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Lec 23

The document discusses connectivity and isomorphism in graphs. It defines terms like path, connected graph, connected component, and isomorphism. It provides theorems and examples to illustrate these concepts.

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S Kerth
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30 views2 pages

Lec 23

The document discusses connectivity and isomorphism in graphs. It defines terms like path, connected graph, connected component, and isomorphism. It provides theorems and examples to illustrate these concepts.

Uploaded by

S Kerth
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 23, Connectivity & Isomorphism

A path is a circuit if it starts and ends at the same vertex. A path is


called simple if it doesn’t contain the same edge more than once.
An undirected graph is called connected if there is a path between any
pair of distinct vertices of the graph.

Theorem 1. There is a simple path between every pair of distinct vertices


of a connected undirected graph.

Proof. Let u and v be two distinct vertices of the connected undirected graph
G = (V, E). Because G is connected, there is at least one path between u
and v. Let x0 , x1 , . . . , xn , where x0 = u and xn = v, be the vertex sequence
of a path of least length. This path of least length is simple. To see this,
suppose it is not simple. Then xi = xj for some i and j with 0 ≤ i < j. This
means that there is a path from u to v of shorter length with vertex sequence
x0 , x1 , . . . , xi−1 , xj , . . . , xn obtained by deleting the edges corresponding to
the vertex sequence xi , . . . , xj−1 . 

A connected component of a graph G is a connected subgraph of G that is


not a proper subgraph of another connected subgraph of G. It is a maximal
connected subgraph of G.
G1 = (V1 , E1 ) and G2 = (V2 , E2 ) are isomorphic if there exists a one-to-
one and onto function f from V1 to V2 such that a and b are adjacent in G1
if and only if f (a) and f (b) are adjacent in G2 for all a and b in V1 . Such a
function f is called an isomorphism.
Notice: to prove that G1 and G2 are isomorphic is hard as there are too
many correspondences to check. Show G1 and G2 are not isomorphic is not
hard.
A property preserved by isomorphism of graphs is called a graph invariant.
For instance, the number of vertices, the number of edges, degree at each
node, the existence of a simple circuit of a particular length.

Example 1. Given G1 = (V1 , E1 ) and G2 = (V2 , E2 ). Determine whether


or not a function f : V1 → V2 is an isomorphism.
Select an arbitrary order of the vertices of G1 , denoted by {v1 , v2 , . . . , vn }
and generate the adjacency matrix. Then, label the vertices of G2 in the
order of {f (v1 ), f (v2 ), . . . , f (vn )} and generate the adjacency matrix. G1
and G2 are isomorphic if the adjacency matrices are the same.

Example 2. Graphs G1 and G2 are isomorphic, the bijective function f is


the following: f (v1 ) = u1 , f (v3 ) = u3 , f (v2 ) = u2 , and f (v4 ) = u4 . Verify
the adjacency matrices.
1
2

v1 v2 u1 u4

v3 v4 u3 u2

G1 G2

Example 3. Graph G1 and G2 are not isomorphic.


a b s t

e f w x

h g z y

d c v u

G1 G2
Both graphs have 8 vertices, 10 edges, 4 vertices of degree 2, 4 vertices of
degree 3. However, (a) in G1 , each degree 2 vertex is connected to a degree
3 vertex, which is not true in G2 ; (b) In G2 , we can find a path consisting
of degree 3 vertices, s, w, z, which doesn’t exist in G1 ; and (c) there exists a
length 8 simple circuit in G2 , u, t, s, w, x, y, z, v, u, while in G1 , the longest
simple circuit has length 6. Either of those observations will suffice to claim
G1 and G2 are not isomorphic.
Example 4. Paths can be used to construct the isomorphism between graphs.
u2 v1

u1 u3 v5 v2

u5 u4 v4 v3

G1 G2
Consider graphs G1 and G2 . They both have 5 vertices, 6 edges, 2 vertices
of degree 3, and 3 vertices of degree 2. They both have a simple circuit of
length 5. For G1 , it is u1, u4, u3, u2, u5. For G2 , it is v3, v2, v1, v5, v4.
Using these, we can construct a bijective function and then generate the
adjacency matrix to determine whether or not G1 and G2 are isomorphism.

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