arXiv subjects

Mei Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Mei Lu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2026

Inversion diameter and treewidth

In an oriented graph $\overrightarrow{G}$, the inversion of a subset $X$ of vertices is the operation that reverses the orientation of all arcs with both end-vertices in $X$. The inversion graph of a graph $G$, denoted by $\mathcal{I}(G)$, is the graph whose vertices are orientations of $G$ in which two orientations $\overrightarrow{G_1}$ and $\overrightarrow{G_2}$ are adjacent if and only if there is an inversion transforming $\overrightarrow{G_1}$ into $\overrightarrow{G_2}$.The inversion diameter of a graph $G$ is the diameter of its inversion graph $\mathcal{I}(G)$, denoted by $\mathrm{diam}(\mathcal{I}(G))$.Havet, Hörsch, and Rambaud~(2024) first proved that for $G$ of treewidth $k$, $\mathrm{diam}(\mathcal{I}(G)) \le 2k$, and that there are graphs of treewidth $k$ with inversion diameter $k+2$.In this paper, we construct graphs of treewidth $k$ with inversion diameter $2k$, which implies that the previous upper bound $\mathrm{diam}(\mathcal{I}(G)) \le 2k$ is tight.Moreover, for graphs with maximum degree $Δ$, Havet, Hörsch, and Rambaud~(2024) proved $\mathrm{diam}(\mathcal{I}(G)) \le 2Δ-1$ and conjectured that $\mathrm{diam}(\mathcal{I}(G)) \le Δ$. We prove the conjecture when $Δ=3$ with the help of computer calculations.

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arXiv2026

Algorithm for finding vertex-edge domination number on graphs with bounded treewidth and related problems on planar graphs

Given a graph $G=(V,E)$, a vertex $u \in V$ {\em ve-dominates} all edges incident to any vertex of $N_G[u]$. A set $S \subseteq V$ is a {\em ve-dominating set} if for all edges $e\in E$, there exists a vertex $u\in S$ such that $u$ ve-dominates $e$. The minimum cardinality among all ve-dominating sets is known as the \textit{vertex-edge domination number} (or simply ve-domination number) and denoted by $γ_{ve}(G)$. Finding a minimum ve-dominating set was proved to be NP-complete. Restricted to trees, the problem admits a linear-time algorithm. Treewidth is a commonly used parameter for solving NP-hard problems. In this paper, we present a polynomial-time algorithm for finding a minimum ve-dominating set on graphs with bounded treewidth. Moreover, we show that the treewidth of a planar graph $G$ with ve-domination number $γ_{ve}(G)$ is $O(\sqrt{γ_{ve}(G)})$ and present an $O(c^{\sqrt{k}}|V(G)|)$-time algorithm for the $k$-ve-domination problem on planar graphs.

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arXiv2026

A generalization of Erdős-Hajnal problem on paths with equal-degree endpoints

Erdős and Hajnal proposed a problem that: is it true that every $(2n+1)$-vertex graph with $n^2+n+1$ edges contains two vertices of equal degree connected by a path of length three? The edge bound is sharp by the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n+1}$. Recently, Chen and Ma [Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 179:1-18, 2026] answered this problem affirmatively for every $n \ge 600$. In the same paper, they further conjectured that for sufficiently large $n$, the statement is true if we replace the path of length three by a path of fixed odd length. In this paper, we confirm their conjecture.

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arXiv2026

Extremal results on Berge disjoint paths

The well-known Erdős-Gallai Theorem gave the Turán number of paths. Bushaw and Kettle generalized this result to consider the Turán number of disjoint paths. Since then, many studies are focused on the Turán number of linear forest. For a graph $F$, an $r$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is a $\text{Berge-} F$ if there is a bijection $ϕ: E(F)\to E(\mathcal{H})$ such that $e\subseteq ϕ(e)$ for each $e\in E(F)$. When $F$ is a path, we call $\text{Berge-} F$ a Berge path. The Turán number of Berge paths was initially studied by Győri, Katona and Lemons. They gave the value of $\text{ex}_r(n,\text{Berge-}P_\ell)$ for $\ell>r+1$. This result is a generalization of Erdős-Galli Theorem. Since then, the Turán number of Berge paths has received widespread attention. Recently, Zhou, Gerbner and Yuan initially studied the Turán number of Berge disjoint paths and for the cases when all the paths have odd length. In this paper, we give a more general result, which gives the exact value of $\mathrm{ex}_r(n,\text{Berge-} kP_{\ell})$ for all $k\geq 2$, $r\ge 3$, and $\ell\geq r+7$.

