\(\beta\)-differential of a graph (Q2333412)

Summary: Let \(G = (V, E)\) be a simple graph with vertex set \(V\) and edge set \(E\). Let \(D\) be a subset of \(V\), and let \(B(D)\) be the set of neighbours of \(D\) in \(V \setminus D\). The \textit{differential} \(\partial(D)\) of \(D\) is defined as \(| B(D) | - | D |\). The maximum value of \(\partial(D)\) taken over all subsets \(D \subseteq V\) is the \textit{differential} \(\partial(G)\) of \(G\). For \(\beta \in(- 1, \Delta)\), the \(\beta\)-\textit{differential} \(\partial_\beta(G)\) of \(G\) is the maximum value of \(\{| B(D) | - \beta | D | : D \subseteq V \}\). Motivated by an influential maximization problem, in this paper we study the \(\beta\)-differential of \(G\).