For a finite graph $G$, we study the maximum $2$-edge colorable subgraph problem and a related ratio $\frac{μ(G)}{ν(G)}$, where $ν(G)$ is the matching number of $G$, and $μ(G)$ is the size of the largest matching in any pair $(H,H')$ of disjoint matchings maximizing $|H| + |H'|$ (equivalently, forming a maximum $2$-edge colorable subgraph). Previously, it was shown that $\frac{4}{5} \le \frac{μ(G)}{ν(G)} \le 1$, and the class of graphs achieving $\frac{4}{5}$ was completely characterized. We show here that any rational number between $\frac{4}{5}$ and $1$ can be achieved by a connected graph. Furthermore, we prove that every graph with ratio less than $1$ must admit special subgraphs.
We study the ratio, in a finite graph, of the sizes of the largest matching in any pair of disjoint matchings with the maximum total number of edges and the largest possible matching. Previously, it was shown that this ratio is between 4/5 and 1, and the class of graphs achieving 4/5 was completely characterized. In this paper, we first show that graph decompositions into paths and even cycles provide a new way to study this ratio. We then use this technique to characterize the graphs achieving ratio 1 among all graphs that can be covered by a certain choice of a maximum matching and maximum d…
We characterize the class of infinite connected graphs $ G $ for which there exists a $ T $-join for any choice of an infinite $ T \subseteq V(G) $. We also show that the following well-known fact remains true in the infinite case. If $ G $ is connected and does not contain a $ T $-join, then it will if we either remove an arbitrary vertex from $ T $ or add any new vertex to $ T $.
Let $n\ge 34$ be an even integer, and $D_n=2\lceil n/4 \rceil-1$. In this paper, we prove that every $\{D_n,\,D_n+1\}$-graph of order $n$ contains $\lceil n/4 \rceil$ disjoint perfect matchings. This result is sharp in the sense that (i) there exists a $\{D_n,\,D_n+1\}$-graph containing exactly $\lceil n/4 \rceil$ disjoint perfect matchings, and that (ii) there exists a $\{D_n-1,\,D_n\}$-graph without perfect matchings for each $n$. As a consequence, for any integer $D\ge D_n$, every $\{D,\,D+1\}$-graph of order $n$ contains $\lceil (D+1)/2 \rceil$ disjoint perfect matchings. This extends Csab…
In this paper, we consider dominating sets $D$ and $D'$ such that $D$ and $D'$ are disjoint and there exists a perfect matching between them. Let $DD_{\textrm{m}}(G)$ denote the cardinality of smallest such sets $D, D'$ in $G$ (provided they exist, otherwise $DD_{\textrm{m}}(G) = \infty$). This concept was introduced in [Klostermeyer et al., Theory and Application of Graphs, 2017] in the context of studying a certain graph protection problem. We characterize the trees $T$ for which $DD_{\textrm{m}}(T)$ equals a certain graph protection parameter and for which $DD_{\textrm{m}}(T) = α(T)$, where…
Win [\emph{J. Graph Theory} {\bf 6}(1982), 489--492] conjectured that a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices contains $k$ disjoint perfect matchings, if the degree sum of any two nonadjacent vertices is at least $n+k-2$, where $n$ is even and $n\geq k+2$. In this paper, we prove that Win's conjecture is true for $k\geq n/2$, where $n$ is sufficiently large. To show this result, we prove a theorem on $k$-factor in a graph under some Ore-type condition. Our main tools include Tutte's $k$-factor theorem, the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker theorem on convex optimization, and the solution to the longstanding 1-factor dec…
The notion of disjoint weighing matrices is introduced as a generalization of orthogonal designs. A recursive construction along with a computer search lead to some infinite classes of disjoint weighing matrices, which in turn are shown to form commutative association schemes with 3 or 4 classes.
We study extremal type problem arising from the question: What is the maximum number of edge-disjoint non-crossing perfect matchings on a set S of 2n points in the plane such that their union is a triangle-free geometric graph? We approach this problem by considering four different situations of S. In particular, in the general position, we obtain (i) a sufficient condition for the existence of n edge-disjoint non-crossing perfect matchings in the general position whose union is a maximal triangle-free geometric graph, and (ii) a lower bound on the number of edge-disjoint non-crossing perfect …
Let $G$ be a bridgeless cubic graph. The Berge--Fulkerson Conjecture (1970s) states that $G$ admits a list of six perfect matchings such that each edge of $G$ belongs to exactly two of these perfect matchings. If answered in the affirmative, two other recent conjectures would also be true: the Fan--Raspaud Conjecture (1994), which states that $G$ admits three perfect matchings such that every edge of $G$ belongs to at most two of them; and a conjecture by Mazzuoccolo (2013), which states that $G$ admits two perfect matchings whose deletion yields a bipartite subgraph of $G$. It can be shown th…
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…
We consider the following question: given an $(X,Y)$-bigraph $G$ and a set $S \subset X$, does $G$ contain two disjoint matchings $M_1$ and $M_2$ such that $M_1$ saturates $X$ and $M_2$ saturates $S$? When $|S|\geq |X|-1$, this question is solvable by finding an appropriate factor of the graph. In contrast, we show that when $S$ is allowed to be an arbitrary subset of $X$, the problem is NP-hard.
