A STUDY ON DUAL GRAPHS

Dissertation submitted to
Auxilium College (Autonomous), Vellore – 6
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
MATHEMATICS

By

Under the Guidance of

Postgraduate and Research Department of Mathematics,

Auxilium College (Autonomous),
Gandhi Nagar, Vellore – 632 006.

July – 2011

1
 AUXILIUM COLLEGE (Autonomous)
(Re-Accredited by NAAC with A Grade with a CGPA of 3.41 out of 4)
Gandhi Nagar, Vellore – 632 006

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation entitled “A STUDY ON DUAL

GRAPHS” submitted by to Auxilium College (Autonomous), Vellore – 6 in partial

fulfillment for the requirement for the award of degree of MASTER OF

PHILOSOPHY in MATHEMATICS is a record of bonafide research work done by

the candidate during the period August 2010 to July 2011 under my guidance and that

the dissertation has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma,

associateship, fellowship on other similar title to any other candidate and the

dissertation represents independent work on the part of the candidate.

……………………………. ……………………………
Head, PG and Research Supervisor and Head, PG and Research
Department of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics,
Auxilium College (Autonomous), Auxilium College (Autonomous),
Gandhi Nagar, Gandhi Nagar,
Vellore – 632006. Vellore – 632006.

Date ……………….. Date………………….

2
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the M.Phil., dissertation entitled “A STUDY ON DUAL

GRAPHS” has been my original work and that the dissertation has not formed the

basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or any other

similar titles.

Place:
Date : Signature of the Student.

3
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1

2. Theorems On Dual Graphs 14

3. Self-dual Graphs 24

4. A Characterization Of Partially Dual Graphs 38

5. Applications of Dual Graphs

54
Conclusion

Bibliography

4
 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER – I

Section – 1 Introduction to Graph theory 1

Section - 2 Basic Definitions and Examples 5
Section – 3 Theorems on Dual graphs 10

5
 THEOREMS ON DUAL GRAPHS

CHAPTER – II

Section – 1 Theorems On Plane Duality 14

Section - 2 Theorems On Combinatorial Dual 17
Section – 3 Some More Theorems On Duality 20

6
 SELF-DUAL GRAPHS

CHAPTER – III

Section – 1 Forms Of Self-Duality 24

Section - 2 A Comparison Of Forms Of Self- 30

Duality
Section – 3 Self-Dual Graphs and Matroids 33

7
 A CHARACTERIZATION OF PARTIALLY DUAL

GRAPHS

CHAPTER – IV

Section – 1 Ribbon Graphs 38

Section - 2 Partial Duality 42
Section – 3 Partial Duality For Graphs 48

8
 APPLICATIONS OF DUAL GRAPHS

CHAPTER –V

Section – 1 Graph Representations 54

Section - 2 Design Through Duality Relation 56
Section – 3 An Application Of Graph Theory in GSM 61

Mobile Phone Networks

9
 CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
SECTION-1
INTRODUCTION TO GRAPH THEORY

Why study Graph theory?

 Graph theory provides useful set of techniques for solving real-world

problems- particularly for different kinds of optimization.

 Graph theory is useful for analyzing “things that are connected to other

things”, which applies at most everywhere.

 Some difficult problems become easy when represented using a graph.

 There are lots of unsolved questions in Graph theory: Solve one and become

rich and famous.

“Graph Theory” is an important branch of Mathematics, (Euler 1707-1782) is

known as the father of Graph Theory as well as Topology. Graph theory came into existence

during the first half of the 18th century. Graph theory did not start to develop into an

organized branch of Mathematics until the second half of the 19th century and, there was not

even a book on the subject until the first half of the 20 th century. Graph theory has

experienced a tremendous growth, one of the main reason for this phenomena is the

applicability of Graph theory in other disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology,

Psychology, Sociology and theoretical Computer science.

In Physics, Graph theory is applied in Continuum Statistical Mechanics and Discrete

Statistical Mechanics. Graph theory models have been used to study polymer chains of hydro-

carbons and Percolation theory.

10
 The blossoming of a new branch of study in the field of Chemistry “Chemical Graph

theory” is yet another proof of the importance and role of Graph theory.

Applications of Graph theory to Biology are mostly in Genetics, Ecology and

Environment. Genetic mapping and Evolutionary Genetics are very important.

Growth of Graph theory is mainly due to its application to discrete optimization

problems and due to the advent of Computers. Graph theory plays an important role in several

areas of Computer science such as switching theory ands logical design, artificial intelligence,

formal languages, computer graphics, operating systems, compiler writing and information

organization and retrieval. Graph theory is also applied in inverse areas such as Social

sciences, linguistic, Physical sciences, communications engineering and other fields. Graph

theory is a delightful play ground for the explanations of proof of techniques in Discrete

Mathematics.

Many branches of Mathematics begin with sets and relations. Graph theory is no

expectation to this, indeed graph are next only to sets. Graph theory studies relation between

elements, part of what makes graph theory interesting is that graphs can be used to model

situations that occur in real world problems. These problems can then be studied with the aid

of graphs.

To see how graphs can be used to represent these different systems or structures,

consider the following example;

Example

Diagrams of molecules of the chemical compounds methane and propane are shown

below. These can be represented by graphs using points, called vertices, as the atoms of

carbons and hydrogen present and lines, called edges, as the bonds. Thus, a molecule of

methane is represented by a graph with five vertices and four edges while propane is

represented by a graph with eleven vertices and ten edges.

11
Methane CH 4

Propane C3 H 8

Graph theory started with Euler who was asked to find a nice path across the seven
Koningsberg bridges.

12
The (Eulerian) path
should cross over each of
the seven bridges exactly
once

Another early bird was Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865).

In 1859 he developed a toy based on finding a path visiting all cities in a graph
exactly once and sold it to a toy maker in Dublin. It never was a big success.

13
 SECTION-2
BASIC DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES

GRAPH
A Graph G=(V, E) consists of a pair of V and E. The elements of V are called vertices

and the elements of E are called edges. Each edge has a set of one or two vertices associated

to it, which are called its end points.

DIGRAPH
Let E be an unordered set of two elements subsets of V. If we consider ordered pair of

elements of V then the graph G (V, E) is called a directed graph or digraph.

CYCLE OR CIRCUIT
A Cycle is a closed walk in which all the vertices are distinct except u = v, that is the

initial and terminal points of the walk coincide.

Example

Figure:1

ACYCLIC OR FOREST

A graph G is called acyclic if, it has no cycles.

TREE
A tree is an acyclic connected graph.

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Example

Figure:2
BIPARTITE GRAPH
A Bipartite graph is one whose vertex can be partitioned into two subsets X and Y so

that each edge has one end in X and one end in Y such a partition (X, Y) is called a

Bipartition of the graph.

Example

K1,3 K m,n

Figure:3
EDGE CUT
For subsets S and S ′ of V denote by [ S , S ′ ] the set of edges with one end in S and

the other end in S ′ . An edge cut of G is a E of the form [ S , S ′ ] where S is a non-empty

proper subset of V and S ′ =V\S.

BOND OR CUT-SET
A minimal non-empty edge cut of G is called a Bond.

15
Example

Edge cut:{ e3 , e4 } { e1 , e2 , e5 } ∴ e3 , e4 is a Bond.

Figure:4
CONNECTED
A graph G is said to be connected if between every pair of vertices x and y in G, there

always exists a path in G. Otherwise, G is called disconnected.

LOOP
An edge with identical ends is called a loop.

Example

Figure:5

CUT VERTEX
A vertex v of a graph G is a cut-vertex if the edges set E can be partitioned into two

non-empty subsets E1 and E2 such that G ( E1 ) and G ( E2 ) have just the vertex v in common.

16
Example

Figure:6

CUT EDGE
An edge set E of a graph G is a cut edge of G if W(G-e)>W(G).In particular, the

removal of a cut edge from a connected graph makes the graph disconnected.

Example

Figure:7

BLOCK
A connected graph that has no cut vertices is called a Block.

TOUR
A Tour of G is a closed walk of G which includes every edge of G at least once.

EULER TOUR
An Euler Tour of G is a tour which includes each edge of G exactly once.

EULERIAN
A graph G is called Eulerian or Euler if it has an Euler Tour.

Example

Figure:8

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PLANAR GRAPH
A graph G is planar if it can be drawn in the plane in such a way that no two edges
meet except at a vertex with which they both are incident. Any such drawing is a plane
drawing of G.
A graph G is non-planar if no plane drawing of G exists.

Example

Figure:9 Plane drawing of K4

OUTER PLANAR
A Planar graph is an Outer Planar graph if it has an embedding on the plane such that

every vertex of the graph is a vertex belonging to the same (usually exterior) region.

FACES
A plane graph G partitions the rest of the plane into a number of arc-wise connected

open sets. The sets are called the faces of G.

Example

Figure:10

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 SECTION-3
DUAL GRAPHS AND EXAMPLES

INTRODUCTION
A map on the plane or the sphere can be viewed as a plane graph in which the faces

are the territories, the vertices are places where boundaries meet and the edges are the porties

of the boundaries that join two vertices from any plane graph we can form a related plane

graph called its “Dual”.

