Ars Combinatoria

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

Ars Combinatoria is the oldest Canadian Journal of Combinatorics, established in 1976. The journal is dedicated to advancing the field of combinatorial mathematics through the publication of high-quality research papers. From 2024 onward, it publishes four volumes per year in March, June, September and December. Ars Combinatoria has gained recognition and visibility in the academic community and is indexed in renowned databases such as MathSciNet, Zentralblatt, and Scopus. The Scope of the journal includes Graph theory, Design theory, Extremal combinatorics, Enumeration, Algebraic combinatorics, Combinatorial optimization, Ramsey theory, Automorphism groups, Coding theory, Finite geometries, Chemical graph theory but not limited.

Martin Kochol1
1MU SAV, Stefénikova 49, 814 73 Bratislava 1, Slovakia
Abstract:

We find a maximal number of directed circuits (directed cocircuits) in a base of a cycle (cut) space of a digraph. We show that this space has a base composed of directed circuits (directed cocircuits) if and only if the digraph is totally cyclic (acyclic). Furthermore, this basis can be considered as an ordered set so that each element of the basis has an arc not contained in the previous elements.

Mage Z. Youssef1
1Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract:

In this paper, we show that if \(G\) is a harmonious graph, then \((2n+1)G\) (the disjoint union of \(2n+1\) copies of \(G\)) and \(G ^{(2n+1)}\) (the graph consisting of \(2n+1\) copies of \(G\) with one fixed vertex in common) are harmonious for all \(n \geq 0\).

Peter Adams1, Richard Bean1, Abdollah Khodkar1
1Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing Department of Mathematics The University of Queensland Queensland 4072 Australia
Abstract:

A critical set in a Latin square of order \(n\) is a set of entries from the square which can be embedded in precisely one Latin square of order \(n\), such that if any element of the critical set is deleted, the remaining set can be embedded in more than one Latin square of order \(n\). In this paper we find all the critical sets of different sizes in the Latin squares of order at most six. We count the number of main and isotopy classes of these critical sets and classify critical sets from the main classes into various “strengths”. Some observations are made about the relationship between the numbers of classes, particularly in the \(6 \times 6\) case. Finally some examples are given of each type of critical set.

Hong-Jian Lai1, Bruce Montgomery1, Hoifung Poon1
1Department of Mathematics West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6310
Abstract:

A proper vertex \(k\)-coloring of a graph \(G\) is dynamic if for every vertex \(v\) with degree at least \(2\), the neighbors of \(v\) receive at least two different colors. The smallest integer \(k\) such that \(G\) has a dynamic \(k\)-coloring is the dynamic chromatic number \(\chi_d(G)\). We prove in this paper the following best possible upper bounds as an analogue to Brook’s Theorem, together with the determination of chromatic numbers for complete \(k\)-partite graphs.

  1. If \(\Delta \leq 3\), then \(\chi_d(G) \leq 4\), with the only exception that \(G = C_5\), in which case \(\chi_d(C_5) = 5\).
  2. If \(\Delta \geq 4\), then \(\chi_d(G) \leq \Delta + 1\).
  3. \(\chi_d(K_{1,1}) = 2\), \(\chi_d(K_{1,m}) = 3\) and \(\chi_d(K_{m,n}) = 4\) for \(m, n \geq 2\); \(\chi_d(K_{k,n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k}) = k\) for \(k \geq 3\).
Lutz Volkmann1
1Lehrstuhl II fiir Mathematik, RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Abstract:

If \(x\) is a vertex of a digraph \(D\), then we denote by \(d^+(x)\) and \(d^-(x)\) the outdegree and the indegree of \(x\), respectively. The global irregularity of a digraph \(D\) is defined by \(i_g(D) = \max\{d^+(x),d^-(x)\} – \min\{d^+(y),d^-(y)\}\) over all vertices \(x\) and \(y\) of \(D\) (including \(x = y\)). If \(i_g(D) = 0\), then \(D\) is regular and if \(i_g(D) \leq 1\), then \(D\) is almost regular.

A \(c\)-partite tournament is an orientation of a complete \(c\)-partite graph. It is easy to see that there exist regular \(c\)-partite tournaments with arbitrarily large \(c\) which contain arcs that do not belong to a directed cycle of length \(3\). In this paper we show, however, that every arc of an almost regular \(c\)-partite tournament is contained in a directed cycle of length four, when \(c \geq 8\). Examples show that the condition \(c \geq 8\) is best possible.

Jan Kara1, Daniel Kral2
1Department of Applied Mathematics, Charles University, Malostranské ndm. 25, 118 00 Prague, Czech Republic,
2Department of Applied Mathematics and Institute for ‘Theoretical Computer Sci- ence (Project LNOQOA056 supported by the Ministry of Education of Czech Republic), Charles University, Malostranské ndm. 25, 118 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Abstract:

We address the following problem: What minimum degree forces a graph on \(n\) vertices to have a cycle with at least \(c\) chords? We prove that any graph with minimum degree \(\delta\) has a cycle with at least \(\frac{(\delta+1)(\delta-2)}{2}\) chords. We investigate asymptotic behaviour for large \(n\) and \(c\) and we consider the special case where \(n = c\).

Dieter Rautenbach1
1Lehrstuhl II fiir Mathematik, RWTH-Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germanyrauten@math2.rwth.aachen.de
Abstract:

We prove that a finite set \(A\) of points in the \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space \(\mathcal{R}^n\) is uniquely determined up to translation by three of its subsets of cardinality \(|A|-1\) given up to translation, i.e. the Reconstruction Number of such objects is three. This result is best-possible.

Spencer P.Hurd1, Patrick Munson2, Dinesh G.Sarvate2
1Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, The Citadel, Charleston, SC, 29409,
2Dept. of Mathematics, The University of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 29424,
Abstract:

We solve the problem of existence of minimal enclosings for triple systems with \(1 \leq \lambda \leq 6\) and any \(v\), i.e., an inclusion of \(\text{BIBD}(v, 3, \lambda)\) into \(\text{BIBD}(v+1, 3, \lambda+m)\) for minimal positive \(m\). A new necessary general condition is derived and some general results are obtained for larger \(\lambda\) values.

Marina Martinova1
1Department of Mathematics University of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract:

Colour the edges of a \(K_{24n+1}\) by \(12\) colours so that every vertex in every colour has degree \(2n\). Is there a totally multicoloured \(C_4\) (i.e. every edge gets a different colour)? Here we answer in the affirmative to this question. In [1] P. Erdős stated the same problem for \(K_{12n+1}\) and \(6\) colours, it was settled in [2].

In this paper we follow the terminology and symbols of [3]. We assume the complete graph \(K_{24n+1}\) to have the vertex-set \(V=V(K_{24n+1}) = \{1, 2, \ldots, 24n+1\}\).

Arie Bialostocki1, William Voxman1
1Department of Mathematics University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1103

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