CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Theorems On Dual Graphs

3. Self-dual Graphs

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 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER – I

Section – 1 Introduction to Graph theory 3

Section - 2 Basic Definitions and Examples 7

Section – 3 Theorems on Dual graphs 13

THEOREMS ON DUAL GRAPHS

CHAPTER – II

Section – 1 Theorems On Plane Duality 18

Section - 2 Theorems On Combinatorial Dual 21

Section – 3 Some More Theorems On Duality 25

SELF-DUAL GRAPHS

CHAPTER – III

Section – 1 Forms Of Self-Duality 30

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 CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
SECTION-1
INTRODUCTION TO GRAPH THEORY

Why study Graph theory?

 Graph theory provides useful set of techniques for solving real-world problems-

particularly for different kinds of optimization.

 Graph theory is useful for analyzing “things that are connected to other things”,

which applies at most everywhere.

 Some difficult problems become easy when represented using a graph.

 There are lots of unsolved questions in Graph theory: Solve one and become rich

and famous.

“Graph Theory” is an important branch of Mathematics, (Euler 1707-1782) is

known as the father of Graph Theory as well as Topology. Graph theory came into existence during

the first half of the 18th century. Graph theory did not start to develop into an organized branch of

Mathematics until the second half of the 19th century and, there was not even a book on the subject

until the first half of the 20th century. Graph theory has experienced a tremendous growth, one of

the main reason for this phenomena is the applicability of Graph theory in other disciplines such

as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, Sociology and theoretical Computer science.

In Physics, Graph theory is applied in Continuum Statistical Mechanics and Discrete

Statistical Mechanics. Graph theory models have been used to study polymer chains of hydro-

carbons and Percolation theory.

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 The blossoming of a new branch of study in the field of Chemistry “Chemical Graph

theory” is yet another proof of the importance and role of Graph theory.

Applications of Graph theory to Biology are mostly in Genetics, Ecology and Environment.

Genetic mapping and Evolutionary Genetics are very important.

Growth of Graph theory is mainly due to its application to discrete optimization problems

and due to the advent of Computers. Graph theory plays an important role in several areas of

Computer science such as switching theory ands logical design, artificial intelligence, formal

languages, computer graphics, operating systems, compiler writing and information organization

and retrieval. Graph theory is also applied in inverse areas such as Social sciences, linguistic,

Physical sciences, communications engineering and other fields. Graph theory is a delightful play

ground for the explanations of proof of techniques in Discrete Mathematics.

Many branches of Mathematics begin with sets and relations. Graph theory is no

expectation to this, indeed graph are next only to sets. Graph theory studies relation between

elements, part of what makes graph theory interesting is that graphs can be used to model situations

that occur in real world problems. These problems can then be studied with the aid of graphs.

To see how graphs can be used to represent these different systems or structures, consider

the following example;

Example

Diagrams of molecules of the chemical compounds methane and propane are shown below.

These can be represented by graphs using points, called vertices, as the atoms of carbons and

hydrogen present and lines, called edges, as the bonds. Thus, a molecule of methane is represented

by a graph with five vertices and four edges while propane is represented by a graph with eleven

vertices and ten edges.

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Methane CH 4

Propane C3 H8

Graph theory started with Euler who was asked to find a nice path across the seven Koningsberg
bridges.

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The (Eulerian) path
should cross over each
of the seven bridges
exactly once

Another early bird was Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865).

In 1859 he developed a toy based on finding a path visiting all cities in a graph exactly
once and sold it to a toy maker in Dublin. It never was a big success.

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 SECTION-2
BASIC DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES

GRAPH
A Graph G=(V, E) consists of a pair of V and E. The elements of V are called vertices and

the elements of E are called edges. Each edge has a set of one or two vertices associated to it,

which are called its end points.

DIGRAPH
Let E be an unordered set of two elements subsets of V. If we consider ordered pair of

elements of V then the graph G (V, E) is called a directed graph or digraph.

CYCLE OR CIRCUIT
A Cycle is a closed walk in which all the vertices are distinct except u = v, that is the initial

and terminal points of the walk coincide.

Example

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 Figure:1

ACYCLIC OR FOREST

A graph G is called acyclic if, it has no cycles.

