Switching in one-factorisations of complete graphs (Q405262)

Summary: We define two types of switchings between one-factorisations of complete graphs, called factor-switching and vertex-switching. For each switching operation and for each \(n\leq 12\), we build a switching graph that records the transformations between isomorphism classes of one-factorisations of \(K_{n}\). We establish various parameters of our switching graphs, including order, size, degree sequence, clique number and the radius of each component.{ }As well as computing data for \(n\leq12\), we demonstrate several properties that hold for one-factorisations of \(K_{n}\) for general \(n\). We show that such factorisations have a parity which is not changed by factor-switching, and this leads to disconnected switching graphs. We also characterise the isolated vertices that arise from an absence of switchings. For factor-switching the isolated vertices are perfect one-factorisations, while for vertex-switching the isolated vertices are closely related to atomic Latin squares.