Let $G$ be a graph of order $n$ and let $u,v$ be vertices of $G$. Let $κ_G(u,v)$ denote the maximum number of internally disjoint $u$-$v$ paths in $G$. Then the average connectivity $\overlineκ(G)$ of $G$, is defined as $ \overlineκ(G)=\sum_{\{u,v\}\subseteq V(G)} κ_G(u,v)/\tbinom{n}{2}. $ If $k \ge 1$ is an integer, then $G$ is minimally $k$-connected if $κ(G)=k$ and $κ(G-e) < k$ for every edge $e$ of $G$. We say that $G$ is an optimal minimally $k$-connected graph if $G$ has maximum average connectivity among all minimally $k$-connected graphs of order $n$. Based on a recent structure result for minimally 2-connected graphs we conjecture that, for every integer $k \ge3$, if $G$ is an optimal minimally $k$-connected graph of order $n\geq 2k+1$, then $G$ is bipartite, with the set of vertices of degree $k$ and the set of vertices of degree exceeding $k$ as its partite sets. We show that if this conjecture is true, then $\overlineκ(G)< 9k/8$ for every minimally $k$-connected graph $G$. For every $k \ge 3$, we describe an infinite family of minimally $k$-connected graphs whose average connectivity is asymptotically $9k/8$. Analogous results are established for the average edge-connectivity of minimally $k$-edge-connected graphs.
Let $G$ be a (multi)graph of order $n$ and let $u,v$ be vertices of $G$. The maximum number of internally disjoint $u$-$v$ paths in $G$ is denoted by $κ_G(u,v)$, and the maximum number of edge-disjoint $u$-$v$ paths in $G$ is denoted by $λ_G (u,v)$. The average connectivity of $G$ is defined by $\overlineκ(G)=\sum_{\{u,v\}\subseteq V(G)} κ_G(u,v)/\tbinom{n}{2},$ and the average edge-connectivity of $G$ is defined by $\overlineλ(G)=\sum_{\{u,v\}\subseteq V(G)} λ_G(u,v)/\tbinom{n}{2}$. A graph $G$ is called ideally connected if $κ_G(u,v)=\min\{\mathrm{deg}(u),\mathrm{deg}(v)\}$ for all pairs of …
A graph is minimally $k$-connected ($k$-edge-connected) if it is $k$-connected ($k$-edge-connected) and deleting arbitrary chosen edge always leaves a graph which is not $k$-connected ($k$-edge-connected). A classic result of minimally $k$-connected graph is given by Mader who determined the extremal size of a minimally $k$-connected graph of high order in 1937. Naturally, for a fixed size of a minimally $k$-(edge)-connected graphs, what is the extremal spectral radius? In this paper, we determine the maximum spectral radius for the minimally $2$-connected ($2$-edge-connected) graphs of given …
We determine the possible maximum degrees of a minimally hamiltonian-connected graph with a given order. This answers a question posed by Modalleliyan and Omoomi in 2016. We also pose two unsolved problems.
Halin proved that every minimally $k$-connected graph has a vertex of degree $k$. More generally, does every minimally vertically $k$-connected matroid have a $k$-element cocircuit? Results of Murty and Wong give an affirmative answer when $k \le 3$. We show that every minimally vertically $4$-connected matroid with at least six elements has a $4$-element cocircuit, or a $5$-element cocircuit that contains a triangle, with the exception of a specific non-binary $9$-element matroid. Consequently, every minimally vertically $4$-connected binary matroid with at least six elements has a $4$-elemen…
Let $D=(V,A)$ be a digraph of order $n$, $S$ a subset of $V$ of size $k$ and $2\le k\leq n$. Strong subgraphs $D_1, \dots , D_p$ containing $S$ are said to be internally disjoint if $V(D_i)\cap V(D_j)=S$ and $A(D_i)\cap A(D_j)=\emptyset$ for all $1\le i<j\le p$. Let $κ_S(D)$ be the maximum number of internally disjoint strong digraphs containing $S$ in $D$. The strong subgraph $k$-connectivity is defined as $$κ_k(D)=\min\{κ_S(D)\mid S\subseteq V, |S|=k\}.$$ A digraph $D=(V, A)$ is called minimally strong subgraph $(k,\ell)$-connected if $κ_k(D)\geq \ell$ but for any arc $e\in A$, $κ_k(D-e)\leq…
Bounds on the minimum degree and on the number of vertices at- taining it have been much studied for finite edge-/vertex-minimally k- connected/k-edge-connected graphs. We give an overview of the results known for finite graphs, and show that most of these carry over to infinite graphs if we consider ends of small degree as well as vertices.
