Discrete Mathematics 48 (1984) 113-119 113

North-Holland

G R A P H E Q U A T I O N S F O R LINE G R A P H S ,
TOTAL GRAPHS, MIDDLE GRAPHS AND
QUASI-TOTAL GRAPHS

D.V.S. S A S T R Y
16A, RBI Quarters, Charatsingh Colony, Chakala, Andheri(E), Bombay-400093, India

B. S y a m P r a s a d R A J U
Department of Mathematics, K.S.R. Engg. College, Cuddapah, A.P., India

Received 19 January 1983

Revised 7 June 1983

Let G be a graph with vertex-set V(G) and edge-set X(G). Let L(G) and T(G) denote the
line graph and total graph of G. The middle graph M(G) of G is an intersection graph £](F) on
the vertex-set V(G) of any graph G. Let F = V'(G) U X(G) where V'(G) indicates the family of
all one-point subsets of the set V(G), then M(G)=O(F).
The quasi-total graph P(G) of G is a graph with vertex-set V(G)UX(G) and two vertices
are adjacent if and only if they correspond to two non-adjacent vertices of G or to two adjacent
edges of G or to a vertex and an edge incident to it in G.
In this paper we solve graph equations L(G)~P(H); L(G)-~P(I-I); P(G)=T(I-I); P(G)~
T(H); M(G)-~P(I-I); MfG)~-P(I-I).

1. ]~elbninades

All graphs c o n s i d e r e d h e r e are finite, n o n - e m p t y , c o n n e c t e d , u n d i r e c t e d , with-

o u t loops a n d m u l t i p l e edges.
H a m a d a a n d Y o s h i m u r a [4] d e f i n e d a g r a p h M ( G ) as a n i n t e r s e c t i o n g r a p h
O ( F ) o n the v e r t e x - s e t V(G) of a n y graph G. Let X ( G ) b e the e d g e - s e t of G a n d
F = V '( G) O X ( G ) w h e r e V'(G) indicates the family of o n e - p o i n t subsets of the
set V(G). Let M ( G ) = O(F). M( G ) is called the m i d d l e graph of G.
F o r a g r a p h G, we define a q u a s i - t o t a l g r a p h P(G) with as v e r t e x - s e t V ( G ) U
X ( G ) a n d two vertices are a d j a c e n t if a n d o n l y if they c o r r e s p o n d to two
n o n - a d j a c e n t vertices of G or to two a d j a c e n t edges of G o r to a vertex a n d a n
edge i n c i d e n t to it in G.
W h e n a vertex vl is a d j a c e n t to a n o t h e r vertex vi, we d e n o t e this by vl -- vj. T h e
s y m b o l ~ stands for i s o m o r p h i s m b e t w e e n two graphs a n d G d e n o t e s t h e
c o m p l e m e n t of the g r a p h G. A l l definitions n o t given h e r e m a y b e f o u n d in [5].
Cvetkovi~ a n d Simi~ [3] solved graph e q u a t i o n s L(G)~-T(I-1), L(G)-~T(I-t).
0012-365X/84/$3.00 © 1984, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
114 D. V.S. Sastry, B.S.P. Raju

A k i y a m a et al. [1] solved graph equations L ( G ) ~ - M ( H ) ; M ( G ) ~ T ( H ) ; M(G)-~

T(/-/) and L ( G ) = M(H). H e r e we solve the following equations:

(1) L(G)-~P(I-I), (2) L ( G ) - ~ P ( H ) , (3) M(G)-~P(/4),

(4) M(G)-~ P(H), (5) P(G)-~ T(/4), (6) P(G)-~ T(H).

2. The solulion of L(G)~ P(I-I)

Let H be a graph on p vertices Vl, '02, "03. . . . and q edges Xl, x2, x3 . . . . .

Proposition 1. A necessary condition for L( G) ~-P(H) for some G is that [or every
pair o[ non-adjacent vertices (v~, v i) in/4, every other vertex is either adjacent or not
adjacent to both v~ and vi.

