On the facets of the secondary polytope

The secondary polytope of a point configuration A is a polytope whose face poset is isomorphic to the poset of all regular subdivisions of A. While the vertices of the secondary polytope - corresponding to the triangulations of A - are very well studied, there is not much known about the facets of the secondary polytope.The splits of a polytope, subdivisions with exactly two maximal faces, are the simplest examples of such facets and the first that were systematically investigated. The present paper can be seen as a continuation of these studies and as a starting point of an examination of the subdivisions corresponding to the facets of the secondary polytope in general. As a special case, the notion of k-split is introduced as a possibility to classify polytopes in accordance to the complexity of the facets of their secondary polytopes. An application to matroid subdivisions of hypersimplices and tropical geometry is given.     

An Adaptive Algorithm for Vector Partitioning

The vector partition problem concerns the partitioning of a set A of n vectors in d-space into p parts so as to maximize an objective function c which is convex on the sum of vectors in each part. Here all parameters d, p, n are considered variables. In this paper, we study the adjacency of vertices in the associated partition polytopes. Using our adjacency characterization for these polytopes, we are able to develop an adaptive algorithm for the vector partition problem that runs in time O(q(L)v) and in space O(L), where q is a polynomial function, L is the input size and v is the number of vertices of the associated partition polytope. It is based on an output-sensitive algorithm for enumerating all vertices of the partition polytope. Our adjacency characterization also implies a polynomial upper bound on the combinatorial diameter of partition polytopes. We also establish a partition polytope analogue of the lower bound theorem, indicating that the output-sensitive enumeration algorithm can be far superior to previously known algorithms that run in time polynomial in the size of the worst-case output.     

Combinatorial structure and adjacency of vertices of polytope of b-factors

In the present paper in terms of the graph theory we describe the structure and vertices adjacency criterion of b-factors polyhedron. The special attention is paid to nonintegral vertices. Results of the present paper, in particular, generalize properties of nonintegral vertices of TSP polyhedron, give vertices adjacency criterion of a transportation polytope.     

On the Skeleton of the Polytope of Pyramidal Tours

We consider the skeleton of the polytope of pyramidal tours. A Hamiltonian tour is called pyramidal if the salesperson starts in city 1, then visits some cities in increasing order of their numbers, reaches city n, and returns to city 1 visiting the remaining cities in decreasing order. The polytope PYR(n) is defined as the convex hull of the characteristic vectors of all pyramidal tours in the complete graph K _n . The skeleton of PYR(n) is the graph whose vertex set is the vertex set of PYR(n) and the edge set is the set of geometric edges or one-dimensional faces of PYR(n). We describe the necessary and sufficient condition for the adjacency of vertices of the polytope PYR(n). On this basis we developed an algorithm to check the vertex adjacency with linear complexity. We establish that the diameter of the skeleton of PYR(n) equals 2, and the asymptotically exact estimate of the clique number of the skeleton of PYR(n) is Θ(n²). It is known that this value characterizes the time complexity in a broad class of algorithms based on linear comparisons.     

Extreme points of some families of non-additive measures

Non-additive measures are a valuable tool to model many different problems arising in real situations. However, two important difficulties appear in their practical use: the complexity of the measures and their identification from sample data. For the first problem, additional conditions are imposed, leading to different subfamilies of non-additive measures. Related to the second point, in this paper we study the set of vertices of some families of non-additive measures, namely k-additive measures and p-symmetric measures. These extreme points are necessary in order to properly apply a new method of identification of non-additive measures based on genetic algorithms, whose cross-over operator is the convex combination. We solve the problem through techniques of Linear Programming.     

A criterion for the adjacency of vertices of polytopes generated by subsets of symmetric groups

We propose a characterization of the adjacency of vertices in the class of permutation polytopes generated by arbitrary subsets of symmetric groups. In particular, this class contains polytopes for the well-known classical problems, such as the assignment problem, 2-and 3-combinations, the traveling salesman problem and their various modifications. Up to now, the problem of vertex adjacency has been studied for a single polytope only. In the present paper, we obtain, for general permutation polytopes, necessary and sufficient conditions that guarantee that two given vertices are adjacent (or not) to each other. The conditions are formulated in terms of permutations and of the solvability of certain special systems of linear equations. The presently known adjacency criteria for vertices of polytopes for the assignment problem are simple corollaries of our conditions. The latter allow us to develop a general algorithmic scheme for recognizing vertex adjacency of a general permutation polytope and estimate its complexity.     

On separation and adjacency problems for perfectly matchable subgraph polytopes of a graph

A subgraph F of graph G is called a perfectly matchable subgraph if F contains a set of independent edges convering all the vertices in F. The convex hull of the incidence vectors of perfectly matchable subgraphs of G is a 0–1 polytope. We characterize the adjacency of vertices on such polytopes. We also show that when G is bipartite, the separation problem for such polytones can be solved by maximum flow algorithms.     

A bound for the number of vertices of a polytope with applications

We prove that the number of vertices of a polytope of a particular kind is exponentially large in the dimension of the polytope. As a corollary, we prove that an n-dimensional centrally symmetric polytope with O(n) facets has {ie1-1} vertices and that the number of r-factors in a k-regular graph is exponentially large in the number of vertices of the graph provided k≥2r+1 and every cut in the graph with at least two vertices on each side has more than k/r edges.     