TREE
A tree is an acyclic connected graph.

Example

Figure:2
BIPARTITE GRAPH
A Bipartite graph is one whose vertex can be partitioned into two subsets X and Y so that

each edge has one end in X and one end in Y such a partition (X, Y) is called a Bipartition of the

graph.

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Example

K1,3 K m,n

Figure:3
EDGE CUT
For subsets S and S  of V denote by [ S , S  ] the set of edges with one end in S and the

other end in S  . An edge cut of G is a E of the form [ S , S  ] where S is a non-empty proper subset

of V and S  =V\S.

BOND OR CUT-SET
A minimal non-empty edge cut of G is called a Bond.

Example

Edge cut:{ e3 , e4 } { e1 , e2 , e5 }  e3 , e4 is a Bond.

Figure:4
CONNECTED
A graph G is said to be connected if between every pair of vertices x and y in G, there

always exists a path in G. Otherwise, G is called disconnected.

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LOOP
An edge with identical ends is called a loop.

Example

Figure:5

CUT VERTEX
A vertex v of a graph G is a cut-vertex if the edges set E can be partitioned into two non-

empty subsets E1 and E2 such that G ( E1 ) and G ( E2 ) have just the vertex v in common.

Example

Figure:6

CUT EDGE
An edge set E of a graph G is a cut edge of G if W(G-e)>W(G).In particular, the removal of

a cut edge from a connected graph makes the graph disconnected.

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Example

Figure:7

BLOCK
A connected graph that has no cut vertices is called a Block.

TOUR
A Tour of G is a closed walk of G which includes every edge of G at least once.

EULER TOUR
An Euler Tour of G is a tour which includes each edge of G exactly once.

EULERIAN
A graph G is called Eulerian or Euler if it has an Euler Tour.

Example

Figure:8

PLANAR GRAPH
A graph G is planar if it can be drawn in the plane in such a way that no two edges meet
except at a vertex with which they both are incident. Any such drawing is a plane drawing of G.
A graph G is non-planar if no plane drawing of G exists.

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Example

Figure:9 Plane drawing of K4

OUTER PLANAR
A Planar graph is an Outer Planar graph if it has an embedding on the plane such that

every vertex of the graph is a vertex belonging to the same (usually exterior) region.

FACES
A plane graph G partitions the rest of the plane into a number of arc-wise connected open

sets. The sets are called the faces of G.

Example

Figure:10

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 SECTION-3
DUAL GRAPHS AND EXAMPLES

INTRODUCTION
A map on the plane or the sphere can be viewed as a plane graph in which the faces are

the territories, the vertices are places where boundaries meet and the edges are the porties of

the boundaries that join two vertices from any plane graph we can form a related plane graph

called its “Dual”.

DUAL GRAPHS
Let G be a connected planar graph. Then a dual graph G* is constructed from a plane

drawing of G, as follows.

Draw one vertex in each face of the plane drawing: these are vertices of G*. For each edge

e of a plane drawing, draw a line joining the vertices of G* in faces on either side of e: these lines

are the edges of G*.

REMARK
We always assume that we have been presented with a plane drawing of G.

The procedure is illustrated below.`

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 G G*

Figure: 1

Also if G is a plane drawing of a connected planar graph, then so its dual G*, and we can

thus construct (G*)*, the dual of G*.

(G*)* G*

Figure: 2

The above diagrams demonstrated that the construction that gives rise to G* from G can

be reversed to give G from G*. It follows that (G*)* is isomorphic to G.

EXAMPLE FOR NON-ISOMORPHIC DUAL GRAPHS

Dual graphs are not unique, in the sense that the same graph can have non-isomorphic

dual graphs because the dual graph depends on a particular plane embedding. In Figure:3, red

P a g e 14 | 36
graph G is not isomorphic to the blue graph G because the upper one has a vertex with degree

6 (the outer region).

Figure: 3

PROPERTIES
(1) The dual of a plane graph is planar multi graph- a graph that may have loops and

multiple edges.

(2) If G is a connected graph and if G* is a dual of G then G is a dual of G*.

