arXiv subjects

Riste Škrekovski

Publications and source records attributed to Riste Škrekovski.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Facial unique-maximum colorings of plane graphs with restriction on big vertices

A facial unique-maximum coloring of a plane graph is a proper coloring of the vertices using positive integers such that each face has a unique vertex that receives the maximum color in that face. Fabrici and Göring (2016) proposed a strengthening of the Four Color Theorem conjecturing that all plane graphs have a facial unique-maximum coloring using four colors. This conjecture has been disproven for general plane graphs and it was shown that five colors suffice. In this paper we show that plane graphs, where vertices of degree at least four induce a star forest, are facially unique-maximum 4-colorable. This improves a previous result for subcubic plane graphs by Andova, Lidický, Lužar, and Škrekovski (2018). We conclude the paper by proposing some problems.

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arXiv2017

On facial unique-maximum (edge-)coloring

A facial unique-maximum coloring of a plane graph is a vertex coloring where on each face $α$ the maximal color appears exactly once on the vertices of $α$. If the coloring is required to be proper, then the upper bound for the minimal number of colors required for such a coloring is set to $5$. Fabrici and Göring [Fabrici and Goring 2016] even conjectured that $4$ colors always suffice. Confirming the conjecture would hence give a considerable strengthening of the Four Color Theorem. In this paper, we prove that the conjecture holds for subcubic plane graphs, outerplane graphs and plane quadrangulations. Additionally, we consider the facial edge-coloring analogue of the aforementioned coloring and prove that every $2$-connected plane graph admits such a coloring with at most $4$ colors.

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arXiv2017

Lah numbers and Lindström's lemma

We provide a combinatorial interpretation of Lah numbers by means of planar networks. Henceforth, as a conesquence of Lindström's lemma, we conclude that the related Lah matrix possesses a remarkable property of total non-negativity.

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arXiv2017

A counterexample to a conjecture on facial unique-maximal colorings

A facial unique-maximum coloring of a plane graph is a proper vertex coloring by natural numbers where on each face $α$ the maximal color appears exactly once on the vertices of $α$. Fabrici and Göring proved that six colors are enough for any plane graph and conjectured that four colors suffice. This conjecture is a strengthening of the Four Color theorem. Wendland later decreased the upper bound from six to five. In this note, we disprove the conjecture by giving an infinite family of counterexamples. Thus we conclude that facial unique-maximum chromatic number of the sphere is five.

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arXiv2017

On the Clar Number of Benzenoid Graphs

A Clar set of a benzenoid graph $B$ is a maximum set of independent alternating hexagons over all perfect matchings of $B$. The Clar number of $B$, denoted by ${\rm Cl}(B)$, is the number of hexagons in a Clar set for $B$. In this paper, we first prove some results on the independence number of subcubic trees to study the Clar number of catacondensed benzenoid graphs. As the main result of the paper we prove an upper bound for the Clar number of catacondensed benzenoid graphs and characterize the graphs that attain this bound. More precisely, it is shown that for a catacondensed benzenoid graph $B$ with $n$ hexagons ${\rm Cl}(B) \leq [(2n+1)/3]$.

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arXiv2017

On the minimum value of sum-Balaban index

We consider extremal values of sum-Balaban index among graphs on $n$ vertices. We determine that the upper bound for the minimum value of the sum-Balaban index is at most $4.47934$ when $n$ goes to infinity. For small values of $n$ we determine the extremal graphs and we observe that they are similar to dumbbell graphs, in most cases having one extra edge added to the corresponding extreme for the usual Balaban index. We show that in the class of balanced dumbbell graphs, those with clique sizes $\sqrt[4]{\sqrt 2\log\big(1+\sqrt 2\big)}\sqrt n+o(\sqrt n)$ have asymptotically the smallest value of sum-Balaban index. We pose several conjectures and problems regarding this topic.

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arXiv2016

Remarks on the maximum atom-bond connectivity index of graphs with given parameters

The atom-bond connectivity (ABC) index is a degree-based molecular structure descriptor that can be used for modelling thermodynamic properties of organic chemical compounds. Motivated by its applicable potential, a series of investigations have been carried out in the past several years. In this note we first consider graphs with given edge-connectivity that attain the maximum ABC index. In particular, we give an affirmative answer to the conjecture about the structure of graphs with edge-connectivity equal to one that maximize the ABC index, which was recently raised by Zhang, Yang, Wang and Zhang~\cite{zywz mabciggp-2016}. In addition, we provide supporting evidence for another conjecture posed by the same authors which concerns graphs that maximize the ABC index among all graphs with chromatic number equal to some fixed $χ\geq 3$. Specifically, we confirm this conjecture in the case where the order of the graph is divisible by $χ$.

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arXiv2016

Remarks on the Graovac-Ghorbani index of bipartite graphs

The atom-bond connectivity (ABC) index is a well-known degree-based molecular structure descriptor with a variety of chemical applications. In 2010 Graovac and Ghorbani introduced a distance-based analog of this index, the Graovac-Ghorbani (GG) index, which yielded promising results when compared to analogous descriptors. In this paper, we investigate the structure of graphs that maximize and minimize the GG index. Specifically, we show that amongst all bipartite graphs, the minimum GG index is attained by a complete bipartite graph, while the maximum GG index is attained by a path or a cycle-like graph; the structure of the resulting graph depends on the number of vertices. Through the course of the research, we also derive an asymptotic estimate of the GG index of paths. In order to obtain our results, we introduce a normalized version of the GG index and call it the normalized Graovac-Ghorbani (NGG) index. Finally, we discuss some related open questions as a potential extension of our work.