Graphs and hypergraphs are foundational structures in discrete mathematics. They have many practical applications, including the rapidly developing field of bioinformatics, and more generally, biomathematics. They are also a source of interesting algorithmic problems. In this paper, we define a \textit{construction process} for minimally connected $r$-uniform hypergraphs, which captures the intuitive notion of building a hypergraph piece-by-piece, and a numerical invariant called the \textit{tightness}, which is independent of the construction process used. Using these tools, we prove some fun…
Sharp bounds and extremal structure of minimally strongly $k$-connected digraphs
Nanjing Normal University（南京师范大学）；Royal Holloway University of London（伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院）；West Virginia University（西弗吉尼亚大学）；Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University（广东技术师范大学）
For any real $α\in [0,1]$, Nikiforov defined the $A_α$-matrix of a graph $G$ as $A_α(G)=αD(G)+(1-α)A(G)$, where $A(G)$ and $D(G)$ are the adjacency matrix and the diagonal matrix of vertex degrees of $G$, respectively. The largest eigenvalue of $A_α(G)$ is called the $α$-index or the $A_α$-spectral radius of $G$. A graph is minimally $k$-connected if it is $k$-connected and deleting any arbitrary chosen edge always leaves a graph which is not $k$-connected. In this paper, we characterize the extremal graphs with the maximum $α$-index for $α\in [\frac{1}{2},1)$ among all minimally 2-connected g…
A $3$-connected graph is minimally 3-connected if removal of any edge destroys 3-connectivity. We present an algorithm for constructing minimally 3-connected graphs based on the results in (Dawes, JCTB 40, 159-168, 1986) using two operations: adding an edge between non-adjacent vertices and splitting a vertex. In order to test sets of vertices and edges for 3-compatibility, which depends on the cycles of the graph, we develop a method for obtaining the cycles of $G'$ from the cycles of $G$, where $G'$ is obtained from $G$ by one of the two operations above. We eliminate isomorphs using certifi…
A \emph{vertex separator} of a connected graph $G$ is a set of vertices removing which will result in two or more connected components and a \emph{minimum vertex separator} is a set which contains the minimum number of such vertices, i.e., the cardinality of this set is least among all possible vertex separator sets. The cardinality of the minimum vertex separator refers to the connectivity of the graph G. A connected graph is said to be $k-connected$ if removing exactly $k$ vertices, $ k\geq 1$, from the graph, will result in two or more connected components and on removing any $(k-1)$ vertic…
In finite group theory, studying the prime graph of a group has been an important topic for almost the past half-century. Recently, prime graphs of solvable groups have been characterized in graph theoretical terms only. This now allows the study of these graphs without any knowledge of the group theoretical background. In this paper we study prime graphs from a linear algebra angle and focus on the class of minimally connected prime graphs introduced in earlier work on the subject. As our main results, we determine the determinants of the adjacency matrices and the spectra of some important f…
We show that if the moment-angle complex $\mathcal{Z}_K$ associated to a simplicial complex $K$ is homotopy equivalent to a connected sum of sphere products with two spheres in each product, then $K$ decomposes as the simplicial join of an $n$-simplex $Δ^n$ and a minimally non-Golod complex. In particular, we prove that $K$ is minimally non-Golod for every moment-angle complex $\mathcal{Z}_K$ homeomorphic to a connected sum of two-fold products of spheres, answering a question of Grbić, Panov, Theriault and Wu.
