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Douglas B. West

Publications and source records attributed to Douglas B. West.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Caterpillars with $n$ vertices are reconstructible from subgraphs with at most $n/2+1$ vertices

The $\textit{$m$-deck}$ of an $n$-vertex graph is the multiset of unlabeled induced subgraphs with $m$ vertices. Caterpillars are trees in which all nonleaf vertices lie on a single path. We prove for $n\ge48$ that any $n$-vertex caterpillar is reconstructible (up to isomorphism) from its $m$-deck when $m>n/2$. The result is sharp, since for $n\ge6$ there are two $n$-vertex caterpillars having the same $\lfloor n/2 \rfloor$-deck. Our result proves the special case for caterpillars of a 1990 conjecture by Nýdl about trees.

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arXiv2024

Strong parity edge-colorings of graphs

An edge-coloring of a graph $G$ assigns a color to each edge of $G$. An edge-coloring is a parity edge-coloring if for each path $P$ in $G$, it uses some color on an odd number of edges in $P$. It is a strong parity edge-coloring if for every open walk $W$ in $G$, it uses some color an odd number of times along $W$. The minimum numbers of colors in parity and strong parity edge-colorings of $G$ are denoted $p(G)$ and $\hat{p}(G)$, respectively. We characterize strong parity edge-colorings and use this characterization to prove lower bounds on $\hat{p}(G)$ and answer several questions of Bunde, Milans, West, and Wu. The applications are as follows. (1) We prove the conjecture that $\hat{p}(K_{s,t})=s \circ t$, where $s \circ t$ is the Hopf-Stiefel function. (2) We show that $\hat{p}(G)$ for a connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ equals the known lower bound $\lceil \log_2 n \rceil$ if and only if $G$ is a subgraph of the hypercube $Q_{\lceil \log_2 n \rceil }$. (3) We asymptotically compute $\hat{p}(G)$ when $G$ is the $\ell$th distance-power of a path, proving $\hat{p}(P_n^\ell)\sim\ell \lceil {\log_2 n} \rceil$. (4) We disprove the conjecture that $\hat{p}(G)=p(G)$ when $G$ is bipartite by constructing bipartite graphs $G$ such that $\hat{p}(G)/p(G)$ is arbitrarily large; in particular, with $\hat{p}(G)\ge\frac{1-o(1)}3 k\ln k$ and $p(G)\le2k+k^{1/3}$.

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arXiv2023

Acyclic graphs with at least $2\ell+1$ vertices are $\ell$-recognizable

The $(n-\ell)$-deck of an $n$-vertex graph is the multiset of subgraphs obtained from it by deleting $\ell$ vertices. A family of $n$-vertex graphs is $\ell$-recognizable if every graph having the same $(n-\ell)$-deck as a graph in the family is also in the family. We prove that the family of $n$-vertex graphs with no cycles is $\ell$-recognizable when $n\ge2\ell+1$ (except for $(n,\ell)=(5,2)$). As a consequence, the family of $n$-vertex trees is $\ell$-recognizable when $n\ge2\ell+1$ and $\ell\ne2$. It is known that this fails when $n=2\ell$.

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arXiv2023

Trees with at least $6\ell+11$ vertices are $\ell$-reconstructible

The $(n-\ell)$-deck of an $n$-vertex graph is the multiset of (unlabeled) subgraphs obtained from it by deleting $\ell$ vertices. An $n$-vertex graph is $\ell$-reconstructible if it is determined by its $(n-\ell)$-deck, meaning that no other graph has the same deck. We prove that every tree with at least $6\ell+11$ vertices is $\ell$-reconstructible.

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arXiv2023

Another Proof of the Generalized Tutte--Berge Formula for $f$-Bounded Subgraphs

Given a nonnegative integer weight $f(v)$ for each vertex $v$ in a multigraph $G$, an {\it $f$-bounded subgraph} of $G$ is a multigraph $H$ contained in $G$ such that $d_H(v)\le f(v)$ for all $v\in V(G)$. Using Tutte's $f$-Factor Theorem, we give a new proof of the min-max relation for the maximum size of an $f$-bounded subgraph of $G$. When $f(v)=1$ for all $v$, the formula reduces to the classical Tutte--Berge Formula for the maximum size of a matching.

