New graceful diameter-6 trees by transfers

Abstract

Given a graph $G$, a labeling of $G$ is an injective function $f:V(G)\rightarrow\mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}$. Under the labeling $f$, the label of a vertex $v$ is $f(v)$, and the induced label of an edge $uv$ is $|f(u) - f(v)|$. The labeling $f$ is graceful if the labels of the vertices are $\{0, 1, \ldots , |V(G)| - 1\}$, and the induced labels of the edges are distinct. The graph $G$ is graceful if it has a graceful labeling. The Graceful Tree Conjecture, introduced by Kotzig in the late 1960's, states that all trees are graceful. It is an open problem whether every diameter-6 tree has a graceful labeling. In this paper, we prove that if $T$ is a tree with central vertex and root $v$, such that each vertex not in the last two levels has an odd number of children, and $T$ satisfies one of the following conditions (a)-(e), then $T$ has a graceful labeling $f$ with $f(v) = 0$: (a) $T$ is a diameter-6 complete tree; (b) $T$ is a diameter-6 tree such that no two leaves of distance 2 from $v$ are siblings, and each leaf of distance 2 from $v$ has a sibling with an even number of children; (c) $T$ is a diameter-$2r$ complete tree, such that the number of vertices of distance $r - 1$ from $v$, with an even number of children, is not $3\pmod{4}$; (d) $T$ is a diameter-$2r$ tree, such that the number of vertices of distance $r - 1$ from $v$, with an even number of children, is not $3\pmod{4}$, no two leaves of distance $r - 1$ from $v$ are siblings, and each leaf of distance $r - 1$ from $v$ has a sibling with an even number of children; (e) $T$ is a diameter-6 tree, such that each internal vertex has an odd number of children. In particular, all depth-3 trees of which each internal vertex has an odd number of children are graceful.