Ars Combinatoria

ISSN 0381-7032 (print), 2817-5204 (online)

Ars Combinatoria is the oldest Canadian journal of combinatorics, established in 1976, dedicated to advancing combinatorial mathematics through the publication of high-quality, peer-reviewed research papers. Over the decades, it has built a strong international reputation and continues to serve as a leading platform for significant contributions to the field.
Open Access:  The journal follows the Diamond Open Access model—completely free for both authors and readers, with no article processing charges (APCs). 
Publication Frequency: From 2024 onward, Ars Combinatoria publishes four issues annually—in March, June, September, and December.
Scope: Publishes research in all areas of combinatorics, including graph theory, design theory, enumeration, algebraic combinatorics, combinatorial optimization and related fields.
Indexing & Abstracting:  Indexed in MathSciNet, Zentralblatt MATH, and EBSCO, ensuring wide visibility and scholarly reach.
Rapid Publication: Submissions are processed efficiently, with accepted papers published promptly in the next available issue.
Print & Online Editions: Issues are available in both print and online formats to serve a broad readership.

Abstract:

A diagonalised lattice is a two dimensional grid, where we add exactly one arbitrary diagonal in each square, and color each vertex black or white.We show that for every diagonalised lattice there is a walk from the left to the right, using only black vertices, if and only if there is no walk from the top to the bottom, using only white vertices.

Ian Anderson1, D.A. Preece2,3
1Department of Mathematics, University of Glasgow, University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QW, UK
2School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
3Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, Cornwallis Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK
Abstract:

A terrace for \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) is an arrangement \((a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_m)\) of the \(m\) elements of \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) such that the sets of differences \(a_{i+1} – a_i\) and \(a_i – a_{i+1}\) (\(i = 1, 2, \ldots, m-1\)) between them contain each element of \(\mathbb{Z}_m \setminus \{0\}\) exactly twice. For \(m\) odd, many procedures are available for constructing power-sequence terraces for \(\mathbb{Z}_m\); each such terrace may be partitioned into segments one of which contains merely the zero element of \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) whereas each other segment is either (a) a sequence of successive powers of a non-zero element of \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) or (b) such a sequence multiplied throughout by a constant. For \(n\) an odd prime power satisfying \(n \equiv 1\) or \(3 \pmod{8}\), this idea has previously been extended by using power-sequences in \(\mathbb{Z}_n\) to produce some \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) terraces \((a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_m)\) where \(m = n+1 = 2^\mu\), with \(a_{i+1} – a_i = -(a_{i+1+\mu} – a_{i+\mu})\) for all \(i \in [1, \mu-1]\). Each of these “da capo directed terraces” consists of a sequence of segments, one containing just the element \(0\) and another just containing the element \(n\), the remaining segments each being of type (a) or (b) above with each of its distinct entries \(z\) from \(\mathbb{Z}_n \setminus \{0\}\) evaluated so that \(1 \leq x \leq n-1\). Now, for many odd prime powers \(n\) satisfying \(n \equiv 1 \pmod{4}\), we similarly produce narcissistic terraces for \(\mathbb{Z}_{n+1}\); these have \(a_{i+1} – a_i = a_{m-i+1} – a_{m-i}\) for all \(i \in [1, \mu-1]\).

Edward Dobson1
1Department of Mathematics and Statistics Mississippi State University PO Drawer MA Mississippi State, MS 39762
Abstract:

We determine the full Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of the automorphism group of transitive \(k\)-ary relational structures of order \(p^2\), \(p\) a prime. We then find the full automorphism group of transitive ternary relational structures of order \(p^2\), for those values of \(p\) for which \({A_p}\) is the only doubly-transitive nonabelian simple group of degree \(p\). Finally, we determine optimal necessary and sufficient conditions for two Cayley \(k\)-ary relational structures of order \(p^2\), \(k < p\), to be isomorphic.