DUAL GRAPHS
Let G be a connected planar graph. Then a dual graph G* is constructed from a plane

drawing of G, as follows.

Draw one vertex in each face of the plane drawing: these are vertices of G*. For each

edge e of a plane drawing, draw a line joining the vertices of G* in faces on either side of e:

these lines are the edges of G*.

REMARK
We always assume that we have been presented with a plane drawing of G.

The procedure is illustrated below.

G G*

Figure: 1

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 Also if G is a plane drawing of a connected planar graph, then so its dual G*, and we

can thus construct (G*)*, the dual of G*.

(G*)* G*

Figure: 2

The above diagrams demonstrated that the construction that gives rise to G* from G

can be reversed to give G from G*. It follows that (G*)* is isomorphic to G.

EXAMPLE FOR NON-ISOMORPHIC DUAL GRAPHS

Dual graphs are not unique, in the sense that the same graph can have non-isomorphic

dual graphs because the dual graph depends on a particular plane embedding. In Figure:3, red

graph G′ is not isomorphic to the blue graph G because the upper one has a vertex with

degree 6 (the outer region).

Figure: 3

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PROPERTIES
(1) The dual of a plane graph is planar multi graph- a graph that may have

loops and

multiple edges.

(2) If G is a connected graph and if G* is a dual of G then G is a dual of

G*.

ON THE UNIQUENESS OF DUAL GRAPHS

(1) Consider the graph G1 and its dual G1 *. Also consider the graph G2

and its dual G2 *

(see Figure: 4).
(2) Observe that graph G1 and G2 are two different planar representations
of a same
graph (say, G).
(3) The graph G2 * contains a vertex of degree of degree 5, and the graph

G1 * contains no

vertex of degree 5. Therefore, G1 * and G2 * are non -isomorphic. So, we have that G1

≅ G2 but G1 * ≅ G2 *.
From (3), we may conclude that two isomorphic planar graphs may have distinct

non- isomorphic duals.

G1 G1*

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 G2 G2*

Figure: 4

There are many forms of duality in graph theory.

COMBINATORIAL DUAL GRAPH

Let m(G) be the cycle rank of a graph G, m*(G) be the co-cycle rank, and the relative

complement G-H of a subgraph H of G be defined as that subgraph obtained by deleting the

lines of H. Then a graph G* is a combinatorial dual of G if there is one-to-one

correspondence between their sets of lines such that for any choice Y and Y* of

corresponding subsets of lines,

m*(G-Y) = m*(G) – m(Y*)

where <Y*> is the subgraph of G* with the line set Y*.

Whitney showed that the geometric dual graph and combinatorial dual graph are

equivalent, and so may be called “the” dual graph.

RESULT
A graph is plane if and only if it has a combinatorial dual.

WEAK DUAL
The weak dual of an embedded planar graph is the subgraph of the dual graph whose

vertices correspond to the bounded faces of the primal graph.

SOME RESULTS
A planar graph is outer planar if and only if its weak dual is a forest.

A planar graph is a Halin graph if and only if its weak dual is biconnected and outer

planar.

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 CHAPTER – 2
THEOREMS ON DUAL GRAPHS
[12]SECTION-1

THEOREMS ON PLANE DUALITY

PROPOSITION 1
The dual of any plane graph is connected.

PROOF
Let G be a plane graph and G* a plane dual of G. consider any two vertices of G*.

There is a curve in the plane connecting them which avoids all vertices of G. The sequence of

faces and edges of G traversed by this curve corresponds in G* to a walk connecting the two

vertices.

DEFINITION
A simple connected plane graph in which all faces have degree three is called a plane

triangulation or, for a short triangulation.

PROPOSITION 2
A simple connected plane graph is a triangulation if and only if its dual is cubic.

DELETION-CONTRACTION DUALITY
Let G be a planar graph and G% be a plane embedding of G. For any edge e of G, a

plane embedding of G\e can be obtained by simply deleting the line e from G%. Thus deletion

of an edge from a planar graph results in a planar graph. Although less obvious, the

contraction of an edge of a planar graph also results in a planar graph. Indeed, given any edge

e of a planar graph G and a planar embedding G%of G, the line e of G%can be contracted to a

single point (and the lines incident to its ends redrawn). So, that the resulting plane graph is a

planar embedding of G\e.

23
 The following two propositions show that the operations of contracting and deleting

edges in plane graphs are related in a natural way under duality.

PROPOSITION 3
Let G be a connected plane graph, and let e be an edge of G that is not a cut edge.

Then (G\e)* ≅ G*/e*.

PROOF
Because e is not a cut edge, the two faces of G incident with e are distinct; denote

them by f1 and f 2 . Deleting e from G results in a amalgamation of f1 and f 2 into a single face

f (see Figure: 1). Any face of G that is adjacent to f1 or f 2 is adjacent in G\e to f; all other

faces and adjacencies between them are unaffected by the deletion of e.

Correspondingly, in the dual, the two vertices f1 * and f 2 * of G* which correspond to

the faces f1 and f 2 of G are now replaced by a single vertex of (G\e)*, which we may denote

by f*, and all other vertices of G* are vertices of (G\e)*. Furthermore, any vertex of G* that

is adjacent to f1 * an f 2 * is adjacent in (G\e)* to f*, and adjacencies between vertices of

(G\e)* other than v are the same as in G*. The assertion follows from these observations.

(a) (b)

Figure:1 a) G and G * , b) G\e and G * \ e*

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 Dually, we have the following proposition.

PROPOSTITION 4

Let G be a connected plane graph and let e be a link of G. Then (G/e)* ≅ G*\e*.

PROOF
Because, G is connected G** ≅ G. Also because e is not a loop of G, the edge e* is not

a cut edge of G*, so G*\e* is connected by proposition:3,

(G*\e*)* ≅ G**/e** ≅ G/e.

The proposition follows on taking duals.

We now apply Propositions 1 and 2 to show that non separable plane graphs have non

separable duals. This fact turns out to be very useful.

THEOREM 5
The dual of a non separable plane graph is non separable.

PROOF
By induction on the number of edges, Let G be a non separable plane graph. The

theorem is clearly true if G has at most one edge, so we may assume that G has at least two

edges, hence no loops or cut edges. Let e be an edge of G. Then either G\e or G/e is non

separable. If G\e is non separable so is (G\e)* ≅ G*/e*, by the induction hypothesis and

proposition 3. And we deduce that G* is non separable. The case where G/e is non separable

can be established by an analogous argument.

25
 [12]SECTION-2

THEOREMS ON COMBINATORIAL DUAL

PROPOSITION 1
Let G be a 2-connected plane multi graph, and let H be its geometric dual. Then H is a

combinatorial dual of G. Moreover, G is a geometric dual graph (and hence a combinatorial

dual) of H.

PROOF
Since the minimal cuts of G are the minimal separating sets of G,

We now have:

(A) If E ⊆ E(G) is the edge set of a cycle in G, then E* is cut in H.

(B) If E is the edge set of a forest in G, then H-E* is connected.

Imply that H is a combinatorial dual of G. In particular, H is 2-connected contains at

least three vertices (Otherwise, G is a cycle and the claims are easy to verify). To prove that

G is a geometric dual of H, it sufficies to prove that, for each facial cycle C* in H, has only

one vertex in the face F of H bounded by C*, (clearly, G has no edge inside F). But, if G has

two or more vertices in F, then some two vertices of C* can be joined by a simple arc inside F

having only its ends in common with G ∪ H. But, this is impossible by the definition of H.

Whitney [wh33a] proved that combinatorial duals are geometric duals. This gives rise

to another characterization of planar graphs.

THEOREM 2 (Whitney [wh33a])

Let G be a 2-connected multigraph. Then G is a planar if and only if it has a

combinatorial dual. If G* is a combinatorial dual of G, then G has an embedding in the plane

such that G* is isomorphic to the geometric dual of G. In particular, also G*is planar, and G

is a combinatorial dual of G*.

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PROOF
By proposition 1, it sufficies to prove the second part of the theorem. The proof will

be done by induction on the number of edges of G. If G is a cycle, then any two edges of G*

are in a 2-cycle and hence G* has only two vertices. Clearly, G and G* can be represented as

a geometric dual pair.

If G is not a cycle, then G is the union of a 2-connected subgraph G′ and a path P such

that G′ ∩ P consists of the two end vertices of P. By the induction hypothesis and by the

proposition, “If G* is a combinatorial dual of G and E ⊆ E(G) is a set of edges of G such that

G-E has only one component containing edges, then G*/e* is a combinatorial dual of G-

e(minus isolated vertices)”, H=G* /E(P*) is a combinatorial dual of G′ . By the induction

hypothesis, G′ and H can be represented as a geometric dual pair, and G′ is also a

combinatorial dual of H.

If e1 , e2 are two edges of P, then e1 *, e2 * are two edges of G* which belong to a cycle

C* of G*. If C* has length at least 3, then it is easy to find a minimal cut in G* containing e,

but not e2 . But, this is impossible since any cycle in G containing e1 also contains e2 . Hence,

all edges of E (P)* are parallel in G* and join two vertices z1 , z2 say, in G*.

