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.

Saeid Alikhani1,2, Emeric Deutsch3
1Department of Mathematics, Yazd University 89195-741, Yazd, Iran
2School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) P.O. Box: 19395-5746, Tehran, Iran.
3Polytechnic Institute of New York University, United States
Abstract:

Let \(G\) be a simple graph of order \(n\). The domination polynomial of \(G\) is the polynomial \(D(G, x) = \sum_{i=0}^{n} d(G, i)\lambda^i\), where \(d(G, i)\) is the number of dominating sets of \(G\) of size \(i\). Every root of \(D(G, \lambda)\) is called a domination root of \(G\). It is clear that \((0, \infty)\) is a zero-free interval for the domination polynomial of a graph. It is interesting to investigate graphs that have complex domination roots with positive real parts. In this paper, we first investigate the complexity of the domination polynomial at specific points. Then, we present and investigate some families of graphs whose complex domination roots have positive real parts.

Hongying Lin1, Bo Zhou1
1Department of Mathematics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, P. R. China
Abstract:

A quasi-tree is a graph for which the deletion of some vertex results in a tree. We determine the unique graph with minimum distance spectral radius among quasi-trees with fixed order and the unique graph with maximum distance spectral radius among cycle-containing quasi-trees with fixed order.

Marcin Krzywkowski1
1Paculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland.
Abstract:

We initiate the study of double outer-independent domination in graphs. A vertex of a graph is said to dominate itself and all of its neighbors. A double outer-independent dominating set of a graph \(G\) is a set \(D\) of vertices of \(G\) such that every vertex of \(G\) is dominated by at least two vertices of \(D\), and the set \(V(G) \setminus D\) is independent. The double outer-independent domination number of a graph \(G\) is the minimum cardinality of a double outer-independent dominating set of \(G\). First, we discuss the basic properties of double outer-independent domination in graphs. We find the double outer-independent domination numbers for several classes of graphs. Next, we prove lower and upper bounds on the double outer-independent domination number of a graph, and we characterize the extremal graphs. Then, we study the influence of removing or adding vertices and edges. We also give Nordhaus-Gaddum type inequalities.

M.M.M. Jaradat1, M.S.A. Bataineh2, N. Al Hazeem2
1Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics Qatar University Doha-Qatar
2Department of Mathematics Yarmouk University Irbid-Jordan
Abstract:

For any two graphs \(F_1\) and \(F_2\), the graph Ramsey number \(r(F_1, F_2)\) is the smallest positive integer \(N\) with the property that every graph of at least \(N\) vertices contains \(F_1\) or its complement contains \(F_2\) as a subgraph. In this paper, we consider the Ramsey numbers for theta-complete graphs. In fact, we prove that \(r(\theta_n, K_5) = 4n-3\) for \(n \geq 6\) and \(n \geq 10\).

Xiaojuan Jiang1, Guihua Huang1, Meijun Kuang1, Hanyuvan Deng1
1College of Mathematics and Computer Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China
Abstract:

The Randić index \(R\) is an important topological index in chemistry. In order to attack some conjectures concerning the Randić index, a modification \(R’\) of this index was introduced by Dvorak et al. [6]. The \(R’\) index of a graph \(G\) is defined as the sum of the weights \(\frac{1}{\max\{{d(u)d(v)}\}}\) of all edges \(uv\) of \(G\), where \(d(u)\) denotes the degree of a vertex \(u\) in \(G\). We first give a best possible lower bound of \(R’\) for a graph with minimum degree at least two and characterize the corresponding extremal graphs, and then we establish some relations between \(R’\) and the chromatic number, the girth of a graph.

Maria Del Rio Francos1
1Institute of Mathematics Physics and Mechanics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia,
Abstract:

There are operations that transform a map \(\mathcal{M}\) (an embedding of a graph on a surface) into another map on the same surface, modifying its structure and consequently its set of flags \(\mathcal{F(M)}\). For instance, by truncating all the vertices of a map \(\mathcal{M}\), each flag in \(\mathcal{F(M)}\) is divided into three flags of the truncated map. Orbanić, Pellicer, and Weiss studied the truncation of \(k\)-orbit maps for \(k \leq 3\). They introduced the notion of \(T\)-compatible maps in order to give a necessary condition for a truncation of a \(k\)-orbit map to be either \(k\)-, \(\frac{3k}{2}\)-, or \(3k\)-orbit map. Using a similar notion, by introducing an appropriate partition on the set of flags of the maps, we extend the results on truncation of \(k\)-orbit maps for \(k \leq 7\) and \(k = 9\).

Weiling Sun1, Tianmei Song1, Ji-Ming Guo2, Shangwang Tan1
1College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China.
2College of Science, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China
Abstract:

Let \(\Re_\beta\) denote the set of trees on \(n = kG + 1\) (\(k \geq 2\)) vertices with matching number \(\beta\). In this paper, the trees with minimal spectral radius among \(\Re_\beta\) (\(2 \leq \delta \leq 4\)) are determined, respectively.

Elyssa Cipriano1, Stephanie Costa2, Rebecca Sparks3
1Rhode Island College class of 2013
2Rhode Island College, Providence, RI.
3Rhode Island College, Providence, RI.
Abstract:

Generalized whist tournament designs and ordered whist tournament designs are relatively new specializations of whist tournament designs, having first appeared in \(2003\) and \(1996\), respectively. In this paper, we extend the concept of an ordered whist tournament to a generalized whist tournament and introduce an entirely new combinatorial design, which we call a generalized ordered whist tournament. We focus specifically on generalized whist tournaments for games of size \(6\) and teams of size \(3\), where the number of players is a prime of the form \(6n+1\), and prove that these tournaments exist for all primes \(p\) of the form \(p=6n+1\), with the possible exception of \(p \in \{7, 13, 19, 37, 61, 67\}\).

A. BABAI1, B. KHOSRAVI2
1Dept. oF PURE MATH., FACULTY OF MATH. AND COMPUTER SCI., AMIRKABIR UNI- VERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (TEHRAN POLYTECHNIC), 424, HAFEZ AVE., TEHRAN 15914, IRAN
2ScHOOL OF MATHEMATICS, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCES (IPM), P.O.Box: 19395-5746, TEHRAN,IRAN
Abstract:

A regular graph \(\Gamma\) is said to be semisymmetric if its full automorphism group acts transitively on its edge set but not on its vertex set. Some authors classified semisymmetric cubic graphs of orders \(10p\) and \(10p^2\). Also, it is proved that there is no connected semisymmetric cubic graph of order \(10p^3\). In this paper, we continue this work and prove that there is no connected semisymmetric cubic graph of order \(10p^n\), where \(n \geq 4\), \(p \geq 7\), and \(p \neq 11\).

Zeling Shao1, Xiaolei Hao1, Zhiguo Li1
1Department of Mathematics, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Abstract:

In this.paper, by joint tree model, we obtain the genera of two types of graphs, which are suspensions of cartesian products of two types of bipartite graphs from a vertex.