ON THE UNIQUENESS OF DUAL GRAPHS

(1) Consider the graph G1 and its dual G1 *. Also consider the graph G2 and its dual G2 *

(see Figure: 4).

(2) Observe that graph G1 and G2 are two different planar representations of a same

graph (say, G).

(3) The graph G2 * contains a vertex of degree of degree 5, and the graph G1 * contains

no
vertex of degree 5. Therefore, G1 * and G2 * are non -isomorphic. So, we have that G1 

G2 but G1 *  G2 *.

From (3), we may conclude that two isomorphic planar graphs may have distinct

P a g e 15 | 36
 non- isomorphic duals.

G1 G1*

G2 G2*

Figure: 4

There are many forms of duality in graph theory.

COMBINATORIAL DUAL GRAPH

Let m(G) be the cycle rank of a graph G, m*(G) be the co-cycle rank, and the relative

complement G-H of a subgraph H of G be defined as that subgraph obtained by deleting the lines

of H. Then a graph G* is a combinatorial dual of G if there is one-to-one correspondence between

their sets of lines such that for any choice Y and Y* of corresponding subsets of lines,

m*(G-Y) = m*(G) – m(Y*)

where <Y*> is the subgraph of G* with the line set Y*.

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 Whitney showed that the geometric dual graph and combinatorial dual graph are

equivalent, and so may be called “the” dual graph.

RESULT
A graph is plane if and only if it has a combinatorial dual.

WEAK DUAL
The weak dual of an embedded planar graph is the subgraph of the dual graph whose

vertices correspond to the bounded faces of the primal graph.

SOME RESULTS
A planar graph is outer planar if and only if its weak dual is a forest.

A planar graph is a Halin graph if and only if its weak dual is biconnected and outer planar.

P a g e 17 | 36
 CHAPTER – 2
THEOREMS ON DUAL GRAPHS
[12]SECTION-1

THEOREMS ON PLANE DUALITY

PROPOSITION 1
The dual of any plane graph is connected.

PROOF
Let G be a plane graph and G* a plane dual of G. consider any two vertices of G*. There is

a curve in the plane connecting them which avoids all vertices of G. The sequence of faces and

edges of G traversed by this curve corresponds in G* to a walk connecting the two vertices.

DEFINITION
A simple connected plane graph in which all faces have degree three is called a plane

triangulation or, for a short triangulation.

PROPOSITION 2
A simple connected plane graph is a triangulation if and only if its dual is cubic.

DELETION-CONTRACTION DUALITY
Let G be a planar graph and G be a plane embedding of G. For any edge e of G, a plane

embedding of G\e can be obtained by simply deleting the line e from G . Thus deletion of an edge

from a planar graph results in a planar graph. Although less obvious, the contraction of an edge

of a planar graph also results in a planar graph. Indeed, given any edge e of a planar graph G and

P a g e 18 | 36
a planar embedding G of G, the line e of G can be contracted to a single point (and the lines

incident to its ends redrawn). So, that the resulting plane graph is a planar embedding of G\e.

The following two propositions show that the operations of contracting and deleting

edges in plane graphs are related in a natural way under duality.

PROPOSITION 3
Let G be a connected plane graph, and let e be an edge of G that is not a cut edge. Then

(G\e)*  G*/e*.

PROOF
Because e is not a cut edge, the two faces of G incident with e are distinct; denote them

by f1 and f 2 . Deleting e from G results in a amalgamation of f1 and f 2 into a single face f (see

Figure: 1). Any face of G that is adjacent to f1 or f 2 is adjacent in G\e to f; all other faces and

adjacencies between them are unaffected by the deletion of e.

Correspondingly, in the dual, the two vertices f1 * and f 2 * of G* which correspond to the

faces f1 and f 2 of G are now replaced by a single vertex of (G\e)*, which we may denote by f*,

and all other vertices of G* are vertices of (G\e)*. Furthermore, any vertex of G* that is adjacent

to f1 * an f 2 * is adjacent in (G\e)* to f*, and adjacencies between vertices of (G\e)* other than

v are the same as in G*. The assertion follows from these observations.

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 (a) (b)

Figure:1 a) G and G* , b) G\e and G * \ e*

Dually, we have the following proposition.

