Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4652947 Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics 2007 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

Kreweras' conjecture [G. Kreweras: Matchings and Hamiltonian cycles on hypercubes, Bull. Inst. Combin. Appl. 16 (1996) 87–91] asserts that every perfect matching of the hypercube Qd can be extended to a Hamiltonian cycle. We [J. Fink: Perfect Matchings Extend to Hamilton Cycles in Hypercubes, to appear in J. Comb. Theory, Series B] proved this conjecture but here we present a simplified proof.The matching graph M(G) of a graph G has a vertex set of all perfect matchings of G, with two vertices being adjacent whenever the union of the corresponding perfect matchings forms a Hamiltonian cycle. We prove that the matching graph M(Qd) of the d-dimensional hypercube is bipartite for d≥2 and connected for d≥4. This proves another Kreweras' conjecture [G. Kreweras: Matchings and Hamiltonian cycles on hypercubes, Bull. Inst. Combin. Appl. 16 (1996) 87–91] that the graph Md is connected, where Md is obtained from M(Qd) by contracting every pair of vertices of M(Qd) whose corresponding perfect matchings are isomorphic.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Mathematics Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics