- Tensor product of graphs
In
graph theory , the tensor product "G" × "H" of graphs "G" and "H" is a graph such that
* the vertex set of "G" × "H" is the Cartesian product "V(G)" × "V(H)"; and
* any two vertices "(u,u')" and "(v,v')" are adjacent in "G" × "H"if and only if "u' " is adjacent with "v' " and "u" is adjacent with "v".The tensor product is also called the direct product, categorical product, cardinal product, relational product, Kronecker product, weak direct product, or conjunction. As an operation on binary relations, the tensor product was introduced byAlfred North Whitehead andBertrand Russell in theirPrincipia Mathematica (1912). It is also equivalent to theKronecker product of the adjacency matrices of the graphs (Weichsel 1962).The notation "G" × "H" is also sometimes used to refer to the
Cartesian product of graphs , but more commonly refers to the tensor product. The cross symbol shows visually the two edges resulting from the tensor product of two edges.Examples
* The
double cover of thePetersen graph is theDesargues graph : "K"2 × "G"(5,2) = "G"(10,3).
* The tensor product of acomplete graph "Kn" with itself is the complement of aRook's graph . Its vertices can be placed in an "n" by "n" grid, so that each vertex is adjacent to the vertices that are not in the same row or column of the grid.Properties
The tensor product is the category-theoretic product in the category of graphs and
graph homomorphism s. That is, there is a homomorphism from "G" × "H" to "G" and to "H" (given by projection onto each coordinate of the vertices) such that any other graph that has a homomorphism to both "G" and "H" has a homomorphism to "G" × "H" that factors through the homomorphisms to "G" and "H".The adjacency matrix of "G" × "H" is the tensor product of the adjacency matrices of "G" and "H".
If a graph can be represented as a tensor product, then there may be multiple different representations (tensor products do not satisfy unique factorization) but each representation has the same number of irreducible factors. Imrich (1998) gives a polynomial time algorithm for recognizing tensor product graphs and finding a factorization of any such graph.
If either "G" or "H" is
bipartite , then so is their tensor product. "G" × "H" is connected if and only if both factors are connected and at least one factor is nonbipartite (Imrich and Klavžar, Theorem 5.29). The tensor product "K"2 × "G" is sometimes called the double cover of "G"; if "G" is already bipartite, its double cover is the disjoint union of two copies of "G".The
Hedetniemi conjecture gives a formula for thechromatic number of a tensor product.References
*cite journal
author = Imrich, W.
title = Factoring cardinal product graphs in polynomial time
journal = Discrete Mathematics
volume = 192
year = 1998
pages = 119–144
id = MathSciNet | id = 1656730
doi = 10.1016/S0012-365X(98)00069-7*cite book
author = Imrich, Wilfried; Klavžar, Sandi
title = Product Graphs: Structure and Recognition
publisher = Wiley
year = 2000
id = ISBN 0-471-37039-8*cite journal
author = Weichsel, Paul M.
title = The Kronecker product of graphs
journal =Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
volume = 13
issue = 1
year = 1962
pages = 47–52
id = MathSciNet | id = 0133816
doi = 10.2307/2033769*cite book
author = Whitehead, A. N.; Russell, B.
title =Principia Mathematica
publisher = Cambridge University Press
year = 1912
pages = vol. 2, p. 384External links
*mathworld | title = Graph Categorical Product | urlname = GraphCategoricalProduct
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