For a connected graph, a {\em minimum vertex separator} is a minimum set of vertices whose removal creates at least two connected components. The vertex connectivity of the graph refers to the size of the minimum vertex separator and a graph is $k$-vertex connected if its vertex connectivity is $k$, $k\geq 1$. Given a $k$-vertex connected graph $G$, the combinatorial problem {\em vertex connectivity augmentation} asks for a minimum number of edges whose augmentation to $G$ makes the resulting graph $(k+1)$-vertex connected. In this paper, we initiate the study of $r$-vertex connectivity augmen…
An edge-colored graph $G$, where adjacent edges may have the same color, is {\it rainbow connected} if every two vertices of $G$ are connected by a path whose edge has distinct colors. A graph $G$ is {\it $k$-rainbow connected} if one can use $k$ colors to make $G$ rainbow connected. For integers $n$ and $d$ let $t(n,d)$ denote the minimum size (number of edges) in $k$-rainbow connected graphs of order $n$. Schiermeyer got some exact values and upper bounds for $t(n,d)$. However, he did not get a lower bound of $t(n,d)$ for $3\leq d<\lceil\frac{n}{2}\rceil $. In this paper, we improve his lowe…
A k-connected graph such that deleting any edge / deleting any vertex / contracting any edge results in a graph which is not k-connected is called minimally / critically / contraction-critically k-connected. These three classes play a prominent role in graph connectivity theory, and we give a brief introduction with a light emphasis on reduction- and construction theorems for classes of k-connected graphs.
By generalizing a recent result of Hong, Liu, and Lai on characterizing the degree-sequences of simple strongly connected directed graphs, a characterization is provided for degree-sequences of simple $k$-node-connected digraphs. More generally, we solve the directed node-connectivity augmentation problem when the augmented digraph is degree-specified and simple. As for edge-connectivity augmentation, we solve the special case when the edge-connectivity is to be increased by one and the augmenting digraph must be simple.
Among all simple 2-connected graphs, and among all $θ$-graphs, the graphs with the minimum algebraic connectivity are completely determined, respectively.
We attempt to generalize a theorem of Nash-Williams stating that a graph has a $k$-arc-connected orientation if and only if it is $2k$-edge-connected. In a strongly connected digraph we call an arc {\it deletable} if its deletion leaves a strongly connected digraph. Given a $3$-edge-connected graph $G$, we define its Frank number $f(G)$ to be the minimum number $k$ such that there exist $k$ orientations of $G$ with the property that every edge becomes a deletable arc in at least one of these orientations. We are interested in finding a good upper bound for the Frank number. We prove that $f(G)…
In 1983 Kalai proved an incredible generalisation of Cayley's formula for the number of trees on a labelled vertex set to a formula for a class of $r$-dimensional simplicial complexes. These simplicial complexes generalise trees by means of being homologically $\Bbb Q$-acyclic. In this text we consider a different generalisation of trees to the class of pure dimensional simplicial complexes that \textit{minimally connect a vertex set} (in the sense that the removal of any top dimensional face disconnects the complex). Our main result provides an upper and lower bound for the number of these mi…
In this paper we consider the following problem: Over the class of all simple connected graphs of order $n$ with $k$ pendant vertices ($n,k$ being fixed), which graph maximizes (respectively, minimizes) the algebraic connectivity? We also discuss the algebraic connectivity of unicyclic graphs.
Hasunuma [J. Graph Theory 102 (2023) 423-435] conjectured that for any tree $T$ of order $m$, every $k$-connected (or $k$-edge-connected) graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $k+m-1$ contains a tree $T'\cong T$ such that $G-E(T')$ is still $k$-connected (or $k$-edge connected). Hasunuma verified this conjecture for $k\leq 2$. In this paper, we confirm this conjecture for $k=3$.
