English

An example showing that Schrijver's $\vartheta$-function need not upper bound the Shannon capacity of a graph

Combinatorics 2025-07-03 v3 Information Theory math.IT

Abstract

This letter addresses an open question concerning a variant of the Lov\'{a}sz ϑ\vartheta function, which was introduced by Schrijver and independently by McEliece et al. (1978). The question of whether this variant provides an upper bound on the Shannon capacity of a graph was explicitly stated by Bi and Tang (2019). This letter presents an explicit example of a Tanner graph on 32 vertices, which shows that, in contrast to the Lov\'{a}sz ϑ\vartheta function, this variant does not necessarily upper bound the Shannon capacity of a graph. The example, previously outlined by the author in a recent paper (2024), is presented here in full detail, making it easy to follow and verify. By resolving this question, the note clarifies a subtle but significant distinction between these two closely related graph invariants.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2505.07778,
  title  = {An example showing that Schrijver's $\vartheta$-function need not upper bound the Shannon capacity of a graph},
  author = {Igal Sason},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.07778},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/math.2025685