Trees with Distinguishing Index Equal Distinguishing Number Plus One

Abstract

The distinguishing number (index) D(G) (D′ (G)) of a graph G is the least integer d such that G has an vertex (edge) labeling with d labels that is preserved only by the trivial automorphism. It is known that for every graph G we have D′ (G) ≤ D(G) + 1. In this note we characterize finite trees for which this inequality is sharp. We also show that if G is a connected unicyclic graph, then D′ (G) = D(G).

Keywords

• automorphism group
• distinguishing index
• distinguishing number
• tree
• unicyclic graph
• 05c15
• 05e18