Distinguishing number and distinguishing index of some operations on graphs

Saeid Alikhani, Samaneh Soltani

Published 2016-05-23Version 1

The distinguishing number (index) $D(G)$ ($D'(G)$) of a graph $G$ is the least integer $d$ such that $G$ has an vertex labeling (edge labeling) with $d$ labels that is preserved only by a trivial automorphism. We examine the effects on $D(G)$ and $D'(G)$ when $G$ is modified by operations on vertex and edge of $G$. Let $G$ be a connected graph of order $n\geq 3$. We show that $-1\leq D(G-v)-D(G)\leq D(G)$, where $G-v$ denotes the graph obtained from $G$ by removal of a vertex $v$ and all edges incident to $v$ and these inequalities are true for the distinguishing index. Also we prove that $|D(G-e)-D(G)|\leq 2$ and $-1 \leq D'(G-e)-D'(G)\leq 2$, where $G-e$ denotes the graph obtained from $G$ by simply removing the edge $e$. Finally we consider the vertex contraction and the edge contraction of $G$ and prove that the edge contraction decrease the distinguishing number (index) of $G$ by at most one and increase by at most $3D(G)$ ($3D'(G)$).