Fengxia Liu1, Jixiang Meng1
1College of Mathematics and Systems Science, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 880046, P.R. China
Abstract:

Let \(G\) be a finite group, \(S\) (possibly, contains the identity element) be a subset of \(G\). The Bi-Cayley graph \(\text{BC}(G, S)\) is a bipartite graph with vertex set \(G \times \{0,1\}\) and edge set \(\{\{(g,0), (gs,1)\}, g \in G, s \in S\}\). A graph \(X\) is said to be super-edge-connected if every minimum edge cut of \(X\) is a set of edges incident with some vertex. The restricted edge connectivity \(\lambda'(X)\) of \(X\) is the minimum number of edges whose removal disconnects \(X\) into nontrivial components. A \(k\)-regular graph \(X\) is said to be optimally super-edge-connected if \(X\) is super-edge-connected and its restricted edge connectivity attains the maximum \(2k-2\). In this paper, we show that all connected Bi-Cayley graphs, except even cycles, are optimally super-edge-connected.

Neil P.Carnes1, Anne Dye1
1Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics McNeese State University Lake Charles, LA 70609-2340
Abstract:

A transitive triple, \((a, b, c)\), is defined to be the set \(\{(a, b), (b, c), (a, c)\}\) of ordered pairs. A directed triple system of order \(v\), \(DTS(v)\), is a pair \((D, \beta)\), where \(D\) is a set of \(v\) points and \(\beta\) is a collection of transitive triples of pairwise distinct points of \(D\) such that any ordered pair of distinct points of \(D\) is contained in precisely one transitive triple of \(\beta\). An antiautomorphism of a directed triple system, \((D, \beta)\), is a permutation of \(D\) which maps \(\beta\) to \(\beta^{-1}\), where \(\beta^{-1} = \{(c, b, a) | (a, b, c) \in \beta\}\). In this paper, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a directed triple system of order \(v\) admitting an antiautomorphism consisting of two cycles of lengths \(M\) and \(2M\), and one fixed point.

Hung-Chih Lee1
1Department of Information Technology Ling Tung University Taichung 40852, Taiwan
Abstract:

A \(k\)-circuit is a directed cycle of length \(k\). In this paper, we completely solve the problem of finding maximum packings and minimum coverings of \(\lambda\)-fold complete bipartite symmetric digraphs with \(6\)-circuits.

Xianghong Xu1, Weijun Liu1
1School of Sciences, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, 226007, P. R. China
Abstract:

Until now, all known simple \(t-(v, k, \lambda)\) designs with \(t \geq 6\) have \(\lambda \geq 4\). On the other hand, P. J. Cameron and C. E. Praeger showed that there are no flag-transitive simple \(7-(v, k, \lambda)\) designs. In the present paper, we considered the flag-transitive simple \(6-(v, k, \lambda)\) designs and proved that there are no non-trivial flag-transitive simple \(6-(v, k, \lambda)\) designs with \(\lambda \leq 5\).

John Mitchem1, Randolph L.Schmidt2
1Mathematics Department San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192
2RSE Consulting, Mountain View, CA 94043
Abstract:

In \(1972\), Erdős, Faber, and Lovász made the now famous conjecture: If a graph \(G\) consists of \(n\) copies of the complete graph \(K_n\), such that any two copies have at most one common vertex (such graphs are called EFL graphs), then \(G\) is \(n\)-colorable. In this paper, we show that the conjecture is true for two different classes of EFL graphs. Furthermore, a new shorter proof of the conjecture is given for a third class of EFL graphs.

Jeng-Jong Lin1
1Ling Tung University Taichung 40852, Taiwan
Abstract:

The edge set of \(K_n\) cannot be decomposed into edge-disjoint octagons (or \(8\)-cycles) when \(n \not\equiv 1 \pmod{16}\). We consider the problem of removing edges from the edge set of \(K_n\) so that the remaining graph can be decomposed into edge-disjoint octagons. This paper gives the solution of finding maximum packings of complete graphs with edge-disjoint octagons and the minimum leaves are given.

Sule Ayar Ozbal 1, Alev Firat2
1YASAR UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND LETTER, DEPARTMENT OF MATHE- MATICS, 35100-Izmir, TURKEY
2Ece UNIversITY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE, DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, 35100- Izmir, TURKEY
Abstract:

In this paper, we introduced the notion of symmetric \(f\) bi-derivations on lattices and investigated some related properties. We characterized the distributive lattice by symmetric \(f\) bi-derivations.