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.

Maria Kwasnik1, Maciej Zwierzchowski2
1Institute of Mathematics University of Technology of Szczecin al. Piastéw 48/49 70-310 Szczecin poland
2Institute of Mathematics University of Technology of Szczecin al. Piastéw 48/49 70-310 Szczecin
Abstract:

We study the behaviour of two domination parameters: the split domination number \(\gamma_s(G)\) of a graph \(G\) and the maximal domination number \(\gamma_m(G)\) of \(G\) after the deletion of an edge from \(G\). The motivation of these problems comes from [2]. In [6] Vizing gave an upper bound for the size of a graph with a given domination number. Inspired by [5] we formulate Vizing type relation between \(|E(G)|, |V(G)|, \Delta(G)\) and \(\delta(G)\), where \(\Delta(G)\) (\(\delta(G)\)) denotes the maximum (minimum) degree of \(G\).

P. Horak1, S. Mohammed1, E. Bertram2
1Department of Mathematics, Kuwait University P.O.Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
2Department of Mathematics, University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI, 96822, U.S.A.
Abstract:

A \(2\)-factor \(F\) of a bipartite graph \(G = (A, B; E)\), \(|A| = |B| = n\), is small if \(F\) comprises \(\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\rfloor\) cycles. A set \(\mathfrak{F}\) of small edge-disjoint \(2\)-factors of \(G\) is maximal if \(G – \mathfrak{F}\) does not contain a small \(2\)-factor. We study the spectrum of maximal sets of small \(2\)-factors.

Peter Che Bor Lam 1, Wai Chee Shiu1, Feng Sun2, Jianfang Wang3, Guiying Yan4
1Department of Mathematics Hong Kong Baptist University
2Rally International Inc. Forest Park, I] 60130, USA
3Institute of Applied Mathematics Chinese Academy of Sciences and Asia-Pacific Operational Research Center Beijing, China
4Institute of Applied Mathematics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
Abstract:

The linear vertex-arboricity of a graph \(G\) is defined as the minimum number of subsets into which the vertex-set \(V(G)\) can be partitioned so that every subset induces a linear forest. In this paper, we give the upper and lower bounds for the sum and product of linear vertex-arboricity with independence number and with clique cover number, respectively. All of these bounds are sharp.

J. I. Brown1, R. J. Nowakowski1
1Department of Mathematics and Statistics Dalhousie University, NS, CANADA B3H 3J5
Abstract:

The independence polynomial of graph \(G\) is the function \(i(G, x) = \sum i_k x^k\), where \(i_k\) is the number of independent sets of cardinality \(k\) in \(G\). We ask the following question: for fixed independence number \(\beta\), how large can the modulus of a root of \(i(G, x)\) be, as a function of \(n\), the number of vertices? We show that the answer is \((\frac{n}{\beta})^{\beta – 1} + O(n^{S-2})\).

Jenifer Corp1, Jennifer McNulty2
1 Depariment of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Montana Missoula, MT 59812-1082, USA
2 Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Montana Missoula, MT 59812-1032, USA
Abstract:

Balance has played an important role in the study of random graphs and matroids. A graph is balanced if its average degree is at least as large as the average degree of any of its subgraphs. The density of a non-empty loopless matroid is the number of elements of the matroid divided by its rank. A matroid is balanced if its density is at least as large as the density of any of its submatroids. Veerapadiyan and Arumugan obtained a characterization of balanced graphs; we extend their result to give a characterization of balanced matroids.

J. Ginsburg1, V. Linek1
1University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3B 2E9
Abstract:

We show that there is a straight line embedding of the complete graph \(K_C\) into \(\mathcal{R}^3\) which is space-filling: every point of \(\mathcal{R}^3\) is either one of the vertices of \(K_C\), or lies on exactly one straight line segment joining two of the vertices.

Gary Haggard1, Thomas R. Mathies 2
1Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA 17837
2 Knox College Galesburg, IL 61401
Abstract:

An efficient algorithm for computing chromatic polynomials of graphs is presented. To make very large computations feasible, the algorithm combines the dynamic modification of a computation tree with a hash table to store information from isomorphically distinct graphs that occur during execution. The idea of a threshold facilitates identifying graphs that are isomorphic to previously processed graphs. The hash table together with thresholds allow a table look-up procedure to be used to terminate some branches of the computation tree. This table lookup process allows termination of a branch of the computation tree whenever the graph at a node is isomorphic to a graph that is stored in the hash table. The hashing process generates a large file of graphs that can be used to find any chromatically equivalent graphs that were generated. The initial members of a new family of chromatically equivalent graphs were discovered using this algorithm.

G. Chen1, R. J. Faudree2, W. E. Shreve3
1Department of Mathematics Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303
2Department of Mathematical Sciences University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38152
3Department of Mathematics North Dakota State University Fargo, ND 58105
Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate the sufficient conditions for a graph to contain a cycle (path) \(C\) such that \(G\) – \(V(C)\) is a disjoint union of cliques. In particular, sufficient conditions involving degree sum and neighborhood union are obtained.

Toshinori Sakai1
1Research Institute of Mathematics Education, Tokai University 9-28-4 Tomigaya, Shibuya, Tokyo 151-0063, JAPAN
Abstract:

Let \(k\) and \(d\) be integers with \(d \geq k \geq 4\), let \(G\) be a \(k\)-connected graph with \(|V(G)| \geq 2d – 1\), and let \(x\) and \(z\) be distinct vertices of \(G\). We show that if for any nonadjacent distinct vertices \(u\) and \(v\) in \(V(G) – \{x, z\}\), at least one of \(yu\) and \(zv\) has degree greater than or equal to \(d\) in \(G\), then for any subset \(Y\) of \(V(G) – \{x, z\}\) having cardinality at most \(k – 1\), \(G\) contains a path which has \(x\) and \(z\) as its endvertices, passes through all vertices in \(Y\), and has length at least \(2d – 2\).

David Day1, Wayne Goddard2, Michael A. Henning3, Henda C. Swart4
1Department of Mathematics Technikon Natal, Durban South Africa
2 School of Geological and Computer Sciences University of Natal, Durban South Africa
3School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Technology University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg South Africa
4School of Mathematics and Statistics University of Natal, Durban South Africa
Abstract:

For a graph \(G\), a partiteness \(k \geq 2\) and a number of colours \(c\), we define the multipartite Ramsey number \(r^c_k(G)\) as the minimum value \(m\) such that, given any colouring using \(c\) colours of the edges of the complete balanced \(k\)-partite graph with \(m\) vertices in each partite set, there must exist a monochromatic copy of \(G\). We show that the question of the existence of \(r^c_k(G)\) is tied up with what monochromatic subgraphs are forced in a \(c\)-colouring of the complete graph \(K_k\). We then calculate the values for some small \(G\) including \(r^2_3(C_4) = 3, r^2_4(C_4) = 2, r^3_3(C_4) = 7\) and \(r^2_3(C_6) = 3\).