Generalizations of the matching polynomial to the multivariate independence polynomial (Q2328133)

Two of the most celebrated results concerning matching polynomials are due to \textit{O. J. Heilmann} and \textit{E. H. Lieb} [Commun. Math. Phys. 25, 190--232 (1972; Zbl 0228.05131)] and show that all of the roots are real and give an upper bound on their absolute value. The matching polynomial of a graph is equal to the independence polynomial of its line graph, so the Heilmann-Lieb theorem implies that the independence polynomial of a line graph is real-rooted. More recently \textit{M. Chudnovsky} and \textit{P. Seymour} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 97, No. 3, 350--357 (2007; Zbl 1119.05075)] generalized this by showing that the roots of the independence polynomial of a claw-free graph are real. In the present paper, the authors give analogous results for multivariate polynomials. A polynomial \(p(\mathbf x)\) is said to be same phase stable if for each real vector \(\mathbf v\), the univariate restriction \(p(z)=p(z\mathbf v)\) has only real roots. The multivariate independence polynomial of a graph \(G\) has a variable \(x_v\) for each vertex \(v\) of a graph and is defined by \(I(G)(\mathbf x) = \sum_{S} \prod_{v \in S} x_v\), where the sum is over subsets of \(V(G)\) that are independent. \textit{A. Engström} [JIPAM, J. Inequal. Pure Appl. Math. 8, No. 2, Paper No. 34, 5 p. (2007; Zbl 1370.52007)] proved that if a graph is claw-free then its multivariate independence polynomial is same-phase stable, a result which implies Chudnovsky and Seymour's theorem [loc. cit.]. The authors give a simpler and self-contained proof by generalizing Chudnovsky and Seymour's notion of compatibility for real-rootedness to same-phase stability, and also prove the converse, consequently clarifying the role of the claw in the real-rootedness of independence polynomials. The authors then extend the Heilmann-Lieb bound on the roots of the matching polynomial to the roots of the independence polynomial of a large class of claw-free graphs, namely those claw-free graphs in which there is a clique \(K\) in which the neighbours outside of \(K\) of each vertex in K form a clique. This condition arises naturally by considering the vertices in a line graph corresponding to edges with a mutually common endpoint.