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.

Jing Ma1, Yongtang Shi1, Jun Yue1
1Center for Combinatorics and LPMC-TJKLC Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Abstract:

The Wiener polarity index of a graph \(G\), denoted by \(W_p(G)\), is the number of unordered pairs of vertices \(u, v\) such that the distance between \(u\) and \(v\) is three, introduced by Harold Wiener in 1947. This index is utilized to demonstrate quantitative structure-property relationships in various acyclic and cyclic hydrocarbons. In this paper, we investigate the Wiener polarity index on the Cartesian, direct, strong, and lexicographic products of two non-trivial connected graphs.

Phillip Gaudreau 1, Nathan Shank2
1Moravian COLLEGE Current address: 1200 Main Street Bethlehem, PA 18018
2MORAVIAN COLLEGE Current address: 1200 Main Street Bethlehem, PA 18018
Abstract:

Given a graph \(G := (V, E)\) and an integer \(k \geq 2\), the \({component \;order\; edge connectivity}\) of \(G\) is the smallest size of an edge set \(D\) such that the subgraph induced by \(G – D\) has all components of order less than \(k\). Let \({G}(n,m)\) denote the collection of simple graphs \(G\) with \(n\) vertices and \(m\) edges. In this paper, we investigate properties of component order edge connectivity for \({G}(n,m)\), particularly proving results on the maximum and minimum values of this connectivity measure for \({G}(n,m)\) specific values of \(n\), \(m\), and \(k\).

Jingjing Li1, Juan Liu1
1College of Mathematics Sciences, Xinjiang Normal University Urumdi, Xinjiang, 880054, P.R. China
Abstract:

Let \(D\) be a simple digraph without loops and parallel arcs. Deng and Kelmans [A. Deng, A. Kelmans, Spectra of digraph transformations, Linear Algebra and its Applications, \(439(2013) 106-132]\) gave the definition of transformation digraphs by introducing symbol \(‘0’\) and \(‘1’\), and investigated the regular and spectra of digraph transformation. In this paper we discuss a class of total transformation digraphs associate with symbol \(‘0’\). Furthermore, we determine the regularity of these ten new kinds of total transformation digraphs and also give necessary and sufficient conditions for them to be strongly connected.

Sheng-liang Yang1, Hui-ting Zhang1
1Department of Applied Mathematics Lanzhou University of Technology Lanzhou, Gansu, 730050, P.R. China
Abstract:

In this paper, using the generating function, we derive Binet formulas and determinant expressions for the k-generalized Fibonacci numbers and Lucas numbers. As applications, we obtain some new recurrence relations for the Stirling numbers of the second kind and power sums.

Jin-Xin Zhou1
1Department of Mathematics, Beijing Jiaotong University Beijing 100014, P.R. China
Abstract:

A graph is said to be symmetric if its automorphism group acts transitively on its arcs. Let \(p\) be a prime. In [J. Combin. Theory B \(97 (2007) 627-646]\), Feng and Kwak classified connected cubic symmetric graphs of order \(4p\) or \(4p^2\). In this article, all connected cubic symmetric graphs of order \(4p^2\) are classified. It is shown that up to isomorphism there is one and only one connected cubic symmetric graph of order \(4p^3\) for each prime \(p\), and all such graphs are normal Cayley graphs on some groups.

H. Shaker1, A. Rana2, M. M. Zobair2, M. Hussain1
1COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.
2Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Abstract:

An edge-magic total \((EMT)\) labeling on a graph \(G\) is
a one-to-one mapping \(\lambda : V(G) \cup E(G) \to {1,2,—,|V(G)| +
|E(G)|}\) such that the set of edge weights is one point set, i.e. for
any edge \(xy \in G, w(xy) = {a}\) where \(a = \lambda(x) + \lambda(y) + \lambda(xy)\)
is called a magic constant. If \(\lambda(V(G)) = {1,2,—,|V(G|}\) then an
edge-magic total labeling is called a super edge-magic total labeling.
In this paper, we formulate a super edge-magic total labeling for
a particular tree family called subdivided star \(T(l_1,l_2,\ldots,l_p)\) for
\(p>3\).

Shuo Li1,2, Dongxiao Yu2, Jin Yan2
1Department of Mathematics, Changji University Changji, 831100, People’s Republic of China
2School of Mathematics, Shandong University Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China
Abstract:

Let \(G\) be an edge-colored graphs. A heterochromatic path of \(G\) is such a path in which no two edges have the same color. Let \(g^c(G)\) and \(d^c(v)\) denote the heterochromatic girth and the color degree of a vertex \(v\) of \(G\), respectively. In this paper, some color degree and heterochromatic girth conditions for the existence of heterochromatic paths are obtained.

Xingming Tao1, Qiongxiang Huang1, Fenjin Liu1
1College of Mathematics and Systems Science, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830046, P.R.China
Abstract:

Let \(\mathcal{U}_m^{W}\) denote the set of unicyclic weighted graphs of size \(m\) with weight \(W\). In this paper, we determine the weighted graph in \(\mathcal{U}_m^{W}\) with maximum spectral radius.

Lei Wang1, Xirong Xu1, Yang Yuansheng1, Di Ming1, Dong Xuezhi1
1Department of Computer Science Dalian University of Technology Dalian, 116024, P.R.China
Abstract:

A subset of vertices of a graph \(G\) is called a feedback vertex set of \(G\) if its removal results in an acyclic subgraph. In this paper, we investigate the feedback vertex set of generalized Kautz digraphs \(GK(2,n)\). Let \(f(2,n)\) denote the minimum cardinality over all feedback vertex sets of the generalized Kautz digraph \(GK(2,n)\). We obtain the upper bound of \(f(2,n)\) as follows:
\[f(2,n) \leq n-(\left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{{n-2}}{3} \right\rfloor + \lfloor \frac{n-8}{9}\rfloor)\].

F. Ramezani1,2, B. Tayfeh-Rezaie1
1School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), P.O. Box 19395-5746, Tehran, Iran
2Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O. Box 15875-4413, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:

Let \(G\) be a graph of order \(n\) and let \(\mu\) be an eigenvalue of multiplicity \(m\). A star complement for \(\mu\) in \(G\) is an induced subgraph of \(G\) of order \(n-m\) with no eigenvalue \(\mu\). In this paper, we investigate maximal and regular graphs that have \(K_{r,s} + t{K_{1}}\) as a star complement for \(\mu\) as the second largest eigenvalue. Interestingly, it turns out that some well-known strongly regular graphs are uniquely determined by such a star complement.