Graphs of systoles on hyperbolic surfaces

Given a hyperbolic surface, the set of all closed geodesics whose length is minimal forms a graph on the surface, in fact a so-called fat graph, which we call the systolic graph. We study which fat graphs are systolic graphs for some surface (we call these admissible).There is a natural necessary condition on such graphs, which we call combinatorial admissibility. Our first main result is that this condition is also sufficient.It follows that a sub-graph of an admissible graph is admissible. Our second major result is that there are infinitely many minimal non-admissible fat graphs (in contrast, for instance, to the classical result that there are only two minimal non-planar graphs).

Bounding the monomial index and (1,l)-weight choosability of a graph

Graph Theory International audience Let G = (V,E) be a graph. For each e ∈E(G) and v ∈V(G), let Le and Lv, respectively, be a list of real numbers. Let w be a function on V(G) ∪E(G) such that w(e) ∈Le for each e ∈E(G) and w(v) ∈Lv for each v ∈V(G), and let cw be the vertex colouring obtained by cw(v) = w(v) + ∑ₑ ∋vw(e). A graph is (k,l)-weight choosable if there exists a weighting function w for which cw is proper whenever |Lv| ≥k and |Le| ≥l for every v ∈V(G) and e ∈E(G). A sufficient condition for a graph to be (1,l)-weight choosable was developed by Bartnicki, Grytczuk and Niwczyk (2009), based on the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, a parameter which they call the monomial index of a graph, and matrix permanents. This paper extends their method to establish the first general upper bound on the monomial index of a graph, and thus to obtain an upper bound on l for which every admissible graph is (1,l)-weight choosable. Let ∂2(G) denote the smallest value s such that every induced subgraph of G has vertices at distance 2 whose degrees sum to at most s. We show that every admissible graph has monomial index at most ∂2(G) and hence that such graphs are (1, ∂2(G)+1)-weight choosable. While this does not improve the best known result on (1,l)-weight choosability, we show that the results can be extended to obtain improved bounds for some graph products; for instance, it is shown that G □ Kn is (1, nd+3)-weight choosable if G is d-degenerate.

Epicyclic gear trains for automotive automatic transmissions

Epicyclic gear trains, which contain at least four coaxial links, are widely used in automatic transmissions. This paper presents a systematic methodology for the synthesis of epicyclic gear trains for automotive automatic transmissions. The graph representation of epicyclic gear trains is applied to develop an approach for the structural synthesis of the graphs of admissible epicyclic gear trains. Next, for each admissible graph the adjacency matrix of an epicyclic gear train is defined to develop an algorithm for the configuration synthesis of epicyclic gear trains. Using the proposed algorithm, all possible epicyclic gear trains for automotive automatic transmissions are systematically synthesized. In this paper, admissible epicyclic gear trains with up to ten links have been successfully synthesized. The results of work will lead to the creation of new multispeed automotive automatic transmissions.

Logical Foundations of Kinematic Chains: Graphs, Line Graphs, and Hypergraphs

In terms of concepts from the theory of graphs and hypergraphs we formulate a precise structural characterization of a kinematic chain. To do this, we require the operations of line graph, intersection graph, and hypergraph duality. Using these we develop simple algorithms for constructing the unique graph G (KC) of a kinematic chain KC and (given an admissible graph G) for forming the unique kinematic chain whose graph is G. This one-to-one correspondence between kinematic chains and a class of graphs enables the mathematical and logical power, precision, concepts, and theorems of graph theory to be applied to gain new insights into the structure of kinematic chains.