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.

Shi-Mei Ma1
1Department of Information and Computing Science, Northeastern University at Qinhuangdao, Hebei 066004, China
Abstract:

The signless \(r\)-associated Stirling numbers of the first kind \(d_r(n, k)\) counts the number of permutations of the set \(\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\) that have exactly \(k\) cycles, each of which is of length greater than or equal to \(r\), where \(r\)is a fixed positive integer. F. Brenti obtained that the generating polynomials of the numbers \(d_r(n, k)\) have only real zeros. Here we consider the location of zeros of these polynomials.

Chin-Mei Fu1, Wen-Chung Huang2
1Department of Mathematics Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taipei Shien, Taiwan, Republic of China
2Department of Mathematics Soochow University Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Abstract:

A kite-design of order \(n\) is a decomposition of the complete graph \(K_n\) into kites. Such systems exist precisely when \(n \equiv 0,1 \pmod{8}\). Two kite systems \((X,\mathcal{K}_1)\) and \((X,\mathcal{K}_2)\) are said to intersect in \(m\) pairwise disjoint blocks if \(|\mathcal{K}_1 \cap \mathcal{K}_2| = m\) and all blocks in \(\mathcal{K}_1 \cap \mathcal{K}_2\) are pairwise disjoint. In this paper, we determine all the possible values of \(m\) such that there are two kite-designs of order \(n\) intersecting in \(m\) pairwise disjoint blocks, for all \(n \equiv 0,1 \pmod{8}\).

Lihua Feng1, Guihai Yu1
1School of Mathematics, Shandong Institute of Business and Technology 191 Binhaizhong Road, Yantai, Shandong, P.R. China, 264005.
Abstract:

In this note, we present some upper bounds for the \(k\)th largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix as well as the Laplacian matrix of graphs. Special attention is paid to the Laplacian matrix of trees.

A.M. Khalaf1, Y.H. Peng1
1Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract:

Let \(P(G, \lambda)\) denote the chromatic polynomial of a graph \(G\). Two graphs \(G\) and \(H\) are chromatically equivalent, written \(G \sim H\), if \(P(G, \lambda) = P(H, \lambda)\). A graph \(G\) is chromatically unique, written \(x\)-unique, if for any graph \(H\), \(G \sim H\) implies that \(G\) is isomorphic with \(H\). In this paper, we prove that the graph \(\theta(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_6)\) is \(x\)-unique for exactly two distinct values of \(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_6\).

Liangxia Wan1, Yanpei Liu1
1Department of Mathematics Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, P.R.China
Abstract:

In this paper, we give an explicit expression of the genus distributions of \(M_j^n\), for \(j = 1, 2, \ldots, 11\), which are introduced in the previous paper “Orientable embedding distributions by genus for certain types of non-planar graphs”. For a connected graph \(G = (V, E)\) with a cycle, let \(e\) be an edge on a cycle. By adding \(2n\) vertices \(u_1, u_2,u_3 \ldots, u_n, v_1, v_2,v_3 \ldots, v_n\) on \(e\) in sequence and connecting \(u_k, v_k\) for \(1 \leq k \leq n\), a non-planar graph \(G_n\) is obtained for \(n \geq 3\). Thus, the orientable embedding distribution of \(G_n\) by genus is obtained via the genus distributions of \(M_j^n\).

Hong-Jian Lai1,2, Mingchu Li3, Yehong Shao4, Liming Xiong5
1Department of Mathematics, West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506, U.S.A.
2College of Science, Chongqing Technology and Business University Chongaing, 400067, P. R. China
3 School of Software, Dalian University of Technology Dalian, 116024, P.R. China
4Arts and Sciences, Ohio University Southern Ironton, OH 45638, U.S.A
5Department of Mathematics, Beijing Institute of Technology Beijing, 100081, P.R. China
Abstract:

A graph \(G\) is \(N^m\)-locally connected if for every vertex \(v\) in \(G\), the vertices not equal to \(v\) and with distance at most \(m\) to \(v\) induce a connected subgraph in \(G\). In this note, we first present a counterexample to the conjecture that every \(3\)-connected, \(N^2\)-locally connected claw-free graph is hamiltonian and then show that both connected \(N^2\)-locally connected claw-free graph and connected \(N^3\)-locally connected claw-free graph with minimum degree at least three have connected even \([2, 4]\)-factors.

Koen Thas1
1Ghent University Department of Pure Mathematics and Computer Algebra Krijgslaan 281, $22, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Abstract:

In J.-P. Serre’s \(Lettre \;à\; M. Tsfasman\) \([3]\), an interesting bound for the maximal number of points on a hypersurface of the \(n\)-dimensional projective space \(PG(n,q)\) over the Galois field \(GF(q)\) with \(q\) elements is given. Using essentially the same combinatorial technique as in \([3]\), we provide a bound which is relative to the maximal dimension of a subspace of \(PG(n,q)\) which is completely contained in the hypersurface. The lower that dimension, the better the bound. Next, by using a different argument, we derive a bound which is again relative to the maximal dimension of a subspace of \(PG(n, q)\) which is completely contained in the hypersurface, If that dimension increases for the latter case, the bound gets better.
As such, the bounds are complementary.

Gao Zhenbin1
1 School of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang Province, P.R. China
Abstract:

In this paper, it is shown that a variation of banana trees is odd graceful, and it is also proved that the variation of banana is graceful and \(\hat{p}\)-labeling in some cases.

E. Kilic1, D. Tasci2
1TOBB Economics AND TECHNOLOGY University 06560 ANKARA TURKEY
2Gazi UNIVERSITY, MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT, 06500 ANKARA TURKEY
Abstract:

In this paper, we consider the generalized Fibonacci and Pell Sequences and then show the relationships between the generalized Fibonacci and Pell sequences, and the Hessenberg permanents and determinants.

Yu-Shuang Li1, Jun Wang2
1School of Science, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, P. R. China
2Department of Mathematics, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, P.R. China
Abstract:

In this paper, a sequence representation of Dyck paths is presented, which yields a sequence representation of the Dyck path poset \({D}\) ordered by pattern containment. This representation makes it clear that the Dyck path poset \({D}\) takes the composition poset investigated by Sagan and Vatter as a subposet, and that the pattern containment order on Dyck paths exactly agrees with a generalized subword order also presented by Sagan and Vatter. As applications of the representation, we describe the Möbius function of \({D}\) and establish the Möbius inverse of the rank function of \({D}\) in terms of Dyck sequences. In the end, a Sperner and unimodal subposet of \({D}\) is given.