Let z0 be the vertex in H which corresponds to z1 , z2 . The edges in H incident with

z0 form a minimal cut in H. Let C be the corresponding cycle in G′ . As E(C)* separates z0

from H- z0 in H, C is a simple closed curve separating z0 from H- z0 . In particular, C is facial

in G′ .

Let C1 , C2 be the two cycles in CUP containing P such that E ( Ci )* is the minimal cut

consisting of the edges incident with zi , for i=1,2. Now we draw P inside the face F of G′

27
bounded by C and represent zi inside Ci for i=1,2. This way we obtain a representation of G*

as a geometric dual of G.

PROPOSITION 3
Let G be a 2-connected multigraph and let G* be its combinatorial dual. Then G* is 3-

connected if and only if G is 3-connected.

PROOF
By Theorem 2, it sufficies to prove that G is 3-connected whenever G* is

3-connected. Suppose that this is not a case if G has a vertex of degree 2, then G* has parallel

edges, a contradiction. So, G has minimum degree at least 3. Then we can write G = G1 ∪ G2

where G1 ∩ G2 consists of two vertices, E( G1 ) ∩ E( G2 ) = φ , and each of G1 , G2 contains at

least three vertices.

By Theorem 2, G is planar. Then G has a facial cycle C such that C ∩ Gi is path Pi

for i=1,2. Clearly, G/E(C) has two edges which are not in the same block.

By proposition, “If, G* is a combinatorial dual of G and E ⊆ E (G) is a set of edges of

G such that G-E has only one component containing edges, then G*/E* is a combinatorial

dual of G-E (minus isolated vertices)”, and Theorem 2, G*- E(C)* has two edges which are

not in the same block. As E(C)* is the set of edges incident with a vertex of G*, G* is not

3-connected.

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 SECTION-3
SOME MORE THEOREMS ON DUALITY

[9]THEOREM 1

A necessary and sufficient condition for two planar graphs G1 and G2 to be duals of

each other is as follows. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the edges in G1 and

the edges in G2 such that a set of edges in G1 forms a circuit if and only if the corresponding

set in G2 forms a cut-set.

PROOF
Let us consider a plane representation of a planar graph G. Let us also draw

(geometrically) a dual G* of G. Then consider an arbitrary circuit Γ in G. Clearly, Γ will

form some closed simple curve in the plane representation of G- dividing the plane into two

areas (Jordan curve Theorem). Thus the vertices of G* are partitioned into non-empty,

mutually exclusive subsets- one Γ and the other outside.

In other words, the set of edges Γ * in G* corresponding to the set Γ in G is a cut-set

in G*. (No proper subset of Γ * will be a cut-set in G*). Likewise it is apparent that

corresponding to a cut-set S* in G* there is a unique circuit consisting of the corresponding

edge-set S in G such that S is a circuit. This proves the necessity of the theorem.

To prove the sufficiency, let G be a planar graph and let G′ be the graph for which

there is a one-to-one correspondence between the cut-sets of G and circuits of G′ , and vice-

versa. Let G* be a dual graph of G. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the circuits

of G′ and cut-sets of G, and also between the cut-sets of G and circuits of G*. Therefore,

there is one-to-one correspondence between the circuits of G′ and G*, implying that G′ and

G* are 2-isomorphic.

29
 By a theorem, “All duals of a planar graph G are 2-isomorphic; and every graph 2-

isomorphic to a dual of G is also a dual of G”, G′ must be a dual of G.

[7]THEOREM 2
Edges in a plane graph G form a cycle in G if and only if the corresponding dual

edges form a bond in G*.

PROOF
Consider D ⊆ E(G). If D contains no cycle in G, then D encloses no region. It remains

possible to reach the unbounded face of G from every face without crossing D. Hence, G*-D*

connected, and D* contains no edge cut.

If D is the edge set of a cycle in G, then the corresponding edge set D* ⊆ E(G*)

contains all dual edges joining faces inside D to faces outside D. Thus D* contains an edge

cut.

If D contains a cycle and more, then D* contains an edge cut and more.

Thus D* is a minimal edge cut if and only if D is a cycle.

Figure:1

[7]THEOREM 3
The following are equivalent for a plane graph G.

(A) G is bipartite.

(B) Every face of G has even length.

(C) The dual graph G* is Eulerian.

30
PROOF

A ⇒ B. A face boundary consists of closed walks. Every odd closed walk contains an

odd cycle. Therefore, in a bipartite plane graph the contributions to the length of faces are all

even.

B ⇒ A. Let C be a cycle in G. Since G has no crossings, C is laid out as a simple

closed curve; let F be the region enclosed by C. Every region of G is wholly within F or

wholly outside F. If we sum the face lengths for the regions inside F, we obtain an even

number. Since each face length is even. This sum counts each edge of C once. It also counts

each edge inside F twice, since each such edge belongs twice to faces in F. Hence, the parity

of the length of C is the same as the parity of the full sum, which is even.

B ⇔ C. The dual graph G* is connected and its vertex degrees are the face lengths of G.

Figure:2

[12]THOREM 4

A graph has a dual if and only if it is planar.

PROOF
We need to prove just the “only if” part. That is, we have only to prove that a non-

planar graph does not have a dual. Let G be a non-planar graph. Then G contains K 5 or K 3,3

or a graph homeomorphic to either of these. We have already seen that a graph G can have a

dual only if every subgraph g of G and every homeomorphic to g has a dual. Thus if we can

31
show that neither K 5 nor K 3,3 has a dual, we have proved the theorem. This we shall prove

by contradiction as follows:

(a) Suppose that K 3,3 has a dual D. Observe that the cut-sets in K 3,3 correspond to

circuits in D and vice versa, since K 3,3 has no cut-set consisting of two edges, D has no

circuit consisting of two edges. D contains no pair of parallel edges. Since every circuit in

K 3,3 is of length four or six, D has no cut-set with less than four edges. Therefore, the degree

of every vertex in D is at least four. As D has no parallel edges and the degree of every vertex

is at least four, D must have at least (5 × 4)/2= 10 edges. This is a contradiction, because K 3,3

has nine edges and so must its dual. Thus K 3,3 cannot have a dual. Likewise,

(b) Suppose that the graph K 5 has a dual H. Note that K 5 has (1) 10 edges, (2) no

pair of parallel edges, (3) no cut-set with two edges, and (4) cut-sets with only four or six

edges. Consequently, graph H must have (1) 10 edges, (2) no vertex with degree less than

three, (3) no pair of parallel edges, and (4) circuits of length four and six only. Now graph H

contains a hexagon ( a circuit of length six ), and no more than three edges can be added to a

hexagon without creating a circuit of length three or a pair of parallel edges. Since both of

these are forbidden in H and H has 10 edges, there must be at least seven vertices in at least

three. The degree of each of these vertices is atleast three. This leads to H having at least 11

edges. A contradiction.

32
 [6]CHAPTER-3

SELF- DUAL GRAPHS

SECTION-1
FORMS OF SELF-DUALITY

DEFINITION
A planar graph is isomorphic to its own dual is called a self-dual graph.

Example
K 4 is a Self-dual graph.

Figure: 1

FORMS OF SELF-DUALITY
DEFINITION
Given a planar graph G =(V,E), any regular embedding of the topological realization

of G into a sphere partitions the sphere into regions called the faces of the embedding, and we

write the embedded graph, called a map, as M =(V,E,F). G may have loops and parallel

edges.

DEFINITION
Given a map M, we form the dual map, M* by placing a vertex f* in the centre of

each face f, and for each edge e of M bounding two faces f1 and f 2 , we draw a dual edge e*

connecting the vertices f1 * and f 2 * and crossing e once transversely. Each vertex v of M

will then correspond to a face v* of M* and we write M* = (F*, E*, V*).

33
 If, the graph G has distinguishable embeddings, then G may have more than one dual

graph, see Figure: 2. In this example a portion of the map (V, E, F) is flipped over on a

separating set of two vertices to form (V, E, F′ ).

(V, E, F) * (F*, E*, V*)

(V, E, F′ ) * (F′ *, E*, V*)

Figure:2

Such a move is called Whitney flip, and the duals of (V, E, F) and (V, E, F ′ ) are said

to differ by a Whitney twist. If the graph (V, E) is 3-connected, then there is a unique

embedding in the plane and so the dual is determined by the graph alone.

Given a map X = (V, E, F) and its dual X* = (F*, E*, V*), there are three notions of

self-duality. The strongest, map self-duality, requires that X and X* are isomorphic as maps,

that is, there is an isomorphism δ : (V, E, F) → (F*, E*, V*) preserving incidences. A weaker

notion requires only a graph isomorphism δ : (V, E) → (F*, E*), in which case we say that

the map (V, E, F) is graph self-dual, and we say that G =(V, E) is a self-dual graph.

34
DEFINITION
A geometric duality is a bijection g: E(G) → E(G*) such that e ∈ E is the edge dual to

g(e) ∈ E(G*). If M is 2-cell, then M is connected; so if M is a 2-cell embedding, then

(M*)* ≅ M (we use * to indicate the geometric dual operation).

