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Motivated by the success of domination games and by a variation of the coloring game called the indicated coloring game, we introduce a version of domination games called the indicated domination game. It is played on an arbitrary graph $G$ by two players, Dominator and Staller, where Dominator wants to finish the game in as few rounds as possible while Staller wants just the opposite. In each round, Dominator indicates a vertex $u$ of $G$ that has not been dominated by previous selections of Staller, which, by the rules of the game, forces Staller to select a vertex in the closed neighborhood of $u$. The game is finished when all vertices of $G$ become dominated by the vertices selected by Staller. Assuming that both players are playing optimally according to their goals, the number of selected vertices during the game is the indicated domination number, $\gamma_i(G)$, of $G$. We prove several bounds on the indicated domination number expressed in terms of other graph invariants. In particular, we find a place of the new graph invariant in the well-known domination chain, by showing that $\gamma_i(G)\ge \Gamma(G)$ for all graphs $G$, and by showing that the indicated domination number is incomparable with the game domination number and also with the upper irredundance number. In connection with the trivial upper bound $\gamma_i(G)\le n(G)-\delta(G)$, we characterize the class of graphs $G$ attaining the bound provided that $n(G)\ge 2\delta(G)+2$. We prove that in trees, split graphs and grids the indicated domination number equals the independence number. We also find a formula for the indicated domination number of powers of paths, from which we derive that there exist graphs in which the indicated domination number is arbitrarily larger than the upper irredundance number., Comment: 19 pages

A vertex $u$ in a graph $G$ totally dominates a vertex $v$ if $u$ is adjacent to $v$ in $G$. A total dominating set of $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices of $G$ such that every vertex of $G$ is totally dominated by a vertex in $S$. The indicated total domination game is played on a graph $G$ by two players, Dominator and Staller, who take turns making a move. In each of his moves, Dominator indicates a vertex $v$ of the graph that has not been totally dominated in the previous moves, and Staller chooses (or selects) any vertex adjacent to $v$ that has not yet been played, and adds it to a set $D$ that is being built during the game. The game ends when every vertex is totally dominated, that is, when $D$ is a total dominating set of $G$. The goal of Dominator is to minimize the size of $D$, while Staller wants just the opposite. Providing that both players are playing optimally with respect to their goals, the size of the resulting set $D$ is the indicated total domination number of $G$, denoted by $\gamma_t^{\rm i}(G)$. In this paper we present several results on indicated total domination game. Among other results we prove that the indicated total domination number of a graph is bounded below by the well studied upper total domination number., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 18 references, correction is Section 2

The $2$-packing number $\rho_2(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the cardinality of a largest $2$-packing of $G$ and the open packing number $\rho^{\rm o}(G)$ is the cardinality of a largest open packing of $G$, where an open packing (resp. $2$-packing) is a set of vertices in $G$ no two (closed) neighborhoods of which intersect. It is proved that if $G$ is bipartite, then $\rho^{\rm o}(G\Box K_2) = 2\rho_2(G)$. For hypercubes, the lower bounds $\rho_2(Q_n) \ge 2^{n - \lfloor \log n\rfloor -1}$ and $\rho^{\rm o}(Q_n) \ge 2^{n - \lfloor \log (n-1)\rfloor -1}$ are established. These findings are applied to injective colorings of hypercubes. In particular, it is demonstrated that $Q_9$ is the smallest hypercube which is not perfect injectively colorable. It is also proved that $\gamma_t(Q_{2^k}\times H) = 2^{2^k-k}\gamma_t(H)$, where $H$ is an arbitrary graph with no isolated vertices., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

A graph is well-dominated if all its minimal dominating sets have the same cardinality. In this paper we prove that at least one factor of every connected, well-dominated Cartesian product is a complete graph, which then allows us to give a complete characterization of the connected, well-dominated Cartesian products if both factors have order at least $2$. In particular, we show that $G\,\Box\,H$ is well-dominated if and only if $G\,\Box\,H = P_3 \,\Box\,K_3$ or $G\,\Box\,H= K_n \,\Box\,K_n$ for some $n\ge 2$., Comment: 17 pages