The dual of a polyhedron is a polyhedron -- or in graph theoretical terms: the dual of a 3-connected plane graph is a 3-connected plane graph. Astonishingly, except for sufficiently large facewidth, not much is known about the connectivity of the dual on higher surfaces. Are the duals of 3-connected embedded graphs of higher genus 3-connected, too? If not: which connectivity guarantees 3-connectedness of the dual? In this article, we give answers to this and related questions. Among other things, we prove that there is no connectivity that for every genus guarantees the 3-connectedness or 2-co…
In 2010, Mader [W. Mader, Connectivity keeping paths in $k$-connected graphs, J. Graph Theory 65 (2010) 61-69.] proved that every $k$-connected graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $\lfloor\frac{3k}{2}\rfloor+m-1$ contains a path $P$ of order $m$ such that $G-V(P)$ is still $k$-connected. In this paper, we consider similar problem for bipartite graphs, and prove that every $k$-connected bipartite graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $k+m$ contains a path $P$ of order $m$ such that $G-V(P)$ is still $k$-connected.
The connectivity of a network directly signifies its reliability and fault-tolerance. Structure and substructure connectivity are two novel generalizations of the connectivity. Let $H$ be a subgraph of a connected graph $G$. The structure connectivity (resp. substructure connectivity) of $G$, denoted by $κ(G;H)$ (resp. $κ^s(G;H)$), is defined to be the minimum cardinality of a set $F$ of connected subgraphs in $G$, if exists, whose removal disconnects $G$ and each element of $F$ is isomorphic to $H$ (resp. a subgraph of $H$). In this paper, we shall establish both $κ(BH_n;H)$ and $κ^s(BH_n;H)$…
We initiate the study of $k$-edge-connected orientations of undirected graphs through edge flips for $k \geq 2$. We prove that in every orientation of an undirected $2k$-edge-connected graph, there exists a sequence of edges such that flipping their directions one by one does not decrease the edge-connectivity, and the final orientation is $k$-edge-connected. This yields an ``edge-flip based'' new proof of Nash-Williams' theorem: an undirected graph $G$ has a $k$-edge-connected orientation if and only if $G$ is $2k$-edge-connected. As another consequence of the theorem, we prove that the edge-…
An edge colored graph $G$ is rainbow edge connected if any two vertices are connected by a path whose edges have distinct colors. The rainbow connectivity of a connected graph $G$, denoted by $rc(G)$, is the smallest number of colors that are needed in order to make $G$ rainbow connected. In this work we study the rainbow connectivity of binomial random graphs at the connectivity threshold $p=\frac{\log n+\om}{n}$ where $\om=\om(n)\to\infty$ and ${\om}=o(\log{n})$ and of random $r$-regular graphs where $r \geq 3$ is a fixed integer. Specifically, we prove that the rainbow connectivity $rc(G)$ …
In [W. Mader, Connectivity keeping paths in $k$-connected graphs, J. Graph Theory 65 (2010) 61-69.], Mader conjectured that for every positive integer $k$ and every finite tree $T$ with order $m$, every $k$-connected, finite graph $G$ with $δ(G)\geq \lfloor\frac{3}{2}k\rfloor+m-1$ contains a subtree $T'$ isomorphic to $T$ such that $G-V(T')$ is $k$-connected. In the same paper, Mader proved that the conjecture is true when $T$ is a path. Diwan and Tholiya [A.A. Diwan, N.P. Tholiya, Non-separating trees in connected graphs, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 5235-5237.] verified the conjecture when $k=1…
We perform a systematic study in the computational complexity of the connected variant of three related transversal problems: Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set, and Odd Cycle Transversal. Just like their original counterparts, these variants are NP-complete for general graphs. A graph $G$ is $H$-free for some graph $H$ if $G$ contains no induced subgraph isomorphic to $H$. It is known that Connected Vertex Cover is NP-complete even for $H$-free graphs if $H$ contains a claw or a cycle. We show that the two other connected variants also remain NP-complete if $H$ contains a cycle or claw. In the…