Note on unicyclic graphs with given number of pendent vertices and minimal energy

For a simple graph G, the energy E(G) is defined as the sum of the absolute values of all eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix. Let G(n,p) denote the set of unicyclic graphs with n vertices and p pendent vertices. In [H. Hua, M. Wang, Unicyclic graphs with given number of pendent vertices and minimal energy, Linear Algebra Appl. 426 (2007) 478-489], Hua and Wang discussed the graphs that have minimal energy in G(n,p), and determined the minimal-energy graphs among almost all different cases of n and p. In their work, certain case of the values was left as an open problem in which the minimal-energy species have to be chosen in two candidate graphs, but cannot be determined by comparing of the corresponding coefficients of their characteristic polynomials. This paper aims at solving the problem completely, by using the well-known Coulson integral formula.     

Polytope des independants d'un graphe serie-parallele

A graph is said to be serie-parallel if it doesn't contain an homeomorph to K₄. The aim of the paper is the demonstration of Chvatal's conjecture on the polytope of independent set of vertices in such graphs. This is done classically by using LP-duality, the algorithm for constructing the primal-dual solution having the nice property to be linear in the number of vertices.     

On the adjacency matrix of a threshold graph

A threshold graph on n   vertices is coded by a binary string of length n−1$n-1$. We obtain a formula for the inertia of (the adjacency matrix of) a threshold graph in terms of the code of the graph. It is shown that the number of negative eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of a threshold graph is the number of ones in the code, whereas the nullity is given by the number of zeros in the code that are preceded by either a zero or a blank. A formula for the determinant of the adjacency matrix of a generalized threshold graph and the inverse, when it exists, of the adjacency matrix of a threshold graph are obtained. Results for antiregular graphs follow as special cases.     

Faces of faces of the acyclic Birkhoff polytope

Given a p-face of the acyclic Birkhoff polytope ?? _n (T), where T is a tree with n vertices, we find the number of faces of lower dimension that are contained in it, and its nature is discussed.     

Finding upper-triangular representations for phase-type distributions with 3 distinct real poles

In this paper we seek particular representations for absolutely continuous Phase-type distributions with 3 distinct real poles. First, we define subsets of these Phase-type distributions given the 3 distinct poles. One subset contains distributions that have upper triangular PH representation of order n, but do not have a triangular one of PH order n−1. This is done by using the invariant polytope approach. For any distribution in our subsets we give an invariant polytope containing the corresponding distribution by finding the vertices of the polytope. Second, we propose a method that actually constructs the generator matrix of the required PH representation from the invariant polytope. Consequently, our method constructs an upper triangular PH representation that has minimal order among the upper triangular PH representations given the probability density function of a PH distribution.     

Unitary graphs and classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients

A finite graph Γ is called G-symmetric if G is a group of automorphisms of Γ which is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices of Γ. We study a family of symmetric graphs, called the unitary graphs, whose vertices are flags of the Hermitian unital and whose adjacency relations are determined by certain elements of the underlying finite fields. Such graphs admit the unitary groups as groups of automorphisms, and play a significant role in the classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients such that an associated incidence structure is a doubly point-transitive linear space. We give this classification in the paper and also investigate combinatorial properties of the unitary graphs.     

An Adjacency Criterion for Coxeter Matroids

A Coxeter matroid is a generalization of matroid, ordinary matroid being the case corresponding to the family of Coxeter groups A _n , which are isomorphic to the symmetric groups. A basic result in the subject is a geometric characterization of Coxeter matroid in terms of the matroid polytope, a result first stated by Gelfand and Serganova. This paper concerns properties of the matroid polytope. In particular, a criterion is given for adjacency of vertices in the matroid polytope.     

The Estrada index of trees

The Estrada index of a graph G is defined as , where λ₁,λ₂,…,λ_n are the eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix. We determine the unique tree with maximum Estrada index among the set of trees with given number of pendant vertices. As applications, we determine trees with maximum Estrada index among the set of trees with given matching number, independence number, and domination number, respectively. Finally, we give a proof of a conjecture in [J. Li, X. Li, L. Wang, The minimal Estrada index of trees with two maximum degree vertices, MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 64 (2010) 799-810] on trees with minimum Estrada index among the set of trees with two adjacent vertices of maximum degree.     

On types of growth for graph-different permutations

We consider an infinite graph G whose vertex set is the set of natural numbers and adjacency depends solely on the difference between vertices. We study the largest cardinality of a set of permutations of [n] any pair of which differ somewhere in a pair of adjacent vertices of G and determine it completely in an interesting special case. We give estimates for other cases and compare the results in case of complementary graphs. We also explore the close relationship between our problem and the concept of Shannon capacity “within a given type.”     

Partitions of a Polytope and Mappings of a Point Set to Facets

Three theorems of this paper generalize previous results of the author on conjectures of A. Bezdek and V.V. Proizvolov. They show the existence of mappings from a given point set to the set of facets of a given polytope that satistfy some special conditions. Developing the same technique, some results on convex polytope partitions are presented, two of them dealing with partitions with prescribed measures of parts. Then we prove a corollary on the existence of a possibly nonconvex polytope with a given set of vertices, containing given points in its interior. We also consider problems of the following type: find an assignment of vectors from a given set to the parts of a given convex partition of ℝⁿ so that the shifts of the parts by their corresponding vectors either do not intersect by interior points or cover ℝⁿ     

Extended formulations for matroid polytopes through randomized protocols

The hitting number of a polytope P is the smallest size of a subset of vertices of P such that every facet of P has a vertex in the subset. We show that, if P is the base polytope of any matroid, then P admits an extended formulation of linear size on the hitting number of P. Our results generalize those of the spanning tree polytope given by Martin and Wong, and extend to polymatroids.