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arXiv2016

Closeness Centralization Measure for Two-mode Data of Prescribed Sizes

We confirm a conjecture by Everett, Sinclair, and Dankelmann~[Some Centrality results new and old, J. Math. Sociology 28 (2004), 215--227] regarding the problem of maximizing closeness centralization in two-mode data, where the number of data of each type is fixed. Intuitively, our result states that among all networks obtainable via two-mode data, the largest closeness is achieved by simply locally maximizing the closeness of a node. Mathematically, our study concerns bipartite graphs with fixed size bipartitions, and we show that the extremal configuration is a rooted tree of depth~$2$, where neighbors of the root have an equal or almost equal number of children.

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arXiv2016

On the difference between the Szeged and Wiener index

We prove a conjecture of Nadjafi-Arani, Khodashenas and Ashrafi on the difference between the Szeged and Wiener index of a graph. Namely, if $G$ is a 2-connected non-complete graph on $n$ vertices, then $Sz(G)-W(G)\ge 2n-6$. Furthermore, the equality is obtained if and only if $G$ is the complete graph $K_{n-1}$ with an extra vertex attached to either $2$ or $n-2$ vertices of $K_{n-1}$. We apply our method to strengthen some known results on the difference between the Szeged and Wiener index of bipartite graphs, graphs of girth at least five, and the difference between the revised Szeged and Wiener index. We also propose a stronger version of the aforementioned conjecture.

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arXiv2015

Mathematical aspects of Wiener index

The Wiener index (i.e., the total distance or the transmission number), defined as the sum of distances between all unordered pairs of vertices in a graph, is one of the most popular molecular descriptors. In this article we summarize some results, conjectures and problems on this molecular descriptor, with emphasis on works we were involved in.

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arXiv2014

Sandwiching saturation number of fullerene graphs

The saturation number of a graph $G$ is the cardinality of any smallest maximal matching of $G$, and it is denoted by $s(G)$. Fullerene graphs are cubic planar graphs with exactly twelve 5-faces; all the other faces are hexagons. They are used to capture the structure of carbon molecules. Here we show that the saturation number of fullerenes on $n$ vertices is essentially $n/3$.

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arXiv2013

Replication in critical graphs and the persistence of monomial ideals

Motivated by questions about square-free monomial ideals in polynomial rings, in 2010 Francisco et al. conjectured that for every positive integer k and every k-critical (i.e., critically k-chromatic) graph, there is a set of vertices whose replication produces a (k+1)-critical graph. (The replication of a set W of vertices of a graph is the operation that adds a copy of each vertex w in W, one at a time, and connects it to w and all its neighbours.) We disprove the conjecture by providing an infinite family of counterexamples. Furthermore, the smallest member of the family answers a question of Herzog and Hibi concerning the depth functions of square-free monomial ideals in polynomial rings, and a related question on the persistence property of such ideals.

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arXiv2013

Strong edge coloring of subcubic bipartite graphs

A strong edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring in which each color class is an induced matching of $G$. In 1993, Brualdi and Quinn Massey proposed a conjecture that every bipartite graph without $4$-cycles and with the maximum degrees of the two partite sets $2$ and $Δ$ admits a strong edge coloring with at most $Δ+2$ colors. We prove that this conjecture holds for such graphs with $Δ=3$. We also confirm the conjecture proposed by Faudree et al. for subcubic bipartite graphs.

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arXiv2013

Sufficient sparseness conditions for G^2 to be (Δ+1)-choosable, when Δ\ge5

We determine the list chromatic number of the square of a graph $\chil(G^2)$ in terms of its maximum degree $Δ$ when its maximum average degree, denoted $\mad(G)$, is sufficiently small. For $Δ\ge 6$, if $\mad(G)<2+\frac{4Δ-8}{5Δ+2}$, then $\chil(G^2)=Δ+1$. In particular, if $G$ is planar with girth $g\ge 7+\frac{12}{Δ-2}$, then $\chil(G^2)=Δ+1$. Under the same conditions, $\chil^i(G)=Δ$, where $\chil^i$ is the list injective chromatic number.

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arXiv2013

Star edge coloring of some classes of graphs

\textit{A star edge coloring} of a graph is a proper edge coloring without bichromatic paths and cycles of length four. In this paper we establish tight upper bounds for trees and subcubic outerplanar graphs, and derive an upper bound for outerplanar graphs.

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arXiv2013

Strong edge coloring of planar graphs

A strong edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring where the edges at distance at most two receive distinct colors. It is known that every planar graph with maximum degree D has a strong edge coloring with at most 4D + 4 colors. We show that 3D + 6 colors suffice if the graph has girth 6, and 3D colors suffice if the girth is at least 7. Moreover, we show that cubic planar graphs with girth at least 6 can be strongly edge colored with at most 9 colors.

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arXiv2013

Choosability of the square of a planar graph with maximum degree four

We study squares of planar graphs with the aim to determine their list chromatic number. We present new upper bounds for the square of a planar graph with maximum degree $Δ\leq 4$. In particular $G^2$ is 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 12-, 14-choosable if the girth of $G$ is at least 16, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3 respectively. In fact we prove more general results, in terms of maximum average degree, that imply the results above.

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