English

Extending Graph Burning to Hypergraphs

Combinatorics 2025-08-12 v2

Abstract

Graph burning is a round-based game or process that discretely models the spread of influence throughout a network. We introduce a generalization of graph burning which applies to hypergraphs, as well as a variant called ''lazy'' hypergraph burning. Interestingly, lazily burning a graph is trivial, while lazily burning a hypergraph can be quite complicated. Moreover, the lazy burning model is a useful tool for analyzing the round-based model. One of our key results is that arbitrary hypergraphs do not satisfy a bound analogous to the one in the Burning Number Conjecture for graphs. We also obtain bounds on the burning number and lazy burning number of a hypergraph in terms of its parameters, and present several open problems in the field of (lazy) hypergraph burning.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2403.01001,
  title  = {Extending Graph Burning to Hypergraphs},
  author = {Andrea C. Burgess and Caleb W. Jones and David A. Pike},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.01001},
  year   = {2025}
}