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Article

Super Connected Direct Product of Graphs and Cycles

College of Mathematics and System Sciences, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Submission received: 10 May 2022 / Revised: 3 June 2022 / Accepted: 7 June 2022 / Published: 9 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Graph Theory with Applications)

Abstract

:
The topology of an interconnection network can be modeled by a graph G = ( V ( G ) , E ( G ) ) . The connectivity of graph G is a parameter used to measure the reliability of a corresponding network. The direct product is an important graph product. This paper mainly focuses on the super connectedness of the direct product of graphs and cycles. The connectivity of G, denoted by κ ( G ) , is the size of a minimum vertex set S V ( G ) such that G S is not connected or has only one vertex. The graph G is said to be super connected, simply super- κ , if every minimum vertex cut is the neighborhood of a vertex with minimum degree. The direct product of two graphs G and H, denoted by G × H , is the graph with vertex set V ( G × H ) = V ( G ) × V ( H ) and edge set E ( G × H ) = { ( u 1 , v 1 ) ( u 2 , v 2 ) | u 1 u 2 E ( G ) , v 1 v 2 E ( H ) } . In this paper, we give some sufficient conditions for the direct product G × C n to be super connected, where C n is the cycle on n vertices. Furthermore, those sufficient conditions are the best possible.

1. Introduction

For a simple graph G with vertex set V ( G ) and edge set E ( G ) , u , v V ( G ) are adjacent if u v E ( G ) . The set of all vertices adjacent to u is called the n e i g h b o r h o o d of u in G, denoted by N G ( u ) . The d e g r e e of u, denoted by d G ( v ) , is | N G ( u ) | . The m i n i m u m d e g r e e of G is δ ( G ) = m i n { d G ( v ) | v V ( G ) } . For a vertex set S V ( G ) , if G S is not connected, then S is a vertex cut of G. We know that only complete graphs do not have vertex cuts. If G is not a complete graph, then the c o n n e c t i v i t y of G, denoted by κ ( G ) , is the size of a minimum vertex cut of G. Otherwise, κ ( G ) = | V ( G ) | 1 . The e d g e c o n n e c t i v i t y of G, denoted by κ ( G ) , is the the size of a minimum edge set F G such that G F is not connected. K n , K m , n and C n are used to denote a complete graph, complete bipartite graph and cycle, respectively. We follow Bondy and Murty [1] for undefined notation and terminology.
The topology of an interconnection network can be modeled by a graph G = ( V ( G ) , E ( G ) ) , where V ( G ) represents the set of nodes and E ( G ) represents the set of communication links in the network. The connectivity κ ( G ) of G can be used to measure the reliability and fault tolerance of the network. In general, the larger κ ( G ) is, the more reliable the network is. It is well known that κ ( G ) δ ( G ) . The graph G with κ ( G ) = δ ( G ) is called m a x i m a l l y c o n n e c t e d , simply m a x - κ . For the maximally connected graphs, it is believed that the graphs with the smallest number of minimum vertex cuts are more reliable than the others. Boesch in [2] proposed the concept of super connected graph. If every minimum vertex cut is a neighborhood of some vertex of G with minimum degree, then the graph G is said to be s u p e r c o n n e c t e d , simply s u p e r - κ . By definition, a super connected graph is also maximally connected. The converse is not always true. For example, C n ( n 6 ) is maximally connected but not super connected.
The direct product of two graphs G and H, denoted by G × H , is the graph with vertex set V ( G × H ) = V ( G ) × V ( H ) and edge set E ( G × H ) = { ( u 1 , v 1 ) ( u 2 , v 2 ) | u 1 u 2 E ( G ) , v 1 v 2 E ( H ) } . Weichsel [3] proved that the direct product G × H of two nontrivial connected graphs G and H is connected if and only if at least one of G and H is not bipartite.
We list some results on the edge connectivity of the direct product of graphs as follows. Some bounds on the edge connectivity of the direct product of graphs were given by Špacapan in [4]. Cao, Brglez, Špacapan and Vumar [5] determined the edge connectivity of the direct product of a nontrivial graph and a complete graph. In [6], Špacapan not only obtained the edge connectivity of the direct product of two graphs but also characterized the structure of a minimum edge cut in the direct product of two graphs.
This paragraph lists some results on the connectivity of direct product of graphs. Some bounds on the connectivity of the direct product of graphs were also given by Špacapan in [4]. Mamut and Vumar [7] proved that the connectivity of the direct product of two complete graphs K m and K n is ( m 1 ) ( n 1 ) , where m n 2 . In [8], Guji and Vumar proved that the connectivity of the direct product of a complete graph K n ( n 3 ) and a bipartite graph G is m i n { n κ ( G ) , ( n 1 ) δ ( G ) } , and furthermore, the authors also conjectured that this is true for all nontrivial graph G. Later, Wang and Wu [9] and Wang and Xue [10] independently confirmed this conjecture. Wang and Yan [11] determined the connectivity of G × K 2 . Recently, Sonawane and Borse [12] determined the connectivity of the direct product of graphs and cycles.
The results for the super connected direct product graphs are presented in the following. Guo, Qin and Guo [13] proved that for a maximally connected bipartite graph G, G × K n ( n 3 ) is super connected. In [14], the authors generalized this result by showing that for a maximally connected nonbipartite graph G, G × K n ( n 3 ) is super connected. In [15], Zhou completely characterized the super connected direct product of a nontrivial graphs G and a complete graph K n ( n 3 ); that is, G × K n is not super connected if and only if either κ ( G × K n ) = n κ ( G ) or κ ( G × K n ) K m , m × K 3 ( m 1 ) . Wu and Tian [16] studied the super connected direct product of paths, cycles and cycles.
Motivated by the results above, especially those in [12], we study the super connected direct product of graphs and cycles. In the next section, we present a key lemma, which is used in the proof of our main results in Section 3. Conclusions are given in the last section.