PROPOSTITION 4

Let G be a connected plane graph and let e be a link of G. Then (G/e)*  G*\e*.

PROOF
Because, G is connected G**  G. Also because e is not a loop of G, the edge e* is not a

cut edge of G*, so G*\e* is connected by proposition:3,

(G*\e*)*  G**/e**  G/e.

The proposition follows on taking duals.

We now apply Propositions 1 and 2 to show that non separable plane graphs have non

separable duals. This fact turns out to be very useful.

THEOREM 5
The dual of a non separable plane graph is non separable.

PROOF
By induction on the number of edges, Let G be a non separable plane graph. The theorem

is clearly true if G has at most one edge, so we may assume that G has at least two edges, hence

no loops or cut edges. Let e be an edge of G. Then either G\e or G/e is non separable. If G\e is

non separable so is (G\e)*  G*/e*, by the induction hypothesis and proposition 3. And we

P a g e 20 | 36
deduce that G* is non separable. The case where G/e is non separable can be established by an

analogous argument.

[12]SECTION-2

THEOREMS ON COMBINATORIAL DUAL

PROPOSITION 1
Let G be a 2-connected plane multi graph, and let H be its geometric dual. Then H is a

combinatorial dual of G. Moreover, G is a geometric dual graph (and hence a combinatorial dual)

of H.

PROOF
Since the minimal cuts of G are the minimal separating sets of G,

We now have:

(A) If E  E(G) is the edge set of a cycle in G, then E* is cut in H.

(B) If E is the edge set of a forest in G, then H-E* is connected.

Imply that H is a combinatorial dual of G. In particular, H is 2-connected contains at least

three vertices (Otherwise, G is a cycle and the claims are easy to verify). To prove that G is a

geometric dual of H, it sufficies to prove that, for each facial cycle C* in H, has only one vertex in

the face F of H bounded by C*, (clearly, G has no edge inside F). But, if G has two or more vertices

in F, then some two vertices of C* can be joined by a simple arc inside F having only its ends in

common with G  H. But, this is impossible by the definition of H.

Whitney [wh33a] proved that combinatorial duals are geometric duals. This gives rise to

another characterization of planar graphs.

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THEOREM 2 (Whitney [wh33a])
Let G be a 2-connected multigraph. Then G is a planar if and only if it has a
combinatorial dual. If G* is a combinatorial dual of G, then G has an embedding in
the plane such that G* is isomorphic to the geometric dual of G. In particular, also
G*is planar, and G is a combinatorial dual of G*.
PROOF
By proposition 1, it sufficies to prove the second part of the theorem. The proof will be

done by induction on the number of edges of G. If G is a cycle, then any two edges of G* are in a

2-cycle and hence G* has only two vertices. Clearly, G and G* can be represented as a geometric

dual pair.

If G is not a cycle, then G is the union of a 2-connected subgraph G and a path P such

that G  P consists of the two end vertices of P. By the induction hypothesis and by the

proposition, “If G* is a combinatorial dual of G and E  E(G) is a set of edges of G such that G-E

has only one component containing edges, then G*/e* is a combinatorial dual of G-e(minus

isolated vertices)”, H=G* /E(P*) is a combinatorial dual of G . By the induction hypothesis, G

and H can be represented as a geometric dual pair, and G is also a combinatorial dual of H.

If e1 , e2 are two edges of P, then e1 *, e2 * are two edges of G* which belong to a cycle C*

of G*. If C* has length at least 3, then it is easy to find a minimal cut in G* containing e, but not

e2 . But, this is impossible since any cycle in G containing e1 also contains e2 . Hence, all edges of

E (P)* are parallel in G* and join two vertices z1 , z2 say, in G*.

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 Let z0 be the vertex in H which corresponds to z1 , z2 . The edges in H incident with z0

form a minimal cut in H. Let C be the corresponding cycle in G . As E(C)* separates z0 from H- z0

in H, C is a simple closed curve separating z0 from H- z0 . In particular, C is facial in G .

Let C1 , C2 be the two cycles in CUP containing P such that E ( Ci )* is the minimal cut

consisting of the edges incident with zi , for i=1,2. Now we draw P inside the face F of G bounded

by C and represent zi inside Ci for i=1,2. This way we obtain a representation of G* as a

geometric dual of G.

