English

Revolutionaries and Spies

Combinatorics 2012-08-07 v2

Abstract

Let G=(V,E)G = (V,E) be a graph and let r,s,kr,s,k be positive integers. "Revolutionaries and Spies", denoted \cG(G,r,s,k)\cG(G,r,s,k), is the following two-player game. The sets of positions for player 1 and player 2 are VrV^r and VsV^s respectively. Each coordinate in pVrp \in V^r gives the location of a "revolutionary" in GG. Similarly player 2 controls ss "spies". We say u,uV(G)nu, u' \in V(G)^n are adjacent, uuu \sim u', if for all 1in1 \leq i \leq n, ui=uiu_i = u'_i or ui,uiE(G){u_i,u'_i} \in E(G). In round 0 player 1 picks p0Vrp_0 \in V^r and then player 2 picks q0Vsq_0 \in V^s. In each round i1i \geq 1 player 1 moves to pipi1p_i \sim p_{i-1} and then player 2 moves to qiqi1q_i \sim q_{i-1}. Player 1 wins the game if he can place kk revolutionaries on a vertex vv in such a way that player 1 cannot place a spy on vv in his following move. Player 2 wins the game if he can prevent this outcome. Let s(G,r,k)s(G,r,k) be the minimum ss such that player 2 can win \cG(G,r,s,k)\cG(G,r,s,k). We show that for d2d \geq 2, s(Zd,r,2)6r8s(\Z^d,r,2)\geq 6 \lfloor \frac{r}{8} \rfloor. Here a,bZda,b \in \Z^{d} with aba \neq b are connected by an edge if and only if aibi1|a_i - b_i| \leq 1 for all ii with 1id1 \leq i \leq d.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1106.3838,
  title  = {Revolutionaries and Spies},
  author = {David Howard and Clifford Smyth},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1106.3838},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

This is the version accepted to appear in Discrete Mathematics

R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:24:44.268Z