Characterizing the fullerene graphs with the minimum forcing number 3 (Q2656966)

In the present paper, the authors investigate the minimum forcing number of fullerenes. To state the results, some definitions are needed. A \textit{fullerene graph} (simply \textit{fullerene}) \(G\) is a \(3\)-connected 3-regular plane graph such that every face is bounded by either a pentagon or a hexagon. By Euler's formula, it follows that the number of pentagonal faces of a fullerene is exactly \(12\). It is well-known that a fullerene graph with \(n\) vertices exists for \(n = 20\) and for all even \(n \geq 24\). A \textit{perfect matching} of a graph \(G\) is a set of independent edges covering all vertices of \(G\) (in chemical literature, perfect matchings are known as \textit{Kekule structures}). Let \(G\) be a graph with a perfect matching \(M\). A set \(S \subseteq M\) is called a \textit{forcing set} of \(M\) if \(S\) is not contained in any other perfect matching of \(G\). The \textit{forcing number} of \(M\) is defined as the minimum size of all forcing sets of \(M\) (this concept was first proposed under different name in organic chemistry in correlation with resonance structure). The \textit{minimum forcing number} of G, denoted by \(f(G)\), is the minimum value of the forcing numbers of all perfect matchings of \(G\). On the other hand, the \textit{anti-forcing number} of a graph \(G\), denoted by \(af(G)\), is the smallest number of edges whose removal results in a subgraph with a unique perfect matching. In [\textit{H. Zhang} et al., Discrete Appl. Math. 158, No. 5, 573--582 (2010; Zbl 1215.05139)] it was stated that the minimum forcing number of any fullerene graph is bounded below by 3. However, it turns out that for a unique fullerene \(F_{24}\) of order 24 the minimum forcing number equals 2. So in the present paper, the mentioned result is corrected as the following theorem. \textbf{Theorem.} \textit{Let \(F\) be a fullerene graph. Then \(f(F ) \geq 3\) except for \(F_{24}\).} Moreover, all fullerenes with the minimum forcing number 3 are characterized. In particular, it is shown that a fullerene graph has the minimum forcing number 3 if and only if it is isomorphic to some \(W_i\), \(i \in \lbrace 1, \ldots, 81 \rbrace\) (figures 24 and 27 in the paper), or its order is not 24 and can be constructed from some valid initial generalized patches by implementing operations \(O_1\) to \(O_7\). Finally, the following results are included. \textbf{Corollary.} \textit{Except for fullerene \(F_{24}\), each fullerene with anti-forcing number 4 has the minimum forcing number 3.} \textbf{Corollary.} \textit{For any even \(n \geq 20\) (\(n \neq 22, 24\)), there is a fullerene \(F\) of order \(n\) such that \(f(F)=3\).}