Annals of Discrete Mathematics Series

Topics on Steiner Systems

Combinatorics 79. Part I

Algorithmic Aspects of Combinatorics

Studies in Integer Programming

The Cambridge Graph Theory Conference, held at Trinity College from 11 to 13 March 1981, brought together top ranking workers from diverse areas of the subject. The papers presented were by invitation only. This volume contains most of the contniutions, suitably refereed and revised. For many years now, graph theory has been developing at a great pace and in many directions. In order to emphasize the variety of questions and to preserve the freshness of research, the theme of the meeting was not restricted. Consequently, the papers in this volume deal with many aspects of graph theory, including colouring, connectivity, cycles, Ramsey theory, random graphs, flows, simplicial decompositions and directed graphs. A number of other papers are concerned with related areas, including hypergraphs, designs, algorithms, games and social models. This wealth of topics should enhance the attractiveness of the volume.

Advances in Graph Theory

Combinatorics 79. Part II

The object of this book is to provide an account of the results and methods used in combinatorial theories: Graph Theory, Matching Theory, Hamiltonian Problems, Hypergraph Theory, Designs, Steiner Systems, Latin Squares, Coding Matroids, Complexity Theory. In publishing this volume, the editors do not intend to discuss all the classical open problems in combinatorics for which an algebraic approach turns out to be useful. The work is a selection which is intended for specialists, as well as for graduate students who may also be interested in survey papers. The work features a special section which contains a list of unsolved problems proposed by the participants.

Studies on Graphs and Discrete Programming

Combinatorial Mathematics, Optimal Designs, and Their Applications

Theory and Practice of Combinatorics

Combinatorial and Geometric Structures and Their Applications

Linear and Combinatorial Optimization in Ordered Algebraic Structures

The scope of the volume includes all algorithmic and computational aspects of research on combinatorial designs. Algorithmic aspects include generation, isomorphism and analysis techniques - both heuristic methods used in practice, and the computational complexity of these operations. The scope within design theory includes all aspects of block designs, Latin squares and their variants, pairwise balanced designs and projective planes and related geometries.

This study of matching theory deals with bipartite matching, network flows, and presents fundamental results for the non-bipartite case. It goes on to study elementary bipartite graphs and elementary graphs in general. Further discussed are 2-matchings, general matching problems as linear programs, the Edmonds Matching Algorithm (and other algorithmic approaches), f-factors and vertex packing.

Algebraic and Geometric Combinatorics

Orders: Description and Roles

Recent developments in all aspects of combinatorial and incidence geometry are covered in this volume, including their links with the foundations of geometry, graph theory and algebraic structures, and the applications to coding theory and computer science. Topics covered include Galois geometries, blocking sets, affine and projective planes, incidence structures and their automorphism groups. Matroids, graph theory and designs are also treated, along with weak algebraic structures such as near-rings, near-fields, quasi-groups, loops, hypergroups etc., and permutation sets and groups. The vitality of combinatorics today lies in its important interactions with computer science. The problems which arise are of a varied nature and suitable techniques to deal with them have to be devised for each situation; one of the special features of combinatorics is the often sporadic nature of solutions, stemming from its links with number theory. The branches of combinatorics are many and various, and all of them are represented in the 56 papers in this volume.

Among the participants discussing recent trends in their respective fields and in areas of common interest in these proceedings are such world-famous geometers as H.S.M. Coxeter, L. Danzer, D.G. Larman and J.M. Wills, and equally famous graph-theorists B. Bollobás, P. Erdös and F. Harary. In addition to new results in both geometry and graph theory, this work includes articles involving both of these two fields, for instance ``Convexity, Graph Theory and Non-Negative Matrices'', ``Weakly Saturated Graphs are Rigid'', and many more. The volume covers a broad spectrum of topics in graph theory, geometry, convexity, and combinatorics. The book closes with a number of abstracts and a collection of open problems raised during the conference.

Combinatorics '81

For the first time, this book unites different algebraic approaches for discrete optimization and operations research. The presentation of some fundamental directions of this new fast developing area shows the wide range of its applicability. Specifically, the book contains contributions in the following fields: semigroup and semiring theory applied to combinatorial and integer programming, network flow theory in ordered algebraic structures, extremal optimization problems, decomposition principles for discrete structures, Boolean methods in graph theory and applications.