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arXiv2025

Linear recoloring diameter of degenerate chordal graphs and bounded treewidth graphs

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices and $t$ an integer. The reconfiguration graph of $G$, denoted by $R_t(G)$, consists of all $t$-colorings of $G$ and two $t$-colorings are adjacent if they differ on exactly one vertex. The $t$-recoloring diameter of $G$ is the diameter of $R_t(G)$. For a $d$-degenerate graph $G$, $R_t(G)$ is connected when $t \ge d+2$~(Dyer et al., 2006). Furthermore, the $t$-recoloring diameter is $O(n^2)$ when $t \ge 3(d+1)/2$~(Bousquet et al., 2022), and it is $O(n)$ when $t \ge 2d+2$~(Bousquet and Perarnau, 2016). For a $d$-degenerate and chordal graph $G$, the $t$-recoloring diameter of $G$ is $O(n^2)$ when $t \ge d+2$~(Bonamy et al. 2014). If $G$ is a graph of treewidth at most $k$, then $G$ is also $k$-degenerate, and the previous results hold. Moreover, when $t \ge k+2$, the $t$-recoloring diameter is $O(n^2)$~(Bonamy and Bousquet, 2013). When $k=2$, the $t$-recoloring diameter of $G$ is linear when $t \ge 5$~(Bartier, Bousquet and Heinrich, 2021) and the result is tight. In this paper, we prove that if $G$ is $d$-degenerate and chordal, then the $t$-recoloring diameter of $G$ is $O(n)$ when $t \ge 2d+1$. Moreover, if the treewidth of $G$ is at most $k$, then the $t$-recoloring diameter is $O(n)$ when $t \ge 2k+1$. This result is a generalization of the previous results on graphs of treewidth at most two.

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arXiv2025

Edge version of the inducibility via the entropy method

The inducibility of a graph $H$ is about the maximum number of induced copies of $H$ in a graph on $n$ vertices. We consider its edge version, that is, the maximum number of induced copies of $H$ in a graph with $m$ edges. Let $c(G,H)$ be the number of induced copies of $H$ in $G$ and $ρ(H,m) = \max \{c(G,H) \mid |E(G)| = m\}$. For any graph $H$, we prove that $ρ(H,m) = Θ(m^{α_f(H)})$ where $α_f(H)$ is the fractional independence number of $H$. Therefore, we now focus on the constant factor in front of $m^{α_f(H)}$. In this paper, we give some results of $ρ(H,m)$ when $H$ is a cycle or path. We conjecture that for any cycle $C_k$ with $k \ge 5$, $ρ(C_k,m)= (1+o(1))\left( m/k\right)^{k/2}$ and the bound achieves by the blow up of $C_k$. For even cycles, we establish an upper bound with an extra constant factor. For odd cycles, we can only establish an upper bound with an extra factor depending on $k$. We prove that $ρ(P_{2l},m) \le \frac{m^l}{2(l-1)^{l-1}}$ and $ρ(P_{2l+1},m) \le \frac{m^{l+1}}{4l^l}$, where $l \ge 2$. We also conjecture the asymptotic value of $ρ(P_k, m)$. The entropy method is mainly used to prove our results.

