Equality of Distance Packing Numbers

We characterize the graphs for which the independence number equals the packing number. As a consequence we obtain simple structural descriptions of the graphs for which (i) the distance-$k$-packing number equals the distance-$2k$-packing number, and (ii) the distance-$k$-matching number equals the distance-$2k$-matching number. This last result considerably simplifies and extends previous results of Cameron and Walker (The graphs with maximum induced matching and maximum matching the same size, Discrete Math. 299 (2005) 49-55). For positive integers $k_1$ and $k_2$ with $k_1<k_2$ and $\lceil(3k_2+1)/2\rceil\leq 2k_1+1$, we prove that it is NP-hard to determine for a given graph whether its distance-$k_1$-packing number equals its distance-$k_2$-packing number.