Let $T$ be a tree. A vertex of degree one is a \emph{leaf} of $T$ and a vertex of degree at least three is a \emph{branch vertex} of $T$. A graph is said to be \emph{$K_{1,4}$-free} if it does not contain $K_{1,4}$ as an induced subgraph. In this paper, we study the spanning trees with a bounded number of leaves and branch vertices of $K_ {1,4}$-free graphs. Applying the main results, we also give some improvements of previous results on the spanning tree with few branch vertices for the case of $K_{1,4}$-free graphs.
In this paper, we prove that every $n$-vertex connected $K_{1,5}$-free graph $G$ with $σ_4(G)\geq n-1$ contains a spanning tree with at most $5$ leaves and branch vertices in total. Moreover, the degree sum condition "$σ_4(G)\geq n-1$" is best possible.
In 2009, Kyaw proved that every $n$-vertex connected $K_{1,4}$-free graph $G$ with $σ_4(G)\geq n-1$ contains a spanning tree with at most $3$ leaves. In this paper, we prove an analogue of Kyaw's result for connected $K_{1,5}$-free graphs. We show that every $n$-vertex connected $K_{1,5}$-free graph $G$ with $σ_5(G)\geq n-1$ contains a spanning tree with at most $4$ leaves. Moreover, the degree sum condition `$σ_5(G)\geq n-1$' is best possible.
Let $T$ be a tree, a vertex of degree one is called a leaf. The set of leaves of $T$ is denoted by $Leaf(T)$. The subtree $T-Leaf(T)$ of $T$ is called the stem of $T$ and denoted by $Stem(T).$ In this note, we give a sharp sufficient condition to show that a $K_{1,t}-$free graph has a spanning tree whose stem has a few leaves. By applying the main result, we give improvements of previous related results.
It is known that graphs on n vertices with minimum degree at least 3 have spanning trees with at least n/4+2 leaves and that this can be improved to (n+4)/3 for cubic graphs without the diamond K_4-e as a subgraph. We generalize the second result by proving that every graph with minimum degree at least 3, without diamonds and certain subgraphs called blossoms, has a spanning tree with at least (n+4)/3 leaves, and generalize this further by allowing vertices of lower degree. We show that it is necessary to exclude blossoms in order to obtain a bound of the form n/3+c. We use the new bound to ob…
We prove that every connected graph with $s$ vertices of degree~1 and 3 and $t$ vertices of degree at least~4 has a spanning tree with at least ${1\over 3}t +{1\over 4}s+{3\over 2}$ leaves. We present infinite series of graphs showing that our bound is tight.
We prove that every connected graph with $s$ vertices of degree not 2 has a spanning tree with at least ${1\over 4}(s-2)+2$ leaves. Let $G$ be a be a connected graph of girth $g$ with $v>1$ vertices. Let maximal chain of successively adjacent vertices of degree 2 in the graph $G$ does not exceed $k\ge 1$. We prove that $G$ has a spanning tree with at least $α_{g,k}(v(G)-k-2)+2$ leaves, where $α_{g,k}= {[{g+1\over2}]\over [{g+1\over2}](k+3)+1}$ for $k<g-2$; $α_{g,k}= {g-2\over (g-1)(k+2)}$ for $k\ge g-2$. We present infinite series of examples showing that all these bounds are exact.
Let $T$ be a tree, a vertex of degree one is a leaf of $T$ and a vertex of degree at least three is a branch vertex of $T$. For two distinct vertices $u,v$ of $T$, let $P_T[u,v]$ denote the unique path in $T$ connecting $u$ and $v.$ For a leaf $x$ of $T$, let $y_x$ denote the nearest branch vertex to $x$. For every leaf $x$ of $T$, we remove the path $P_T [x, y_x)$ from $T$, where $P_T [x, y_x)$ denotes the path connecting $x$ to $y_x$ in $T$ but not containing $y_x$. The resulting subtree of $T$ is called the {\it reducible stem } of $T$. In this paper, we first use a new technique of Gould a…
We prove, that every connected graph with $s$ vertices of degree 3 and $t$ vertices of degree at least~4 has a spanning tree with at least ${2\over 5}t +{1\over 5}s+α$ leaves, where $α\ge {8\over 5}$. Moreover, $α\ge 2$ for all graphs besides three exclusions. All exclusion are regular graphs of degree~4, they are explicitly described in the paper. We present infinite series of graphs, containing only vertices of degrees~3 and~4, for which the maximal number of leaves in a spanning tree is equal for ${2\over 5}t +{1\over 5}s+2$. Therefore we prove that our bound is tight.
In this article, we will prove that if $G$ is a connected claw-free graph and either $σ_6(G)\geq |G|-5$ or $σ_7(G)\geq |G|-2$, here $σ_k(G)$ is the minimmum degree sum of $k$ independent vertices in $G$, then $G$ has a spanning tree with at most two branch vertices.
