English

Gallai's Path Decomposition of Levi Graph

Combinatorics 2025-08-05 v2

Abstract

Gallai's path decomposition conjecture states that for a connected graph GG on nn vertices, there exists a path decomposition of size n2\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil. The Levi graph of order one, denoted by L1(m,k)L_{1}(m,k), is a bipartite graph with vertex partition (A,B)(A,B), where AA is the collection of all (k1)(k-1)-element subsets of [m][m], and BB is the collection of all kk-element subsets of [m][m]. In this graph, a (k1)(k-1)-element subset is adjacent to a kk-element subset if and only if it is properly contained within the kk-element subset. The path number of a graph GG is the minimum size of its path decomposition. Gallai's conjecture can be seen as a conjecture on the upper bound of the path number of a connected graph. In this work, we prove the conjecture for L1(m,k)L_{1}(m,k) for all m2m \ge 2 and 2km2 \le k \le m. Moreover, we determine the path number of L1(m,2)L_{1}(m,2) for all mm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2409.06298,
  title  = {Gallai's Path Decomposition of Levi Graph},
  author = {Akankshya Sahu and Sajith Padinhatteeri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.06298},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T18:39:35.708Z