2. A Key Lemma

In [12], Sonawane and Borse constructed a graph G ˜ n (see Figure 1) from a connected bipartite graph G as follows. Let ( X , Y ) be a bipartition of G and n 2 be an integer and X i = { ( x , i ) : x X } and Y i = { ( y , i ) : y Y } for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Let H i and H i be graphs isomorphic to G with bipartitions ( X i , Y i ) and ( X i + 1 , Y i ) , respectively, for each i { 1 , 2 , , n } . Let
G ˜ n = i = 1 n H i H i .
Sonawane and Borse [12] determined the connectivity of G ˜ n as follows.
Theorem 1  
([12]). κ ( G ˜ n ) = m i n { n κ ( G ) , 2 δ ( G ) } , where n 2 is an integer.
In the following, we present a key lemma in this paper, which is used to prove the main results in the next section. Furthermore, the sufficient condition for G ˜ n to be super connected in this lemma is the best possible.
Lemma 1.
(A key lemma) Let G be a connected bipartite graph with bipartition X and Y, and let n 3 be an integer. If | X | δ ( G ) + 1 , | Y | δ ( G ) + 1 and κ ( G ) > 2 n δ ( G ) , then G ˜ n is super-κ.
Proof. 
By Theorem 1 and κ ( G ) > 2 n δ ( G ) , we have κ ( G ˜ n ) = 2 δ ( G ) . By contradiction, assume that G ˜ n is not super- κ ; then, there is a vertex cut S with | S | = 2 δ ( G ) such that G ˜ n S is not connected and has no isolated vertices. Let D 1 , D 2 , , D r ( r 2 ) be the components of G ˜ n S . Then, | D i | 2 holds for each i { 1 , , r } . Denote S X i = S X i , S Y i = S Y i , X i = X i S X i and Y i = Y i S Y i for i = 1 , 2 , , n .
Since each vertex x i in X i has at least δ ( G ) neighbors in both Y i 1 and Y i , and each vertex y j in Y j has at least δ ( G ) neighbors in both X j and X j + 1 , we may make the following claim.
Claim 1. 
If D k X i , | S Y i 1 | < δ ( G ) and | S Y i | < δ ( G ) , then both D k Y i 1 and D k Y i hold. Similarly, if D k Y j , | S X j | < δ ( G ) and | S X j + 1 | < δ ( G ) , then both D k X j and D k X j + 1 hold.
In the following, we consider two cases.
Case 1. 
| S X i | < δ ( G ) and | S Y j | < δ ( G ) for any i , j { 1 , 2 , , n } . By Claim 1, we have D k X i and D k Y j for k { 1 , , r } and i , j { 1 , , n } . Since | S | = ( | S X 1 | + | S Y 1 | ) + ( | S X 2 | + | S Y 2 | ) + · · · + ( | S X n | + | S Y n | ) < n κ ( G ) , we have | S X i | + | S Y i | < κ ( G ) for some i { 1 , 2 , , n } . Note that H i = ( X i , Y i ) is isomorphic to G. Then G ˜ n [ X i Y i ] = H i S X i S Y i is connected. Thus G ˜ n S is connected, contradicting to the assumption.
Case 2. 
There is an i { 1 , 2 , , n } such that | S X i | δ ( G ) or there is a j { 1 , 2 , , n } such that | S Y j | δ ( G ) .
Assume, without loss of generality, that | S X 1 | δ ( G ) .
Subcase 2.1. 
| S X i | < δ ( G ) for any i { 2 , 3 , , n } and | S Y j | < δ ( G ) for any j { 1 , 2 , , n } .
If D k X 1 for some k { 1 , , r } , then by Claim 1, D k X i and D k Y j for all i , j { 1 , , n } . Otherwise, D k X i and D k Y j for all i { 2 , , n } and j { 1 , , n } .
Since | S Y 1 | + ( | S X 2 | + | S Y 2 | ) + · · · + ( | S X n | + | S Y n | ) < n κ ( G ) | S X 1 | ( n 1 ) κ ( G ) , we have | S X i | + | S Y i | < κ ( G ) for some i { 2 , 3 , , n } . Then, G ˜ n [ X i Y i ] = H i S X i S Y i is connected. Thus, G ˜ n S is connected, which contradicts the assumption.
Subcase 2.2. 
There is an i { 2 , 3 , , n } such that | S X i | δ ( G ) .
Since | S | = 2 δ ( G ) , we have | S X 1 | = δ ( G ) and | S X i | = δ ( G ) .
If i = 2 or n, by symmetry, assume i = 2 ; then, G ˜ n [ Y 2 X 3 · · · X n Y n ] = G ˜ n [ Y 2 X 3 · · · X n Y n ] is connected. Furthermore, G ˜ n [ X 2 Y 2 X 3 · · · X n Y n X 1 ] is connected. Since G ˜ n S has no isolated vertices, each vertex in Y 1 has at least one neighbor in X 1 or X 2 . Therefore, G ˜ n S is connected, which is a contradiction.
If i 2 and i n , then by G ˜ n [ Y 1 X 2 · · · Y i 1 ] and G ˜ n [ Y i X i + 1 · · · X n Y n ] are connected, we find that G ˜ n S is connected, contradicting the assumption.
Subcase 2.3. 
There is a j { 1 , 2 , , n } such that | S Y j | δ ( G ) .
Since | S | = 2 δ ( G ) , we have | S X 1 | = δ ( G ) and | S Y j | = δ ( G ) .
If j = 1 or n, by symmetry, assume j = 1 ; then, G ˜ n [ X 2 Y 2 · · · X n Y n ] = G ˜ n [ X 2 Y 2 · · · X n Y n ] is connected. Thus, G ˜ n S = G ˜ n [ Y 1 X 2 Y 2 · · · X n Y n X 1 ] is connected, which is a contradiction.
If j 1 and j n , then by G ˜ n [ Y 1 X 2 · · · X j ] and G ˜ n [ X j + 1 Y j + 1 · · · X n Y n ] are connected, we find that G ˜ n S is connected, which contradicts the assumption.
Since all cases lead to contradiction, the proof is thus complete.  □

