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.

Thomas Y.H.Liu1,2, J.X. Meng2
1Center for Combinatorics, LPMC-TJKLC Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, P.R. China
2College of Mathematics and System Sciences Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830046, P.R. China
Abstract:

Let \(X = (V,E)\) be a digraph. \(X\) is maximally connected if \(\kappa(X) = \delta(X)\). \(X\) is maximally arc-connected if \(\lambda(X) = \delta(X)\). And \(X\) is super arc-connected if every minimum arc-cut of \(X\) is either the set of inarcs of some vertex or the set of outarcs of some vertex. In this paper, we prove that the strongly connected Bi-Cayley digraphs are maximally connected and maximally arc-connected, and most strongly connected Bi-Cayley digraphs are super arc-connected.

J. Amjadi1, S.M. Sheikholeslami1, L. Volkmann2
1Department of Mathematics Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University Tabriz, IR. Iran
2 Lehrstuhl II fiir Mathematik RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen, Germany
Abstract:

A \(2\)-rainbow dominating function (2RDF) of a graph \(G\) is a function \(f\) from the vertex set \(V(G)\) to the set of all subsets of the set \(\{1,2\}\) such that for any vertex \(v \in V(G)\) with \(f(v) = \emptyset\), the condition that there exists \(u \in N(v)\) with \(\bigcup_{u\in N(v)}f(u) = \{1,2\}\) is fulfilled, where \(N(v)\) is the open neighborhood of \(v\). A rainbow dominating function \(f\) is said to be a rainbow restrained domination function if the induced subgraph of \(G\) by the vertices with label \(\emptyset\) has no isolated vertex. The weight of a rainbow restrained dominating function is the value \(w(f) = \sum_{u \in V(G)} |f(u)|\). The minimum weight of a rainbow restrained dominating function of \(G\) is called the rainbow restrained domination number of \(G\). In this paper, we initiate the study of the rainbow restrained domination number and we present some bounds for this parameter.

Haining Jiang1, Jixiang Meng2, Yingzhi Tian2
1School of Mathematical Sciences, Xiamen University Xiamen, Fujian, 361005, People’s Republic of China
2College of Mathematics and System Sciences, Xinjiang University Urumai, Xinjiang, 830046, People’s Republic of China
Abstract:

The Harary index is defined as the sum of reciprocals of distances between all pairs of vertices of a connected graph and named in honor of Professor Frank Harary. For a connected graph \(G = (V, E)\) with edge connectivity \(\lambda(G) \geq 2\), and an edge \(v_iv_j \in E(G)\), \(G – v_iv_j\) is the subgraph formed from \(G\) by deleting the edge \(v_iv_j\). Denote the Harary index of \(G\) and \(G – v_iv_j\) by \(H(G)\) and \(H(G – v_iv_j)\). Xu and Das [K.X. Xu, K.C. Das, On Harary index of graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 159 (2011) 1631–1640] obtained lower and upper bounds on \(H(G + v_iv_j) – H(G)\) and characterized the equality cases in those bounds. We find that the equality case in the lower bound is not true and we correct it. In this paper, we give lower and upper bounds on \(H(G) – H(G – v_iv_j)\), and provide some graphs to satisfy the equality cases in these bounds. Furthermore, we extend the Harary index to directed graphs and obtain similar conclusions.

Futaba Fujie1
1 Graduate School of Mathematics, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan.
Abstract:

For a connected graph \(G\) of order \(n \geq 2\) and a linear ordering \(s: v_1, v_2, \ldots, v_n\) of \(V(G)\), define \(d(s) = \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} d(v_i, v_{i+1})\). The traceable number \(t(G)\) and upper traceable number \(t^+(G)\) of \(G\) are defined by \(t(G) = \min\{d(s)\}\) and \(t^+(G) = \max\{d(s)\}\), respectively, where the minimum and maximum are taken over all linear orderings \(s\) of \(V(G)\). Consequently, \(t(G) \leq t^+(G)\). It is known that \(n-1 \leq t(G) \leq 2n-4\) and \(n-1 \leq t^+(G) \leq \left\lfloor \frac{n^2}{2} \right\rfloor – 1\) for every connected graph \(G\) of order \(n \geq 3\) and, furthermore, for every pair \(n, A\) of integers with \(2n-1 \leq A \leq 2n-4\) there exists a graph of order \(n\) whose traceable number equals \(A\). In this work, we determine all pairs \(A, B\) of positive integers with \(A \leq B\) that are realizable as the traceable number and upper traceable number, respectively, of some graph. It is also determined for which pairs \(n, B\) of integers with \(n-1 \leq B \leq \left\lfloor \frac{n^2}{2} \right\rfloor – 1\) there exists a graph whose order equals \(n\) and upper traceable number equals \(\mu\).