PROPOSITION 3
Let G be a 2-connected multigraph and let G* be its combinatorial dual. Then G* is 3-

connected if and only if G is 3-connected.

PROOF
By Theorem 2, it sufficies to prove that G is 3-connected whenever G* is

3-connected. Suppose that this is not a case if G has a vertex of degree 2, then G* has parallel

edges, a contradiction. So, G has minimum degree at least 3. Then we can write G = G1  G2

where G1  G2 consists of two vertices, E( G1 )  E( G2 ) =  , and each of G1 , G2 contains at least

three vertices.

By Theorem 2, G is planar. Then G has a facial cycle C such that C  Gi is path Pi for i=1,2.

Clearly, G/E(C) has two edges which are not in the same block.

By proposition, “If, G* is a combinatorial dual of G and E  E (G) is a set of edges of G such

that G-E has only one component containing edges, then G*/E* is a combinatorial dual of G-E

P a g e 23 | 36
(minus isolated vertices)”, and Theorem 2, G*- E(C)* has two edges which are not in the same

block. As E(C)* is the set of edges incident with a vertex of G*, G* is not

3-connected.

P a g e 24 | 36
 SECTION-3
SOME MORE THEOREMS ON DUALITY

[9]THEOREM 1

A necessary and sufficient condition for two planar graphs G1 and G2 to be duals of each

other is as follows. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the edges in G1 and the edges

in G2 such that a set of edges in G1 forms a circuit if and only if the corresponding set in G2

forms a cut-set.

PROOF
Let us consider a plane representation of a planar graph G. Let us also draw

(geometrically) a dual G* of G. Then consider an arbitrary circuit  in G. Clearly,  will form

some closed simple curve in the plane representation of G- dividing the plane into two areas

(Jordan curve Theorem). Thus the vertices of G* are partitioned into non-empty, mutually

exclusive subsets- one  and the other outside.

In other words, the set of edges  * in G* corresponding to the set  in G is a cut-set in

G*. (No proper subset of  * will be a cut-set in G*). Likewise it is apparent that corresponding

to a cut-set S* in G* there is a unique circuit consisting of the corresponding edge-set S in G such

that S is a circuit. This proves the necessity of the theorem.

To prove the sufficiency, let G be a planar graph and let G be the graph for which there

is a one-to-one correspondence between the cut-sets of G and circuits of G , and vice-versa. Let

G* be a dual graph of G. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the circuits of G and

cut-sets of G, and also between the cut-sets of G and circuits of G*. Therefore, there is one-to-

P a g e 25 | 36
one correspondence between the circuits of G and G*, implying that G and G* are 2-

isomorphic.

By a theorem, “All duals of a planar graph G are 2-isomorphic; and every graph 2-

isomorphic to a dual of G is also a dual of G”, G must be a dual of G.

[7]THEOREM 2
Edges in a plane graph G form a cycle in G if and only if the corresponding dual edges form

a bond in G*.

PROOF
Consider D  E(G). If D contains no cycle in G, then D encloses no region. It remains

possible to reach the unbounded face of G from every face without crossing D. Hence, G*-D*

connected, and D* contains no edge cut.

If D is the edge set of a cycle in G, then the corresponding edge set D*  E(G*) contains

all dual edges joining faces inside D to faces outside D. Thus D* contains an edge cut.

If D contains a cycle and more, then D* contains an edge cut and more.

Thus D* is a minimal edge cut if and only if D is a cycle.

Figure:1

[7]THEOREM 3
The following are equivalent for a plane graph G.

(A) G is bipartite.

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 (B) Every face of G has even length.

(C) The dual graph G* is Eulerian.

PROOF

A  B. A face boundary consists of closed walks. Every odd closed walk contains an odd

cycle. Therefore, in a bipartite plane graph the contributions to the length of faces are all even.