3. Main Results

Motivated by the connectivity of the direct product of graphs and cycles, we obtain some sufficient conditions for the direct product of graphs and cycles to be super connected. Considering four cases arising from whether G is bipartite or not and n is even or odd, Sonawane and Borse [12] obtained the connectivity of the direct product of graphs and cycles in the following four theorems.
Theorem 2
([12]). Let G be a connected bipartite graph and n 3 be an odd integer. Then κ ( G × C n ) = m i n { n κ ( G ) , 2 δ ( G ) } .
Theorem 3
([12]). Let G be a connected bipartite graph and n 4 be an even integer. Then the graph G × C n has two isomorphic components each with connectivity m i n { n 2 κ ( G ) , 2 δ ( G ) } .
Theorem 4
([12]). Let G be a connected non-bipartite graph and n 4 be an even integer. Then κ ( G × C n ) = m i n { n 2 κ ( G × K 2 ) , 2 δ ( G ) } .
Theorem 5
([12]). Let G be a connected non-bipartite graph and n 5 be an odd integer. Then m i n { n 1 2 κ ( G × K 2 ) , 2 δ ( G ) } κ ( G × C n ) m i n { n + 1 2 κ ( G × K 2 ) , 2 δ ( G ) } .
Similarly, we consider four cases to study the super connectedness of the direct product of graphs and cycles in the following. The cycle C n of length n ( 3 ) is denoted by C n = 1 , 2 , , n .
Theorem 6.
Let G be a connected bipartite graph with bipartition X and Y, and let n 3 be an odd integer. If | X | δ ( G ) + 1 , | Y | δ ( G ) + 1 and κ ( G ) > 2 n δ ( G ) , then G × C n is super-κ.
Proof. 
Let V i = { ( v , i ) : v V ( G ) } for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Then V ( G × C n ) = i = 1 n V i . Let X i + 1 2 = { ( x , i ) : x X } and Y n + i 2 = { ( y , i ) : y Y } for i = 1 , 3 , , n . Let X n + i + 1 2 = { ( x , i ) : x X } and Y i 2 = { ( y , i ) : y Y } for i = 2 , 4 , , n 1 . Then V i = X i + 1 2 Y n + i 2 for i = 1 , 3 , , n and V i = X n + i + 1 2 Y i 2 for i = 2 , 4 , , n 1 . Let H i and H i be subgraphs of G × C n induced by X i Y i and X i + 1 Y i , respectively for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Then G × C n = i = 1 n H i H i . The graph G × C n is shown in Figure 2. For each i, H i and H i isomorphic to G. By Lemma 1, G × C n is super- κ . □
Theorem 7.
Let G be a connected bipartite graph with bipartition X and Y, and let n 6 be an even integer. If | X | δ ( G ) + 1 , | Y | δ ( G ) + 1 and κ ( G ) > 4 n δ ( G ) , then the two isomorphic components G 1 and G 2 of G × C n are both super-κ.
Proof. 