Let $q(G)$ denote the $Q$-index of a graph $G$, which is the largest signless Laplacian eigenvalue of $G$. We prove best possible upper bounds of $q(G)$ and best possible lower bounds of $q(\overline{G})$ for a connected graph $G$ to be $k$-connected and maximally connected, respectively. Similar upper bounds of $q(G)$ and lower bounds of $q(\overline{G})$ to assure $G$ to be super-connected are also obtained. Upper bounds of $q(G)$ and lower bounds of $q(\overline{G})$ to assure a connected triangle-free graph $G$ to be $k$-connected, maximally connected and super-connected are also respectiv…
Mixed connectivity is a generalization of vertex and edge connectivity. A graph is $(p,0)$-connected, $p>0$, if the graph remains connected after removal of any $p-1$ vertices. A graph is $(p,q)$-connected, $p\geq 0$, $q>0$, if it remains connected after removal of any $p$ vertices and any $q-1$ edges. Cartesian graph bundles are graphs that generalize both covering graphs and Cartesian graph products. It is shown that if graph $F$ is $(p_{F},q_{F})$-connected and graph $B$ is $(p_{B},q_{B})$-connected, then Cartesian graph bundle $G$ with fibre $F$ over the base graph $B$ is $(p_{F}+p_{B},q_{…
Let $S,T$ be two distinct finite Abelian groups with $|S|=|T|$. A fundamental theorem of Tutte shows that a graph admits a nowhere-zero $S$-flow if and only if it admits a nowhere-zero $T$-flow. Jaeger, Linial, Payan and Tarsi in 1992 introduced group connectivity as an extension of flow theory, and they asked whether such a relation holds for group connectivity analogy. It was negatively answered by Hušek, Mohelníková and Šámal in 2017 for graphs with edge-connectivity 2 for the groups $S=\mathbb{Z}_4$ and $T=\mathbb{Z}_2^2$. In this paper, we extend their results to $3$-edge-connected graphs…
For a graph $G$, $k(G)$ denotes its connectivity. A graph is super connected if every minimum vertex-cut isolates a vertex. Also $k_{1}$-connectivity of a connected graph is the minimum number of vertices whose deletion gives a disconnected graph without isolated vertices. This paper provides bounds for the super connectivity and $k_{1}$-connectivity of the lexicographic product of two graphs.
A connected graph $G$ is said to be $k$-connected if it has more than $k$ vertices and remains connected whenever fewer than $k$ vertices are deleted. In this paper, for a connected graph $G$ with sufficiently large order, we present a tight sufficient condition for $G$ with fixed minimum degree to be $k$-connected based on the $Q$-index. Our result can be viewed as a spectral counterpart of the corresponding Dirac type condition.
A graph $G$ is said to be $k$-$γ_{c}$-critical if the connected domination number $γ_{c}(G) = k$ and $γ_{c}(G + uv) < k$ for every $uv \in E(\overline{G})$. Let $δ, κ$ and $α$ be respectively the minimum degree, the connectivity and the independence number. In this paper, we show that a $3$-$γ_{c}$-critical graph $G$ satisfies $α\leq κ+ 2$. Moreover, if $κ\geq 3$, then $α= κ+ p$ if and only if $α= δ+ p$ for all $p \in \{1, 2\}$. We show that the condition $κ+ 1 \leq α\leq κ+ 2$ is best possible to prove that $κ= δ$. By these result, we conclude our paper with an open problem on Hamiltonian con…
Brylawski and Seymour independently proved that if $M$ is a connected matroid with a connected minor $N$, and $e \in E(M) - E(N)$, then $M \backslash e$ or $M / e$ is connected having $N$ as a minor. This paper proves an analogous but somewhat weaker result for $2$-polymatroids. Specifically, if $M$ is a connected $2$-polymatroid with a proper connected minor $N$, then there is an element $e$ of $E(M) - E(N)$ such that $M \backslash e$ or $M / e$ is connected having $N$ as a minor. We also consider what can be said about the uniqueness of the way in which the elements of $E(M) - E(N)$ can be r…
Fleischner introduced the idea of splitting a vertex of degree at least three in a connected graph and used the operation to characterize Eulerian graphs. Raghunathan et. al. extended the splitting operation from graphs to binary matroids. It has been studied that splitting operation, in general, may not preserve the connectedness of the binary matroid. Interestingly, it is true that the splitting matroid of a disconnected matroid may be connected. In this paper, we characterize the binary disconnected matroids whose splitting matroid is connected.
