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Florian Lehner

Publications and source records attributed to Florian Lehner.

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Non-reconstructible locally finite graphs

Two graphs $G$ and $H$ are \emph{hypomorphic} if there exists a bijection $φ\colon V(G) \rightarrow V(H)$ such that $G - v \cong H - φ(v)$ for each $v \in V(G)$. A graph $G$ is \emph{reconstructible} if $H \cong G$ for all $H$ hypomorphic to $G$. Nash-Williams proved that all locally finite graphs with a finite number $\geq 2$ of ends are reconstructible, and asked whether locally finite graphs with one end or countably many ends are also reconstructible. In this paper we construct non-reconstructible graphs of bounded maximum degree with one and countably many ends respectively, answering the two questions of Nash-Williams about the reconstruction of locally finite graphs in the negative.

math.CO↗

A counterexample to the reconstruction conjecture for locally finite trees

Two graphs $G$ and $H$ are hypomorphic if there exists a bijection $φ\colon V(G) \rightarrow V(H)$ such that $G - v \cong H - φ(v)$ for each $v \in V(G)$. A graph $G$ is reconstructible if $H \cong G$ for all $H$ hypomorphic to $G$. It is well known that not all infinite graphs are reconstructible. However, the Harary-Schwenk-Scott Conjecture from 1972 suggests that all locally finite trees are reconstructible. In this paper, we construct a counterexample to the Harary-Schwenk-Scott Conjecture. Our example also answers four other questions of Nash-Williams, Halin and Andreae on the reconstruction of infinite graphs.

math.CO↗

Distinguishing density and the Distinct Spheres Condition

If a graph $G$ has distinguishing number 2, then there exists a partition of its vertex set into two parts, such that no nontrivial automorphism of $G$ fixes setwise the two parts. Such a partition is called a 2-distinguishing coloring of $G$, and the parts are called its color classes. If $G$ admits such a coloring, it is often possible to find another in which one of the color classes is sparse in a certain sense. In this case we say that $G$ has 2-distinguishing density zero. An extreme example of this would be an infinite graph admitting a 2-distinguishing coloring in which one of the color classes is finite. If a graph $G$ contains a vertex $v$ such that, for all $n \in \mathbb N$, any two distinct vertices equidistant from $v$ have nonequal $n$-spheres, then we say that $G$ satisfies the Distinct Spheres Condition. In this paper we prove a general result: any countable connected graph that satisfies the Distinct Spheres Condition is 2-distinguishable with density zero. We present two proofs of this, one that uses a deterministic coloring, and another (that applies only to locally finite graphs) using a random coloring. From this result, we deduce that several important families of countably infinite and connected graphs are 2-distinguishable with density zero, including those that are locally finite and primitive. Furthermore, we prove that any connected graph with infinite motion and subquadratic growth is 2-distinguishable with density zero.

math.CO↗

Hamilton decompositions of one-ended Cayley graphs

We prove that any one-ended, locally finite Cayley graph with non-torsion generators admits a decomposition into edge-disjoint Hamiltonian (i.e. spanning) double-rays. In particular, the $n$-dimensional grid $\mathbb{Z}^n$ admits a decomposition into $n$ edge-disjoint Hamiltonian double-rays for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$.

math.CO↗

Trees with distinguishing index equal distinguishing number plus one

The distinguishing number (index) $D(G)$ ($D'(G)$) of a graph $G$ is the least integer $d$ such that $G$ has an vertex (edge) labeling with $d$ labels that is preserved only by the trivial automorphism. It is known that for every graph $G$ we have $D'(G) \leq D(G) + 1$. In this note we characterize trees for which this inequality is sharp. We also show that if $G$ is a connected unicyclic graph, then $D'(G) = D(G)$.

math.CO↗

Firefighting on trees and Cayley graphs

We study Hartnell's firefighter problem on infinite trees and characterise the branching number in terms of the firefighting game. Using our results about trees, we give a partial answer to a question of Martínez-Pedroza concerning firefighting on Cayley graphs.

math.CO↗

A counterexample to Montgomery's conjecture on dynamic colourings of regular graphs

A \emph{dynamic colouring} of a graph is a proper colouring in which no neighbourhood of a non-leaf vertex is monochromatic. The \emph{dynamic colouring number} $χ_2(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colours needed for a dynamic colouring of $G$. Montgomery conjectured that $χ_2(G) \leq χ(G) + 2$ for all regular graphs $G$, which would significantly improve the best current upper bound $χ_2(G) \leq 2χ(G)$. In this note, however, we show that this last upper bound is sharp by constructing, for every integer $n \geq 2$, a regular graph $G$ with $χ(G) = n$ but $χ_2(G) = 2n$. In particular, this disproves Montgomery's conjecture.

math.CO↗

Breaking graph symmetries by edge colourings

The distinguishing index $D'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colours needed in an edge colouring which is not preserved by any non-trivial automorphism. Broere and Pilśniak conjectured that if every non-trivial automorphism of a countable graph $G$ moves infinitely many edges, then $D'(G) \leq 2$. We prove this conjecture.