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arXiv2023

Bounds for eccentricity-based parameters of graphs

The \emph{eccentricity} of a vertex $u$ in a graph $G$, denoted by $e_G(u)$, is the maximum distance from $u$ to other vertices in $G$. We study extremal problems for the average eccentricity and the first and second Zagreb eccentricity indices, denoted by $σ_0(G)$, $σ_1(G)$, and $σ_2(G)$, respectively. These are defined by $σ_0(G)=\frac{1}{|V(G)|}\sum_{u\in V(G)}e_G(u)$, $σ_1(G)=\sum_{u\in V(G)}e_G^2(u)$, and $σ_2(G)=\sum_{uv\in E(G)}e_G(u)e_G(v)$. We study lower and upper bounds on these parameters among $n$-vertex connected graphs with fixed diameter, chromatic number, clique number, or matching number. Most of the bounds are sharp, with the corresponding extremal graphs characterized.

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arXiv2022

Sharp lower bounds for the number of maximum matchings in bipartite multigraphs

We study the minimum number of maximum matchings in a bipartite multigraph G with parts $X$ and $Y$ under various conditions, refining the well-known lower bound due to M. Hall. When $|X|=n$, every vertex in $X$ has degree at least $k$, and every vertex in $X$ has at least $r$ distinct neighbors, the minimum is $r!(k-r+1)$ when $n\ge r$ and is $[r+n(k-r)]\prod_{i=1}^{n-1}(r-i)$ when $n<r$. When every vertex has at least two neighbors and $|Y|-|X|=t\ge 0$, the minimum is $[(n-1)t+2+b](t+1)$, where $b=|E(G)|-2(n+t)$. We also determine the minimum number of maximum matchings in several other situations. We provide a variety of sharpness constructions.

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arXiv2021

Cycles in Color-Critical Graphs

Tuza [1992] proved that a graph with no cycles of length congruent to $1$ modulo $k$ is $k$-colorable. We prove that if a graph $G$ has an edge $e$ such that $G-e$ is $k$-colorable and $G$ is not, then for $2\leq r\leq k$, the edge $e$ lies in at least $\prod_{i=1}^{r-1}(k-i)$ cycles of length $1\mod r$ in $G$, and $G-e$ contains at least $\frac{1}{2}\prod_{i=1}^{r-1}(k-i)$ cycles of length $0 \mod r$. A $(k,d)$-coloring of $G$ is a homomorphism from $G$ to the graph $K_{k:d}$ with vertex set $\mathbb{Z}_{k}$ defined by making $i$ and $j$ adjacent if $d\leq j-i \leq k-d$. When $k$ and $d$ are relatively prime, define $s$ by $sd\equiv 1\mod k$. A result of Zhu [2002] implies that $G$ is $(k,d)$-colorable when $G$ has no cycle $C$ with length congruent to $is$ modulo $k$ for any $i\in \{1,\ldots,2d-1\}$. In fact, only $d$ classes need be excluded: we prove that if $G-e$ is $(k,d)$-colorable and $G$ is not, then $e$ lies in at least one cycle with length congruent to $is\mod k$ for some $i$ in $\{1,\ldots,d\}$. Furthermore, if this does not occur with $i\in\{1,\ldots,d-1\}$, then $e$ lies in at least two cycles with length $1\mod k$ and $G-e$ contains a cycle of length $0 \mod k$.

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arXiv2021

Some new results on bar visibility of digraphs

Visibility representation of digraphs was introduced by Axenovich, Beveridge, Hutch\-inson, and West (\emph{SIAM J. Discrete Math.} {\bf 27}(3) (2013) 1429--1449) as a natural generalization of $t$-bar visibility representation of undirected graphs. A {\it $t$-bar visibility representation} of a digraph $G$ assigns each vertex at most $t$ horizontal bars in the plane so that there is an arc $xy$ in the digraph if and only if some bar for $x$ "sees" some bar for $y$ above it along an unblocked vertical strip with positive width. The {\it visibility number} $b(G)$ is the least $t$ such that $G$ has a $t$-bar visibility representation. In this paper, we solve several problems about $b(G)$ posed by Axenovich et al.\ and prove that determining whether the bar visibility number of a digraph is $2$ is NP-complete.

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arXiv2021

Acyclic graphs with at least $2\ell+1$ vertices are $\ell$-recognizable

The $(n-\ell)$-deck of an $n$-vertex graph is the multiset of subgraphs obtained from it by deleting $\ell$ vertices. A family of $n$-vertex graphs is $\ell$-recognizable if every graph having the same $(n-\ell)$-deck as a graph in the family is also in the family. We prove that the family of $n$-vertex graphs having no cycles is $\ell$-recognizable when $n\ge2\ell+1$ (except for $(n,\ell)=(5,2)$). It is known that this fails when $n=2\ell$.

