper we proved that for all fixed $k$, there is a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the problem if $G$ is a tournament (or more generally, a semicomplete digraph). Here we prove that for all fixed $k$ there is a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the problem when $V(G)$ is partitioned into a bounded number of sets each inducing a semicomple…
Given $k$ pairs of vertices $(s_i,t_i)$, $1\le i\le k$, of a digraph $G$, how can we test whether there exist $k$ vertex-disjoint directed paths from $s_i$ to $t_i$ for $1\le i\le k$? This is NP-complete in general digraphs, even for $k = 2$, but for $k=2$ there is a polynomial-time algorithm when $G$ is a tournament (or more generally, a semicomplete digraph), due to Bang-Jensen and Thomassen. Here we prove that for all fixed $k$ there is a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the problem when $G$ is semicomplete.
An out-branching $B^+_u$ (in-branching $B^-_u$) in a digraph $D$ is a connected spanning subdigraph of $D$ in which every vertex except the vertex $u$, called the root, has in-degree (out-degree) one. A {\bf good $\mathbf{(u,v)}$-pair} in $D$ is a pair of branchings $B^+_u,B^-_v$ which have no arc in common. Thomassen proved that is NP-complete to decide if a digraph has any good pair. A digraph is {\bf semicomplete} if it has no pair of non adjacent vertices. A {\bf semicomplete composition} is any digraph $D$ which is obtained from a semicomplete digraph $S$ by substituting an arbitrary digr…
An out-(in-)branching B_s^+ (B_s^-) rooted at s in a digraph D is a connected spanning subdigraph of D in which every vertex x != s has precisely one arc entering (leaving) it and s has no arcs entering (leaving) it. We settle the complexity of the following two problems: 1) Given a 2-regular digraph $D$, decide if it contains two arc-disjoint branchings B^+_u, B^-_v. 2) Given a 2-regular digraph D, decide if it contains an out-branching B^+_u such that D remains connected after removing the arcs of B^+_u. Both problems are NP-complete for general digraphs. We prove that the first problem rema…
A dijoin in a digraph is a set of edges meeting every directed cut. D. R. Woodall conjectured in 1976 that if G is a digraph, and every directed cut of G has at least k edges, then there are k pairwise disjoint dijoins. This remains open, but a capacitated version is known to be false. In particular, A. Schrijver gave a digraph G and a subset S of its edge-set, such that every directed cut contains at least two edges in S, and yet there do not exist two disjoint dijoins included in S. In Schrijver's example, G is planar, and the subdigraph formed by the edges in S consists of three disjoint pa…
A digraph $D=(V,A)$ has a good decomposition if $A$ has two disjoint sets $A_1$ and $A_2$ such that both $(V,A_1)$ and $(V,A_2)$ are strong. Let $T$ be a digraph with $t$ vertices $u_1,\dots , u_t$ and let $H_1,\dots H_t$ be digraphs such that $H_i$ has vertices $u_{i,j_i},\ 1\le j_i\le n_i.$ Then the composition $Q=T[H_1,\dots , H_t]$ is a digraph with vertex set $\{u_{i,j_i}\mid 1\le i\le t, 1\le j_i\le n_i\}$ and arc set $$A(Q)=\cup^t_{i=1}A(H_i)\cup \{u_{ij_i}u_{pq_p}\mid u_iu_p\in A(T), 1\le j_i\le n_i, 1\le q_p\le n_p\}.$$ For digraph compositions $Q=T[H_1,\dots H_t]$, we obtain sufficie…
Let $ D $ be a finite digraph, and let $ V_0,\dots,V_{k-1} $ be nonempty subsets of $ V(D) $. The (strong form of) Edmonds' branching theorem states thatthere are pairwise edge-disjoint spanning branchings $ \mathcal{B}_0,\dots, \mathcal{B}_{k-1} $ in $ D $ such that the root set of $ \mathcal{B}_i $ is $ V_i\ (i=0,\dots,k-1) $ if and only if for all $ \varnothing \neq X\subseteq V(D) $ the number of ingoing edges of $ X $ is greater than or equal to the number of sets $ V_i $ disjoint from $ X $. As was shown by R. Aharoni and C. Thomassen in \cite{aharoni1989infinite}, this theorem does not …