Let $X_{2k}$ be a set of $2k$ labeled points in convex position in the plane. We consider geometric non-intersecting straight-line perfect matchings of $X_{2k}$. Two such matchings, $M$ and $M'$, are disjoint compatible if they do not have common edges, and no edge of $M$ crosses an edge of $M'$. Denote by $\mathrm{DCM}_k$ the graph whose vertices correspond to such matchings, and two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding matchings are disjoint compatible. We show that for each $k \geq 9$, the connected components of $\mathrm{DCM}_k$ form exactly three isomorphism classes -- n…
A bipartite graph B is called a brace if it is connected and every matching of size at most two in B is contained in some perfect matching of B and a cycle C in B is called conformal if B-V(C) has a perfect matching. We show that there do not exist two disjoint alternating paths that form a cross over a conformal cycle C in a brace B if and only if one can reduce B, by an application of a matching theoretic analogue of small clique sums, to a planar brace H in which C bounds a face. We then utilise this result and provide a polynomial time algorithm which solves the 2-linkage problem for alter…
The weighted $\mathcal{T}$-free $2$-matching problem is the following problem: given an undirected graph $G$, a weight function on its edge set, and a set $\mathcal{T}$ of triangles in $G$, find a maximum weight $2$-matching containing no triangle in $\mathcal{T}$. When $\mathcal{T}$ is the set of all triangles in $G$, this problem is known as the weighted triangle-free $2$-matching problem, which is a long-standing open problem. A main contribution of this paper is to give a first polynomial-time algorithm for the weighted $\mathcal{T}$-free $2$-matching problem under the assumption that $\ma…
We call a finite undirected graph minimally k-matchable if it has at least k distinct perfect matchings but deleting any edge results in a graph which has not. An odd subdivision of some graph G is any graph obtained by replacing every edge of G by a path of odd length connecting its end vertices such that all these paths are internally disjoint. We prove that for every k>0 there exists a finite set of graphs S(k) such that every minimally k-matchable graph is isomorphic to a disjoint union of an odd subdivision of some graph from S(k) and any number of copies of the complete graph on two vert…
We show that provided $\log^{50} n/n \leq p \leq 1 - n^{-1/4}\log^9 n$ we can with high probability find a collection of $\lfloor δ(G)/2 \rfloor$ edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles in $G \sim G_{n, p}$, plus an additional edge-disjoint matching of size $\lfloor n/2 \rfloor$ if $δ(G)$ is odd. This confirms, for the above range of $p$, a conjecture of Frieze and Krivelevich.
If X is an n-element set, we call a family G of subsets of X a k-generator for X if every subset of X can be expressed as a union of at most k disjoint sets in G. Frein, Leveque and Sebo conjectured that for n > 2k, the smallest k-generators for X are obtained by taking a partition of X into classes of sizes as equal as possible, and taking the union of the power-sets of the classes. We prove this conjecture for all sufficiently large n when k = 2, and for n a sufficiently large multiple of k when k > 2.
Motivated by Chudnovsky's structure theorem of bull-free graphs, Abu-Khzam, Feghali, and Müller have recently proved that deciding if a graph has a vertex partition into disjoint cliques and a triangle-free graph is NP-complete for five graph classes. The problem is trivial for the intersection of these five classes. We prove that the problem is NP-complete for the intersection of two subsets of size four among the five classes. We also show NP-completeness for other small classes, such as graphs with maximum degree 4 and line graphs.
We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the maximum multiplicity of a root of the matching polynomial of a tree to be equal to the minimum number of vertex disjoint paths needed to cover it.
