Related papers: Zero Forcing and Vertex Independence Number on Cub…

Zero forcing is a binary coloring game on a graph where a set of filled vertices can force non-filled vertices to become filled following a color change rule. In 2008, the zero forcing number of a graph was shown to be an upper bound on its…

Let $G = (V,E)$ be a graph and $k \ge 0$ an integer. A $k$-independent set $S \subseteq V$ is a set of vertices such that the maximum degree in the graph induced by $S$ is at most $k$. With $\alpha_k(G)$ we denote the maximum cardinality of…

Let G be a bridgeless cubic graph. A well-known conjecture of Berge and Fulkerson can be stated as follows: there exist five perfect matchings of G such that each edge of G is contained in at least one of them. Here, we prove that in each…

This paper studies $k$-claw-free graphs, exploring the connection between an extremal combinatorics question and the power of a convex program in approximating the maximum-weight independent set in this graph class. For the extremal…

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…

We consider a natural generalization of Vertex Cover: the Subset Vertex Cover problem, which is to decide for a graph $G=(V,E)$, a subset $T\subseteq V$ and integer $k$, if $V$ has a subset $S$ of size at most $k$, such that $S$ contains at…

An independent set of a graph $G$ is a vertex subset $I$ such that there is no edge joining any two vertices in $I$. Imagine that a token is placed on each vertex of an independent set of $G$. The $\mathsf{TS}$- ($\mathsf{TS}_k$-)…

The independence polynomial $I(G;x)$ of a graph $G$ is $I(G;x)=\sum_{k=1}^{\alpha(G)} s_k x^k$, where $s_k$ is the number of independent sets in $G$ of size $k$. The decycling number of a graph $G$, denoted $\phi(G)$, is the minimum size of…

In this paper, we explore the concept of total bondage in finite graphs without isolated vertices. A vertex set $D$ is considered a total dominating set if every vertex $v$ in the graph $G$ has a neighbor in $D$. The minimum cardinality of…

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…

The bondage number $b(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest number of edges whose removal from $G$ results in a graph with larger domination number. Let $G$ be embeddable on a surface whose Euler characteristic $\chi$ is as large as possible,…

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices, independence number $\alpha(G)$, Lov\'asz theta function $\vartheta(G)$, and Shannon capacity $\Theta(G)$. We define $n_{\ge0}(G)$ to be the minimum number of non-negative eigenvalues taken over all…

We consider problems of finding a maximum size/weight $t$-matching without forbidden subgraphs in an undirected graph $G$ with the maximum degree bounded by $t+1$, where $t$ is an integer greater than $2$. Depending on the variant forbidden…

We study the minimum rank of a (simple, undirected) graph, which is the minimum rank among all matrices in a space determined by the graph. We determine the exact set of graphs on eight vertices for which the nullity of a minimum rank…

We elucidate the structure of $(P_6,C_4)$-free graphs by showing that every such graph either has a clique cutset, or a universal vertex, or belongs to several special classes of graphs. Using this result, we show that for any…

In this paper, we propose computational approaches for the zero forcing problem, the connected zero forcing problem, and the problem of forcing a graph within a specified number of timesteps. Our approaches are based on a combination of…

A graph $G$ is $k$-vertex-critical if $\chi(G)=k$ but $\chi(G-v)<k$ for all $v\in V(G)$ and $(G,H)$-free if it contains no induced subgraph isomorphic to $G$ or $H$. We show that there are only finitely many $k$-vertex-critical (co-gem,…

A graph $G$ is $k$-vertex-critical if $\chi(G)=k$ but $\chi(G-v)<k$ for all $v\in V(G)$ where $\chi(G)$ denotes the chromatic number of $G$. We show that there are only finitely many $k$-critical $(P_3+\ell P_1)$-free graphs for all $k$ and…

For two vertex disjoint graphs $H$ and $F$, we use $H\cup F$ to denote the graph with vertex set $V(H)\cup V(F)$ and edge set $E(H)\cup E(F)$, and use $H+F$ to denote the graph with vertex set $V(H)\cup V(F)$ and edge set $E(H)\cup…

The bondage number $b(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest number of edges whose removal from $G$ results in a graph with larger domination number. Recently Gagarin and Zverovich showed that, for a graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta(G)$…