The Grundy domination number, ${\gamma_{\rm gr}}(G)$, of a graph $G$ is the maximum length of a sequence $(v_1,v_2,\ldots, v_k)$ of vertices in $G$ such that for every $i\in \{2,\ldots, k\}$, the closed neighborhood $N[v_i]$ contains a vertex that does not belong to any closed neighborhood $N[v_j]$, where $j

The orientable domination number, ${\rm DOM}(G)$, of a graph $G$ is the largest domination number over all orientations of $G$. In this paper, ${\rm DOM}$ is studied on different product graphs and related graph operations. The orientable domination number of arbitrary corona products is determined, while sharp lower and upper bounds are proved for Cartesian and lexicographic products. A result of Chartrand et al. from 1996 is extended by establishing the values of ${\rm DOM}(K_{n_1,n_2,n_3})$ for arbitrary positive integers $n_1,n_2$ and $n_3$. While considering the orientable domination number of lexicographic product graphs, we answer in the negative a question concerning domination and packing numbers in acyclic digraphs posed in [Domination in digraphs and their direct and Cartesian products, J. Graph Theory 99 (2022) 359-377].

In \cite{nr-1996} Nowakowski and Rall listed a series of conjectures involving several different graph products. In particular, they conjectured that $i(G\times H) \ge i(G)i(H)$ where $i(G)$ is the independent domination number of $G$ and $G\times H$ is the direct product of graphs $G$ and $H$. We show this conjecture is false, and, in fact, construct pairs of graphs for which $\min\{i(G), i(H)\} - i(G\times H)$ is arbitrarily large. We also give the exact value of $i(G\times K_n)$ when $G$ is either a path or a cycle., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

A graph is said to be well-edge-dominated if all its minimal edge dominating sets are minimum. It is known that every well-edge-dominated graph $G$ is also equimatchable, meaning that every maximal matching in $G$ is maximum. In this paper, we show that if $G$ is a connected, triangle-free, nonbipartite, well-edge-dominated graph, then $G$ is one of three graphs. We also characterize the well-edge-dominated split graphs and Cartesian products. In particular, we show that a connected Cartesian product $G\Box H$ is well-edge-dominated, where $G$ and $H$ have order at least $2$, if and only if $G\Box H = K_2 \Box K_2$., Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, 18 references

If each minimal dominating set in a graph is a minimum dominating set, then the graph is called well-dominated. Since the seminal paper on well-dominated graphs appeared in 1988, the structure of well-dominated graphs from several restricted classes have been studied. In this paper we give a complete characterization of nontrivial direct products that are well-dominated. We prove that if a strong product is well-dominated, then both of its factors are well-dominated. When one of the factors of a strong product is a complete graph, the other factor being well-dominated is also a sufficient condition for the product to be well-dominated. Our main result gives a complete characterization of well-dominated Cartesian products in which at least one of the factors is a complete graph. In addition, we conjecture that this result is actually a complete characterization of the class of nontrivial, well-dominated Cartesian products., Comment: 15 pages

A dominating (respectively, total dominating) set $S$ of a digraph $D$ is a set of vertices in $D$ such that the union of the closed (respectively, open) out-neighborhoods of vertices in $S$ equals the vertex set of $D$. The minimum size of a dominating (respectively, total dominating) set of $D$ is the domination (respectively, total domination) number of $D$, denoted $\gamma(D)$ (respectively,$\gamma_t(D)$). The maximum number of pairwise disjoint closed (respectively,open) in-neighborhoods of $D$ is denoted by $\rho(D)$ (respectively,$\rho^{\rm o}(D)$). We prove that in digraphs whose underlying graphs have girth at least $7$, the closed (respectively,open) in-neighborhoods enjoy the Helly property, and use these two results to prove that in any ditree $T$ (that is, a digraph whose underlying graph is a tree), $\gamma_t(T)=\rho^{\rm o}(T)$ and $\gamma(T)=\rho(T)$. By using the former equality we then prove that $\gamma_t(G\times T)=\gamma_t(G)\gamma_t(T)$, where $G$ is any digraph and $T$ is any ditree, each without a source vertex, and $G\times T$ is their direct product. From the equality $\gamma(T)=\rho(T)$ we derive the bound $\gamma(G\mathbin{\Box} T)\ge\gamma(G)\gamma(T)$, where $G$ is an arbitrary digraph, $T$ an arbitrary ditree and $G\mathbin{\Box} T$ is their Cartesian product. In general digraphs this Vizing-type bound fails, yet we prove that for any digraphs $G$ and $H$, where $\gamma(G)\ge\gamma(H)$, we have $\gamma(G \mathbin{\Box} H) \ge \frac{1}{2}\gamma(G)(\gamma(H) + 1)$. This inequality is sharp as demonstrated by an infinite family of examples. Ditrees $T$ and digraphs $H$ enjoying $\gamma(T\mathbin{\Box} H)=\gamma(T)\gamma(H)$ are also investigated., Comment: 22 pages and 5 figures

