Spanning Trees with Many Leaves

Abstract

A connected graph having large minimum vertex degree must have a spanning tree with many leaves. In particular, let $l( n,k )$ be the maximum integer m such that every connected n-vertex graph with minimum degree at least k has a spanning tree with at least m leaves. Then $l( n,3 )\geqq n/4 + 2, l( n,4 )\geqq ( 2n + 8 )/5,$ and $l( n,k )\leqq n - 3\lfloor n/( k + 1 ) \rfloor + 2$ for all k. The lower bounds are proved by an algorithm that constructs a spanning tree with at least the desired number of leaves. Finally, $l( n,k )\geqq ( 1 - b \ln k/k )n$ for large k, again proved algorithmically, where b is any constant exceeding 2.5.