A $p$-caterpillar is a caterpillar such that every non-leaf vertex is adjacent to exactly $p$ leaves. We give a tight minimum degree condition for a graph to have a spanning $p$-caterpillar.
Let $R$ and $B$ be a set of red points and a set of blue points in the plane, respectively, such that $R\cup B$ is in general position, and let $f:R \to \{2,3,4, \ldots \}$ be a function. We show that if $2\le |B|\le \sum_{x\in R}(f(x)-2) + 2$, then there exists a non-crossing geometric spanning tree $T$ on $R\cup B$ such that $2\le \operatorname{deg}_T(x)\le f(x)$ for every $x\in R$ and the set of leaves of $T$ is $B$, where every edge of $T$ is a straight-line segment.
A vertex of degree one in a tree is called an end vertex and a vertex of degree at least three is called a branch vertex. For a graph $G$, let $σ_2$ be the minimum degree sum of two nonadjacent vertices in $G$. We consider tree problems arising in the context of optical and centralized terminal networks: finding a spanning tree of G (i) with the minimum number of end vertices, (ii) with the minimum number of branch vertices and (iii) with the minimum degree sum of the branch vertices, motivated by network design problems where junctions are significantly more expensive than simple end- or thro…
Let $T$ be a tree, a vertex of degree one and a vertex of degree at least three is called a leaf and a branch vertex, respectively. The set of leaves of $T$ is denoted by $Leaf(T)$. The subtree $T-Leaf(T)$ of $T$ is called the stem of $T$ and denoted by $Stem(T).$ In this paper, we give two sufficient conditions for a connected claw-free graph to have a spanning tree whose stem has a bounded number of branch vertices, and those conditions are best possible. As corollaries of main results we also give some conditions to show that a connected claw-free graph has a spanning tree whose stem is a s…
A tree with at most $k$ leaves is called a $k$-ended tree. A spanning 2-ended tree is a Hamilton path. A Hamilton cycle can be considered as a spanning 1-ended tree. The earliest result concerning spanning trees with few leaves states that if $k$ is a positive integer and $G$ is a connected graph of order $n$ with $d(x)+d(y)\ge n-k+1$ for each pair of nonadjacent vertices $x,y$, then $G$ has a spanning $k$-ended tree. In this paper, we improve this result in two ways, and an analogous result is proved for dominating $k$-ended trees based on the generalized parameter $t_k$ - the order of a larg…
A tree with at most k leaves is called k-ended tree, and a tree with exactly k leaves is called k-end tree, where a leaf is a vertex of degree one. Contraction of a graph G along the edge e means deleting the edge e and identifying its end vertices and deleting all edges between every two vertex except one edge to gain again a simple graph and is denoted bye G/e. In this paper we prove some theorems related to a graph and its contraction. For example we prove the following theorem. If G is a connected graph that has a spanning k-end tree and |V (G)| > K + 1 then there exist an edge e such G/e …
We study the problem of maximizing the number of full degree vertices in a spanning tree $T$ of a graph $G$; that is, the number of vertices whose degree in $T$ equals its degree in $G$. In cubic graphs, this problem is equivalent to maximizing the number of leaves in $T$ and minimizing the size of a connected dominating set of $G$. We provide an algorithm which produces (w.h.p.) a tree with at least $0.4591n$ vertices of full degree (and also, leaves) when run on a random cubic graph. This improves the previously best known lower bound of $0.4146 n$. We also provide lower bounds on the number…
A tree is called k-ended tree if it has at most k leaves, where a leaf is a vertex of degree one. In this paper we prove that every 3-regular connected graph with n vertices such that n is greater than 8 has spanning sub tree with at most [(2n+4)/9]-ended tree. At the end we give a conjecture about spanning k-ended trees on 3-regular connected graphs.
Let $L(G)$ denote the maximum number of leaves in any spanning tree of a connected graph $G$. We show the (known) result that for the $n$-cube $Q_n$, $L(Q_n) \sim 2^n = |V(Q_n)|$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$. Examining this more carefully, consider the minimum size of a connected dominating set of vertices $γ_c(Q_n)$, which is $2^n-L(Q_n)$ for $n\ge2$. We show that $γ_c(Q_n)\sim 2^n/n$. We use Hamming codes and an "expansion" method to construct leafy spanning trees in $Q_n$.