Let V i = { ( v , i ) : v V ( G ) } for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Then V ( G × C n ) = i = 1 n V i . Let X i + 1 2 = { ( x , i ) : x X } and Y n + i + 1 2 = { ( y , i ) : y Y } for i = 1 , 3 , , n 1 . Let X n + i 2 = { ( x , i ) : x X } and Y i 2 = { ( y , i ) : y Y } for i = 2 , 4 , , n . Then V i = X i + 1 2 Y n + i + 1 2 for i = 1 , 3 , , n 1 and V i = X n + i 2 Y i 2 for i = 2 , 4 , , n . Let H i and H i be subgraphs of G × C n induced by X i Y i and X i + 1 Y i , respectively, for i = 1 , 2 , , n . For each i, H i and H i are isomorphic to G. Note that the two isomorphic components G 1 and G 2 are i = 1 n 2 H i H i and i = n 2 + 1 n H i H i . Thus, by Lemma 1, both G 1 and G 2 (shown in Figure 3) are super- κ . □
Theorem 8.
Let G be a connected non-bipartite graph and n 6 be an even integer. If κ ( G × K 2 ) > 4 n δ ( G ) , then G × C n is super-κ.
Proof. 
Let V i = { ( v , i ) : v V ( G ) } for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Then V ( G × C n ) = i = 1 n V i . Let H i + 1 2 be the subgraph of G × C n induced by V i V i + 1 for i = 1 , 3 , , n 1 . Let H i 2 be the subgraph of G × C n induced by V i V i + 1 for i = 2 , 4 , , n . Then H i and H i are isomorphic to the bipartite graph G × K 2 with bipartitions ( V 2 i 1 , V 2 i ) and ( V 2 i , V 2 i + 1 ) , respectively for i = 1 , 2 , , n 2 . Note that G × C n = i = 1 n 2 H i H i (see Figure 4) and δ ( G × K 2 ) = δ ( G ) . By Lemma 1, G × C n is super- κ . □
Theorem 9.
Let G be a connected non-bipartite graph and n 7 be an odd integer. If κ ( G × K 2 ) > 4 n 1 δ ( G ) , then G × C n is super-κ.
Proof. 
Let V i = { ( v , i ) : v V ( G ) } for i = 1 , 2 , , n . Then V ( G × C n ) = i = 1 n V i . Let H i + 1 2 be the subgraph of G × C n induced by V i V i + 1 for i = 1 , 3 , , n . Let H i 2 be the subgraph of G × C n induced by V i V i + 1 for i = 2 , 4 , , n 1 . Then, H i is isomorphic to the bipartite graph G × K 2 with bipartition ( V 2 i 1 , V 2 i ) for i = 1 , 2 , , n + 1 2 and H i is isomorphic to the bipartite graph G × K 2 with bipartition ( V 2 i , V 2 i + 1 ) for i = 1 , 2 , , n 1 2 . Note that G × C n = ( i = 1 n 1 2 H i H i ) H n + 1 2 (see Figure 5) and δ ( G × K 2 ) = δ ( G ) . By similar arguments as the proof in Lemma 1, we can prove that G × C n is super- κ . □
Theorem 10
([12]). If H is the direct product of k 1 odd cycles, then κ ( H × K 2 ) = 2 k .
Combing Theorem 10 with Theorems 8 and 9, respectively, we have the following two corollaries.
Corollary 1.
Let G be the direct product of k 1 odd cycles and n 6 be an even integer. Then, G × C n is super-κ.
Proof. 
Let G = C l 1 × C l 2 × · · · × C l k . By Theorem 10, κ ( G × K 2 ) = 2 k = δ ( G ) . Then, G × C n is super- κ by Theorem 8.    □
Corollary 2.
Let G be the direct product of k 1 odd cycles and n 7 be an odd integer. Then, G × C n is super-κ.
Proof. 
Let G = C l 1 × C l 2 × · · · × C l k . By Theorem 10, κ ( G × K 2 ) = 2 k = δ ( G ) . Then, by Theorem 9, G × C n is super- κ .   □

