Constructing indecomposable 1-factorizations of the complete multigraph (Q1182917)

The complete multigraph \(\lambda K_{2n}\) has \(2n\) vertices and \(\lambda\) edges joining each pair of vertices. In this paper we examine 1-factorizations of \(\lambda K_{2n}\). Observe that a 1-factorization of \(\lambda K_{2n}\) is equivalent to a collection of 1-factors of \(K_{2n}\) such that every edge of \(K_{2n}\) appears in exactly \(\lambda\) 1-factors. This collection of 1-factors is simple if no 1- factor is repeated. It is indecomposable if no subset of 1-factors contains each edge \(\lambda'\) times where \(1\leq\lambda'\leq\lambda-1\). An indecomposable 1-factorization of \(\lambda K_{2n}\) is denoted \(\text{IOF}(2n,\lambda)\). In Section 1 we construct an \(\text{IOF}(2(\lambda+p),\lambda)\) for all \(\lambda\) where \(p\) is the smallest prime not dividing \(\lambda\). As a corollary we get a simple indecomposable 1-factorization of \(\lambda K_{2n}\) for all \(2n\geq 4(\lambda+4)\). In Section 2 we give constructions for indecomposable 1- factorizations of \(\lambda K_ n\) for some small values of \(\lambda\).