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arXiv · 1601.01129

Minimal normal graph covers

David Gajser·Bojan Mohar
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Abstract

A graph is normal if it admits a clique cover $\mathcal C$ and a stable set cover $\mathcal S$ such that each clique in $\mathcal C$ and each stable set in $\mathcal S$ have a vertex in common. The pair $(\mathcal{C,S})$ is a normal cover of the graph. We present the following extremal property of normal covers. For positive integers $c,s$, if a graph with $n$ vertices admits a normal cover with cliques of sizes at most $c$ and stable sets of sizes at most $s$, then $c+s\geq\log_2(n)$. For infinitely many $n$, we also give a construction of a graph with $n$ vertices that admits a normal cover with cliques and stable sets of sizes less than $0.87\log_2(n)$. Furthermore, we show that for all $n$, there exists a normal graph with $n$ vertices, clique number $Θ(\log_2(n))$ and independence number $Θ(\log_2(n))$. When $c$ or $s$ are very small, we can describe all normal graphs with the largest possible number of vertices that allow a normal cover with cliques of sizes at most $c$ and stable sets of sizes at most $s$. However, such extremal graphs remain elusive even for moderately small values of $c$ and $s$.

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David Gajser, Bojan Mohar. 2016-01-06. Minimal normal graph covers. https://arxiv.org/abs/1601.01129

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