Related papers: Maximal Independent Sets in Polygonal Cacti
Maximum weight independent set (MWIS) admits a $\frac1k$-approximation in inductively $k$-independent graphs and a $\frac{1}{2k}$-approximation in $k$-perfectly orientable graphs. These are a a parameterized class of graphs that generalize…
The celebrated Hadwiger's conjecture states that if a graph contains no $K_{t+1}$ minor then it is $t$-colourable. If true, it would in particular imply that every $n$-vertex $K_{t+1}$-minor-free graph has an independent set of size at…
Fix a positive integer $n$ and consider the bipartite graph whose vertices are the $3$-element subsets and the $2$-element subsets of $[n]=\{1,2,\dots,n\}$, and there is an edge between $A$ and $B$ if $A\subset B$. We prove that the…
The independence polynomial $i(G,x)$ of a graph $G$ is the generating function of the numbers of independent sets of each size. A graph of order $n$ is very well-covered if every maximal independent set has size $n/2$. Levit and Mandrescu…
The independence gap of a graph was introduced by Ekim et al. (2018) as a measure of how far a graph is from being well-covered. It is defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum size of a maximal independent set. We…
The basic functional equations for connected and 2-connnected graphs can be traced back to the statistical physicists Mayer and Husimi. They play an essential role in establishing rigorously the virial expansion for imperfect gases. We…
In the 1970's, Lov\'asz built a bridge between graphs and alternating matrix spaces, in the context of perfect matchings (FCT 1979). A similar connection between bipartite graphs and matrix spaces plays a key role in the recent resolutions…
An ILD-set in a connected graph is a subset $S$ of vertices such that it is both independent and locating-dominating. The independent locating-dominating number of a graph G is the minimum cardinality of an ILD-set set of $G$. A well-known…
Extremal problems concerning the number of independent sets or complete subgraphs in a graph have been well studied in recent years. Cutler and Radcliffe proved that among graphs with $n$ vertices and maximum degree at most $r$, where $n =…
In the Maximum-size Properly Colored Forest problem, we are given an edge-colored undirected graph and the goal is to find a properly colored forest with as many edges as possible. We study this problem within a broader framework by…
We present new degree-sequence lower bounds on the expected size of an independent set from the hard-core model. For arbitrary graphs, we establish a multivariate lower bound inspired by a conjecture of the first author and Kang and a…
The Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem (WIS) is a well-known NP-hard problem. A popular way to study WIS is to detect graph classes for which WIS can be solved in polynomial time, with particular reference to hereditary graph classes,…
Paul Erd\H{o}s suggested the following problem: Determine or estimate the number of maximal triangle-free graphs on $n$ vertices. Here we show that the number of maximal triangle-free graphs is at most $2^{n^2/8+o(n^2)}$, which matches the…
We study the minimal homogeneous generating sets of the Eulerian ideal associated with a simple graph and its maximal generating degree. We show that the Eulerian ideal is a lattice ideal and use this to give a characterization of binomials…
In this paper, we study the average size of independent (vertex) sets of a graph. This invariant can be regarded as the logarithmic derivative of the independence polynomial evaluated at $1$. We are specifically concerned with extremal…
The independent set reconfiguration problem asks whether one can transform one given independent set of a graph into another, by changing vertices one by one in such a way the intermediate sets remain independent. Extremal problems on…
A connected graph $G$ is a cactus if any two of its cycles have at most one common vertex. Let $\ell_n^m$ be the set of cacti on $n$ vertices with matching number $m.$ S.C. Li and M.J. Zhang determined the unique graph with the maximum…
The independent set problem, ISP for short, asks for the maximal number of vertices in a (large) graph which can be occupied such that none of them are neighbors. We address the question from a statistical mechanics perspective, in the case…
Monadic second order logic can be used to express many classical notions of sets of vertices of a graph as for instance: dominating sets, induced matchings, perfect codes, independent sets or irredundant sets. Bounds on the number of sets…
The independence polynomial of a graph $G$ evaluated at $-1$, denoted here as $I(G;-1)$, has arisen in a variety of different areas of mathematics and theoretical physics as an object of interest. Engstr\"om used discrete Morse theory to…