An Upper Bound for the \(k\)-Tuple Domination Number

E. J. Cockayne1, A. G. Thomason2
1Department of Mathematics and Statistics University of Victoria P. O. Box 3045 Victoria BC V8W 3P4 CANADA
2Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics University of Cambridge Cambridge CB3 OWB ENGLAND

Abstract

We show that the double domination number of an \( n \)-vertex, isolate-free graph with minimum degree \( \delta \) is bounded above by

\[\frac{n(\ln(\delta + 1) + \ln \delta + 1)}{\delta}.\]

This result improves a previous bound obtained by J. Harant and M. A. Henning [On double domination in graphs, \emph{Discuss. Math. Graph Theory} \textbf{25} (2005), 29-34]. Further, we show that for fixed \( k \) and large \( \delta \), the \( k \)-tuple domination number is at most

\[\frac{n(\ln \delta + (k – 1 + o(1))\ln \ln \delta)}{\delta},\]

a bound that is essentially best possible.

Keywords: double domination, k-tuple domination, probabilistic method AMS Subject Classification Number 2000: 05C69