Paper 4, Section II, 17G

Graph Theory
Part II, 2021

State and prove Hall's theorem, giving any definitions required by the proof (e.g. of an MM-alternating path).

Let G=(V,E)G=(V, E) be a (not necessarily bipartite) graph, and let γ(G)\gamma(G) be the size of the largest matching in GG. Let β(G)\beta(G) be the smallest kk for which there exist kk vertices v1,,vkVv_{1}, \ldots, v_{k} \in V such that every edge in GG is incident with at least one of v1,,vkv_{1}, \ldots, v_{k}. Show that γ(G)β(G)\gamma(G) \leqslant \beta(G) and that β(G)2γ(G)\beta(G) \leqslant 2 \gamma(G). For each positive integer kk, find a graph GG with β(G)=2k\beta(G)=2 k and γ(G)=k\gamma(G)=k. Determine β(G)\beta(G) and γ(G)\gamma(G) when GG is the Turan graph T3(30)T_{3}(30) on 30 vertices.

By using Hall's theorem, or otherwise, show that if GG is a bipartite graph then γ(G)=β(G).\gamma(G)=\beta(G) .

Define the chromatic index χ(G)\chi^{\prime}(G) of a graph GG. Prove that if n=2rn=2^{r} with r1r \geqslant 1 then χ(Kn)=n1\chi^{\prime}\left(K_{n}\right)=n-1.