For a subset $S$ of vertices in a graph $G$, a vertex $v \in S$ is an enclave of $S$ if $v$ and all of its neighbors are in $S$, where a neighbor of $v$ is a vertex adjacent to $v$. A set $S$ is enclaveless if it does not contain any enclaves. The enclaveless number $\Psi(G)$ of $G$ is the maximum cardinality of an enclaveless set in $G$. As first observed in 1997 by Slater [J. Res. Nat. Bur. Standards 82 (1977), 197--202], if $G$ is a graph with $n$ vertices, then $\gamma(G) + \Psi(G) = n$ where $\gamma(G)$ is the well-studied domination number of $G$. In this paper, we continue the study of the competition-enclaveless game introduced in 2001 by Phillips and Slater [Graph Theory Notes N. Y. 41 (2001), 37--41] and defined as follows. Two players take turns in constructing a maximal enclaveless set $S$, where one player, Maximizer, tries to maximize $|S|$ and one player, Minimizer, tries to minimize~$|S|$. The competition-enclaveless game number $\Psi_g^+(G)$ of $G$ is the number of vertices played when Maximizer starts the game and both players play optimally. We study among other problems the conjecture that if $G$ is an isolate-free graph of order $n$, then $\Psi_g^+(G) \ge \frac{1}{2}n$. We prove this conjecture for regular graphs and for claw-free graphs., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 23 references

A set $P$ of vertices in a graph $G$ is an open packing if no two distinct vertices in $P$ have a common neighbor. Among all maximal open packings in $G$, the smallest cardinality is denoted $\rho^{\rm o}_L(G)$ and the largest cardinality is $\rho^{\rm o}(G)$. There exist graphs for which these two invariants are arbitrarily far apart. In this paper we begin the investigation of the class of graphs that have one size of maximal open packings. By presenting a method of constructing such graphs we show that every graph is the induced subgraph of a graph in this class. The main result of the paper is a structural characterization of those $G$ that do not have a cycle of order less than $15$ and for which $\rho^{\rm o}_L(G)=\rho^{\rm o}(G)$., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 12 references

The general $d$-position number ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the cardinality of a largest set $S$ for which no three distinct vertices from $S$ lie on a common geodesic of length at most $d$. This new graph parameter generalizes the well studied general position number. We first give some results concerning the monotonic behavior of ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ with respect to the suitable values of $d$. We show that the decision problem concerning finding ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ is NP-complete for any value of $d$. The value of ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ when $G$ is a path or a cycle is computed and a structural characterization of general $d$-position sets is shown. Moreover, we present some relationships with other topics including strong resolving graphs and dissociation sets. We finish our exposition by proving that ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ is infinite whenever $G$ is an infinite graph and $d$ is a finite integer., Comment: 16 pages

A graph is \emph{well-dominated} if all of its minimal dominating sets have the same cardinality. We prove that at least one of the factors is well-dominated if the Cartesian product of two graphs is well-dominated. In addition, we show that the Cartesian product of two connected, triangle-free graphs is well-dominated if and only if both graphs are complete graphs of order $2$. Under the assumption that at least one of the connected graphs $G$ or $H$ has no isolatable vertices, we prove that the direct product of $G$ and $H$ is well-dominated if and only if either $G=H=K_3$ or $G=K_2$ and $H$ is either the $4$-cycle or the corona of a connected graph. Furthermore, we show that the disjunctive product of two connected graphs is well-dominated if and only if one of the factors is a complete graph and the other factor has domination number at most $2$., Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures