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arXiv2025

The maximum sum of sizes of non-empty cross $L$-intersecting families

Let $n$, $r$, and $k$ be positive integers such that $k, r \geq 2$, $L$ a non-empty subset of $[k]$, and $\mathcal{F}_i \subseteq \binom{[n]}{k}$ for $1 \leq i \leq r$. We say that non-empty families $\mathcal{F}_1, \mathcal{F}_2, \ldots, \mathcal{F}_r$ are $r$-cross $L$-intersecting if $\left| \bigcap_{i=1}^r F_i \right| \in L$ for every choice of $F_i \in \mathcal{F}_i$ with $1 \leq i \leq r$. They are called pairwise cross $L$-intersecting if $|A \cap B| \in L$ for all $A \in \mathcal{F}_i$, $B \in \mathcal{F}_j$ with $i \neq j$. If $r=2$, we simply say cross $L$-intersecting instead of $2$-cross $L$-intersecting or pairwise cross $L$-intersecting. In this paper, we determine the maximum possible sum of sizes of non-empty cross $L$-intersecting families $\mathcal{F}_1$ and $\mathcal{F}_2$ for all admissible $n$, $k$, and $L$, and we characterize all the extremal structures. We also establish the maximum value of the sum of sizes of families $\mathcal{F}_1, \dots, \mathcal{F}_r$ that are both pairwise cross $L$-intersecting and $r$-cross $L$-intersecting, provided $n$ is sufficiently large and $L$ satisfies certain conditions. Furthermore, we characterize all such families attaining the maximum total size.

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arXiv2025

Treewidth of generalized Hamming graph, bipartite Kneser graph and generalized Petersen graph

Let $t,q$ and $n$ be positive integers. Write $[q] = \{1,2,\ldots,q\}$. The generalized Hamming graph $H(t,q,n)$ is the graph whose vertex set is the cartesian product of $n$ copies of $[q]$ ($q\ge 2$), where two vertices are adjacent if their Hamming distance is at most $t$. In particular, $H(1,q,n)$ is the well-known Hamming graph and $H(1,2,n)$ is the hypercube. In 2006, Chandran and Kavitha described the asymptotic value of $tw(H(1,q,n))$, where $tw(G)$ denotes the treewidth of $G$. In this paper, we give the exact pathwidth of $H(t,2,n)$ and show that $tw(H(t,q,n)) = Θ(tq^n/\sqrt{n})$ when $n$ goes to infinity. Based on those results, we show that the treewidth of the bipartite Kneser graph $BK(n,k)$ is $\binom{n}{k} - 1$ when $n$ is sufficiently large relative to $k$ and the bounds of $tw(BK(2k+1,k))$ are given. Moreover, we present the bounds of the treewidth of the generalized Petersen graph.

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arXiv2025

Counting induced subgraphs with given intersection sizes

Let $F$ be a graph of order $r$. In this paper, we study the maximum number of induced copies of $F$ with restricted intersections, which highlights the motivation from extremal set theory. Let $L=\{\ell_1,\dots,\ell_s\}\subseteq[0,r-1]$ be an integer set with $s\not\in\{1,r\}$. Let $Ψ_r(n,F,L)$ be the maximum number of induced copies of $F$ in an $n$-vertex graph, where the induced copies of $F$ are $L$-intersecting as a family of $r$-subsets, i.e., for any two induced copies of $F$, the size of their intersection is in $L$. Helliar and Liu initiated a study of the function $Ψ_r(n,K_r,L)$. Very recently, Zhao and Zhang improved their result and showed that $Ψ_r(n,K_r,L)=Θ_{r,L}(n^{s})$ if and only if $\ell_1,\dots,\ell_s,r$ form an arithmetic progression. In this paper, we show that $Ψ_r(n,F,L)=o_{r,L}(n^{s})$ when $\ell_1,\dots,\ell_s,r$ do not form an arithmetic progression. We study the asymptotical result of $Ψ_r(n,C_r,L)$, and determined the asymptotically optimal result when $\ell_1,\dots,\ell_s,r$ form an arithmetic progression and take certain values. We also study the generalized Turán problem, determining the maximum number of $H$, where the copies of $H$ are $L$-intersecting as a family of $r$-subsets. The entropy method is used to prove our results.