For a digraph $D=(V(D), A(D))$, and a set $S\subseteq V(D)$ with $r\in S$ and $|S|\geq 2$, an $(S, r)$-tree is an out-tree $T$ rooted at $r$ with $S\subseteq V(T)$. Two $(S, r)$-trees $T_1$ and $T_2$ are said to be arc-disjoint if $A(T_1)\cap A(T_2)=\emptyset$. Two arc-disjoint $(S, r)$-trees $T_1$ and $T_2$ are said to be internally disjoint if $V(T_1)\cap V(T_2)=S$. Let $κ_{S,r}(D)$ and $λ_{S,r}(D)$ be the maximum number of internally disjoint and arc-disjoint $(S, r)$-trees in $D$, respectively. The generalized $k$-vertex-strong connectivity of $D$ is defined as $$κ_k(D)= \min \{κ_{S,r}(D)\…
For a digraph $D=(V(D), A(D))$, and a set $S\subseteq V(D)$ with $r\in S$ and $|S|\geq 2$, an $(S, r)$-tree is an out-tree $T$ rooted at $r$ with $S\subseteq V(T)$. Two $(S, r)$-trees $T_1$ and $T_2$ are said to be arc-disjoint if $A(T_1)\cap A(T_2)=\emptyset$. Two arc-disjoint $(S, r)$-trees $T_1$ and $T_2$ are said to be internally disjoint if $V(T_1)\cap V(T_2)=S$. Let $κ_{S,r}(D)$ and $λ_{S,r}(D)$ be the maximum number of internally disjoint and arc-disjoint $(S, r)$-trees in $D$, respectively. The generalized $k$-vertex-strong connectivity of $D$ is defined as $$κ_k(D)= \min \{κ_{S,r}(D)\…
A digraph $D=(V, A)$ has a good pair at a vertex $r$ if $D$ has a pair of arc-disjoint in- and out-branchings rooted at $r$. Let $T$ be a digraph with $t$ vertices $u_1,\dots , u_t$ and let $H_1,\dots H_t$ be digraphs such that $H_i$ has vertices $u_{i,j_i},\ 1\le j_i\le n_i.$ Then the composition $Q=T[H_1,\dots , H_t]$ is a digraph with vertex set $\{u_{i,j_i}\mid 1\le i\le t, 1\le j_i\le n_i\}$ and arc set $$A(Q)=\cup^t_{i=1}A(H_i)\cup \{u_{ij_i}u_{pq_p}\mid u_iu_p\in A(T), 1\le j_i\le n_i, 1\le q_p\le n_p\}.$$ When $T$ is arbitrary, we obtain the following result: every strong digraph compo…
We show that every sufficiently large r-regular digraph G which has linear degree and is a robust outexpander has an approximate decomposition into edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles, i.e. G contains a set of r-o(r) edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. Here G is a robust outexpander if for every set S which is not too small and not too large, the `robust' outneighbourhood of S is a little larger than S. This generalises a result of Kühn, Osthus and Treglown on approximate Hamilton decompositions of dense regular oriented graphs. It also generalises a result of Frieze and Krivelevich on approximate Hamilt…
We resolve two problems of [Cameron, Praeger, and Wormald -- Infinite highly arc transitive digraphs and universal covering digraphs, Combinatorica 1993]. First, we construct a locally finite highly arc-transitive digraph with universal reachability relation. Second, we provide constructions of 2-ended highly arc transitive digraphs where each `building block' is a finite bipartite graph that is not a disjoint union of complete bipartite graphs. This was conjectured impossible in the above paper. We also describe the structure of 2-ended highly arc transitive digraphs in more generality, altho…
A four blocks cycle C(k1,k2,k3,k4) is an oriented cycle formed by the union of four internally disjoint directed paths of lengths k1,k2,k3 and k4 respectively. El Mniny proved that if D is a digraph having a spanning out-tree T with no subdivisions of C(k, 1, 1, 1), then the chromatic number of D is at most 8^{3}k. In this paper, we will improve this bound to 18k.