4. Concluding Remarks

Motivated by the results on the connectivity of the direct product of graphs and cycles in [12], we focus on studying the super connectedness of the direct product of graphs and cycles in this paper. By using a key lemma obtained in Section 2, we give some sufficient conditions for the direct product of a graph and a cycle to be super connected. However, there are few results on the connectivity of the direct product of two general graphs. Consequently, we will explore the connectivity and super connectedness of the direct product of two general graphs in the future.

Author Contributions

Supervision, Y.T.; Writing—original draft, J.Y.; Writing—review & editing, Y.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

The research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11861066).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

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Figure 1. The graph G ˜ n .
Figure 1. The graph G ˜ n .
Axioms 11 00277 g001
Figure 2. The graph G × C n when G is bipartite and n is odd.
Figure 2. The graph G × C n when G is bipartite and n is odd.
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Figure 3. The graphs G 1 and G 2 .
Figure 3. The graphs G 1 and G 2 .
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Figure 4. The graph G × C n when G is non-bipartite and n is an even.
Figure 4. The graph G × C n when G is non-bipartite and n is an even.
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Figure 5. The graph G × C n when G is non-bipartite and n is odd.
Figure 5. The graph G × C n when G is non-bipartite and n is odd.
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Yin, J.; Tian, Y. Super Connected Direct Product of Graphs and Cycles. Axioms 2022, 11, 277. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/axioms11060277

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Yin J, Tian Y. Super Connected Direct Product of Graphs and Cycles. Axioms. 2022; 11(6):277. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/axioms11060277

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Yin, Jiaqiong, and Yingzhi Tian. 2022. "Super Connected Direct Product of Graphs and Cycles" Axioms 11, no. 6: 277. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/axioms11060277

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