Graphs which satisfy a Vizing-like bound for power domination of Cartesian products

TL;DR

This paper investigates the power domination number in graphs, introduces a new vertex partition for bounds, and proves a Vizing-like inequality for Cartesian products, especially for trees.

Contribution

It introduces a new vertex partition method to bound the power domination number and establishes a Vizing-like bound for Cartesian products of graphs, notably trees.

Findings

New lower bound for power domination number using vertex partition

Proved Vizing-like inequality for Cartesian products of trees

Established bounds for power domination in graph products

Abstract

Power domination is a two-step observation process that is used to monitor power networks and can be viewed as a combination of domination and zero forcing. Given a graph $G$, a subset $S\subseteq V(G)$ that can observe all vertices of $G$ using this process is known as a power dominating set of $G$, and the power domination number of $G$, $\gamma_P(G)$, is the minimum number of vertices in a power dominating set. We introduce a new partition on the vertices of a graph to provide a lower bound for the power domination number. We also consider the power domination number of the Cartesian product of two graphs, $G \Box H$, and show certain graphs satisfy a Vizing-like bound with regards to the power domination number. In particular, we prove that for any two trees $T_1$ and $T_2$, $\gamma_P(T_1)\gamma_P(T_2) \leq \gamma_P(T_1 \Box T_2)$.