A strong arc decomposition of a digraph $D=(V,A)$ is a decomposition of its arc set $A$ into two disjoint subsets $A_1$ and $A_2$ such that both of the spanning subdigraphs $D_1=(V,A_1)$ and $D_2=(V,A_2)$ are strong. Let $T$ be a digraph with $t$ vertices $u_1,\dots , u_t$ and let $H_1,\dots H_t$ be digraphs such that $H_i$ has vertices $u_{i,j_i},\ 1\le j_i\le n_i.$ Then the composition $Q=T[H_1,\dots , H_t]$ is a digraph with vertex set $\cup_{i=1}^t V(H_i)=\{u_{i,j_i}\mid 1\le i\le t, 1\le j_i\le n_i\}$ and arc set \[ \left(\cup^t_{i=1}A(H_i) \right) \cup \left( \cup_{u_iu_p\in A(T)} \{u_{i…
In this paper, we characterize a mixed graph $F$ which contains $k$ edge and arc disjoint spanning mixed arborescences $F_{1}, \ldots, F_{k}$, such that for each $v \in V(F)$, the cardinality of $\{i \in [k]: v \text{ is the root of } F_{i}\}$ lies in some prescribed interval. This generalizes both Nash-Williams and Tutte's theorem on spanning tree packing for undirected graphs and the previous characterization on digraphs which was given by Cai [in: Arc-disjoint arborescences of digraphs, J. Graph Theory 7(2) (1983), 235-240] and Frank [in: On disjoint trees and arborescences, Algebraic Metho…
We show that every directed graph with minimum out-degree at least $18k$ contains at least $k$ vertex disjoint cycles. This is an improvement over the result of Alon who showed this result for digraphs of minimum out-degree at least $64k$. The main benefit of the argument is that getting better results for small values of $k$ allows for further improvements to the constant.
Edmonds' fundamental theorem on arborescences characterizes the existence of $k$ pairwise arc-disjoint spanning arborescences with prescribed root sets in a digraph. In this paper, we study the problem of packing branchings in digraphs under cardinality constraints on their root sets by arborescence augmentation. Let $D=(V+x,A)$ be a digraph, $\mathcal{P}=$ $\{I_{1}, \ldots, I_{l} \}$ be a partition of $[k]$, $c_{1}, \ldots, c_{l}, c'_{1}, \ldots, c'_{l}$ be nonnegative integers such that $c_α \leq c'_α$ for $α\in [l]$, $F_{1}, \ldots, F_{k}$ be $k$ arc-disjoint $x$-arborescences in $D$ such t…
Arc-locally semicomplete and arc-locally in-semicomplete digraphs were introduced by Bang-Jensen as a common generalization of both semicomplete and semicomplete bipartite digraphs in 1993. Later, Bang-Jensen (2004), Galeana-Sanchez and Goldfeder (2009) and Wang and Wang (2009) provided a characterization of strong arc-locally semicomplete digraphs. In 2009, Wang and Wang characterized strong arc-locally in-semicomplete digraphs. In 2012, Galeana-Sanchez and Goldfeder provided a characterization of all arc-locally semicomplete digraphs which generalizes some results by Bang-Jensen. In this pap…
A $(k_1+k_2)$-bispindle is the union of $k_1$ $(x,y)$-dipaths and $k_2$ $(y,x)$-dipaths, all these dipaths being pairwise internally disjoint. Recently, Cohen et al. showed that for every $(1,1)$- bispindle $B$, there exists an integer $k$ such that every strongly connected digraph with chromatic number greater than $k$ contains a subdivision of $B$. We investigate generalisations of this result by first showing constructions of strongly connected digraphs with large chromatic number without any $(3,0)$-bispindle or $(2,2)$-bispindle. Then we show that strongly connected digraphs with large ch…
We study vertex-quasiprimitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs, reducing the problem of vertex-primitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs to almost simple groups. This includes a complete classification of vertex-quasiprimitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs where the action on vertices has O'Nan-Scott type SD or CD.
Catch digraphs was introduced by Hiroshi Maehara in 1984 as an analog of intersection graphs where a family of pointed sets represents a digraph. After that Prisner continued his research particularly on interval catch digraphs by characterizing them diasteroidal triple free. It has numerous applications in the field of real world problems like network technology and telecommunication operations. Recently, we characterized three important subclasses of interval catch digraphs. In this article we introduce a new class of catch digraphs, namely circular-arc catch digraphs. The definition is same…
We introduce a construction of highly arc transitive digraphs using a layerwise direct product. This product generalizes some known classes of highly arc transitive digraphs but also allows to construct new such. We use the product to obtain counterexamples to a conjecture by Cameron, Praeger and Wormald on the structure of certain highly arc transitive digraphs.