DEFINITION
An algebraic duality is a bijection g: E(G) → E( Ĝ ) such that P is a circuit of G if and

only if g(p) is a minimal edge-cut of Ĝ . Given a graph G =(V,E), an algebraic dual of G is a

graph Ĝ for which there exist an algebraic duality g: E(G) → E( Ĝ ).

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 3: A graph and several of its embeddings.

35
 The geometric duals are shown in dotted lines. Embedding b) is map self-dual, c) is

graphically self-dual and d) is algebraically self-dual.

We now define several forms of self-duality. Let G =(V, E) be a graph and let

M=(V, E, F) be a fixed map of G, with geometric dual M* =(F*, E*, V*).

DEFINITION
1. M is map self-dual if M ≅ M*.

2. M is graphically self-dual if (V, E) ≅ (F*, E*).

3. G is algebraically self-dual if G ≅ G*, where Ĝ is some algebraic dual of G.

REMARK
In the literature, the term matroidal or abstract is sometimes used where we use

algebraic.

We will use the geometric duality operation and, unless specified, we will describe a

graph as self-dual if it is graphically self-dual. Since, the dual of a graph is always connected,

we know that a self-dual graph is connected.

The following are a few known results about self-dual graphs.

COROLLARY 1

Let M =(V, E, F) be a 2-cell embedding on an orientable surface. If M is self-dual,

then E is even.

PROOF
Since M is self-dual, By Theorem (Euler),

“Let M =(V, E, F) be a 2-cell embedding of a graph in the orientable surface of genus

k. Then, V - E + F = 2-2k”.

⇒ E = 2-2k- V - F

= 2(1-k- V ).

36
THEOREM 2
The complete graph K n has a self-dual embedding on an orientable surface, if and

only if n ≡ 0 or 1 (mod 4).

THEOREM 3
For w ≥ 1, there exists a self-dual embedding of some graph G of order n on S n ( w −1) +1 if

and only if n ≥ 4w+1.

Note that a self-dual graph need not be self-dual on the surface of its genus. A single

loop is planar; however it has a (non 2-cell) self-dual embedding on the torus.

Also note that there are infinitely many self-dual graphs. One such infinite family for

the plane is the wheels. A wheel Wn consists of cycle of length n and a single vertex adjacent

to each vertex on the cycle by means of a single edge called a Spoke. The complete graph on

four vertices is also W3 . See Figure: 4 for W6 .

Fig: 4 The 6-Wheel and its dual

MATROIDS

37
 Matroids may be considered a natural generalization of graphs. Thus when discussing

a family of graphs, we should also consider the matroidal implications.

38
DEFINITION
Let S be a finite set, the ground set, and let I be a set of subsets of S, the independent

sets. Then M = ( S , I ) is a matroid if:

1. φ ∈ I ;

2. If J ′ ⊆ J ∈ I , then J ′ ∈ I ; and

3. For all A ⊆ S, all maximal independent subsets of A have the same cardinality.

An isomorphism between two matroids M 1 = ( S1 , I1 ) and M 2 = ( S 2 , I 2 ) is a bijection

χ : S1 → S2 such that I ∈ I1 if and only if χ (I) ∈ I 2 . If such a χ exists, then M 1 and M 2 are

isomorphic denoted M 1 ≅ M 2

Given a graph G = (V, E), the cycle matroid M (G) of G is the matroid with ground

set E, and F ⊆ E is independent if and only if F is a forest. A matroid M is graphic if there

exists a graph G such that M = M (G).

For a matroid M = (S,I) the dual matroid M *= (S,I*) has ground set S and I ⊆ S in

I* if there is a maximal independent set B in M such that I ⊆ S\B. A matroid M is

co-graphic if M * is graphic. It is easily shown that if G is a connected planar graph, then M

* (G) = M (G*).

It is well known that G is algebraically self-dual if and only if cycle matroids of G and

G* are isomorphic.

39
 SECTION-2
A COMPARISON OF FORMS OF SELF-DUALITY

It is clear that for a map (V, E, F) we have,

Map self-duality ⇒ Graph self-duality ⇒ Matroid self-duality.

However, In general, these implications cannot be reversed, as shown by Figure: 3.

But, we are concerned to what extent these implications can be reversed. The next two

theorems assert that, in the most general sense, they cannot.

THEOREM 1
There exist a map (V, E, F) such that (V, E) ≅ (E*, V*), but (V, E, F) ≅ (F*, E*, V*).

THEOREM 2
There exist a map (V, E, F) such that M(E) ≅ M(E*)*, but (V, E) ≅ (F*, E*).

SELF-DUAL MAPS AND SELF-DUAL GRAPHS

In the previous examples the graphs were of low connectivity, a planar 3-connected

simple graph has a unique embedding on the sphere, in the sense that if p and q are

embeddings, then there is a homeomorphism h of the sphere so that p =hq. Any isomorphism

between the cycle matroids of a 3-connected graph is carried by a graph isomorphism. Thus,

for a 3-connected graph

Map self-duality ⇐ Graph self-duality ⇐ Matroid self-duality,

So self-dual 3-connected graphs, as well as self-dual 3-connected graphic matroids,

reduce to the case of self-dual maps.Since, the examples in Figure:3 are only 1-connected, we

must consider the 2-connected case. In Figure: 5 we see an example of a graphically self-dual

map whose graph is 2-connected which is not map self-dual. One might hope that, as was the

case in Figure:3, that such examples can be corrected by re-embedding or rearranging,

however we have the following strong result.

40
THEOREM 3
There exists a 2-connected map (V, E, F) which is graphically self-dual, so that

(V, E) ≅ (F*, V*), but for which every map ( V ′, E ′, F ′ ) such that M(E) ≅ M( E ′ ) is not map

self-dual.

PROOF
Consider the map in Figure:5 which is drawn on an unfolded cube. The graph is

obtained by gluing two 3-connected self-dual maps together along an edge (a,b) and

Figure: 5.

erasing the common edge. One map has only two reflections as self-dualities, both fixing the

glued edge; the other has only two rotations of order four as dualities, again fixing the glued

edge. The graph self-duality is therefore a combination of both, an order 4 rotation followed

by a Whitney twist of the reflective hemisphere. It is easy to see that all the embeddings of

this graph, as well as the graph obtained after the Whitney flip have the same property.

41
 We also have the following.

THEOREM 4
There is a graphically self-dual map (V, E, F) with (V, E) 1-connected and having

only 3-connected blocks, but for which every map ( V ′, E ′, F ′ ) such that M( E ) ≅ M( E ′ ) is not

map self- dual.

PROOF
Consider the 3-connected self-dual maps in Figure: 6. X 1 has only self-dualities of

order 4, two rotations and two flip rotations, while X 2 has only a left-right reflection and a

180° rotation as a self-duality. Form a new map X by gluing two copies of X 2 to X 1 in the

quadrilateral marked with q’s, with the gluing at the vertices marked v and v*. X is

graphically self-dual, as can easily be checked, but no gluing of two copies of X 2 can give

map self-duality since every quadrilateral in X 1 has order 4 under any self-duality.

Figure: 6

In particular, self-dual graphs of connectivity less than 3 cannot in general be re-

embedded as self-dual maps.

42
 SECTION-3
SELF-DUAL GRAPHS AND MATROIDS

If G is 1-connected, then its cycle matroid has a unique decomposition as the direct

sum of connected graphic matroids, M (G) = M 1 ⊕ M 2 ⊕ ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅ ⊕ M k , and if G* is a planar

dual of G, then M(G*) =M(G)* = M 1 * ⊕ M 2 * ⊕ ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅ ⊕ M k * . If G is a graph self-dual, then

there is a bijection δ : M(G) → M(G*) sending cycles to cycles, and so there is a partition π

of {1,2,…….k} such that δ : M i → M π ( i ) , and we that M(G) is the direct sum of self-dual

connected matroids, together with some pairs of terms consisting of a connected matroid and

its dual.

In the next theorem we see that not every self-dual matroid arises from a self-dual

graph.

THEOREM 1
There exists a self-dual graphic matroid M such that for any graph G =(V,E) with

M(G) =M, and any embedding (V, E, F) of G, (V, E) ≅ (F*, E*).

PROOF
Consider M 1 and M 2 , the cycle matroids of two distinct 3-connected self-dual maps

X 1 and X 2 whose only self-dualities are the antipodal map.

The matroid M 1 ⊕ M 2 is self–dual, but its only map realizations are as the

1-vertex union of X 1 and X 2 , which cannot be self-dual since the cut vertex cannot

simultaneously be sent to both “antipodal” faces.

So for 1-connected graphs, the three notions of self-duality are all distinct. For

2-connected graphs, however we have the following.

43
44
THEOREM 2
If G =(V, E) is a planar 2-connected graph such that M(E) ≅ M(E)*, then G has an

embedding (V, E, F) such that (V, E) ≅ (F*, E*).