If a biconnected graph stays connected after the removal of an arbitrary vertex and an arbitrary edge, then it is called 2.5-connected. We prove that every biconnected graph has a canonical decomposition into 2.5-connected components. These components are arranged in a tree-structure. We also discuss the connection between 2.5-connected components and triconnected components and use this to present a linear-time algorithm which computes the 2.5-connected components of a graph. We show that every critical 2.5-connected graph other than K4 can be obtained from critical 2.5-connected graphs of sm…
We investigate how the algebraic connectivity of a graph changes by relocating a connected branch from one vertex to another vertex, and then minimize the algebraic connectivity among all connected graphs of order $n$ with fixed domination number $γ\le \frac{n+2}{3}$, and finally present a lower bound for the algebraic connectivity in terms of the domination number.
Let $D$ be a strongly connected digraph. An arc set $S$ of $D$ is a \emph{restricted arc-cut} of $D$ if $D-S$ has a non-trivial strong component $D_{1}$ such that $D-V(D_{1})$ contains an arc. The \emph{restricted arc-connectivity} $λ'(D)$ of a digraph $D$ is the minimum cardinality over all restricted arc-cuts of $D$. A strongly connected digraph $D$ is \emph{$λ'$-connected} when $λ'(D)$ exists. This paper presents a family $\cal{F}$ of strong digraphs of girth four that are not $λ'$-connected and for every strong digraph $D\notin \cal{F}$ with girth four it follows that it is $λ'$-connected.…
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a multigraph (it has multiple edges, but no loops). The edge connectivity, denoted by $λ(G)$, is the cardinality of a minimum edge-cut of $G$. We call $G$ maximally edge-connected if $λ(G)=δ(G)$, and $G$ super edge-connected if every minimum edge-cut is a set of edges incident with some vertex. The restricted edge-connectivity $λ'(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum number of edges whose removal disconnects $G$ into non-trivial components. If $λ'(G)$ achieves the upper bound of restricted edge-connectivity, then $G$ is said to be $λ'$-optimal. A bipartite multigraph is said to be half-t…
We show that for every l, there exists d_l such that every 3-edge-connected graph with minimum degree d_l can be edge-partitioned into paths of length l (provided that its number of edges is divisible by l). This improves a result asserting that 24-edge-connectivity and high minimum degree provides such a partition. This is best possible as 3-edge-connectivity cannot be replaced by 2-edge connectivity.
A connected graph $G$ is called strongly Menger edge connected if $G$ has min\{deg$_G(x)$, deg$_G(y)$\} edge-disjoint paths between any two distinct vertices $x$ and $y$ in $G$. In this paper, we consider two types of strongly Menger edge connectivity of the line graphs of $n$-dimensional hypercube-like networks with faulty edges, namely the $m$-edge-fault-tolerant and $m$-conditional edge-fault-tolerant strongly Menger edge connectivity. We show that the line graph of any $n$-dimensional hypercube-like network is $(2n-4)$-edge-fault-tolerant strongly Menger edge connected for $n\geq 3$ and $(…
Directed graphs are widely used in modelling of nonsymmetric relations in various sciences and engineering disciplines. We discuss invariants of strongly connected directed graphs - minimal number of vertices or edges necessary to remove to make remaining graphs not strongly connected. By analogy with undirected graphs these invariants are called strong vertex/edge connectivities. We review some properties of these invariants. Computational results for some publicly available connectome graphs used in neuroscience are described.
The connectivity and edge connectivity of interconnection network determine the fault tolerance of the network. An interconnection network is usually viewed as a connected graph, where vertex corresponds processor and edge corresponds link between two distinct processors. Given a connected graph $G$ with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$, if for any two distinct vertices $u,v\in V(G)$, there exist $\min\{d_G(u),d_G(v)\}$ edge-disjoint paths between $u$ and $v$, then $G$ is strongly Menger edge connected. Let $m$ be an integer with $m\geq1$. If $G-F_e$ remains strongly Menger edge connected…
