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We consider a variant of the game of Cops and Robbers, called Lazy Cops and Robbers, where at most one cop can move in any round. We investigate the analogue of the cop number for this game, which we call the lazy cop number. Lazy Cops and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-12-09 Deepak Bal , Anthony Bonato , William B. Kinnersley , Paweł Prałat

We show that if $\{G_n\}_{n\geq 1}$ is a sequence of graphs of order $n$ with bounded maximum degree and isoperimetric function $\Phi(G_n,n^{1-\alpha})$ bounded away from $0$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$, then the cop number of $G_n$ is at most…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-02-12 Alexander Clow

A dominating set of a graph is a subset $D$ of its vertices such that every vertex not in $D$ is adjacent to at least one member of $D$. The domination number of a graph $G$ is the number of vertices in a smallest dominating set of $G$. The…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-03-31 Dieter Mitsche , Xavier Pérez-Giménez , Pawel Prałat

A gambler moves on the vertices $1, \ldots, n$ of a graph using the probability distribution $p_{1}, \ldots, p_{n}$. A cop pursues the gambler on the graph, only being able to move between adjacent vertices. What is the expected number of…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2017-01-09 Jesse Geneson

We consider the minimum order graphs with a given cop number. We prove that the minimum order of a connected graph with cop number 3 is 10, and show that the Petersen graph is the unique isomorphism type of graph with this property. We…

The localization game is a pursuit-evasion game analogous to Cops and Robbers, where the robber is invisible and the cops send distance probes in an attempt to identify the location of the robber. We present a novel graph parameter called…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-05-21 Natalie C. Behague , Anthony Bonato , Melissa A. Huggan , Trent G. Marbach , Brittany Pittman

We study zombies and survivor, a variant of the game of cops and robber on graphs. In this variant, the single survivor plays the role of the robber and attempts to escape from the zombies that play the role of the cops. The zombies are…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-04-27 Prosenjit Bose , Jean-Lou De Carufel , Thomas Shermer

A subset $S$ of initially infected vertices of a graph $G$ is called forcing if we can infect the entire graph by iteratively applying the following process. At each step, any infected vertex which has a unique uninfected neighbour, infects…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-06-06 Thomas Kalinowski , Nina Kamčev , Benny Sudakov

We consider the model of limited visibility Cops and Robbers, where the cops can only see within their $l$-neighbourhood. We prove that the number of cops needed to see the robber can be arbitrarily smaller than the number needed to capture…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-07-02 Bojan Bašić , Alfie Davies , Aleksa Džuklevski , Strahinja Gvozdić , Yannick Mogge

The zero forcing number of a simple graph, written $Z(G)$, is a NP-hard graph invariant which is the result of the zero forcing color change rule. This graph invariant has been heavily studied by linear algebraists, physicists, and graph…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-02-12 Randy Davila , Michael Henning

We adapt the Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s path argument to prove that $t-2$ cops can capture a robber, in at most $t-1$ moves, in the game of cops and robbers played in a graph that does not contain the $t$-vertex path as an induced subgraph.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-03-06 Vaidy Sivaraman

We introduce the bodyguard problem for graphs. This is a variation of Surrounding Cops and Robber but, in this model, a smallest possible group of bodyguards must surround the president and then maintain this protection indefinitely. We…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-08-15 Nancy E. Clarke , Danny Dyer , William Kellough

We study a variation of the cops and robber game characterising treewidth, where in each play at most q cops can be placed in order to catch the robber, where q is a parameter of the game. We prove that if k cops have a winning strategy in…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2024-02-15 Isolde Adler , Eva Fluck

Given a finite, simple graph $G$, the independent bondage number of $G$ is the minimum size of an edge set such that its deletion results in a graph with strictly larger independent domination number than that of $G$. While the bondage…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-15 E. G. K. M. Gamlath , Andrew Pham , Bing Wei

In the Localization game played on graphs, a set of cops uses distance probes to identify the location of an invisible robber. We present an extension of the game and its main parameter, the localization number, to directed graphs. We…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-08-17 Anthony Bonato , Ryan Cushman , Trent G. Marbach , Brittany Pittman

We establish a lower bound for the cop number of graphs of high girth in terms of the minimum degree, and more generally, in terms of a certain growth condition. We show, in particular, that the cop number of any graph with girth $g$ and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-05-25 Peter Bradshaw , Seyyed Aliasghar Hosseini , Bojan Mohar , Ladislav Stacho

We present four models for a random graph and show that, in each case, the probability that a graph is intrinsically knotted goes to one as the number of vertices increases. We also argue that, for $k \geq 18$, most graphs of order $k$ are…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-11-27 Kazuhiro Ichihara , Thomas W. Mattman

Locating-dominating codes have been studied widely since their introduction in the 1980s by Slater and Rall. In this paper, we concentrate on vertices that must belong to all minimum locating-dominating codes in a graph. We call them…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-06 Ville Junnila , Tero Laihonen , Havu Miikonen

The zero forcing number and the positive zero forcing number of a graph are two graph parameters that arise from two types of graph colourings. The zero forcing number is an upper bound on the minimum number of induced paths in the graph,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-11-28 Fatemeh Alinaghipour Taklimi , Shaun Fallat , Karen Meagher

An isolating set of a graph is a set of vertices $S$ such that, if $S$ and its neighborhood is removed, only isolated vertices remain; and the isolation number is the minimum size of such a set. It is known that for every connected graph…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-03-14 Geoffrey Boyer , Wayne Goddard