We study $G$-vertex-primitive and $(G,s)$-arc-transitive digraphs for almost simple groups $G$ with socle $\mathrm{PSL}_n(q)$. It turns out that $s\leqslant2$ for such digraphs, which provides the first step in determining an upper bound on $s$ for all the vertex-primitive $s$-arc-transitive digraphs.
A digraph X=(V, E) is max-λ, if λ(X)=δ(X). A digraph X is super-λif every minimum cut of X is either the set of inarcs of some vertex or the set of outarcs of some vertex. In this paper, we will prove that for all but a few exceptions, the strongly connected mixed Cayley digraphs are max-λand super-λ.
In 2017, Giudici, Li and the third author constructed the first known family of vertex-primitive $2$-arc-transitive digraphs of valency at least $2$. The smallest digraph in this family admits $\mathrm{PSL}_3(49)$ acting $2$-arc-transitively with vertex-stabilizer $\mathrm{A}_6$ and hence has $30758154560$ vertices. In this paper, we prove that this digraph is the vertex-primitive $2$-arc-transitive digraph of valency at least $2$ with fewest vertices.
A detailed description of the structure of two-ended arc-transitive digraphs is given. It is also shown that several sets of conditions, involving such concepts as Property Z, local quasi-primitivity and prime out-valency, imply that an arc-transitive digraph must be highly-arc-transitive. These are then applied to give a complete classification of two-ended highly-arc-transitive digraphs with prime in- and out-valencies.
This paper presents a sharp upper bound for the spectral radius of simple digraphs with described number of arcs. Further, the extremal graphs which attain the maximum spectral radius among all simple digraphs with fixed arcs are investigated. In particular, we characterize all extremal simple digraphs with the maximum spectral radius among all simple digraphs with arcs number $e=2{k\choose 2}+t$ and $k>4t^4+4$.
A general method for constructing sharply $k$-arc-transitive digraphs, i.e. digraphs that are $k$-arc-transitive but not $(k+1)$-arc-transitive, is presented. Using our method it is possible to construct both finite and infinite examples. The infinite examples can have one, two or infinitely many ends. Among the one-ended examples there are also digraphs that have polynomial growth.
Bang-Jensen, Bessy, Havet and Yeo showed that every digraph of independence number at most 2 and arc-connectivity at least 2 has an out-branching $B^+$ and an in-branching $B^-$ which are arc-disjoint (such two branchings are called a {\it good pair}), which settled a conjecture of Thomassen for digraphs of independence number 2. They also proved that every digraph on at most 6 vertices and arc-connectivity at least 2 has a good pair and gave an example of a 2-arc-strong digraph $D$ on 10 vertices with independence number 4 that has no good pair. They asked for the smallest number $n$ of verti…
A $(2+1)$-bispindle $B(k_1,k_2;k_3)$ is the union of two $xy$-dipaths of respective lengths $k_1$ and $k_2$, and one $yx$-dipath of length $k_3$, all these dipaths being pairwise internally disjoint. Recently, Cohen et al. conjectured that, for every positive integers $k_1, k_2, k_3$, there is an integer $g(k_1, k_2, k_3)$ such that every strongly connected digraph not containing subdivisions of $B(k_1, k_2; k_3)$ has a chromatic number at most $g(k_1, k_2, k_3)$, and they proved it only for the case where $k_2=1$. For Hamiltonian digraphs, we prove Cohen et al.'s conjecture, namely $g(k_1, k_…
Let X=(V, E) be a digraph. X is maximally connected, if κ(X)=δ(X). X is maximally arc-connected, if λ(X)=δ(X). And X is super arc-connected, if every minimum arc-cut of X is either the set of inarcs of some vertex or the set of outarcs of some vertex. In this paper, we will prove that the strongly connected Bi-Cayley digraphs are maximally connected and maximally arc-connected, and the most of strongly connected Bi-Cayley digraphs are super arc-connected.
