A result on fractional \((a,b,k)\)-critical covered graphs (Q2240647)

A fractional \([a,b]\)-factor of a graph \(G\) is a function \(h:E(G) \rightarrow [0,1]\) such that, for any \(v \in V(G)\), we have \(a \le \sum_{e \ni v} f(e) \le b\). A graph \(G\) is fractional \([a,b]\)-covered if, for each \(e \in E(G)\), it has a fractional \([a,b]\)-factor \(h\) with \(h(e)=1\). This paper considers an additional parameter \(k\) and the condition of \(G\) being fractional \((a,b,k)\)-critical covered if the subgraph obtained by deleting any \(k\) vertices from \(G\) is fractional \([a,b]\)-covered. \textit{S. Zhou} et al. showed in [Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 81, No. 3, 473--480 (2010; Zbl 1203.05129)] that, given an integer \(r \ge 1\), a sufficient condition for \(G\) to have a fractional \(r\)-factor (\(a=b=r\) in the above definition) is \(n \ge 6r-12+\frac{6}{r}\) and, for every \(X \subseteq V(G)\), \[ \begin{cases} |N_G(X)| = n &\text{if } |X| \ge \lfloor \frac{rn}{2r-1} \rfloor; \\ |N_G(X)| \ge \frac{2r-1}{r}|X| & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases} \] Loosely speaking, this condition says that \(|N_G(X)|\) is roughly \(2|X|\). This article extends this result to the context of fractional \((a,b,k)\)-critical covered graphs, with a similar two-case condition on the neighborhood sizes of subsets \(X \subseteq V(G)\). This result is given in Theorem 1.2. Special cases when \(k=0\) or \(a=b\) are stated as corollaries of this. The main theorem is proved in Section 2. The proof relies on a result from \textit{Z. Li} et al. [Math. Appl. 16, No. 1, 148--154 (2003; Zbl 1032.05113)]. Later, in Section 3, a construction is given which shows the stated cases for \(|X|\) are necessary. Reviewer's remark: Please note that reference [\textit{S. Wang} and \textit{W. Zhang}, Probl. Inf. Transm. 56, No. 3, 270--277 (2020; Zbl 1458.05221); translation from Probl. Peredachi Inf. 56, No. 5, 77--85 (2020)] in the bibliography is very similar to this paper, with only some minor changes to notation and presentation.