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arXiv2025

On the total Italian domination number in digraphs

Consider a finite simple digraph $D$ with vertex set $V(D)$. An Italian dominating function (IDF) on $D$ is a function $f:V(D)\rightarrow\{0,1,2\}$ satisfying every vertex $u$ with $f(u)=0$ has an in-neighbor $v$ with $f(v)=2$ or two in-neighbors $w$ and $z$ with $f(w)=f(z)=1$. A total Italian dominating function (TIDF) on $D$ is an IDF $f$ such that the subdigraph $D[\{ u\, |\, f(u)\ge 1\}]$ contains no isolated vertices. The weight $ω(f)$ of a TIDF $f$ on $D$ is $\sum_{u\in V(D)}f(u)$. The total Italian domination number of $D$ is $γ_{tI}(D)=\min\{ ω(f)\, |\, \mbox{$f$ is a TIDF on $D$}\}$. In this paper, we present bounds on $γ_{tI}(D)$, and investigate the relationship between several different domination parameters. In particular, we give the total Italian domination number of the Cartesian products $P_2\Box P_n$ and $P_3\Box P_n$, where $P_n$ represents a dipath with $n$ vertices.

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arXiv2025

Edge pancyclic Cayley graphs on symmetric group

We study the derangement graph $Γ_n$ whose vertex set consists of all permutations of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, where two vertices are adjacent if and only if their corresponding permutations differ at every position. It is well-known that $Γ_n$ is a Cayley graph, Hamiltonian and Hamilton-connected. In this paper, we prove that for $n \geq 4$, the derangement graph $Γ_n$ is edge pancyclic. Moreover, we extend this result to two broader classes of Cayley graphs defined on symmetric group.

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arXiv2025

Turán type problems for a fixed graph and a linear forest

Let $\mathscr{F}$ be a family of graphs. A graph $G$ is $\mathscr{F}$-free if $G$ does not contain any $F\in \mathscr{F}$ as a subgraph. The Turán number, denoted by $ex(n, \mathscr{F})$, is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $\mathscr{F}$-free graph. Let $F $ be a fixed graph with $ χ(F) \geq 3 $. A forest $H$ is called a linear forest if all components of $H$ are paths. In this paper, we determined the exact value of $ex(n, \{H, F\}) $ for a fixed graph $F$ with $χ(F)\geq 3$ and a linear forest $H$ with at least $2$ components and each component with size at least $3$.

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arXiv2025

The saturation number of wheels

A graph $G$ is said to be $F$-free, if $G$ does not contain any copy of $F$. $G$ is said to be $F$-semi-saturated, if the addition of any nonedge $e \not \in E(G)$ would create a new copy of $F$ in $G+e$. $G$ is said to be $F$-saturated, if $G$ is $F$-free and $F$-semi-saturated. The saturation number $sat(n,F)$ (resp. semi-saturation number $ssat(n,F)$) is the minimum number of edges in an $F$-saturated (resp. $F$-semi-saturated) graph of order $n$. In this paper we proved several results on the (semi)-saturation number of the wheel graph $W_k=K_1 \vee C_k$. Let $k,n$ be positive integers with $k \geq 8$ and $n \geq 56k^3$, we showed that $(s)sat(n,W_k)=n-1+(s)sat(n-1,C_k)$. We also establish the lower bound of semi-saturation number of $W_k$ with restriction on maximum degree.

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arXiv2025

Vertex degree sums for rainbow matchings in 3-uniform hypergraphs

Let $n \in 3\mathbb{Z}$ be sufficiently large. Zhang, Zhao and Lu proved that if $H$ is a 3-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices and no isolated vertices, and if $deg(u)+deg(v) > \frac{2}{3}n^2 - \frac{8}{3}n + 2$ for any two vertices $u$ and $v$ that are contained in some edge of $H$, then $ H $ admits a perfect matching. In this paper, we prove that the rainbow version of Zhang, Zhao and Lu's result is asymptotically true. More specifically, let $δ> 0$ and $ F_1, F_2, \dots, F_{n/3} $ be 3-uniform hypergraphs on a common set of $n$ vertices. For each $ i \in [n/3] $, suppose that $F_i$ has no isolated vertices and $deg_{F_i}(u)+deg_{F_i}(v) > \left( \frac{2}{3} + δ\right)n^2$ holds for any two vertices $u$ and $v$ that are contained in some edge of $F_i$. Then $ \{ F_1, F_2, \dots, F_{n/3} \} $ admits a rainbow matching. Note that this result is asymptotically tight.

