AROUND THE ERDÖS–GALLAI CRITERION

Abstract

By an (integer) partition we mean a non-increasing sequence \(\lambda=(\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \dots)\) of non-negative integers that contains a finite number of non-zero components. A partition \(\lambda\) is said to be graphic if there exists a graph \(G\) such that \(\lambda = \mathrm{dpt}\,G\), where we denote by  \(\mathrm{dpt}\,G\) the degree partition of \(G\) composed of the degrees of its vertices, taken in non-increasing order and added with zeros. In this paper, we propose to consider another criterion for a partition to be graphic, the ht-criterion, which, in essence, is a convenient and natural reformulation of the well-known Erdös–Gallai criterion for a sequence to be graphical. The ht-criterion fits well into the general study of lattices of integer partitions and is convenient for applications. The paper shows the equivalence of the Gale–Ryser criterion on the realizability of a pair of partitions by bipartite graphs, the ht-criterion and the Erdös–Gallai criterion. New proofs of the Gale–Ryser criterion and the Erdös–Gallai criterion are given. It is also proved that for any graphical partition there exists a realization that is obtained from some splitable graph in a natural way. A number of information of an overview nature is also given on the results previously obtained by the authors which are close in subject matter to those considered in this paper.