A set $S$ of vertices in a graph is an open packing if (open) neighborhoods of any two distinct vertices in $S$ are disjoint. In this paper, we consider the graphs that have a unique maximum open packing. We characterize the trees with this property by using four local operations such that any nontrivial tree with a unique maximum open packing can be obtained by a sequence of these operations starting from $P_2$. We also prove that the decision version of the open packing number is NP-complete even when restricted to graphs of girth at least $6$. Finally, we show that the recognition of the graphs with a unique maximum open packing is polynomially equivalent to the recognition of the graphs with a unique maximum independent set, and we prove that the complexity of both problems is not polynomial, unless P=NP., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

A graph $G$ is well-covered if all maximal independent sets of $G$ have the same cardinality. In 1992 Topp and Volkmann investigated the structure of well-covered graphs that have nontrivial factorizations with respect to some of the standard graph products. In particular, they showed that both factors of a well-covered direct product are also well-covered and proved that the direct product of two complete graphs (respectively, two cycles) is well-covered precisely when they have the same order (respectively, both have order 3 or 4). Furthermore, they proved that the direct product of two well-covered graphs with independence number one-half their order is well-covered. We initiate a characterization of nontrivial, connected well-covered graphs $G$ and $H$, whose independence numbers are strictly less than one-half their orders, such that their direct product $G \times H$ is well-covered. In particular, we show that in this case both $G$ and $H$ have girth 3 and we present several infinite families of such well-covered direct products. Moreover, we show that if $G$ is a factor of any well-covered direct product, then $G$ is a complete graph unless it is possible to create an isolated vertex by removing the closed neighborhood of some independent set of vertices in $G$.

The packing chromatic number $\chi_{\rho}(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that the vertex set of $G$ can be partitioned into sets $V_i$, $i\in [k]$, where vertices in $V_i$ are pairwise at distance at least $i+1$. Packing chromatic vertex-critical graphs, $\chi_{\rho}$-critical for short, are introduced as the graphs $G$ for which $\chi_{\rho}(G-x) < \chi_{\rho}(G)$ holds for every vertex $x$ of $G$. If $\chi_{\rho}(G) = k$, then $G$ is $k$-$\chi_{\rho}$-critical. It is shown that if $G$ is $\chi_{\rho}$-critical, then the set $\{\chi_{\rho}(G) - \chi_{\rho}(G-x):\ x\in V(G)\}$ can be almost arbitrary. The $3$-$\chi_{\rho}$-critical graphs are characterized, and $4$-$\chi_{\rho}$-critical graphs are characterized in the case when they contain a cycle of length at least $5$ which is not congruent to $0$ modulo $4$. It is shown that for every integer $k\ge 2$ there exists a $k$-$\chi_{\rho}$-critical tree and that a $k$-$\chi_{\rho}$-critical caterpillar exists if and only if $k\le 7$. Cartesian products are also considered and in particular it is proved that if $G$ and $H$ are vertex-transitive graphs and ${\rm diam(G)} + {\rm diam}(H) \le \chi_{\rho}(G)$, then $G\,\square\, H$ is $\chi_{\rho}$-critical.

In this paper a relationship is established between the domination game and minimal edge cuts. It is proved that the game domination number of a connected graph can be bounded above in terms of the size of minimal edge cuts. In particular, if $C$ a minimum edge cut of a connected graph $G$, then $\gamma_g(G) \le \gamma_g(G\setminus C) + 2\kappa'(G)$. Double-Staller graphs are introduced in order to show that this upper bound can be attained for graphs with a bridge. The obtained results are used to extend the family of known traceable graphs whose game domination numbers are at most one-half their order. Along the way two technical lemmas, which seem to be generally applicable for the study of the domination game, are proved., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure

