On the edge-toughness of a graph. I (Q1263604)

The edge-toughness, \(\tau_ 1(T)\) of a graph G is defined in a refined way and it is proved that \(p\lambda (G)/2(p-1)\leq \tau_ 1(G)\leq \lambda (G),\) for any graph G of order p. It is observed that these bounds are best possible. Under special conditions, \(\tau_ 1(G)\) is expressed as a minimum of certain known quantities. Given any two positive integers r and s. With \(r/2<s\leq r,\) it is shown that there exists a graph with \(\lambda (G)=r\), \(\tau_ 1(G)=s\) and G can be factored into s spanning trees.