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For a graph $G$ in which vertices are either black or white, a zero forcing process is an iterative vertex color changing process such that the only white neighbor of a black vertex becomes black in the next time step. A zero forcing set is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-08-26 Hau-Yi Lin , Wu-Hsiung Lin , Gerard Jennhwa Chang

Zero forcing in graphs is a coloring process where a colored vertex can force its unique uncolored neighbor to be colored. A zero forcing set is a set of initially colored vertices capable of eventually coloring all vertices of the graph.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-05-03 Krishna Menon , Anurag Singh

The concept of zero forcing is extended from graphs to uniform hypergraphs in analogy with the way zero forcing was defined as an upper bound for the maximum nullity of the family of symmetric matrices whose nonzero pattern of entries is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-08-30 Leslie Hogben

Several researchers have recently explored various graph parameters that can or cannot be characterized by the spectrum of a matrix associated with a graph. In this paper we show that several NP-hard zero forcing numbers are not…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-04-25 Aida Abiad , Boris Brimkov , Jane Breen , Thomas R. Cameron , Himanshu Gupta , Ralihe R. Villagrán

Zero forcing is a graph coloring process that is used to model spreading phenomena in real-world scenarios. It can also be viewed as a single-player combinatorial game on a graph, where the player's goal is to select a subset of vertices of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-05 Aida Abiad , Maryam Moghaddas

The \emph{zero forcing number}, $Z(G)$, of a graph $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a set $S$ of black vertices (whereas vertices in $V(G) \setminus S$ are colored white) such that $V(G)$ is turned black after finitely many applications of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-02-19 Linda Eroh , Cong X. Kang , Eunjeong Yi

In this paper we compare the brushing number of a graph with the zero-forcing number of its line graph. We prove that the zero-forcing number of the line graph is an upper bound for the brushing number by constructing a brush configuration…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-08-25 Aras Erzurumluoglu , David Pike , Karen Meagher

Amos et al. (Discrete Appl. Math. 181 (2015) 1-10) introduced the notion of the $k$-forcing number of graph for a positive integer $k$ as the generalization of the zero forcing number of a graph. The $k$-forcing number of a simple graph…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-07-07 Leihao Lu , Baoyindureng Wu , Zixing Tang

A connected forcing set of a graph is a zero forcing set that induces a connected subgraph. In this paper, we introduce and study CF-dense graphs -- graphs in which every vertex belongs to some minimum connected forcing set. We identify…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-07-16 Boris Brimkov , Randy Davila , Houston Schuerger

The zero forcing number Z(G), which is the minimum number of vertices in a zero forcing set of a graph G, is used to study the maximum nullity / minimum rank of the family of symmetric matrices described by G. It is shown that for a…

In this paper, we study (zero) forcing sets which induce connected subgraphs of a graph. The minimum cardinality of such a set is called the connected forcing number of the graph. We provide sharp upper and lower bounds on the connected…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-05-10 Randy Davila , Michael Henning , Colton Magnant , Ryan Pepper

We give an algorithm that finds a zero forcing set which approximates the optimal size by a factor of $\text{pw}(G)+1$, where $\text{pw}(G)$ is the pathwidth of $G$. Starting from a path decomposition, the algorithm runs in $O(nm)$ time,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-02-15 Ben Cameron , Jeannette Janssen , Rogers Matthew , Zhiyuan Zhang

A dynamic coloring of the vertices of a graph $G$ starts with an initial subset $S$ of colored vertices, with all remaining vertices being non-colored. At each discrete time interval, a colored vertex with exactly one non-colored neighbor…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-08-18 Randy Davila , Michael Henning

Zero forcing is a combinatorial game played on a graph with a goal of turning all of the vertices of the graph black while having to use as few "unforced" moves as possible. This leads to a parameter known as the zero forcing number which…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-11-21 Steve Butler , Jason Grout , H. Tracy Hall

Let $G$ be a graph that admits a perfect matching. A {\sf forcing set} for a perfect matching $M$ of $G$ is a subset $S$ of $M$, such that $S$ is contained in no other perfect matching of $G$. This notion originally arose in chemistry in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2009-03-17 Peyman Afshani , Hamed Hatami , Ebadollah S. Mahmoodian

The forcing number of a graph with a perfect matching $M$ is the minimum number of edges in $M$ whose endpoints need to be deleted, such that the remaining graph only has a single perfect matching. This number is of great interest in…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2024-02-01 Maximilian Gorsky , Fabian Kreßin

Zero forcing is a graph propagation process for which vertices fill-in (or propagate information to) neighbor vertices if all neighbors except for one, are filled. The zero-forcing number is the smallest number of vertices that must be…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-10-24 Heather LeClair , Tim Spilde , Sarah Anderson , Brenda Kroschel

Let $G$ be a simple, finite, and undirected graph with vertices each given an initial coloring of either blue or white. Zero forcing on graph $G$ is an iterative process of forcing its white vertices to become blue after a finite…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-02-11 Ma. Nerissa M. Abara , Prince Allan B. Pelayo

The \emph{zero forcing number} $Z(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a set $S$ of black vertices (whereas vertices in $V(G)\setminusS$ are colored white) such that $V(G)$ is turned black after finitely many applications of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-08-20 Cong X. Kang , Eunjeong Yi

Given a graph $G=(V,E)$ and a set of vertices marked as filled, we consider a color-change rule known as zero forcing. A set $S$ is a zero forcing set if filling $S$ and applying all possible instances of the color change rule causes all…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-08-16 Eric Ufferman , Nicolas Swanson