T h r o u g h o u t Section 2, we assume that H is a graph with the above condition.

P r o o L Let v~7c vj. For contradiction assume that Vk -- "0~ and "ok7c Vj ; i ~ j ~ k.
T h e n the following graph F1 is an induced subgraph in /4. See Fig. 1.

• vi

Fig. 1.

By definition, in P ( H ) we have vi - v i, Vk and viTCvk. Since /4 is connected,

v i ~ vim where vim is some line vertex. Thus v~,, is adjacent neither to v~ nor to vk
in P(/-/) because vi is not adjacent to vl and vk i n / 4 . H e n c e K1.3 is an induced
subgraph in P(/-/) on the vertices v~, vj, vk and vim which is a forbidden subgraph
of a line graph [2]. Thus P(/-/) cannot be isomorphic to L ( G ) for some G. H e n c e
the proposition.

W e need the following definition.

2.1. Definition. A n independent set in a graph is a set of mutually non-adjacent

vertices.

T h e non-adjacency relation in H is an equivalence relation since graph F1 is

forbidden. T h e equivalence classes of this relation are the independent sets of
vertices. It can easily be seen that every vertex of degree less than p - 1 i n / 4 is in
one and only one independent set; otherwise F1 will be an induced subgraph.
 Graph-equations 115

From a graph H satisfying the condition of Proposition 1, we construct a graph

H' as follows:
H' is obtained by adding a vertex to each equivalence class of non-adjacency
relation of H and by inserting edges between this vertex and each of the vertices
from its equivalence class.
The following Fig. 2 illustrates the above method of construction.

~, ul
V2 /"
/"

V1 V2 ~-~
H: I ~ ~ v5 ~" H~: u2.<//'.~. . .

V4 13
V / "%#4 73
/

d /
u3
Fig. 2.

From the above construction of H and H', the following proposition can be
proved.

Proposition 2. P(I-I)=L(H').

Thus we prove the following theorem.

T h e o r e m 1. The graph pair (G,/-/) is a solution of the equation L(G)~P(I-I) if

and only if H satisfies the condition of Proposition 1 and G-~ H'.

3. T h e solution of L(G)-~P(H)

Beineke [2] has shown that a graph G is a line graph if and only if G has none
of the nine specified graphs as an induced subgraph. We depict in Fig. 3 one of
the nine subgraphs and its complement.

Fig. 3.
116 D.V.S. Sastry, B.S.P. Raju

V1 Vl

V3 v2 V3 V2V3 V2
(a) (b)
Fig. 4.

If a graph P(H) has t~l as its induced subgraph, it cannot be L ( G ) .

(a) Suppose that H contains a vertex v of degree greater than or equal to three
i.e. O(v) >t 3.
I ~ t vl, v2, and v3 be neighbours of v. If K1.3 is an induced subgraph in H, then
GI will be an induced subgraph in P(H). See Fig. 4(a). So at least one pair of
vertices among vl, v2 and v3 is adjacent. Suppose v 2 - v 3 . Then (~1 is an induced
subgraph with the line vertices (troa, vv2, v2v3) and point vertex Vl. See Fig?4(b).
So at least two of the pairs are adjacent, say v 2 - v 3 and v ~ - v3; then one more
complete graph forms on line vertices ( w l , vv3, ViVa) but t91 is an induced
subgraph. A similar argument shows that even if all the pails are adjacent, then
also G1 is an induced subgraph. Hence P(H) cannot be L(G). Therefore, the
degree of every vertex cannot exceed two.
In the figures, the induced subgraphs are shown in thick lines and thick dots.
Hence H should be a path or a cycle.
(b) Suppose that H contains a path P,, n >~5. Then P(H) contains (~1 as an
induced subgraph. See Fig. 5.
(c) Suppose that H contains a cycle C~, n/> 5. Then P(/-/) contains G~ as an
induced subgraph. See Fig. 6.
From the above argument it follows that H must be one of the graphs K~, KL2,
Pa, Ca and Ca. For these graphs H, the graphs G satisfying the equation

Fig. 5.
 Graph-equations 117

Fig. 6.