Collected in this volume are most of the important theorems and algorithms currently known for planar graphs, together with constructive proofs for the theorems. Many of the algorithms are written in Pidgin PASCAL, and are the best-known ones; the complexities are linear or 0(nlogn). The first two chapters provide the foundations of graph theoretic notions and algorithmic techniques. The remaining chapters discuss the topics of planarity testing, embedding, drawing, vertex- or edge-coloring, maximum independence set, subgraph listing, planar separator theorem, Hamiltonian cycles, and single- or multicommodity flows. Suitable for a course on algorithms, graph theory, or planar graphs, the volume will also be useful for computer scientists and graph theorists at the research level. An extensive reference section is included.

This volume deals with a variety of problems involving cycles in graphs and circuits in digraphs. Leading researchers in this area present here 3 survey papers and 42 papers containing new results. There is also a collection of unsolved problems.

The purpose of this volume is to review the results in spectral graph theory which have appeared since 1978. The problem of characterizing graphs with least eigenvalue -2 was one of the original problems of spectral graph theory. The techniques used in the investigation of this problem have continued to be useful in other contexts including forbidden subgraph techniques as well as geometric methods involving root systems. In the meantime, the particular problem giving rise to these methods has been solved almost completely. This is indicated in Chapter 1. The study of various combinatorial objects (including distance regular and distance transitive graphs, association schemes, and block designs) have made use of eigenvalue techniques, usually as a method to show the nonexistence of objects with certain parameters. The basic method is to construct a graph which contains the structure of the combinatorial object and then to use the properties of the eigenvalues of the graph. Methods of this type are given in Chapter 2. Several topics have been included in Chapter 3, including the relationships between the spectrum and automorphism group of a graph, the graph isomorphism and the graph reconstruction problem, spectra of random graphs, and the Shannon capacity problem. Some graph polynomials related to the characteristic polynomial are described in Chapter 4. These include the matching, distance, and permanental polynomials. Applications of the theory of graph spectra to Chemistry and other branches of science are described from a mathematical viewpoint in Chapter 5. The last chapter is devoted to the extension of the theory of graph spectra to infinite graphs.

This volume presents four machine-independent theories of computational complexity, which have been chosen for their intrinsic importance and practical relevance. The book includes a wealth of results - classical, recent, and others which have not been published before. In developing the mathematics underlying the size, dynamic and structural complexity measures, various connections with mathematical logic, constructive topology, probability and programming theories are established. The facts are presented in detail. Extensive examples are provided, to help clarify notions and constructions. The lists of exercises and problems include routine exercises, interesting results, as well as some open problems.

This volume contains nine selected papers presented at the Borgholm conference. They were chosen on the basis of their immediate relevance to the most fundamental aspects of the theory of computation and the newest developments in this area. These papers, which have been extended and refereed, fall into eight categories: 1. Constructive Mathematics in Models of Computation and Programming; 2. Abstract Calculi and Denotational Semantics; 3. Theory of Machines, Computations and Languages; 4. Nondeterminism, Concurrency and Distributed Computing; 5. Abstract Algebras, Logics and Combinatorics in Computation Theory; 6. General Computability and Decidability; 7. Computational and Arithmetic Complexity; 8. Analysis of Algorithms and Feasible Computing.

The importance of submodular functions has been widely recognized in recent years in combinatorial optimization. This is the first book devoted to the exposition of the theory of submodular functions from an elementary technical level to an advanced one. A unifying view of the theory is shown by means of base polyhedra and duality for submodular and supermodular systems. Among the subjects treated are: neoflows (submodular flows, independent flows, polymatroidal flows), submodular analysis (submodular programs, duality, Lagrangian functions, principal partitions), nonlinear optimization with submodular constraints (lexicographically optimal bases, fair resource allocation). Special emphasis is placed on the constructive aspects of the theory, which lead to practical, efficient algorithms.

The purpose of this book is to present selected results on perfect graphs in a single volume. These take the form of reprinted classical papers, survey papers or new results.

Graph Colouring and Variations

Combinatorial problems have been from the very beginning part of the history of mathematics. By the Sixties, the main classes of combinatorial problems had been defined. During that decade, a great number of research contributions in graph theory had been produced, which laid the foundations for most of the research in graph optimization in the following years. During the Seventies, a large number of special purpose models were developed. The impressive growth of this field since has been strongly determined by the demand of applications and influenced by the technological increases in computing power and the availability of data and software. The availability of such basic tools has led to the feasibility of the exact or well approximate solution of large scale realistic combinatorial optimization problems and has created a number of new combinatorial problems.