In this paper, we provide algorithms to rank and unrank certain degree-restricted classes of Cayley trees (spanning trees of the n-vertex complete graph). Specifically, we consider classes of trees that have a given set of leaves or a fixed number k of leaves. For fixed k, the number of Cayley trees with n vertices and k leaves grows roughly as n! and hence the ranks have O(nlog_2(n)) bits. Our ranking and unranking algorithms require at most O(n^2) comparisons of numbers less than or equal to n plus O(n) operations of multiplication, division, addition, substraction and comparision on numbers…
A branch vertex in a tree is a vertex of degree at least three. We prove that, for all $s\geq 1$, every connected graph on $n$ vertices with minimum degree at least $(\frac{1}{s+3}+o(1))n$ contains a spanning tree having at most $s$ branch vertices. Asymptotically, this is best possible and solves, in less general form, a problem of Flandrin, Kaiser, Kuuzel, Li and Ryjáucek, which was originally motivated by an optimization problem in the design of optical networks.
For integer $k\geq2,$ a spanning $k$-ended-tree is a spanning tree with at most $k$ leaves. Motivated by the closure theorem of Broersma and Tuinstra [Independence trees and Hamilton cycles, J. Graph Theory 29 (1998) 227--237], we provide tight spectral conditions to guarantee the existence of a spanning $k$-ended-tree in a connected graph of order $n$ with extremal graphs being characterized. Moreover, by adopting Kaneko's theorem [Spanning trees with constraints on the leaf degree, Discrete Appl. Math. 115 (2001) 73--76], we also present tight spectral conditions for the existence of a spann…
It is proved that if $G$ is a graph containing a spanning tree with at most three leaves, then the chromatic polynomial of $G$ has no roots in the interval $(1,t_1]$, where $t_1 \approx 1.2904$ is the smallest real root of the polynomial $(t-2)^6 +4(t-1)^2(t-2)^3 -(t-1)^4$. We also construct a family of graphs containing such spanning trees with chromatic roots converging to $t_1$ from above. We employ the Whitney $2$-switch operation to manage the analysis of an infinite class of chromatic polynomials.
A spanning tree with no vertices of degree 2 is called a Homeomorphically irreducible spanning tree\,(HIST). Based on a HIST embedded in the plane, a Halin graph is formed by connecting the leaves of the tree into a cycle following the cyclic order determined by the embedding. Both of the determination problems of whether a graph contains a HIST or whether a graph contains a spanning Halin graph are shown to be NP-complete. It was conjectured by Albertson, Berman, Hutchinson, and Thomassen in 1990 that a {\it every surface triangulation of at least four vertices contains a HIST}\,(confirmed). …
We prove that, if $m$ is sufficiently large, every graph on $m+1$ vertices that has a universal vertex and minimum degree at least $\lfloor \frac{2m}{3} \rfloor$ contains each tree $T$ with $m$ edges as a subgraph. Our result confirms, for large $m$, an important special case of a conjecture by Havet, Reed, Stein, and Wood. The present paper builds on the results of a companion paper in which we proved the statement for all trees having a vertex that is adjacent to many leaves.
Choi et. al (2011) introduced a minimum spanning tree (MST)-based method called CLGrouping, for constructing tree-structured probabilistic graphical models, a statistical framework that is commonly used for inferring phylogenetic trees. While CLGrouping works correctly if there is a unique MST, we observe an indeterminacy in the method in the case that there are multiple MSTs. In this work we remove this indeterminacy by introducing so-called vertex-ranked MSTs. We note that the effectiveness of CLGrouping is inversely related to the number of leaves in the MST. This motivates the problem of f…
A subgraph H= (V, F) of a graph G= (V,E) is non-separating if G-F, that is, the graph obtained from G by deleting the edges in F, is connected. Analogously we say that a subdigraph X= (V,B) of a digraph D= (V,A) is non-separating if D-B is strongly connected. We study non-separating spanning trees and out-branchings in digraphs of independence number 2. Our main results are that every 2-arc-strong digraph D of independence number alpha(D) = 2 and minimum in-degree at least 5 and every 2-arc-strong oriented graph with alpha(D) = 2 and minimum in-degree at least 3 has a non-separating out-branch…
The existence of a spanning tree with leaf distance at least $d$ and leaf degree at most $k$ via the size or the spectral radius with respect to the minimum degree
We derive tight bounds on the expected weights of several combinatorial optimization problems for random point sets of size $n$ distributed among the leaves of a balanced hierarchically separated tree. We consider {\it monochromatic} and {\it bichromatic} versions of the minimum matching, minimum spanning tree, and traveling salesman problems. We also present tight concentration results for the monochromatic problems.