PROOF
Let (V, E, F) be any embedding of G. Then G is 2-isomorphic, in the sense of

Whitney [15] to (F*, E*), and thus there is a sequence of Whitney flips which transform

(F*, E*, V*) into an isomorphic copy of G and act as re-embeddings of G. Thus the result is a

new embedding (V , E , F ′) of G such that (V, E, F) ≅ ( F ′*, E*, V *) .

Thus, to describe 2-connected self-dual graphs it is enough up to embedding, to

describe self-dual 2-connected graphic matroid.

SELF-DUAL MATROIDS
DEFINITION
A polyhedron P is said to be self-dual if there is an isomorphism δ : P → P*, where P*

denotes the dual of P. we may regard δ as a permutation of the elements of P which sends

vertices to faces and vice versa, preserving incidence.

As noted earlier 3-connected self-dual graphic matroids are classified via self-dual

polyhedra.

On the other hand, 1-connected self-dual matroids are easily understood via the direct

sum. Also we show how a 2-connected self-dual matroid M with self-duality δ arises via

3-connected graphic matroids by recursively constructing its 3-block tree T(M) by adding

orbits of pendant nodes.

The following theorem shows that this construction is sufficient to obtain all

2-connected self-dual matroids.

45
THEOREM 3
Let M be a self-dual connected matroid with 3-block tree T. Let T ′ be the tree

obtained from T by deleting all the pendant nodes, and let M ′ be the 2-connected matroid

determined by T ′ . Then M ′ is also self-dual.

PROOF

Let M be a self-dual connected matroid on a set E, so there is a matroid isomorphism

∆ : M → M*, so δ is a permutation of E sending cycles to co-cycles. The 3-block tree of M*

is obtained from that of M by replacing every label with the dual label, so ∆ corresponds to a

bijection ( δ ,{δ α } ) of T onto itself, such that for each node α of T, δα : M α → M f (α ) sends

cycles of M α to co-cycles of M f (α ) . The restriction of ( δ ,{δ α } ) to T ′ has the same property

and so corresponds to a self-dual permutation of M ′ .

THEOREM 4
Suppose M is a self-dual 2-connected matroid with self-dual permutation δ and let

e1 ∈ M . Let {e1 , e2 ,......ek } be the orbit of e1 under δ . Suppose one of the following:

(1) k is even and M 0 is a 3-connected matroid or a cycle and δ 0 is a matroid

automorphism of M 0 fixing an edge e0 .

(2) k is odd and M 0 is a 3-connected self-dual matroid with self-dual permutation δ 0

fixing an edge e0 .

For i =1, 2,…., k set M 2i +1 = M 0 and M 2i = M 0 * . Let M ′ be the matroid obtained

from M by 2-sums with the matroids M i , amalgamating e0 or e0 * in M i with ei .

46
 Let δ ′ be defined by δ ′ (e) for e ∈ M − {e1 , e2 ,....., ek } , δ ′ : M i − e0 → M i +1 − e0 is

induced by * for i =1, 2,…., k and δ ′ = δ 0 : M k → M1 . Then M ′ is a 2-connected self-dual

matroid with self-dual permutation δ ′ .

Moreover, every 2-connected self-dual matroid and its self-duality is obtained in this manner.

PROOF
The fact that this construction gives a 2-connected self-dual matroid follows at once,

since to check if δ ′ is a self-duality, it sufficies to check that (δ ′)α sends cycles to co-cycles

on each 3-block. The fact that M 0 must be self-dual if K is odd follows by considering that

δ 1k is a self-duality and maps M 0 = M 1 onto itself.

To see that all self-dualities arise this way, let δ ′ : M ′ → M ′ be a self-duality, let α

be a pendant node of T, and set M 0 = M α . Let M be the self-dual matroid that results from

removing from T ( M ′) the K nodes corresponding to the orbit of the node α . δ ′ induces δ :

M → M. Then the desired δ 0 is (δ )α .

k

THE STRUCTURES OF SELF-DUAL-GRAPHS

Given the results of the previous section, we may construct all 2-connected self-dual

graphs; start with any self-dual 2-connected graphic matroid M and chose any realization of

M as a cycle matroid of a graph G. Theorem:2, asserts that G has an embedding as a self-dual

graph. Alternatively, we may carry out a recursive construction in the spirit of Theorem:5 at

the graph level, paying careful attention to the orientations in the 2-sums. The following

theorem gives a more geometric construction.

THEOREM 5
Every 2-connected self-dual graph is 2-isomorphic to a graph which may be

decomposed via 2-sums into self-dual maps such that the 2-sum on any two of the self-dual

47
maps is along two edges, one of which is the pole of a rotation of order 4 and the other an

edge fixed by a reflection.

PROOF
In case I of Theorem:4, we can always choose δ 0 to be the identity, and simply glue

in the copies of the maps corresponding to M 0 and M 0 * compatibly to make a self-dual

map.

In case 2 we must have that M 0 is a self-dual 3-block containing a self-duality fixing

e0 , hence it corresponds to a self-dual map and δ 0 must be a reflection or an order 4 rotation

fixing e0 , and likewise the 3-block to which it is attached must be such an edge. If both are of

the same kind, then the 3-blocks may be 2-summed into a self-dual map. This leaves only the

mismatched pair.

e
f

Figure: 7

To see that 2-isomorphism is necessary in the above, consider the self-dual graph in

Figure:7. The map cannot be re-embedded as a self-dual map, nor does it have a 2-sum

decomposition described as above, the graph is 2-isomorphic to a self-dual map.

48
 [8]CHAPTER-4

A CHARACTERISATION OF PARTIAL DUAL GRAPHS

SECTION-1
RIBBON GRAPHS

S. Chmutov recently introduced the concept of the partial dual G A of a ribbon graph

G. Partial duality generalizes the natural dual (or Euler- Poincare dual or geometric dual) of a

ribbon graph by forming the dual of G with respect to a subset of its edges A. In contrast with

natural duality, where the topologies of G and G* are similar, the topology of a partial dual

G* can be very different from the topology of G.

For Example,

Although a ribbon graph and its natural dual always have the same genus, a ribbon

graph and a partial dual need not.

THEOREM 1 (EDMONDS CRITERIA)

A 1-1 correspondence between the edges of two connected graphs is a duality with

respect to some polyhedral surface embedding if and only if for each vertex v of each graph,

the edges which meet v correspond in the other graph to the edges of a subgraph Gv which is

Eulerian. That is Gv is connected and has an even number of edge-ends to each of its vertices

(where if an edge meets v both ends its image in Gv is counted twice).

RIBBON GRAPHS
DEFINITION
A ribbon graph G = ( υ (G), ε (G)) is (possibly non-orientable) surface with boundary

represent as the union of two sets of topological discs: a set υ (G) of vertices, and set of edges

ε (G) such that

49
 (1) The vertices and edges intersect in disjoint line segment.

(2) Each such line segment lies on the boundary of precisely one vertex and precisely

one edge;

(3) Every edge contains exactly two such line segments.

It will be convenient to use a description of a ribbon graph G as a spanning sub-

ribbon graph equipped with a set of colored arrows that record where the missing edges.

= =

(i) (ii) (iii)

Figure: 1 Realizations of a ribbon graph.

DEFINITION
r
An arrow marked ribbon graph G consists of a ribbon graph G equipped with a

-collection of colored arrows, called marking arrows, on the boundaries of its vertices. The

marking arrows are such that no marking arrow meets an edge of the ribbon graph, and there

exactly two marking arrows of each other.

ILLUSTRATION
A ribbon graph can be obtained from an arrow-marked ribbon graph by adding edges

in a way prescribed by the marking arrows, thus: take a disc and orient its boundary

arbitrarily. Add this disc to the ribbon graph by choosing two non-interesting arcs on the

boundary of the disc and two marking arrows on the same color, and then identifying the arcs

with the marking arrows according to the orientation of the arrow.

50
 The disc that has been added forms an edge of a new ribbon graph.

This process is illustrated in the diagram below, and an example of an arrow-marked

ribbon graph and the ribbon graph it describes in figure 1 (i) and (ii).

Figure: 2

RESULT 2
An arrow-marked ribbon graph describes a ribbon graph. Conversely, every ribbon

graph can be described as an arrow-marked spanning sub-ribbon graph.

PROOF
Suppose that G is a ribbon graph and B ⊂ ε (G).
uuuuu
r
To describe G as an arrow-marked ribbon graph G \ B , start by arbitrarily orienting

each edge in B. This induces an orientation on the boundary of each edge in B. To construct

the marking arrows; for each e ∈ B, place an arrow on each of the two arcs where e meets

vertices of G, the direction of this arrow should follow the orientation of the boundary e;
uuuuu
r
color the two arrows with e; and delete the edge e. This gives a marked ribbon graph G \ B .

uuuuu
r uuuuu
r
Moreover, the original ribbon graph G can be recovered from G \ B by adding edges of G \ B

as prescribed by the marking arrows.

Notice that, if G is a ribbon graph and H is any spanning sub-ribbon graph, then there
r
is an arrow marked ribbon graph of H which describes G.

DEFINITION
An arrow presentation of a ribbon graph consists of a set of oriented (topological)

circles (called cycles) that are marked with colored arrows called marking arrows, such that

there are exactly two marking arrows of each color.

