Related papers: All cycle-chords are $e$-positive

We prove Gebhard and Sagan's $(e)$-positivity of the line graphs of tadpoles in noncommuting variables. This implies the $e$-positivity of these line graphs. We then extend this $(e)$-positivity result to that of certain cycle-chord graphs,…

We describe a way to decompose the chromatic symmetric function as a positive sum of smaller pieces. We show that these pieces are $e$-positive for cycles. Then we prove that attaching a cycle to a graph preserves the $e$-positivity of…

We describe how the chromatic symmetric function of two graphs glued at a single vertex can be expressed as a matrix multiplication using certain information of the two individual graphs. We then prove new $e$-positivity results by using a…

We investigate the $e$-positivity and Schur positivity of the chromatic symmetric functions of some spider graphs with three legs. We obtain the positivity classification of all broom graphs and that of most double broom graphs. The methods…

The operation of twinning a graph at a vertex was introduced by Foley, Ho\`ang, and Merkel (2019), who conjectured that twinning preserves $e$-positivity of the chromatic symmetric function. A counterexample to this conjecture was given by…

We study "positive" graphs that have a nonnegative homomorphism number into every edge-weighted graph (where the edgeweights may be negative). We conjecture that all positive graphs can be obtained by taking two copies of an arbitrary…

In the mid-1990s, Stanley and Stembridge conjectured that the chromatic symmetric functions of claw-free co-comparability (also called incomparability) graphs were e-positive. The quest for the proof of this conjecture has led to an…

We introduce path-conjoined graphs defined for two rooted graphs by joining their roots with a path, and investigate the chromatic symmetric functions of its two generalizations: spider-conjoined graphs and chain-conjoined graphs. By using…

A {\em $(d,h)$-decomposition} of a graph $G$ is an order pair $(D,H)$ such that $H$ is a subgraph of $G$ where $H$ has the maximum degree at most $h$ and $D$ is an acyclic orientation of $G-E(H)$ of maximum out-degree at most $d$. A graph…

In this thesis we prove Schur-positivity of certain graph families. In addition, we exlpor existence of cyclic descent extensions on several families of Schur-positive sets.

We prove that constant minimum degree already forces cycles with almost linearly many chords. Specifically, every graph $G$ with $\delta(G)\ge C$ contains a cycle of length $\ell\ge 4$ with $\Omega(\ell/\log^{C}\ell)$ chords for some…

We offer a new, gradual approach to the largest girth problem for cubic graphs. It is easily observed that the largest possible girth of all $n$-vertex cubic graphs is attained by a $2$-connected graph $G=(V,E)$. By Petersen's graph…

A graph $H$ is said to be positive if the homomorphism density $t_H(G)$ is non-negative for all weighted graphs $G$. The positive graph conjecture proposes a characterisation of such graphs, saying that a graph is positive if and only if it…

We prove that the chromatic symmetric function of any $n$-vertex tree containing a vertex of degree $d\geq \log _2n +1$ is not $e$-positive, that is, not a positive linear combination of elementary symmetric functions. Generalizing this, we…

For a graph $G$, let $\sigma_{2}(G)$ be the minimum degree sum of two non-adjacent vertices in $G$. A chord of a cycle in a graph $G$ is an edge of $G$ joining two non-consecutive vertices of the cycle. In this paper, we prove the following…

Suppose that D is an acyclic orientation of a graph G. An arc of D is called dependent if its reversal creates a directed cycle. Let m and M denote the minimum and the maximum of the number of dependent arcs over all acyclic orientations of…

In this paper, we identify a new family of $e$-positive graphs, called the trinacria graphs $T_{(b+2)b2}$, thereby providing a partial answer to Stanley's question on which graphs are $e$-positive. The trinacria graph $T_{abc}$ is the graph…

In this paper, we study positivity phenomena for the $e$-coefficients of Stanley's chromatic function of a graph. We introduce a new combinatorial object: the {\em correct} sequences of unit interval orders, and using these, in certain…

A \emph{unichord} in a graph is an edge that is the unique chord of a cycle. A \emph{square} is an induced cycle on four vertices. A graph is \emph{unichord-free} if none of its edges is a unichord. We give a slight restatement of a known…

How many edges in an $n$-vertex graph will force the existence of a cycle with as many chords as it has vertices? Almost 30 years ago, Chen, Erd\H{o}s and Staton considered this question and showed that any $n$-vertex graph with $2n^{3/2}$…