Total protection in graphs

Identifier:  TDX:3237

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3237

Authors:  Cabrera Martínez, Abel

Abstract:
Suppose that one or more entities are stationed at some of the vertices of a simple graph and that an entity at a vertex can deal with a problem at any vertex in its closed neighbourhood. In general, an entity could consist of a robot, an observer, a legion, a guard, and so on. Informally, we say that a graph is protected under a given placement of entities if there exists at least one entity available to handle a problem at any vertex. Various strategies (or rules for entities placements) have been considered, under each of which the graph is deemed protected. These strategies for the protection of graphs are framed within the theory of domination in graphs, or in the theory of secure domination in graphs. In this thesis, we introduce the study of (secure) w-domination in graphs, which is a unified approach to the idea of protection of graphs, that encompasses known variants of (secure) domination in graphs and introduces new ones. The thesis is structured as a compendium of ten papers which have been published in JCR-indexed journals. The first one is devoted to the study of w-domination, the fifth one is devoted to the study of secure w-domination, while the other papers are devoted to particular cases of total protection strategies. As we can expect, the minimum number of entities required for protection under each strategy is of interest. In general, we obtain closed formulas or tight bounds on the studied parameters.