In this paper, we define a new domination invariant on a graph $G$, which coincides with the ordinary independent domination number of the generalized prism $G \Box K_k$, called the $k$-rainbow independent domination number and denoted by $\gamma_{{\rm ri}k}(G)$. Some bounds and exact values concerning this domination concept are determined. As a main result, we prove a Nordhaus-Gaddum-type theorem on the sum for $2$-rainbow independent domination number, and show if G is a graph of order $n \geq 3$, then $5\leq \gamma_{{\rm ri}2}(G)+\gamma_{{\rm ri}2}(\overline{G})\leq n+3$, with both bounds being sharp., Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 18 references

In the total domination game played on a graph $G$, players Dominator and Staller alternately select vertices of $G$, as long as possible, such that each vertex chosen increases the number of vertices totally dominated. Dominator (Staller) wishes to minimize (maximize) the number of vertices selected. The game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$, of $G$ is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and both players play optimally. If a vertex $v$ of $G$ is declared to be already totally dominated, then we denote this graph by $G|v$. In this paper the total domination game critical graphs are introduced as the graphs $G$ for which $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G|v) < \gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$ holds for every vertex $v$ in $G$. If $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) = k$, then $G$ is called $k$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical. It is proved that the cycle $C_n$ is $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}$-critical if and only if $n\pmod 6 \in \{0,1,3\}$ and that the path $P_n$ is $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}$-critical if and only if $n\pmod 6\in \{2,4\}$. $2$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical and $3$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical graphs are also characterized as well as $3$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical joins of graphs.

The packing chromatic number $\chi_{\rho}(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that the vertex set of $G$ can be partitioned into sets $V_i$, $i\in [k]$, where each $V_i$ is an $i$-packing. In this paper, we investigate for a given triple $(a,b,c)$ of positive integers whether there exists a graph $G$ such that $\omega(G) = a$, $\chi(G) = b$, and $\chi_{\rho}(G) = c$. If so, we say that $(a, b, c)$ is realizable. It is proved that $b=c\ge 3$ implies $a=b$, and that triples $(2,k,k+1)$ and $(2,k,k+2)$ are not realizable as soon as $k\ge 4$. Some of the obtained results are deduced from the bounds proved on the packing chromatic number of the Mycielskian. Moreover, a formula for the independence number of the Mycielskian is given. A lower bound on $\chi_{\rho}(G)$ in terms of $\Delta(G)$ and $\alpha(G)$ is also proved., Comment: 17 pages, 1 table

In 1970, Plummer defined a well-covered graph to be a graph $G$ in which all maximal independent sets are in fact maximum. Later Hartnell and Rall showed that if the Cartesian product $G \Box H$ is well-covered, then at least one of $G$ or $H$ is well-covered. In this paper, we consider the problem of classifying all well-covered Cartesian products. In particular, we show that if the Cartesian product of two nontrivial, connected graphs of girth at least $4$ is well-covered, then at least one of the graphs is $K_2$. Moreover, we show that $K_2 \Box K_2$ and $C_5 \Box K_2$ are the only well-covered Cartesian products of nontrivial, connected graphs of girth at least $5$., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures

In this paper, we continue the study of the total domination game in graphs introduced in [Graphs Combin. 31(5) (2015), 1453--1462], where the players Dominator and Staller alternately select vertices of $G$. Each vertex chosen must strictly increase the number of vertices totally dominated, where a vertex totally dominates another vertex if they are neighbors. This process eventually produces a total dominating set $S$ of $G$ in which every vertex is totally dominated by a vertex in $S$. Dominator wishes to minimize the number of vertices chosen, while Staller wishes to maximize it. The game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$, (respectively, Staller-start game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}'(G)$) of $G$ is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator (respectively, Staller) starts the game and both players play optimally. For general graphs $G$, sometimes $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) > \gamma_{\rm tg}'(G)$. We show that if $G$ is a forest with no isolated vertex, then $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) \le \gamma_{\rm tg}'(G)$. Using this result, we characterize the trees with equal total domination and game total domination number., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, 22 references

