Mathematics Commons^™

Irreducible K-To-1 Maps Onto Grids, Susan M. Parker

Honors Theses

In this paper we explore the existence of exactly k-to-1 continuous functions between graphs, and more specifically 2-to-1 continuous function between graphs that are irreducibly 2-to-1, meaning that no restriction of the function to a subgraph is 2-to-l. We show how to construct such functions in some general cases, and then more specifically onto rectangular grids. We have in mind an application to distributed networks and signal verification.

Maps Which Preserve Graphs, Van C. Nall

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

In 1976 Eberhart, Fúgate, and Gordh proved that the weakly confluent image of a graph is a graph. A much weaker condition on the map is introduced called partial confluence, and it is shown that the image of a graph is a graph if and only if the map is partially confluent.

In addition, it is shown that certain properties of one-dimensional continua are preserved by partially confluent maps, generalizing theorems of Cook and Lelek, Tymchatyn and Lelek, and Grace and Vought. Also, some continua in addition to graphs are shown to be the images of partially confluent maps only.