TY - CHAP
T1 - On unimodality of independence polynomials of some well-covered trees
AU - Levit, Vadim E.
AU - Mandrescu, Eugen
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - The stability number α(G) of the graph G is the size of a maximum stable set of G. If sk denotes the number of stable sets of cardinality k in graph G, then I(G; x) = Σk=0α(G) skxk is the independence polynomial of G (I. Gutman and F. Harary 1983). In 1990, Y.O. Hamidoune proved that for any claw-free graph G (a graph having no induced subgraph isomorphic to K1,3), I(G; x) is unimodal, i.e., there exists some k ∈ {0, 1, ..., α(G)} such that s0 ≤ s1 ≤ ... ≤ sk-1 ≤ sk ≥ sk+1 ≥ ... ≥ sα(G). Y. Alavi, P.J. Malde, A.J. Schwenk, and P. Erdös (1987) asked whether for trees the independence polynomial is unimodal. J. I. Brown, K. Dilcher and R.J. Nowakowski (2000) conjectured that I(G; x) is unimodal for any well-covered graph G (a graph whose all maximal independent sets have the same size). Michael and Traves (2002) showed that this conjecture is true for well-covered graphs with α(G) ≤ 3, and provided counterexamples for α(G) ∈ {4, 5, 6, 7}. In this paper we show that the independence polynomial of any well-covered spider is unimodal and locate its mode, where a spider is a tree having at most one vertex of degree at least three. In addition, we extend some graph transformations, first introduced in [14], respecting independence polynomials. They allow us to reduce several types of well-covered trees to claw-free graphs, and, consequently, to prove that their independence polynomials are unimodal.
AB - The stability number α(G) of the graph G is the size of a maximum stable set of G. If sk denotes the number of stable sets of cardinality k in graph G, then I(G; x) = Σk=0α(G) skxk is the independence polynomial of G (I. Gutman and F. Harary 1983). In 1990, Y.O. Hamidoune proved that for any claw-free graph G (a graph having no induced subgraph isomorphic to K1,3), I(G; x) is unimodal, i.e., there exists some k ∈ {0, 1, ..., α(G)} such that s0 ≤ s1 ≤ ... ≤ sk-1 ≤ sk ≥ sk+1 ≥ ... ≥ sα(G). Y. Alavi, P.J. Malde, A.J. Schwenk, and P. Erdös (1987) asked whether for trees the independence polynomial is unimodal. J. I. Brown, K. Dilcher and R.J. Nowakowski (2000) conjectured that I(G; x) is unimodal for any well-covered graph G (a graph whose all maximal independent sets have the same size). Michael and Traves (2002) showed that this conjecture is true for well-covered graphs with α(G) ≤ 3, and provided counterexamples for α(G) ∈ {4, 5, 6, 7}. In this paper we show that the independence polynomial of any well-covered spider is unimodal and locate its mode, where a spider is a tree having at most one vertex of degree at least three. In addition, we extend some graph transformations, first introduced in [14], respecting independence polynomials. They allow us to reduce several types of well-covered trees to claw-free graphs, and, consequently, to prove that their independence polynomials are unimodal.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33748680057&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/3-540-45066-1_19
DO - 10.1007/3-540-45066-1_19
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AN - SCOPUS:33748680057
SN - 3540405054
SN - 9783540405054
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 237
EP - 256
BT - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
A2 - Calude, Cristian S.
A2 - Dinneen, Michael J.
A2 - Vajnovszki, Vincent
ER -