51
EXAMPLE
An example of a ribbon graph and its arrow presentation is given in below figure.

Figure: 3

Two arrow presentations are considered equivalent if one can be obtained from the

other by reversing pairs of marking arrows of the same color.

52
 SECTION-2
PARTIAL-DUALITY

As mentioned above, partial duality is a generalization of the natural dual of a ribbon

graph. A key feature of partial duality is that it provides a way extend the well known relation

T(G; x, y) =T(G*, y, x), relating the Tutte polynomial of a planar graph and its dual, to the

weighted ribbon graph polynomial.

In this section we give a definition of partial duality and then go on to discuss the

relationship between partial duals and naturally dual arrow marked ribbon graphs.

PARTIAL DUALITY
Although the construction of the partial dual G A of g is perhaps a little lengthy to

write down, in practice the formation of the partial dual is a straightforward process.

DEFINITION
Let G be a ribbon graph and A ⊆ ε (G ) . The partial dual G A of G along A is defined

below.

(Step P1): Give every edge in ε (G) orientation (this need not extend to an orientation of the

whole ribbon graph ). Construct a set of marked, oriented, disjoint paths on the boundary of

the edges of G in the following way:

(1) If e ∉ A then the intersection of the edge e with distinct vertices (or

vertex if e is a

loop) defines two paths. Mark each of these paths with an arrow which points in the

direction of the orientation of the boundary of the edge. Color both of these marks

with e.

(2) If e ∈ A then the two sides of e which do not meet the vertices define

the two paths.

53
 Mark each of these paths with an arrow which points in the direction of the

orientation of the boundary of the edge. Color both of these marks with e.

(Step P2): Construct a set of closed curves on the boundary of G\ Ac by joining the marked

paths constructed above by connecting them along the boundaries of G\ Ac in the natural way.

(Step P3): This defines a collection of non-interesting, closed curves on the boundary of G\

Ac which are marked with colored, oriented arrows. This is precisely an arrow presentation

of a ribbon graph. The corresponding ribbon graph is the partial dual of G*.

The construction is shown locally at an edge e in Figure: 4

An untwisted edge e If e ∉ A If e ∈ A

A twisted edge e If e ∉ A If e ∈ A

Figure: 4 Forming paths in the partial dual.

Two examples of the construction of a partial dual are shown below.

EXAMPLE 1

G with A = {2, 3}

54
 Steps P1 and P2 Step P3

GA Redrawing GA
Figure: 5

EXAMPLE 2

G with A = {2,3}

Steps P1 and P2 Step P3

GA

Figure: 6

55
 Notice that there is a correspondence between the edges G and G A : every edge of G

gives rise to exactly two marking arrows of the same color, and one edge of G A is attached

between these two arrows. We will denote the resulting natural bijection between the edge

sets by φ : ε (G ) → ε (G A ) .

NATURL DUALITY
Before continuing, we will record a few properties of partial duality. We are

particularly interested in the connection between partial and natural duality.

DEFINITION
Let G = ( υ (G ), ε (G ) ) be a ribbon graph. We can regard G as a punctured surface. By

filling in the punctures using a set of discs denoted υ (G*) . We obtain a surface without

boundary ∑ . The natural dual (or Euler-Poincare dual) of G is the ribbon graph

G* = ( υ (G*), ε (G ) ).

DUAL EMBEDDING
A dual embedding {G, H, ∑ } of G and H into a surface ∑ to be an embedding of G

in a surface without boundary ∑ which has the property that H = ∑ \ υ (G)

Note that a dual embedding is independent of the order of the ribbon graphs G and H

(i.e. the dual embeddings {G, H, ∑ } and {H, G, ∑ } are equivalent).

NOTE
The ribbon graphs G and H are natural duals if and only if there exists a dual

embedding {G, H, ∑ }.

We can now describe a property of partial duality.

PROPERTY 3
Let G be a ribbon graph, A ⊆ ε (G ) and Ac = ε (G ) \A. Then G A \ φ ( Ac ) = (G \ Ac ) * .

56
PROOF
If e ∈ Ac , then the cycles defining the vertices of G A follow the vertices incident with

e in G (See Figure: 2). It then follows that we can delete the edges in Ac before or after

forming the partial dual and end up with the same ribbon graph. Thus

G A \ φ ( Ac ) = (G \ Ac ) A .

But, (G \ Ac ) A = (G \ Ac )*.

G A \ φ ( Ac ) = (G \ Ac )*.

PARTIAL DUAL EMBEDDINGS

DEFINITION

A set {G,H, Σ, M } is a partial dual embedding of ribbon graph G and H if

i) {G,H, Σ } is a dual embedding;

ii) M is a set of disjoint colored arrows marked on the boundaries of the embedded

vertices in υ (G ) ∩ υ ( H ) ⊂ Σ with the property that there are exactly two arrows of each color.

THEOREM 4
Let G and H be ribbon graphs. Then G and H are partial duals if and only if there

, H%, Σ, M } with the property that Σ \ υ ( H%) ∪ M is an

exists a partial dual embedding { G%

arrow-marked ribbon graph describing G, and Σ \ υ (G%) ∪ M is an arrow-marked ribbon graph

describing H.

PROOF
First suppose that G and H are partial duals. Then there exists a set of edges A ⊆ ε (G)

uuuuuur
such that G A = H. Then G can described as an arrow-marked ribbon graph G \ Ac , where

Ac = ε (A)\A. Let Σ be the surface obtained from G \ Ac by filling in the punctures. Then {

uuuuuur
G \ Ac , (G \ Ac )*, Σ } forms a natural dual embedding. The arrow markings on G \ Ac induce a

57
set of colored arrows on υ (G \ Ac ∩ υ ((G \ Ac )*) with the property that there are exactly two

arrows of each color. Denote this induced set of colored arrows by M . Then

{G \ Ac , (G \ Ac )*, Σ, M } is a partial dual embedding. Moreover, Σ \ υ ((G \ Ac )*)

describes G by construction, and Σ \ υ ((G \ Ac )) clearly describes G A =H if we use the

construction of partial duality from the lemma,

“Let G be a ribbon graph, A ⊂ ε (G ) and Ac = ε (A)\A. Then the following

construction gives G A :
uuuuuur
(Step P1′ ) : Present G as the arrow-marked ribbon graph G \ Ac .
uuuuuur
(Step P 2′ ): Take the natural dual of G \ Ac . The marking arrows on G \ Ac

induce marking arrows on (G \ Ac )* .

(Step P3′ ): G A is the ribbon graph corresponding to the arrow-marked ribbon

uuuuuuuuur
graph (G \ Ac )* ”.

Conversely, suppose that { G%

, H%, Σ, M } is a partial dual embedding with the property

that Σ \ υ ( H%) ∪ M is an arrow-marked ribbon graph describing G, and Σ \ υ (G%) ∪ M is an

arrow marked ribbon graph describing H. Then G% and H% are precisely the naturally dual

marked ribbon graphs described in step P 2′ of the construction of partial dual. Here A is the

set of edges of G that are also in G′ .

COROLLARY 5
Let G be a ribbon graph and A ⊆ ε (G). Then

(1) υ (G A ) = p (G \ Ac ), where Ac = ε (G ) \ A ;

(2) p (G A ) = p (G\A);

1
(3) when G is orientable, g( G A )= (2k(G)+e(G)- p (G\ Ac )- p (G\A)).
2

58
 SECTION-3
PARTIAL DUALITY FOR GRAPHS

DEFINITION
If G=( υ (G ), ε (G ) ) is a ribbon graph then we can construct a graph G =( υ (G ), ε (G ) )

form G by replacing each edge of G with a line, and then contracting the vertices of G into

points, such a graph G is called the core of G.

Notice that there is a natural correspondence between the edges of a ribbon graph and

its core, and the vertices of a ribbon graph and its core.

DEFINITION
We say that two graphs are partial duals if they are cores of partially dual ribbon

graphs.

Let G be a ribbon graph and A ⊆ ε (G). By the notation G A we mean that G A is the

core of G A where G is the core of G and A is the edge set of G that corresponds with A.

We have seen that partially dual ribbon graphs can be characterized by the existence

of an appropriate partially dual embedding. A corresponding result holds partial dual graphs.

To describe the corresponding result, we make the following definition.

DEFINITION
A partial dual embedding of graphs is a set{ G%
, H%, Σ, Ε }

Where Σ is a surface without boundary G%

, H%⊂ Σ are embedded graphs and E is a set

of colored edges that are embedded in Σ such that

(1) Only the ends of each embedded edge in E meet G%∪ H%⊂ Σ ;

(2) { G%
, H%, Σ } is dual embedding;

(3) Each edge in E is incident to one vertex in υ (G%) and one vertex in υ ( H%) ;

(4) There are exactly two edges of each color in E.

59
THEOREM 1
Two graphs G1 and G2 are partial duals if and only if there exists a partial dual

embedding { G% %
1 , G2 , Σ, Ε } such that for each i,
Gi is obtained from G%
i by adding an edge

between the vertices of G%

i , that are incident with the two edges in E that have the same color,

for each color.

