English

On Lexicographic Product and Multi-Word-Representability

Combinatorics 2026-04-07 v2 Discrete Mathematics

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between the lexicographic product of graphs and their multi-word-representation number. We establish bounds on the multi-word-representation number μ\mu for lexicographic powers and products. Specifically, if GG is a non-comparability graph, then μ(G[k])k\mu(G^{[k]}) \le k, whereas if GG is the union of two comparability graphs, then μ(G[k])=2\mu(G^{[k]}) = 2. More generally, let G1G_1 and G2G_2 be graphs with μ(G1)=k1\mu(G_1) = k_1 and μ(G2)=k2\mu(G_2) = k_2. For their lexicographic product H=G1G2H = G_1 \circ G_2, we have μ(H)k1+k2\mu(H) \le k_1 + k_2. This bound is tight: μ(H)=k1\mu(H) = k_1 when k1k2k_1 \ge k_2 and G2G_2 is the union of k1k_1 comparability graphs. Furthermore, if G1G_1 and G2G_2 are minimal non-word-representable graphs, then μ(G1G2)3\mu(G_1 \circ G_2) \le 3. Finally, we study the function τ(n)\tau(n), which measures the size of the largest word-representable induced subgraph guaranteed in every nn-vertex graph. By constructing extremal graphs via lexicographic powers, we establish a sublinear upper bound, showing that τ(n)n0.86\tau(n) \le n^{0.86} for sufficiently large nn.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.29629,
  title  = {On Lexicographic Product and Multi-Word-Representability},
  author = {Benny George Kenkireth and Gopalan Sajith and Sreyas Sasidharan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.29629},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:46:02.721Z