Let $G$ be an $n$-vertex graph with $n\ge 3$. A classic result of Dirac from 1952 asserts that $G$ is hamiltonian if $δ(G)\ge n/2$. Dirac's theorem is one of the most influential results in the study of hamiltonicity and by now there are many related known results\,(see, e.g., J. A. Bondy, Basic Graph Theory: Paths and Circuits, Chapter 1 in: {\it Handbook of Combinatorics Vol.1}). A {\it Halin graph} is a planar graph consisting of two edge-disjoint subgraphs: a spanning tree of at least 4 vertices and with no vertex of degree 2, and a cycle induced on the set of the leaves of the spanning tr…
We study approaches for the exact solution of the \NP--hard minimum spanning tree problem under conflict constraints. Given a graph $G(V,E)$ and a set $C \subset E \times E$ of conflicting edge pairs, the problem consists of finding a conflict-free minimum spanning tree, i.e. feasible solutions are allowed to include at most one of the edges from each pair in $C$. The problem was introduced recently in the literature, with several results on its complexity and approximability. Some formulations and both exact and heuristic algorithms were also discussed, but computational results indicate cons…
We consider the polyhedral properties of two spanning tree problems with additional constraints. In the first problem, it is required to find a tree with a minimum sum of edge weights among all spanning trees with the number of leaves less or equal a given value. In the second problem, an additional constraint is the assumption that the degree of all vertices of the spanning tree does not exceed a given value. The decision versions of both problems are NP-complete. We consider the polytopes of these problems and their 1-skeletons. We prove that in both cases it is a NP-complete problem to dete…
Trees with labelled leaves and with all other vertices of degree three play an important role in systematic biology and other areas of classification. A classical combinatorial result ensures that such trees can be uniquely reconstructed from the distances between the leaves (when the edges are given any strictly positive lengths). Moreover, a linear number of these pairwise distance values suffices to determine both the tree and its edge lengths. A natural set of pairs of leaves is provided by any `triplet cover' of the tree (based on the fact that each non-leaf vertex is the median vertex of…
In 1998, Broersma and Tuinstra [J. Graph Theory \textbf{29} (1998), 227-237] proved that if $G$ is a connected graph satisfying $σ_2(G) \geq |G|-k+1$ then $G$ has a spanning $k-$ended tree. They also gave an example to show that the condition "$σ_2(G) \geq |G|-k+1$" is sharp. In this paper, we introduce a new progress for this result. Let $K_{m,m+k}$ be a complete bipartite graph with bipartition $V(K_{m,m+k})=A\cup B, |A|=m, |B|=m+k.$ Denote by $H$ to be the graph obtained from $K_{m,m+k}$ by adding (or no adding) some edges with two end vertices in $A.$ We prove that if $G$ is a connected gr…
A tanglegram consists of two binary rooted trees with the same number of leaves and a perfect matching between the leaves of the trees. We show that the two halves of a random tanglegram essentially look like two independently chosen random plane binary trees. This fact is used to derive a number of results on the shape of random tanglegrams, including theorems on the number of cherries and generally occurrences of subtrees, the root branches, the number of automorphisms, and the height. For each of these, we obtain limiting probabilities or distributions. Finally, we investigate the number of…
Let $G$ be a connected graph in which almost all vertices have linear degrees and let $T$ be a uniform spanning tree of $G$. For any fixed rooted tree $F$ of height $r$ we compute the asymptotic density of vertices $v$ for which the $r$-ball around $v$ in $T$ is isomorphic to $F$. We deduce from this that if $\{G_n\}$ is a sequence of such graphs converging to a graphon $W$, then the uniform spanning tree of $G_n$ locally converges to a multi-type branching process defined in terms of $W$. As an application, we prove that in a graph with linear minimum degree, with high probability, the densit…
Uniform spanning trees are a statistical model obtained by taking the set of all spanning trees on a given graph (such as a portion of a cubic lattice in d dimensions), with equal probability for each distinct tree. Some properties of such trees can be obtained in terms of the Laplacian matrix on the graph, by using Grassmann integrals. We use this to obtain exact exponents that bound those for the power-law decay of the probability that k distinct branches of the tree pass close to each of two distinct points, as the size of the lattice tends to infinity.
This paper studies Minimum Spanning Trees under incomplete information for its vertices. We assume that no information is available on the precise placement of vertices so that it is only known that vertices belong to some neighborhoods that are second order cone representable and distances are measured with a $\ell_q$-norm. Two mixed integer non linear mathematical programming formulations are presented, based on alternative representations of subtour elimination constraints. A solution scheme is also proposed, resulting from a reformulation suitable for a Benders-like decomposition, which is…
Let $\mathcal{T}$ be an unrooted binary tree with $n$ distinctly labelled leaves. Deriving its name from the field of phylogenetics, a convex character on $\mathcal{T}$ is simply a partition of the leaves such that the minimal spanning subtrees induced by the blocks of the partition are mutually disjoint. In earlier work Kelk and Stamoulis (Advances in Applied Mathematics 84 (2017), pp. 34--46) defined $g_k(\mathcal{T})$ as the number of convex characters where each block has at least $k$ leaves. Exact expressions were given for $g_1$ and $g_2$, where the topology of $\mathcal{T}$ turns out to…
