Decomposition of the n-Dimensional Lattice-Graph into Hamiltonian Lines

Abstract

A graph G consists, for the purposes of this paper, of two disjoint sets V(G), E(G), whose elements are called vertices and edges respectively of G, together with a relationship whereby with each edge is associated an unordered pair of distinct vertices (called its end-vertices) which the edge is said to join, and whereby no two vertices are joined by more than one edge. An edge γ and vertex ξ are incident if ξ is an end-vertex of γ. A monomorphism [isomorphism] of a graph G into [onto] a graph H is a one-to-one function φ from V(G)∪E(G) into [onto] V(H)∪E(H) such that φ(V(G))⊂V(H), φ(E(G))⊂E(H) and an edge and vertex of G are incident in G if and only if their images under φ are incident in H. G and H are isomorphic (in symbols, G ≅ H) if there exists an isomorphism of G onto H. A subgraph of G is a graph H such that V(H) ⊂ V(G), E(H)⊂E(G) and an edge and vertex of H are incident in H if and only if they are incident in G; if V(H) = V(G), H is a spanning subgraph. A collection of graphs are edge-disjoint if no two of them have an edge in common. A decomposition of G is a set of edge-disjoint subgraphs of G which between them include all the edges and vertices of G. Ln is a graph whose vertices are the lattice points of n-dimensional Euclidean space, two vertices A and B being joined by an edge if and only if AB is of unit length (and therefore necessarily parallel to one of the co-ordinate axes). An endless Hamiltonian line of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G which is isomorphic to L1. The object of this paper is to prove that Ln is decomposable into n endless Hamiltonian lines, a result previously established (1) for the case where n is a power of 2.