In 1965, Paul Erdős asked about the largest family $Y$ of $k$-sets in $\{ 1, \ldots, n \}$ such that $Y$ does not contain $s+1$ pairwise disjoint sets. This problem is commonly known as the Erdős Matching Conjecture. We investigate the $q$-analog of this question, that is we want to determine the size of a largest family $Y$ of $k$-spaces in $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ such that $Y$ does not contain $s+1$ pairwise disjoint $k$-spaces. Here we call two subspaces disjoint if they intersect trivially. Our main result is, slightly simplified, that if $16 s \leq \min\{ q^{\frac{n-k}{4}},$ $q^{\frac{n-2k+1}{3}…
We prove that if $G$ is a $2r$-regular edge graceful $(p,q)$ graph with $(r,kp)=1$ then $kG$ is edge graceful for odd $k$. We also prove that for certain specific classes of $2r$-regular edge graceful graphs it is possible to drop the requirement that $(r,kp)=1$
We determine the Ramsey number of a connected clique matching. That is, we show that if $G$ is a $2$-edge-coloured complete graph on $(r^2 - r - 1)n - r + 1$ vertices, then there is a monochromatic connected subgraph containing $n$ disjoint copies of $K_r$, and that this number of vertices cannot be reduced.
This paper studies non-crossing geometric perfect matchings. Two such perfect matchings are \emph{compatible} if they have the same vertex set and their union is also non-crossing. Our first result states that for any two perfect matchings $M$ and $M'$ of the same set of $n$ points, for some $k\in\Oh{\log n}$, there is a sequence of perfect matchings $M=M_0,M_1,...,M_k=M'$, such that each $M_i$ is compatible with $M_{i+1}$. This improves the previous best bound of $k\leq n-2$. We then study the conjecture: \emph{every perfect matching with an even number of edges has an edge-disjoint compatibl…
We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a decomposition of a complete multigraph into edge-disjoint cycles of specified lengths, or into edge-disjoint cycles of specified lengths and a perfect matching.
Homogeneous substructures in random ordered uniform matchings
Western Michigan University（西密歇根大学）；Warsaw University of Technology（华沙理工大学）；AGH University of Krakow（克拉科夫AGH科技大学）；Adam Mickiewicz University（亚当·密茨凯维奇大学）
We study the following general disjoint paths problem: given a supply graph $G$, a set $T\subseteq V(G)$ of terminals, a demand graph $H$ on the vertices $T$, and an integer $k$, the task is to find a set of $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint valid paths, where we say that a path of the supply graph $G$ is valid if its endpoints are in $T$ and adjacent in the demand graph $H$. For a class $\mathcal{H}$ of graphs, we denote by $\mathcal{H}$-Maximum Disjoint Paths the restriction of this problem when the demand graph $H$ is assumed to be a member of $\mathcal{H}$. We study the fixed-parameter tractabi…
Let $G$ be a connected graph. If $G$ contains a matching of size $k$, and every matching of size $k$ is contained in a perfect matching of $G$, then $G$ is said to be \emph{$k$-extendable}. A $k$-regular spanning subgraph of $G$ is called a \textit{$k$-factor}. In this paper, we provide spectral conditions for a (balanced bipartite) graph with minimum degree $δ$ to be $k$-extendable, and for the existence of a $k$-factor in a balanced bipartite graph, respectively. Our results generalize some previous results on perfect matchings of graphs, and extend the results in \cite{D.F} and \cite{W.L} t…
We show that if a multigraph $G$ with maximum edge-multiplicity of at most $\frac{\sqrt{n}}{\log^2 n}$, is edge-coloured by $n$ colours such that each colour class is a disjoint union of cliques with at least $2n + o(n)$ vertices, then it has a full rainbow matching, that is, a matching where each colour appears exactly once. This asymptotically solves a question raised by Clemens, Ehrenmüller and Pokrovskiy, and is related to problems on algebras of sets studied by Grinblat in [Grinblat 2002].