EXAMPLE 2
An example of partial dual embedding

Figure: 1

Where Σ is the disjoint union of two spheres, G% %% % %%%

1 = ({α , β },{1}) and G2 = ({a, b , c},{1}) .

Following the recipe in the theorem we recover the graphs.

G G{1}

Figure: 2

60
 These graphs are indeed partial duals as they are cores of the following graphs

respectively.

Figure: 3

We will now prove theorem:1. The idea behind the proof is construct a

correspondence between partial dual embeddings of ribbon graphs and their (embedded)

cores. It then follows by a theorem that the graphs constructed by this theorem are the cores

of partially dual ribbon graphs.

PROOF
First suppose that G1 and G2 are partial duals, so G1 and G2 are the cores of partially

dual ribbon graphs. Then by theorem: , there exists a partial dual embedding {G% %
1 , G2 , Σ, M }

such that Σ \ υ (G% %

2 ) ∪ M is an arrow-marked ribbon graph describing G1 = Σ \ υ (G1 ) ∪ M is

an arrow-marked ribbon graph describing G2 : G1 is the core of G1 ; and G2 is the core of G2 .

A partial dual embedding of graphs { G% %

1 , G2 , Σ ,E} can be constructed from {

G% % % % %
1 , G2 , Σ, M } in the following way: Let G1 be the canonically embedded core of G1 and G2

let be the canonically embedded core of G%

2 . Each arrow on Σ meets exactly two vertices of

G% %
1 ∪ G2 . For each arrow, add an embedded edge between the two corresponding vertices of

61
the graph G% %
1 ∪ G2 ⊂ Σ which passes through this arrow. Color the edge with the color of the

arrow that it passes through. The set of edges added in this way forms E.

We need to show that [G% %

1 , G2 , Σ, Ε} is indeed a partial dual embedding of graphs and

the graphs G1 and G2 can be recovered from the partial dual embedding in the way described

by the theorem.

To see that [G% %

1 , G2 , Σ, Ε} is a partial dual embedding, first note that by construction

G% % % %
1 , G2 and E are all embedded in Σ , and that only the ends of the edges in E meet G1 or G2 .

{ G% % %%
1 , G2 , Σ } is a dual embedding since { G1 , G2 , Σ } is. Since each arrow in M meets one

vertex in V (G1 ) and one vertex in V (G2 ) , each edge in E is incident to vertex in V (G%
1 ) and

one vertex in V (G%

2 ) . The coloring requirement follows since there are exactly two edges of

each color in M and the edge colorings of E are induced from M .

Finally, Gi can be recovered from G%

i ∪ M by adding edges between the marking

arrows of the same color. Therefore, if u and v are vertices of G%

i which are marked with an

arrow of the same color and u and v are vertices of G%

i which are marked with an arrow of the

same color and u and v are the corresponding vertices of G%

i , then to construct the core of
Gi

we need to add an edge between u and v. But since u and v are each incident with the edges in

E of the same color we need to add an edge between the vertices of G%

i that are incident with

the two edges in E of the same color. This is exactly the construction described in the

statement of the theorem. Using this for each color gives Gi , completing the proof of

necessity.

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 Conversely, suppose that { G% %
1 , G2 , Σ ,E} is a partial dual embedding and that
G1 and

G2 are obtained as described in the statement of the theorem. Construct a partial dual

embedding { G% %
1 , G2 , Σ , M } of ribbon graph in the following way: take a small neighbourhood

in Σ of the embedded graph G% %

1 to form G1 ; let
G2 =( Σ \ G% %
1 , ε (G1 ) ); wherever an edge in E

meets a boundary of vertices add an arrow pointing in an arbitrary direction which is colored

by the color of the edge in E. M is the set of such colored arrows.

To see that { G% % %%
1, G2 , Σ,M } is a partial dual embedding, note that { G1, G2 , Σ } is a dual

embedding since { G% %
1, G2 , Σ } is, and that there exactly two arrows of each color since there

are exactly two edges of each color in E.

Let Gi denote the ribbon graph described by the arrow-marked ribbon graph G%
i ∪M .

Then Gi is the core of Gi (since whenever an edge is added between two vertices of G%
i in the

formation of Gi , an edge is added between the corresponding vertices of G%

i in the formation

of Gi ). Finally, G1 and G2 are partial dual graphs since, by Theorem: G1 and G2 are partial

dual ribbon graphs.

The corollary below follows from the construction of a partial dual embedding in the

proof above.

COROLLARY 3
If G and G A are partial duals then the corresponding partial dual embedding as

constructed by Theorem: , is {G \ Ac , G A \ φ ( Ac ), Σ, E} , where Ac = ε (G ) \ A . Moreover, G

(respectively G A ) is obtained from G \ Ac (respectively G A \ φ ( Ac ) ) by adding an edge

63
between the vertices of G \ Ac (respectively G A \ φ ( Ac ) ) that are incident with the two edges

in E that have the same color for each color.

DEFINITION
Ifs G and H are partially dual graphs that can be obtained from a partial dual

embedding {G%
, H%, Σ, E} in the way described by theorem, “Two graphs G1 and G2 are partial

duals if and only if there exists a partial dual embedding { G% %

1 , G2 , Σ, Ε } such that for each i,

Gi is obtained from G% %
i by adding an edge between the vertices of Gi , that are incident with

the two edges in E that have the same color, for each color”, then we say that {G%
, H%, Σ, E} is

a partial dual embedding for G and H.

THEOREM 4 [EDMOND’S THEOREM]

Two graphs G and H are partial duals if and only if there exists a bijection

ϕ : ε (G ) → ε ( H ) , such that

(1) ϕ \ A : A → ϕ ( A) satisfies Edmond’s criteria for some subset A ⊆ ε (G );

(2) If v ∈υ (G ) is incident to an edge in A, and if e ∈ ε (G ) is incident to v, then ϕ (e)

is incident to a vertex of ϕ ( A)v . Moreover, if both ends of e are incident to v, then the both

ends of ϕ (e) are incident to vertices of ϕ ( A)v .

(3) If v ∈υ (G) is not incident to an edge in A, then there exists a vertex v′ ∈υ (H)

with the property that e ∈ ε (G) is incident to v if and only if ϕ (e) ∈ ε (H) is incident to v′ .

Moreover, both ends of E are incident to ν if and only if both ends of ϕ (e) are incident to v′

Here ϕ ( A)v is the subgraph of H induced by the images of the edges from A that are

incident with ν .

64
65
 CHAPTER-5
APPLICATIONS OF DUAL GRAPHS
[10]SECTION-1

GRAPH REPRESENTATIONS

The engineering system is represented by a graph representation; all the reasoning

processes upon the system are substituted by a reasoning of a more mathematical nature over

the graph representation.

For graph representations, the mathematical basis of the duality relation lies in the

duality between linear graphs. By definition, two graphs are dual if set of circuits of one

co-insides with the set of cut-sets of the other. When considering this relation in light of

specific graph representations, duality relations for specific pairs of graph representations are

revealed.

For example, two graph representations were introduced- Flow graph representation

(FGR) and potential graph representation (PGR) (see Table 1). It was then proved that for

each Flow graph representation there exists a corresponding dual Potential graph

representation and vice versa. The duality between the two types of representations did not

imply only that their underlying graphs are dual, but also the vector of flows of the former

representation is equal to the vector of potential differences of the later.

GRAPH REPRESENTATIONS
DEFINITION
The work reported in the paper employs a general approach of associating engineering

domains with general discrete mathematical methods, called Graph representations.

Graph representation is an isomorphic graph-theoretical substitute of an engineering

system, the embedded mathematical knowledge of which is used to map the system’s

66
behaviour. Different types of graph representations are characterized by four main parts:

embedded knowledge, relations to other graph representations, represented engineering

domains and rules for construction of the representation.

Till now, several types of graph representations were reported and employed to

represent different engineering domains. We utilize two of the representations: flow graph

representation (FGR) and Potential graph representation (PGR), the basic properties of which

are summarized in Table:1

TABLE 1: GRAPH REPRESENTATIONS

Type of graph General Related Example of Representation of
Representation Description Engineering Engineering the example
disciplines System Engineering
system
Flow Graph Each edge in Determine
Representation FGR is associated structures,
(FGR). a vector called static
‘flow’. Flows in systems,
FGR satisfy the electric
“flow law”, circuits.
stating that sum
of flows in each
cut-set is equal to
zero.
Potential Each vertex in Mechanisms,
Graph PGR is associated gear trains,
Representation a vector, called electric
(PGR). ‘potential law’, circuits.
saying that the
sum of potential
differences in
each circuit is
equal to zero.
[10]SECTION-2

67
 DESIGN THROUGH DUALITY RELATION
Now we introduce a general technique for employing the duality relation between

engineering systems for design and demonstrate it on two practical examples, to obtain a new

engineering design by transferring a known one from some other field through mathematical

relations.

