The number of quasi-trees in fans and wheels (Q2692186)

Summary: We extend the classical relation between the \(2n\)-th Fibonacci number and the number of spanning trees of the \(n\)-fan graph to ribbon graphs. More importantly, we establish a relation between the \(n\)-associated Mersenne number and the number of quasi trees of the \(n\)-wheel ribbon graph. The calculations are performed by computing the determinant of a matrix associated with ribbon graphs. These theorems are also proven using contraction and deletion in ribbon graphs. The results provide neat and symmetric combinatorial interpretations of these well-known sequences. Furthermore, they are refined by giving two families of abelian groups whose orders are the Fibonacci and associated Mersenne numbers.