B  A. Let C be a cycle in G. Since G has no crossings, C is laid out as a simple closed curve;

let F be the region enclosed by C. Every region of G is wholly within F or wholly outside F. If we

sum the face lengths for the regions inside F, we obtain an even number. Since each face length

is even. This sum counts each edge of C once. It also counts each edge inside F twice, since each

such edge belongs twice to faces in F. Hence, the parity of the length of C is the same as the parity

of the full sum, which is even.

B  C. The dual graph G* is connected and its vertex degrees are the face lengths of G.

Figure:2

[12]THOREM 4

A graph has a dual if and only if it is planar.

P a g e 27 | 36
PROOF
We need to prove just the “only if” part. That is, we have only to prove that a non-planar

graph does not have a dual. Let G be a non-planar graph. Then G contains K5 or K 3,3 or a graph

homeomorphic to either of these. We have already seen that a graph G can have a dual only if

every subgraph g of G and every homeomorphic to g has a dual. Thus if we can

show that neither K5 nor K 3,3 has a dual, we have proved the theorem. This we shall prove by

contradiction as follows:

(a) Suppose that K 3,3 has a dual D. Observe that the cut-sets in K 3,3 correspond to circuits

in D and vice versa, since K 3,3 has no cut-set consisting of two edges, D has no circuit consisting

of two edges. D contains no pair of parallel edges. Since every circuit in K 3,3 is of length four or

six, D has no cut-set with less than four edges. Therefore, the degree of every vertex in D is at

least four. As D has no parallel edges and the degree of every vertex is at least four, D must have

at least (5  4)/2= 10 edges. This is a contradiction, because K 3,3 has nine edges and so must its

dual. Thus K 3,3 cannot have a dual. Likewise,

(b) Suppose that the graph K5 has a dual H. Note that K5 has (1) 10 edges, (2) no pair of

parallel edges, (3) no cut-set with two edges, and (4) cut-sets with only four or six edges.

Consequently, graph H must have (1) 10 edges, (2) no vertex with degree less than three, (3) no

pair of parallel edges, and (4) circuits of length four and six only. Now graph H contains a hexagon

( a circuit of length six ), and no more than three edges can be added to a hexagon without

creating a circuit of length three or a pair of parallel edges. Since both of these are forbidden in

P a g e 28 | 36
and H has 10 edges, there must be at least seven vertices in at least three. The degree of each of

these vertices is atleast three. This leads to H having at least 11 edges. A contradiction.

P a g e 29 | 36
 [6]CHAPTER-3

SELF- DUAL GRAPHS

SECTION-1
FORMS OF SELF-DUALITY

DEFINITION
A planar graph is isomorphic to its own dual is called a self-dual graph.

Example
K 4 is a Self-dual graph.

Figure: 1

FORMS OF SELF-DUALITY
DEFINITION
Given a planar graph G =(V,E), any regular embedding of the topological realization of G

into a sphere partitions the sphere into regions called the faces of the embedding, and we write

the embedded graph, called a map, as M =(V,E,F). G may have loops and parallel edges.

DEFINITION
Given a map M, we form the dual map, M* by placing a vertex f* in the centre of each

face f, and for each edge e of M bounding two faces f1 and f 2 , we draw a dual edge e* connecting

P a g e 30 | 36
the vertices f1 * and f 2 * and crossing e once transversely. Each vertex v of M will then

correspond to a face v* of M* and we write M* = (F*, E*, V*).

If, the graph G has distinguishable embeddings, then G may have more than one dual

graph, see Figure: 2. In this example a portion of the map (V, E, F) is flipped over on a separating

set of two vertices to form (V, E, F ).

(V, E, F) * (F*, E*, V*)

(V, E, F ) * (F*, E*, V*)

Figure:2

Such a move is called Whitney flip, and the duals of (V, E, F) and (V, E, F  ) are said to

differ by a Whitney twist. If the graph (V, E) is 3-connected, then there is a unique embedding in

the plane and so the dual is determined by the graph alone.

P a g e 31 | 36
 Given a map X = (V, E, F) and its dual X* = (F*, E*, V*), there are three notions of self-

duality. The strongest, map self-duality, requires that X and X* are isomorphic as maps, that is,

there is an isomorphism  : (V, E, F)  (F*, E*, V*) preserving incidences. A weaker notion

requires only a graph isomorphism  : (V, E)  (F*, E*), in which case we say that the map (V, E,

F) is graph self-dual, and we say that G =(V, E) is a self-dual graph.