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arXiv2025

Simplices in $t$-intersecting families for vector spaces

Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ and ${V\brack k}$ denote the family of all $k$-dimensional subspaces of $V$. A family $\mathcal{F}\subseteq {V\brack k}$ is called $k$-uniform $r$-wise $t$-intersecting if for any $F_1, F_2, \dots, F_r \in \mathcal{F}$, we have $\dim\left(\bigcap_{i=1}^r F_i \right) \geq t$. An $r$-wise $t$-intersecting family $\{X_1, X_2, \dots, X_{r+1}\}$ is called a $(r+1,t)$-simplex if $\dim\left(\bigcap_{i=1}^{r+1} X_i \right) < t$, denoted by $Δ_{r+1,t}$. Notice that it is usually called triangle when $r=2$ and $t=1$. For $k \geq t \geq 1$, $r \geq 2$ and $n \geq 3kr^2 + 3krt$, we prove that the maximal number of $Δ_{r+1,t}$ in a $k$-uniform $r$-wise $t$-intersecting subspace family of $V$ is at most $n_{t+r,k}$, and we describe all the extreme families. Furthermore, we have the extremal structure of $k$-uniform intersecting families maximizing the number of triangles for $n\geq 2k+9$ as a corollary.

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arXiv2024

Generalized Turán problems for a matching and long cycles

Let $\mathscr{F}$ be a family of graphs. A graph $G$ is $\mathscr{F}$-free if $G$ does not contain any $F\in \mathcal{F}$ as a subgraph. The general Turán number, denoted by $ex(n, H,\mathscr{F})$, is the maximum number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex $\mathscr{F}$-free graph. Then $ex(n, K_2,\mathscr{F})$, also denote by $ex(n, \mathscr{F})$, is the Turán number. Recently, Alon and Frankl determined the exact value of $ex(n, \{K_{k},M_{s+1}\})$, where $K_{k}$ and $M_{s+1}$ are a complete graph on $k $ vertices and a matching of size $s +1$, respectively. Then many results were obtained by extending $K_{k}$ to a general fixed graph or family of graphs. Let $C_k$ be a cycle of order $k$. Denote $C_{\ge k}=\{C_k,C_{k+1},\ldots\}$. In this paper, we determine the value of $ex(n,K_r, \{C_{\ge k},M_{s+1}\})$ for large enough $n$ and obtain the extremal graphs when $k$ is odd. Particularly, the exact value of $ex(n, \{C_{\ge k},M_{s+1}\})$ and the extremal graph are given for large enough $n$.

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arXiv2024

The Minimum Weighting Ratio Problem and Its Application in Chordal Graphs

Constructing the maximum spanning tree $T$ of an edge-weighted connected graph $G$ is one of the important research topics in computer science and optimization, and the related research results have played an active role in practical applications. In this paper, we are concerned with the ratio of the weighted sum of a spanning tree $T$ of $G$ to the weighted sum of $G$, which we try to minimize. We propose an interesting theorem to simplify this problem and show that this optimal problem can be solved in polynomial time. Furthermore, we apply the optimal problem in chordal graphs.

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arXiv2024

Partite saturation number of cycles

A graph $H$ is said to be $F$-saturated relative to $G$, if $H$ does not contain any copy of $F$, but the addition of any edge $e$ in $E(G)\backslash E(H)$ would create a copy of $F$. The minimum size of an $F$-saturated graph relative to $G$ is denoted by $sat(G,F)$. Let $K_k^n$ be the complete $k$-partite graph containing $n$ vertices in each part and $C_\ell$ be the cycle of length $\ell$. In this paper we give an asymptotically tight bound of $sat(K_k^n,C_\ell)$ for all $ \ell \geq 4, k \geq 2$ except $(\ell,k)=(4,4)$. Moreover, we determined the exact value of $sat(K_k^n,C_\ell)$ for $ k>\ell=4 $ and $5 \geq \ell>k \geq 3$ and $(\ell,k)=(6,2)$.

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