The packing chromatic number $\chi_{\rho}(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that there exists a $k$-vertex coloring of $G$ in which any two vertices receiving color $i$ are at distance at least $i+1$. It is proved that in the class of subcubic graphs the packing chromatic number is bigger than $13$, thus answering an open problem from [Gastineau, Togni, $S$-packing colorings of cubic graphs, Discrete Math.\ 339 (2016) 2461--2470]. In addition, the packing chromatic number is investigated with respect to several local operations. In particular, if $S_e(G)$ is the graph obtained from a graph $G$ by subdividing its edge $e$, then $\left\lfloor \chi_{\rho}(G)/2 \right\rfloor +1 \le \chi_{\rho}(S_e(G)) \le \chi_{\rho}(G)+1$., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

The packing chromatic number $\chi_{\rho}(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that the vertex set of $G$ can be partitioned into sets $\Pi_1,\ldots,\Pi_k$, where $\Pi_i$, $i\in [k]$, is an $i$-packing. The following conjecture is posed and studied: if $G$ is a subcubic graph, then $\chi_{\rho}(S(G))\le 5$, where $S(G)$ is the subdivision of $G$. The conjecture is proved for all generalized prisms of cycles. To get this result it is proved that if $G$ is a generalized prism of a cycle, then $G$ is $(1,1,2,2)$-colorable if and only if $G$ is not the Petersen graph. The validity of the conjecture is further proved for graphs that can be obtained from generalized prisms in such a way that one of the two $n$-cycles in the edge set of a generalized prism is replaced by a union of cycles among which at most one is a 5-cycle. The packing chromatic number of graphs obtained by subdividing each of its edges a fixed number of times is also considered., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

An identifying code in a graph is a dominating set that also has the property that the closed neighborhood of each vertex in the graph has a distinct intersection with the set. The minimum cardinality of an identifying code, or ID code, in a graph $G$ is called the ID code number of $G$ and is denoted $\gid(G)$. In this paper, we give upper and lower bounds for the ID code number of the prism of a graph, or $G\Box K_2$. In particular, we show that $\gid(G \Box K_2) \ge \gid(G)$ and we show that this bound is sharp. We also give upper and lower bounds for the ID code number of grid graphs and a general upper bound for $\gid(G\Box K_2)$.

A vertex in a graph totally dominates another vertex if they are adjacent. A sequence of vertices in a graph $G$ is called a total dominating sequence if every vertex $v$ in the sequence totally dominates at least one vertex that was not totally dominated by any vertex that precedes $v$ in the sequence, and at the end all vertices of $G$ are totally dominated. While the length of a shortest such sequence is the total domination number of $G$, in this paper we investigate total dominating sequences of maximum length, which we call the Grundy total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(G)$, of $G$. We provide a characterization of the graphs $G$ for which $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(G)=|V(G)|$ and of those for which $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(G)=2$. We show that if $T$ is a nontrivial tree of order~$n$ with no vertex with two or more leaf-neighbors, then $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(T) \ge \frac{2}{3}(n+1)$, and characterize the extremal trees. We also prove that for $k \ge 3$, if $G$ is a connected $k$-regular graph of order~$n$ different from $K_{k,k}$, then $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(G) \ge (n + \lceil \frac{k}{2} \rceil - 2)/(k-1)$ if $G$ is not bipartite and $\gamma_{\rm gr}^t(G) \ge (n + 2\lceil \frac{k}{2} \rceil - 4)/(k-1)$ if $G$ is bipartite. The Grundy total domination number is proven to be bounded from above by two times the Grundy domination number, while the former invariant can be arbitrarily smaller than the latter. Finally, a natural connection with edge covering sequences in hypergraphs is established, which in particular yields the NP-completeness of the decision version of the Grundy total domination number., Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures

In this paper, we continue the study of the total domination game in graphs introduced in [Graphs Combin. 31(5) (2015), 1453--1462], where the players Dominator and Staller alternately select vertices of $G$. Each vertex chosen must strictly increase the number of vertices totally dominated, where a vertex totally dominates another vertex if they are neighbors. This process eventually produces a total dominating set $S$ of $G$ in which every vertex is totally dominated by a vertex in $S$. Dominator wishes to minimize the number of vertices chosen, while Staller wishes to maximize it. The game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$, of $G$ is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and both players play optimally. Henning, Klav\v{z}ar and Rall [Combinatorica, to appear] posted the $\frac{3}{4}$-Game Total Domination Conjecture that states that if $G$ is a graph on $n$ vertices in which every component contains at least three vertices, then $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) \le \frac{3}{4}n$. In this paper, we prove this conjecture over the class of graphs $G$ that satisfy both the condition that the degree sum of adjacent vertices in $G$ is at least $4$ and the condition that no two vertices of degree $1$ are at distance $4$ apart in $G$. In particular, we prove that by adopting a greedy strategy, Dominator can complete the total domination game played in a graph with minimum degree at least $2$ in at most $3n/4$ moves., Comment: 14 pages