A signed graph is a graph with a function that assigns a label of positive or negative to each edge. The sign of a circle is the product of the signs of its edges; a graph is balanced if all of its circles are positive. A set of edges whose negation yields a balanced graph is a negation set. Results: tests to determine whether a negation set is minimal, minimum, or the unique minimum; any two disjoint negation sets must be bipartite; two classes of graphs are shown to have bipartite negation sets (in general, existence is an unsolved problem); I give an algorithm which finds a maximum family o…
We describe two constructions of (very) dense graphs which are edge disjoint unions of large {\em induced} matchings. The first construction exhibits graphs on $N$ vertices with ${N \choose 2}-o(N^2)$ edges, which can be decomposed into pairwise disjoint induced matchings, each of size $N^{1-o(1)}$. The second construction provides a covering of all edges of the complete graph $K_N$ by two graphs, each being the edge disjoint union of at most $N^{2-δ}$ induced matchings, where $δ> 0.058$. This disproves (in a strong form) a conjecture of Meshulam, substantially improves a result of Birk, Linia…
When $k$ factors each taking one of $v$ levels may affect the correctness or performance of a complex system, a test is selected by setting each factor to one of its levels and determining whether the system functions as expected (passes the test) or not (fails). In our setting, each test failure can be attributed to at least one faulty (factor, level) pair. A nonadaptive test suite is a selection of such tests to be executed in parallel. One goal is to minimize the number of tests in a test suite from which we can determine which (factor, level) pairs are faulty, if any. In this paper, we det…
A family of perfect matchings of $K_{2n}$ is $t$-$intersecting$ if any two members share $t$ or more edges. We prove for any $t \in \mathbb{N}$ that every $t$-intersecting family of perfect matchings has size no greater than $(2(n-t) - 1)!!$ for sufficiently large $n$, and that equality holds if and only if the family is composed of all perfect matchings that contain a fixed set of $t$ disjoint edges. This is an asymptotic version of a conjecture of Godsil and Meagher that can be seen as the non-bipartite analogue of the Deza-Frankl conjecture proven by Ellis, Friedgut, and Pilpel.
A conjecture of the first two authors is that $n$ matchings of size $n$ in any graph have a rainbow matching of size $n-1$. We prove a lower bound of $\frac{2}{3}n-1$, improving on the trivial $\frac{1}{2}n$, and an analogous result for hypergraphs. For $\{C_3,C_5\}$-free graphs and for disjoint matchings we obtain a lower bound of $\frac{3n}{4}-O(1)$. We also discuss a conjecture on rainbow alternating paths, that if true would yield a lower bound of $n-\sqrt{2n}$. We prove the non-alternating (ordinary paths) version of this conjecture.
Let F be a set system on [n] with all sets having k elements and every pair of sets intersecting. The celebrated theorem of Erdos-Ko-Rado from 1961 says that any such system has size at most ${n-1 \choose k-1}$. A natural question, which was asked by Ahlswede in 1980, is how many disjoint pairs must appear in a set system of larger size. Except for the case k=2, solved by Ahlswede and Katona, this problem has remained open for the last three decades. In this paper, we determine the minimum number of disjoint pairs in small k-uniform families, thus confirming a conjecture of Bollobas and Leader…
A famous conjecture of Ryser states that every $r$-partite hypergraph has vertex cover number at most $r - 1$ times the matching number. In recent years, hypergraphs meeting this conjectured bound, known as $r$-Ryser hypergraphs, have been studied extensively. It was recently proved by Haxell, Narins and Szabó that all $3$-Ryser hypergraphs with matching number $ν> 1$ are essentially obtained by taking $ν$ disjoint copies of intersecting $3$-Ryser hypergraphs. Abu-Khazneh showed that such a characterisation is false for $r = 4$ by giving a computer generated example of a $4$-Ryser hypergraph w…
The goal of this paper is to obtain quantitative results on the number and on the size of maximal independent sets and maximal matchings in several block-stable graph classes that satisfy a proper sub-criticality condition. In particular we cover trees, cacti graphs and series-parallel graphs. The proof methods are based on a generating function approach and a proper singularity analysis of solutions of implicit systems of functional equations in several variables. As a byproduct, this method extends previous results of Meir and Moon for trees [Meir, Moon: On maximal independent sets of nodes …
A subset $D\subseteq V_G$ is a dominating set of $G$ if every vertex in $V_G-D$ has a~neighbor in $D$, while $D$ is a paired-dominating set of $G$ if $D$ is a~dominating set and the subgraph induced by $D$ contains a perfect matching. A graph $G$ is a $D\!P\!D\!P$-graph if it has a pair $(D,P)$ of disjoint sets of vertices of $G$ such that $D$ is a dominating set and $P$ is a paired-dominating set of $G$. The study of the $D\!P\!D\!P$-graphs was initiated by Southey and Henning (Cent. Eur. J. Math. 8 (2010) 459--467; J. Comb. Optim. 22 (2011) 217--234). In this paper, we provide conditions whi…