L ( G ) - - P ( H ) are K2, P6 and the following graphs F2, F3 and F4 shown in Fig. 7,
resp.
The above results can be stated as follows:

Theorem 2. For any two graphs G and H, the equation L ( G ) ~ P ( H ) holds i[ and
only if (G,/-/) equals to one of the pairs o[ graphs (K2, K1); (P6, Kx.2); (F2, P4);
(F3, C3) and (F4, C4) where 1;2, 173 and 174 are graphs in Fig. 7(a), 7(b) and 7(c),
resp.

%:

Ca) Cb) Cc)

Fig. 7.

4. The solul/on of M ( G ) - P ( H )

Let G be any (p, q)-graph and V(G), X(G) be the vertex- and edge-set of G.
We add to G, p vertices vl and p edges {U~, vl}, i = 1, 2 . . . . p, where the vi's are
different from the points U~ of G and from each other. Then we obtain a graph
118 D.V.S. Sastry, B.S.P. Raju

G ÷ whose vertex- set is V ( G ÷) ={U~ . . . . . U~, v~. . . . . vp} and whose edge-set is
X(O ÷)= { X ~ , . . . , X~, (ux, v~) . . . . . (uo, vo)}.
H a m a d a and Yoshimura [4] proved the graph equation L ( G ÷) = M(G). When
G is a complete graph K , and G = H, then it can be seen that H ' is of the form
G ÷. From T h e o r e m 1, it follows that (K,, K , ) is the only solution which satisfies
the equation M( G) ~- P(I-I).

5. The solution M ( G ) -~ P(H)

T h e o r e m 2 lists out the complete set of solutions of the equation L ( G ) ~ - P ( H ) .

A m o n g them only (K2, K1) is of the form (G +,/-/) and therefore the solution of
M ( G ) ~-P(I-I) is the graph pair (G, H ) = (K1, Kx).

6. The solution of P(G)-~ T(H)

From [1, T h e o r e m 1] the solution of M ( G ) ~--T(H) is (G, H ) = (nKx, nKl~ for

n = 1, 2, 3 . . . . . From Section 4 and the solution of M(G)-~ T(H) we get the
solution of P ( G ) ----T ( H ) as (G,/-/) = (K1, Kx).

7. The solution of P ( G ) ~ T(H)

From [1, T h e o r e m 1] and Section 5, we get the solution of P ( G ) = T(H) as

((9,/-/) = (K1, K1)
The above results can be summarized as follows.

Theorem 3. For any graph pair ( G, H)

(i) there is no non-trivial solution for the equations (a) P ( G ) = T ( H ) , (b)
P(G) -~ T(H) and M ( G ) ~ P(H), and
(ii) the solution of the equaaon M ( G ) = P(H) is ( G, H) = (K,, K,) for n = 1, 2, 3.

Acknowledgments

T h e authors are thankful to Professor Drago~ M. Cvetkovi~ for his suggestions

which improved the presentation of the paper. The authors are also thankful to
the referee for suggesting the name 'quasi-total graphs'.
 Graph-equations 119

References

[1] T. Akiyama, T. Hamada, I. Yoshimura, Graph equations for line graphs, total graphs and middle
graphs, TRU Math. 12 (2) (1976).
[2] L.W. Beineke, Derived graphs and digraphs, in: H. Sachs, V. Voss and H. Walther, eds., Beitl"~ge
zur Graphentheorie (Teubner, Leipzig, 1968) 17-33.
[3] D.M. Cvetkovi~ and S.K. Simi~, Graph equations for line graphs and total graphs, Discrete Math.
13 (1975) 315-320.
[4] T. Hamada and I. Yoshimura, Traversability and connectivity of the middle graph of a graph,
Discrete Math. 14 (1976) 247-256.
[5] F. Harary, Graph Theory (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1969).