math.CO↗

Fast Factorization of Cartesian products of Hypergraphs

Cartesian products of graphs and hypergraphs have been studied since the 1960s. For (un)directed hypergraphs, unique \emph{prime factor decomposition (PFD)} results with respect to the Cartesian product are known. However, there is still a lack of algorithms, that compute the PFD of directed hypergraphs with respect to the Cartesian product. In this contribution, we focus on the algorithmic aspects for determining the Cartesian prime factors of a finite, connected, directed hypergraph and present a first polynomial time algorithm to compute its PFD. In particular, the algorithm has time complexity $O(|E||V|r^2)$ for hypergraphs $H=(V,E)$, where the rank $r$ is the maximum number of vertices contained in an hyperedge of $H$. If $r$ is bounded, then this algorithm performs even in $O(|E|\log^2(|V|))$ time. Thus, our method additionally improves also the time complexity of PFD-algorithms designed for undirected hypergraphs that have time complexity $O(|E||V|r^6Δ^6)$, where $Δ$ is the maximum number of hyperedges a vertex is contained in.

cs.DM↗

Local finiteness, distinguishing numbers and Tucker's conjecture

A distinguishing colouring of a graph is a colouring of the vertex set such that no non-trivial automorphism preserves the colouring. Tucker conjectured that if every non-trivial automorphism of a locally finite graph moves infinitely many vertices, then there is a distinguishing 2-colouring. We show that the requirement of local finiteness is necessary by giving a non-locally finite graph for which no finite number of colours suffices.

math.CO↗

Cops, robbers, and infinite graphs

Cops and robbers is a game between two players, where one tries to catch the other by moving along the edges of a graph. It is well known that on a finite graph the cop has a winning strategy if and only if the graph is constructible and that finiteness is necessary for this result. We propose the notion of weakly cop-win graphs, a winning criterion for infinite graphs which could lead to a generalisation. In fact, we generalise one half of the result, that is, we prove that every constructible graph is weakly cop-win. We also show that a similar notion studied by Chastand et al. (which they also dubbed weakly cop-win) is not sufficient to generalise the above result to infinite graphs. In the locally finite case we characterise the constructible graphs as the graphs for which the cop has a so-called protective strategy and prove that the existence of such a strategy implies constructibility even for non-locally finite graphs.

math.CO↗

The Cartesian product of graphs with loops

We extend the definition of the Cartesian product to graphs with loops and show that the Sabidussi-Vizing unique factorization theorem for connected finite simple graphs still holds in this context for all connected finite graphs with at least one unlooped vertex. We also prove that this factorization can be computed in O(m) time, where m is the number of edges of the given graph.

math.CO↗

Endomorphism Breaking in Graphs

We introduce the {\it endomorphism distinguishing number} $D_e(G)$ of a graph $G$ as the least cardinal $d$ such that $G$ has a vertex coloring with $d$ colors that is only preserved by the trivial endomorphism. This generalizes the notion of the distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$, which is defined for automorphisms instead of endomorphisms. As the number of endomorphisms can vastly exceed the number of automorphisms, the new concept opens challenging problems, several of which are presented here. In particular, we investigate relationships between $D_e(G)$ and the endomorphism motion of a graph $G$, that is, the least possible number of vertices moved by a nontrivial endomorphism of $G$. Moreover, we extend numerous results about the distinguishing number of finite and infinite graphs to the endomorphism distinguishing number. This is the main concern of the paper.

math.CO↗

Distinguishing graphs with infinite motion and nonlinear growth

The distinguishing number $\operatorname D(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least cardinal $d$ such that $G$ has a labeling with $d$ labels which is only preserved by the trivial automorphism. We show that the distinguishing number of infinite, locally finite, connected graphs $G$ with infinite motion and growth $o \left(\frac{n^2}{\log_2 n} \right)$ is either $1$ or $2$, which proves the Infinite Motion Conjecture of Tom Tucker for this type of graphs. The same holds true for graphs with countably many ends that do not grow too fast. We also show that graphs $G$ of arbitrary cardinality are $2$-distinguishable if every nontrivial automorphism moves at least uncountably many vertices $m(G)$, where $m(G) \geq \left\vert\operatorname{Aut}(G)\right\vert$. This extends a result of Imrich et al. to graphs with automorphism groups of arbitrary cardinality.

math.CO↗

On spanning tree packings of highly edge connected graphs

We prove a refinement of the tree packing theorem by Tutte/Nash-Williams for finite graphs. This result is used to obtain a similar result for end faithful spanning tree packings in certain infinite graphs and consequently to establish a sufficient Hamiltonicity condition for the line graphs of such graphs.

math.CO↗

Random colorings and automorphism breaking in locally finite graphs

A colouring of a graph G is called distinguishing if its stabiliser in Aut G is trivial. It has been conjectured that, if every automorphism of a locally finite graph moves infinitely many vertices, then there is a distinguishing 2-colouring. We study properties of random 2-colourings of locally finite graphs and show that the stabiliser of such a colouring is almost surely nowhere dense in Aut G and a null set with respect to the Haar measure on the automorphism group. We also investigate random 2-colourings in several classes of locally finite graphs where the existence of a distinguishing 2-colouring has already been established. It turns out that in all of these cases a random 2-colouring is almost surely distinguishing.

math.CO↗

Distinguishing graphs with intermediate growth

A graph G is said to be 2-distinguishable if there is a 2-labeling of its vertices which is not preserved by any nontrivial automorphism of G. We show that every locally finite graph with infinite motion and growth at most O(2^((1-\varepsilon) \sqrt(n)/2)) is 2-distinguishable. Infinite motion means that every automorphism moves infinitely many vertices and growth refers to the cardinality of balls of radius n.

math.CO↗