A graph is an efficient open domination graph if there exists a subset of vertices whose open neighborhoods partition its vertex set. We characterize those graphs $G$ for which the Cartesian product $G \Box H$ is an efficient open domination graph when $H$ is a complete graph of order at least 3 or a complete bipartite graph. The characterization is based on the existence of a certain type of weak partition of $V(G)$. For the class of trees when $H$ is complete of order at least 3, the characterization is constructive. In addition, a special type of efficient open domination graph is characterized among Cartesian products $G \Box H$ when $H$ is a 5-cycle or a 4-cycle., Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures

The domination game is played on a graph G. Vertices are chosen, one at a time, by two players Dominator and Staller. Each chosen vertex must enlarge the set of vertices of G dominated to that point in the game. Both players use an optimal strategy---Dominator plays so as to end the game as quickly as possible while Staller plays in such a way that the game lasts as many steps as possible. The game domination number of G is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and the Staller-start game domination number of G when Staller starts the game. In this paper these two games are studied when played on trees and spanning subgraphs. A lower bound for the game domination number of a tree in terms of the order and maximum degree is proved and shown to be asymptotically tight. It is shown that for every k, there is a tree T with game domination number k and Staller-start game domination number k+1, and it is conjectured that there is no tree with game domination number k and Staller-start game domination number k-1. A relation between the game domination number of a graph and its spanning subgraphs is considered. It is proved that for any positive integer n, there exists a graph G and its spanning tree T such that the game domination number of G is at least n more than the game domination number of T. Moreover, there exist 3-connected graphs G having a spanning subgraph such that the game domination number of the spanning subgraph is arbitrarily smaller than that of G., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures

Let k be a positive integer and let f be a map from V(G) to the set of all subsets of {1,2,3,...,k}. The function f is called a k-rainbow dominating function of G provided that whenever u is a vertex of G such that f(u) is the empty set, then for each integer r in {1,2,3,...,k} there is a neighbor x of u such that f(x) contains r. The k-rainbow domination number of G is the minimum sum (over all the vertices of G) of the cardinalities of the subsets assigned by a k-rainbow dominating function of G. The k-rainbow domination number of G is the ordinary domination number of the Cartesian product of G and a complete graph of order k. We focus on the 2-rainbow domination number of the lexicographic product of graphs and prove sharp lower and upper bounds for this number. In fact, we prove the exact value of the 2-rainbow domination number of the lexicographic product of G with H in terms of domination invariants of G, except for the case when H has 2-rainbow domination number 3 and there is a minimum 2-rainbow dominating function of H such that some vertex in H is assigned the label {1,2}., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures

An identifying code in a graph is a dominating set that also has the property that the closed neighborhood of each vertex in the graph has a distinct intersection with the set. It was recently shown by Gravier, Moncel and Semri that the minimum cardinality of an identifying code for the Cartesian product of two cliques of the same order n is the floor of 3n/2. We consider identifying codes of the direct product of two cliques. In particular, we answer a question of Klavzar and determine the minimum cardinality of an identifying code for the direct product of any two cliques.

A graph is well-covered if every maximal independent set has the same cardinality, namely the vertex independence number. We answer a question of Topp and Volkmann and prove that if the Cartesian product of two graphs is well-covered, then at least one of them must be well-covered.

For a given positive integer t we consider graphs having maximal independent sets of precisely t distinct cardinalities and restrict our attention to those that have no vertices of degree one. In the situation when t is four or larger and the length of the shortest cycle is at least 6t-6, we completely characterize such graphs., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures