Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ii / Paper 4 / 17H (Graph Theory)

The vertex form of Menger theorem states that if $x$ and $y$ are distinct nonadjacent vertices of a finite graph, then the maximum number of pairwise internally vertex-disjoint paths from $x$ to $y$ equals the minimum cardinality of an $x$-$y$ vertex separator.

The Hall marriage theorem says that a bipartite graph with classes $A,B$ has a matching saturating $A$ if and only ifwhere $N(S)$ is the graph neighbourhood of $S$. Necessity follows because the matching sends the vertices of $S$ to distinct vertices of $N(S)$.

For sufficiency, add vertices $x,y$, join $x$ to every vertex of $A$, and join every vertex of $B$ to $y$. Let $W$ be an $x$-$y$ vertex separator, and write $W_A=W\cap A$ and $W_B=W\cap B$. If an edge joined a vertex of $A\setminus W_A$ to a vertex of $B\setminus W_B$, it would give an $x$-$y$ path avoiding $W$. HenceHall's condition givesand therefore $|W|\ge |A|$. By Menger theorem, there are $|A|$ internally vertex-disjoint $x$-$y$ paths. Each has the form $xaby$ with $a\in A$ and $b\in B$; disjointness makes all the $a$ and all the $b$ distinct. Their middle edges form a matching saturating $A$.

Construct a bipartite graph with left vertices $A_1,\dots ,A_k$, right vertices $B_1,\dots ,B_k$, and an edge $A_i{B}_j$ exactly when $A_i\cap B_j\ne \varnothing$. For $S\subseteq [k]$, every point of ${\bigcup }_{i\in S}{A}_i$ lies in some $B_j$ adjacent to one of those $A_i$. ThusUsing finite additivity of Lebesgue measure and the equal-volume hypotheses,Hence $|N(S)|\ge |S|$ for every $S$. The Hall marriage theorem supplies a perfect matching, which has the form $A_i{B}_{\sigma (i)}$ for a permutation $\sigma$ of $[k]$. Every matched edge means precisely that $A_i\cap B_{\sigma (i)}\ne \varnothing$.

Letbe the terminal set, and let $C$ be the vertex set of the given complete graph $K_{2k}$. Any vertex set $S$ meeting every $T$-$C$ path has size at least $2k$: if $|S|<2k$, choose $t\in T\setminus S$ and $c\in C\setminus S$. Since $G$ is $2k$-connected, $G-S$ is connected, so it contains a $t$-$c$ path avoiding $S$, a contradiction.

The Set version of Menger theorem therefore gives $2k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint $T$-$C$ paths. Truncate them at their first and last vertices in $T\cup C$. Since both sets have $2k$ vertices, every terminal is the endpoint of one path and the other endpoints are distinct vertices of $C$. Denote the path from a terminal $z$ to its clique endpoint by $R_z$, and call that endpoint $c_z$.

For each $i$, the clique contains the edge $c_{x_i}{c}_{y_i}$. Concatenatinggives an $x_i$-$y_i$ path in a graph. The linkage paths are mutually vertex-disjoint, their clique endpoints are all distinct, and the joining clique edges pair those endpoints without introducing a new vertex. The resulting paths $P_1,\dots ,P_k$ are therefore mutually vertex-disjoint. In particular, under the stated clique hypothesis, the $2k$-connected graph is $k$-linked for these terminals.