The main result of the paper is motivated by the following two, apparently unrelated graph optimization problems: (A) as an extension of Edmonds' disjoint branchings theorem, characterize digraphs comprising $k$ disjoint branchings $B_i$ each having a specified number $μ_i$ of arcs, (B) as an extension of Ryser's maximum term rank formula, determine the largest possible matching number of simple bipartite graphs complying with degree-constraints. The solutions to these problems and to their generalizations will be obtained from a new min-max theorem on covering a supermodular function by a sim…
Consider the random graph process $\{G_t\}_{t\geq 0}$. For $k\geq 3$ let $G_{t}^{(k)}$ denote the $k$-core of $G_t$ and let $τ_k$ be the minimum $t$ such that the $k$-core of $G_t$ is nonempty. It is well known that w.h.p. for $G_{τ_k}^{(k)}$ has linear size while it is believed to be Hamiltonian. Bollobás, Cooper, Fenner and Frieze further conjectured that w.h.p. $G_{t}^{(k)}$ spans $\lfloor \frac{k-1}{2} \rfloor$ edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles plus, when $k$ is even, a perfect matching for $t\geq τ_k$. We prove that w.h.p.\@ if $k$ is odd then $G_{t}^{(k)}$ spans $\frac{k-3}{2}$ edge disjoint…
A hole in a graph $G$ is an induced cycle of length at least four, and a $k$-multihole in $G$ is a set of pairwise disjoint and nonadjacent holes. It is well known that if $G$ does not contain any holes then its chromatic number is equal to its clique number. In this paper we show that, for any $k$, if $G$ does not contain a $k$-multihole, then its chromatic number is at most a polynomial function of its clique number. We show that the same result holds if we ask for all the holes to be odd or of length four; and if we ask for the holes to be longer than any fixed constant or of length four. T…
More than forty years ago, Erdős conjectured that for any T <= N/K, every K-uniform hypergraph on N vertices without T disjoint edges has at most max{\binom{KT-1}{K}, \binom{N}{K} - \binom{N-T+1}{K}} edges. Although this appears to be a basic instance of the hypergraph Turán problem (with a T-edge matching as the excluded hypergraph), progress on this question has remained elusive. In this paper, we verify this conjecture for all T < N/(3K^2). This improves upon the best previously known range T = O(N/K^3), which dates back to the 1970's.
Let $G$ be a graph and $r\in\mathbb{N}$. The matching Kneser graph $\textsf{KG}(G, rK_2)$ is a graph whose vertex set is the set of $r$-matchings in $G$ and two vertices are adjacent if their corresponding matchings are edge-disjoint. In [Alishahi, M. and Hajiabolhassan, H., On the Chromatic Number of Matching Kneser Graphs, Combin. Probab. and Comput. 29 (2020), no. 1, 1--21.] it was conjectured that for any connected graph $G$ and positive integer $r\geq 2$, the chromatic number of $\textsf{KG}(G, rK_2)$ is equal to $|E(G)|-\textsf{ex}(G,rK_2)$, where $\textsf{ex}(G,rK_2)$ denotes the larges…
A matching in a hypergraph $H$ is a set of pairwise vertex disjoint edges in $H$ and the matching number of $H$ is the maximum cardinality of a matching in $H$. A transversal in $H$ is a subset of vertices in $H$ that has a nonempty intersection with every edge of $H$. The transversal number $τ(H)$ of $H$ is the minimum cardinality of a transversal in $H$. A hypergraph $H$ is an intersecting hypergraph if every two distinct edges of $H$ have a non-empty intersection. Equivalently, $H$ is an intersecting hypergraph if and only if it has matching number one. In this paper we study the extremal b…
In this note, we analyze two random greedy processes on sparse random graphs and hypergraphs with a given degree sequence. First we analyze the matching process, which builds a set of disjoint edges one edge at a time; then we analyze the independent process, which builds an independent set of vertices one vertex at a time. We use the differential equations method and apply a general theorem of Warnke. Our main contribution is to significantly reduce the associated systems of differential equations and simplify the expression for the final size of the matching or independent set.
For graphs F and G an F-matching in G is a subgraph of G consisting of pairwise vertex disjoint copies of F. The number of F-matchings in G is denoted by s(F,G). We show that for every fixed positive integer m and every fixed tree F, the probability that s(F,T_n) = 0 mod m, where T_n is a random labeled tree with n vertices, tends to one exponentially fast as n grows to infinity. A similar result is proven for induced F-matchings. This generalizes a recent result of Wagner who showed that the number of independent sets in a random labeled tree is almost surely a zero residue.
We study noncrossing geometric graphs and their disjoint compatible geometric matchings. Given a cycle (a polygon) P we want to draw a set of pairwise disjoint straight-line edges with endpoints on the vertices of P such that these new edges neither cross nor contain any edge of the polygon. We prove NP-completeness of deciding whether there is such a perfect matching. For any n-vertex polygon, with n > 3, we show that such a matching with less than n/7 edges is not maximal, that is, it can be extended by another compatible matching edge. We also construct polygons with maximal compatible matc…