Lin Sun1,2, Hua Cai1,2
1 Department of Mathematics, Changji University, Changji 831100, China.
2School of Mathematics, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
Abstract:

A graph is \(1\)-planar if it can be drawn on the plane so that each edge is crossed by at most one other edge. A \(k\)-(p, 1)-total labelling of a graph \(G\) is a function \(f\) from \(V(G) \cup E(G)\) to the color set \(\{0, 1, \ldots, k\}\) such that \(|f(u) – f(v)| \geq 1\) if \(uv \in E(G)\), \(|f(e_1) – f(e_2)| \geq 1\) if \(e_1\) and \(e_2\) are two adjacent edges in \(G\), and \(|f(u) – f(e)| \geq p\) if the vertex \(u\) is incident to the edge \(e\). The minimum \(k\) such that \(G\) has a \(k-(p, 1)\)-total labelling, denoted by \(\lambda_p^T(G)\), is called the \((p, 1)\)-total labelling number of \(G\). In this paper, we prove that, if a 1-planar graph \(G\) satisfies that maximum degree \(\Delta(G) \geq 7p + 1\) and no adjacent triangles in \(G\) or maximum degree \(\Delta(G) \geq 6p + 3\) and no intersecting triangles in \(G\), then \(\lambda_p^T(G) \leq \Delta + 2p – 2\), \(p \geq 2\).

S. Morteza Mirafzal1
1DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, UNIVERSITY OF ISFAHAN, ISFAHAN 81746-73441, IRAN
Abstract:

The hyper-star graph \(HS(n,k)\) is defined as follows: its vertex-set is the set of \(\{0, 1\}\)-sequences of length \(n\) with weight \(k\), where the weight of a sequence \(v\) is the number of \(1\)s in \(v\), and two vertices are adjacent if and only if one can be obtained from the other by exchanging the first symbol with a different symbol (\(1\) with \(0\), or \(0\) with \(1\)) in another position. In this paper, we will find the automorphism groups of regular hyper-star and folded hyper-star graphs. Then, we will show that only the graphs \(HS(4, 2)\) and \(FHS(4, 2)\) are Cayley graphs.

Litao Guo1, Xiaofeng Guo1
1School of Mathematical Sciences, Xiamen University Xiamen Fujian 361005, China
Abstract:

Let \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) be two connected graphs. The Kronecker product \(G_1 \times G_2\) has vertex set \(V(G_1 \times G_2) = V(G_1) \times V(G_2)\) and the edge set \(E(G_1 \times G_2) = \{(u_1, v_1), (u_2, v_2) : u_1u_2 \in E(G_1), v_1v_2 \in E(G_2)\}\). In this paper, we show that \(K_n \times K_m\) is super-\(\chi\) for \(n \geq m \geq 2\) and \(n+m \geq 5\), \(K_m \times P_n\) is super-\(\kappa\) for \(n \geq m \geq 3\), and \(K_m \times C_n\) is super-\(\kappa\) for \(n \geq m \geq 3\).

Jianping Ou1, Weisheng Zhao1
1Department of Mathematics, Wuyi University, Jiangmen 529020, China
Abstract:

An explicit expression of the restricted edge connectivity of strong product of two triangle-free graphs is presented, which yields a sufficient and necessary condition for these strong product graphs to be super restricted edge connected.

Arie Bialostocki, Shoni Gilboa1, Yehuda Roditty2
1Mathematics Dept., The Open University of Israel, Raanana 43107, Israel.
2Schools of Computer Sciences, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo, and Tel- Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
Abstract:

The anti-Ramsey number \(AR(n,G)\), for a graph \(G\) and an integer \(n \geq |V(G)|\), is defined to be the minimal integer \(r\) such that in any edge-colouring of \(K_n\) by at least \(r\) colours there is a multicoloured copy of \(G\), namely, a copy of \(G\) whose edges have distinct colours. In this paper, we determine the anti-Ramsey numbers of all graphs having at most four edges.

Jing-Ming Zhang1, Ji-Ming Guo1
1College of Mathematics and Computational Science in China University of Petroleum, Dongying 257061, Shandong Province, China
Abstract:

In this paper, we determine the unique bicyclic graph with the largest signless Laplacian spectral radius among all the bicyclic graphs with \(n\) vertices and a given girth.