When facing a specific engineering design problem, the important issue to be resolved

prior to commencing a process is to decide what known engineering system from other

engineering domain should be transferred: The problem formulation is transferred from the

domain in which the engineering system is to be found to the second domain. Then it is

checked what known engineering system satisfies the obtained requirements and if such

system is found it is transferred to the original engineering domain. Following is the

algorithmic description of the technique:

THE DUAL GRAPH DESIGN TECHNIQUE

(1) Originally the requirements from the engineering system design are formulated in

the terminology of the relevant engineering domain (original engineering domain).

(2) The problem statement is translated into the terminology of the corresponding graph

representation (original graph representation), and becomes a problem in the

representation.

(3) The problem statement obtained in step 2 translated through the duality relation to

the terminology of the dual graph representation (Secondary graph representations).

(4) The problem statement obtained in step 3 is translated to the terminology of the

second engineering domain that is represented by the dual graph representation.

(5) The problem is solved in the secondary engineering domain.

(6) The graph of the engineering system obtained in step5 is built. Algorithms for

constructing representations of engineering system are described in Table:1.

68
 (7) The graph representation dual to the graph obtained in step 6 is built the

representation for the original design problem is obtained.

(8) From the graph obtained in step 7, an engineering system from the original

engineering domain is built. The construction process can be performed gradually,

by augmenting one element of the system at a time.

Figure2:presents the flow chart describing above design.

DESIGN BY MEANS OF THE DUALITY RELATION BETWEEN

MECHANISMS AND DETERMINATE TRUSSES
Flow graph representation is used to represent determine trusses and Potential graph

representation is used to represent mechanisms, thus we can establish a knowledge transfer

channel between the two systems passing through duality relation between their

representations.

This channel makes possible designing new trusses, starting from known mechanisms,

or conversely new mechanisms starting from known trusses.

The terms of dual design technique for such a case are listed in Table: 2

TABLE 2: CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE TERMINOLOGY OF

DUAL GRAPH DESIGN TECHNIQUE AND THE CASE STUDY
Dual graph technique Current Example
Original Engineering domain Trusses
Secondary engineering domain Mechanisms
Original graph representation FGR
Secondary (dual) graph representation PGR
The correspondence between the terminologies of the graph representations and the

two engineering domains is briefly described in Table: 3

TABLE 3: FGR AND PGR CONSTRUCTION RULES AND THE DUALITY

RELATION BETWEEN THEM

Terminology of Terminology of the Terminology in the Terminology in

the original original graph secondary secondary

69
engineering domain representation representation engineering domain
(trusses) (FGR) (PGR) (mechanisms)
Truss element. (rod, Edge. Edge. Link, sides.
external force,
reaction).
Area closed by rods. Face. Vertex. Kinematical pair.

Internal force of the Flow through the Potential difference Relative velocity of
element. edge. of the edge. the link.
Cut-set. Circuit.

Following is an example of applying the technique for solution of a specific truss

design problem. Following four steps deal with transferring the problem formulation from

trusses into the terminology of graph representation and then to mechanisms. This transfer

process is schematically outlined in Figure: 3

Step 1: Starting the design problem in the terminology of the original domain.

Step 2: Transferring the design problem into the terminology of the original

graph.

Step 3: Translating the problem to dual graph representation terminology.

Step 4: Translating problem statement from dual graph to terminology of the

secondary engineering domain.

70
 Figure: 3 The transformation process from the truss to mechanism problem.

Step 5: Solving the problem in the secondary domain. The solution for a mechanism design

problem, as it is stated in step 3, can be obtained in a straightforward manner through

employing instant center method, as shown in Figure :4. Finally, the design of the mechanism

can be translated through the graph representation into a new design of a truss. Steps 5-7 for

obtaining the truss design complying to the original requirements are shown in Figure: 5.

Figure 4: Solution for the mechanism design problem

Step 6: Constructing the graph for the design solution obtained in the secondary

engineering domain.

Step 7: Constructing graph dual obtained in step 6.

Step 8: Building an engineering system for the original engineering design from the graph

obtained in step 7.

71
Figure 5: Obtaining a new truss design from the known design of mechanism.

72
 [13]SECTION-3

AN APPLICATION OF GRAPH THEORY IN

GSM MOBILE PHONE NETWORKS

GRAPH COLORING
In Graph theory, graph coloring is a special case of graph labeling; it is an assignment

of labels traditionally called “colors” to elements of a graph. In its simplest form, it is a way

of coloring the vertices of a graph such that no two adjacent vertices share the same color;

this is called a vertex coloring.

EXAMPLE

Figure: 1

A proper vertex coloring of the graph with 3-colors, the minimum number possible.

The convection of using colors originates from coloring the numbers of a map, where each

face is literally colored. This was generalized to coloring the faces of a graph embedded in

the plane by planar duality it became coloring the vertices and in this form it generalizes to all

graphs.

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THE FOUR COLOR PROBLEM
During the 18th century an interesting coloring problem was dominating the minds of

many mathematicians, called the Four Color Problem. The four color problem or the color

map theorem, states that given any separation of a plane into contiguous regions, called a

map, the regions can be colored using at most four colors so that no two adjacent regions

have the same color. Two regions are called adjacent only if they share a border segment, not

just a point.s

REGION WITH FOUR COLORS:

Figure: 2

For any given map, we can construct its dual graph as follows. Put a vertex inside

each region of the map and connect two distinct vertices by an edge if and only if their

respective regions share a whole segment of their boundaries in common. Then, a proper

vertex coloring of the dual graph yields a proper coloring of the regions of the original map.

74
Figure 3: The map of India.

75
 Figure 4: The dual graph of the map of India.

We use vertex coloring algorithm to find a proper coloring of the map of India with

four colors.

GSM MOBILE PHONE NETWORKS

The Groupe Special Mobile (GSM) was created in 1982 to provide a standard for a

mobile telephone system. The first GSM network was launched in 1991 by Radiolinja in

Finland. Today, GSM is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world, used by

76
over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries. GSM is a cellular network with its

entire geographical range divided into hexagonal cells.

Each cell has a communication tower which connects with mobile phones within the

cell. All mobile phone connect to the GSM network by searching for cells in the immediate

vicinity. GSM networks operate in only four different frequency ranges. The reason why only

four different frequencies suffice is clear: the map of the cellular regions can be properly

colored by using only four different colors!

That is the map of India is colored with a minimum of four colors only. Here regions

sharing the same color to share the same frequency. So, the vertex coloring may be used for

assigning at most four different frequencies for any GSM mobile phone network.

Figure 5: The cells of a GSM mobile phone network.

77
 CONCLUSION

The dissertation on “A STUDY ON DUAL GRAPHS” in Graph theory deals with a

few interesting topics in dual graphs.

 The first chapter covers the Introduction to Graph theory, Basic definitions, examples

and dual graphs.

 Theorems on Dual graphs are dealt with in the second chapter.

 In the third chapter, a discussion on the self-dual graphs is done.

 The fourth chapter deals with the characterization of partially dual graphs.

 Applications of Dual graphs are dealt with in the fifth chapter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Arumugam.S and Ramachandran Invitation to Graph Theory, Scitech Publications,
Edition 2001.

78
 2. Balakrishnan.V.K Graph Theory Schaum’s outlines Tata McGraw Hill Edition 2004.
3. Bela Bollabas Modern Graph Theory, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, Springer
Verlag.
4. Bhisma Rao.G.S.S Discrete Mathematics and Graph Theory, Scitech Edition2001
5. Bondy.J.A and Murthy.U.S.R Graph Theory with Applications Mac. Millan London,
1976.
6. Brigitte Servatius and Herman Servatius Self-Dual Graphs, Discrete Math., 1996.
7. Douglus B.West Introduction to Graph Theory, Pearson Education Ltd, Edition 2007.
8. Iain Moffatt A Characterization of Partially Dual Graphs, Google.
9. Narsingh Deo Graph Theory with Applications to Engineering and Computer Science
Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd 1974.
10. Dr. Offer Shai and Daniel Rubin Design Through Duality, Google.
11. Reinhard Diestel Graph Theory Graduate Texts in Mathematics, Springer Verlag
1991.
12. Robin J.Wilson Introduction to Graph Theory, Pearson Education Ltd, Fourth Edition
2007.
13. Shariefuddin Pirzada and Ashay Dharwadker Applications of Graph Theory, Journal
of Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, vol.11 2007.
14. Sooryanarayan.B and Ranganath.G.K Graph Theory and its Applications, Chand’s
and Company Ltd. Edition 2001.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my heartiest gratitude to the Almighty God, to whom I owe everything whose

continuous inspiration and enlightment made me prepare this dissertation.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to, Principal, Auxilium College (Autonomous),

Vellore-6, for her enthusiastic words and constant encouragement which helped me very much

to carry out this research activity.

I express my sincere and deep sense of gratitude to my guide and Head of the

department of Mathematics , Auxilium College (Autonomous), Vellore-6, for her valuable

guidance and wise

79
counsel in bringing out this dissertation.

I offer my humble thanks to all the staff members of the department of Mathematics,

Auxilium College (Autonomous), especially to, Vice Principal (Shift II ), Auxilium College.

I thank my beloved family members especially to my brothers and all well wishers for

their help during the course of my work.

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