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arXiv2020

On reconstruction of graphs from the multiset of subgraphs obtained by deleting $\ell$ vertices

The Reconstruction Conjecture of Ulam asserts that, for $n\geq 3$, every $n$-vertex graph is determined by the multiset of its induced subgraphs with $n-1$ vertices. The conjecture is known to hold for various special classes of graphs but remains wide open. We survey results on the more general conjecture by Kelly from 1957 that for every positive integer $\ell$ there exists $M_\ell$ (with $M_1=3$) such that when $n\geq M_\ell$ every $n$-vertex graph is determined by the multiset of its induced subgraphs with $n-\ell$ vertices.

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arXiv2020

The Number of Perfect Matchings in Möbius Ladders and Prisms

The 1970s conjecture of Lovász and Plummer that the number of perfect matchings in any $3$-regular graph is exponential in the number of vertices was proved in 2011 by Esperet, Kardoš, King, Král', and Norine. We give the exact formula for the number of perfect matchings in two families of $3$-regular graphs. In the graph consisting of a $2n$-cycle with diametric chords (also known as the Möbius ladder $M_n$ and a Harary graph) and in the cartesian product of the cycle $C_n$ with an edge (called the cycle prism), the number of matchings is the sum of the Fibonacci numbers $F_{n-1}$ and $F_{n+1}$, plus two more for the Möbius ladder when $n$ is odd and for the cycle prism when $n$ is even.

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arXiv2019

Lichiardopol's conjecture on disjoint cycles in tournaments

In 2010, N. Lichiardopol conjectured for $q \geq 3$ and $k \geq 1$ that any tournament with minimum out-degree at least $(q-1)k-1$ contains $k$ disjoint cycles of length $q$. We prove this conjecture for $q \geq 5$. Since it is already known to hold for $q\le4$, this completes the proof of the conjecture.

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arXiv2019

3-Regular Graphs Are 2-Reconstructible

A graph is $\ell$-reconstructible if it is determined by its multiset of induced subgraphs obtained by deleting $\ell$ vertices. We prove that $3$-regular graphs are $2$-reconstructible.

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arXiv2019

On the bar visibility number of complete bipartite graphs

A $t$-bar visibility representation of a graph assigns each vertex up to $t$ horizontal bars in the plane so that two vertices are adjacent if and only if some bar for one vertex can see some bar for the other via an unobstructed vertical channel of positive width. The least $t$ such that $G$ has a $t$-bar visibility representation is the bar visibility number of $G$, denoted by $b(G)$. For the complete bipartite graph $K_{m,n}$, the lower bound $b(K_{m,n})\ge\lceil{\frac{mn+4}{2m+2n}}\rceil$ from Euler's Formula is well known. We prove that equality holds.

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arXiv2019

Degree lists and connectedness are $3$-reconstructible for graphs with at least seven vertices

The $k$-deck of a graph is the multiset of its subgraphs induced by $k$ vertices. A graph or graph property is $l$-reconstructible if it is determined by the deck of subgraphs obtained by deleting $l$ vertices. We show that the degree list of an $n$-vertex graph is $3$-reconstructible when $n\ge7$, and the threshold on $n$ is sharp. Using this result, we show that when $n\ge7$ the $(n-3)$-deck also determines whether an $n$-vertex graph is connected; this is also sharp. These results extend the results of Chernyak and Manvel, respectively, that the degree list and connectedness are $2$-reconstructible when $n\ge6$, which are also sharp.

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arXiv2019

Upper bounds for bar visibility of subgraphs and n-vertex graphs

A $t$-bar visibility representation of a graph assigns each vertex up to $t$ horizontal bars in the plane so that two vertices are adjacent if and only if some bar for one vertex can see some bar for the other via an unobstructed vertical channel of positive width. The least $t$ such that $G$ has a $t$-bar visibility representation is the bar visibility number of $G$, denoted by $b(G)$. We show that if $H$ is a spanning subgraph of $G$, then $b(H)\le b(G)+1$. It follows that $b(G)\le \lceil n/6\rceil+1$ when $G$ is an $n$-vertex graph. This improves the upper bound obtained by Chang et al. (SIAM J. Discrete Math. 18 (2004) 462).

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