DEFINITION
A geometric duality is a bijection g: E(G)  E(G*) such that e  E is the edge dual to g(e) 

E(G*). If M is 2-cell, then M is connected; so if M is a 2-cell embedding, then

(M*)*  M (we use * to indicate the geometric dual operation).

DEFINITION
An algebraic duality is a bijection g: E(G)  E( Ĝ ) such that P is a circuit of G if and only if

g(p) is a minimal edge-cut of Ĝ . Given a graph G =(V,E), an algebraic dual of G is a graph Ĝ for

which there exist an algebraic duality g: E(G)  E( Ĝ ).

(a) (b)

P a g e 32 | 36
(c) (d)

Figure 3: A graph and several of its embeddings.

The geometric duals are shown in dotted lines. Embedding b) is map self-dual, c) is

graphically self-dual and d) is algebraically self-dual.

We now define several forms of self-duality. Let G =(V, E) be a graph and let

M=(V, E, F) be a fixed map of G, with geometric dual M* =(F*, E*, V*).

DEFINITION
1. M is map self-dual if M  M*.

2. M is graphically self-dual if (V, E)  (F*, E*).

3. G is algebraically self-dual if G  G*, where Ĝ is some algebraic dual of G.

REMARK
In the literature, the term matroidal or abstract is sometimes used where we use

algebraic.

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 We will use the geometric duality operation and, unless specified, we will describe a graph

as self-dual if it is graphically self-dual. Since, the dual of a graph is always connected, we know

that a self-dual graph is connected.

The following are a few known results about self-dual graphs.

COROLLARY 1

Let M =(V, E, F) be a 2-cell embedding on an orientable surface. If M is self-dual, then E

is even.

PROOF
Since M is self-dual, By Theorem (Euler),

“Let M =(V, E, F) be a 2-cell embedding of a graph in the orientable surface of genus k.

Then, V - E + F = 2-2k”.

 E = 2-2k- V - F

= 2(1-k- V ).

THEOREM 2
The complete graph K n has a self-dual embedding on an orientable surface, if and only

if n  0 or 1 (mod 4).

THEOREM 3
For w  1, there exists a self-dual embedding of some graph G of order n on S n ( w 1) 1 if and

only if n  4w+1.

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 Note that a self-dual graph need not be self-dual on the surface of its genus. A single loop

is planar; however it has a (non 2-cell) self-dual embedding on the torus.

Also note that there are infinitely many self-dual graphs. One such infinite family for the

plane is the wheels. A wheel Wn consists of cycle of length n and a single vertex adjacent to each

vertex on the cycle by means of a single edge called a Spoke. The complete graph on four vertices

is also W3 . See Figure: 4 for W6 .

Fig: 4 The 6-Wheel and its dual

MATROIDS
Matroids may be considered a natural generalization of graphs. Thus when discussing a

family of graphs, we should also consider the matroidal implications.

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DEFINITION
Let S be a finite set, the ground set, and let I be a set of subsets of S, the independent

sets. Then M = ( S , I ) is a matroid if:

1.   I ;

2. If J   J  I , then J   I ; and

3. For all A  S, all maximal independent subsets of A have the same cardinality.

An isomorphism between two matroids M 1 = ( S1 , I1 ) and M 2 = ( S2 , I 2 ) is a bijection  :

S1  S2 such that I  I1 if and only if  (I)  I 2 . If such a  exists, then M 1 and M 2 are isomorphic

denoted M 1  M 2

Given a graph G = (V, E), the cycle matroid M (G) of G is the matroid with ground set E,

and F  E is independent if and only if F is a forest. A matroid M is graphic if there exists a graph

G such that M = M (G).

For a matroid M = (S,I) the dual matroid M * = (S,I*) has ground set S and I  S in I* if

there is a maximal independent set B in M such that I  S\B. A matroid M is

co-graphic if M * is graphic. It is easily shown that if G is a connected planar graph, then M *

(G) = M (G*).

It is well known that G is algebraically self-dual if and only if cycle matroids of G and G*

are isomorphic.

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