Related papers: A 2-chain can interlock with an open 10-chain
One of the open problems posed in [3] is: what is the minimal number k such that an open, flexible k-chain can interlock with a flexible 2-chain? In this paper, we establish the assumption behind this problem, that there is indeed some k…
An equilateral stick number $s_{=}(K)$ of a knot $K$ is defined to be the minimal number of sticks required to construct a polygonal knot of $K$ which consists of equal length sticks. Rawdon and Scharein [12] found upper bounds for the…
In this paper we compute the sharp lower bounds for the crossing number of $n$-string $k$-loop essential tangles. For essential tangles with only string components, we characterise the ones with the minimum crossing number for a given…
For a knot K, the concordance crosscap number, c(K), is the minimum crosscap number among all knots concordant to K. Building on work of G. Zhang, which studied the determinants of knots with c(K) < 2, we apply the Alexander polynomial to…
A connected graph $G$ with at least two vertices is matching covered if each of its edges lies in a perfect matching. A matching covered graph is minimal if the removal of any edge results in a graph that is no longer matching covered. An…
Polyominoes are a subset of polygons which can be constructed from integer-length squares fused at their edges. A system of polygons P is interlocked if no subset of the polygons in P can be removed arbitrarily far away from the rest. It is…
A knot is called minimal if its knot group admits epimorphisms onto the knot groups of only the trivial knot and itself. In this paper, we determine which two-bridge knot $\mathfrak{b}(p,q)$ is minimal where $q \leq 6$ or $p \leq 100$.
In the classic Minimum Bisection problem we are given as input a graph $G$ and an integer $k$. The task is to determine whether there is a partition of $V(G)$ into two parts $A$ and $B$ such that $||A|-|B|| \leq 1$ and there are at most $k$…
In interconnection networks, matching preclusion is a measure of robustness when there is a link failure. Let $G$ be a graph of even order. The matching preclusion number $mp(G)$ is defined as the minimum number of edges whose deletion…
In this article, we take a closer look at the reliability of large minimal networks constructed by repeated compositions of the simplest possible networks. For a given number of devices $n=2^m$ we define the set of all the possible…
A connected graph $G$ with a perfect matching is said to be $k$-extendable for integers $k$, $1 \leq k\leq \frac{|V(G)|}{2}-1$, if any matching in $G$ of size $k$ is contained in a perfect matching of $G$. A $k$-extendable graph is minimal…
We prove that the tunnel number of a satellite chain link with a number of components higher than or equal to twice the bridge number of the companion is as small as possible among links with the same number of components. We prove this…
Negami found an upper bound on the stick number $s(K)$ of a nontrivial knot $K$ in terms of the minimal crossing number $c(K)$ of the knot which is $s(K) \leq 2 c(K)$. Furthermore McCabe proved $s(K) \leq c(K) + 3$ for a $2$-bridge knot or…
We prove that every (6k + 2l, 2k)-connected simple graph contains k rigid and l connected edge-disjoint spanning subgraphs. This implies a theorem of Jackson and Jord\'an [4] and a theorem of Jord\'an [6] on packing of rigid spanning…
A graph $G$ is cyclically $c$-edge-connected if there is no set of fewer than $c$ edges that disconnects $G$ into at least two cyclic components. We prove that if a $(k, g)$-cage $G$ has at most $2M(k, g) - g^2$ vertices, where $M(k, g)$ is…
Flexible network design deals with building a network that guarantees some connectivity requirements between its vertices, even when some of its elements (like vertices or edges) fail. In particular, the set of edges (resp. vertices) of a…
We determine a lower bound for the number of edges of a 2-connected maximal nontraceable graph, and present a construction of an infinite family of maximal nontraceable graphs that realize this bound.
We study the interplay between entropy and topological constraints for a polymer chain in which sliding rings (slip-links) enforce pair contacts between monomers. These slip-links divide a closed ring polymer into a number of sub-loops…
We present a $\frac{10}{7}$-approximation algorithm for the minimum two-vertex-connected spanning subgraph problem.
It is known that there are 21 ribbon knots with 10 crossings or fewer. We show that for every ribbon knot, there exists a tangle that satisfies two properties associated with the knot. First, under a specific closure, the closed tangle is…