Line Graph - Iterating The Line Graph Operator

Iterating The Line Graph Operator

van Rooij & Wilf (1965) consider the sequence of graphs

They show that, when G is a finite connected graph, only four possible behaviors are possible for this sequence:

  • If G is a cycle graph then L(G) and each subsequent graph in this sequence is isomorphic to G itself. These are the only connected graphs for which L(G) is isomorphic to G.
  • If G is a claw K1,3, then L(G) and all subsequent graphs in the sequence are triangles.
  • If G is a path graph then each subsequent graph in the sequence is a shorter path until eventually the sequence terminates with an empty graph.
  • In all remaining cases, the sizes of the graphs in this sequence eventually increase without bound.

If G is not connected, this classification applies separately to each component of G.

Read more about this topic:  Line Graph

Famous quotes containing the words line and/or graph:

    This wild night, gathering the washing as if it were flowers
    animal vines twisting over the line and
    slapping my face lightly, soundless merriment
    in the gesticulations of shirtsleeves ...
    Denise Levertov (b. 1923)

    In this Journal, my pen is a delicate needle point, tracing out a graph of temperament so as to show its daily fluctuations: grave and gay, up and down, lamentation and revelry, self-love and self-disgust. You get here all my thoughts and opinions, always irresponsible and often contradictory or mutually exclusive, all my moods and vapours, all the varying reactions to environment of this jelly which is I.
    W.N.P. Barbellion (1889–1919)