Hyperbolicity in the corona and join of graphs

Abstract

If X is a geodesic metric space and $x_1,x_2,x_3\in X$, a {\it geodesic triangle} $T=\{x_1,x_2,x_3\}$ is the union of the three geodesics $[x_1x_2]$, $[x_2x_3]$ and $[x_3x_1]$ in $X$. The space $X$ is $\delta$-\emph{hyperbolic} $($in the Gromov sense$)$ if any side of $T$ is contained in a $\delta$-neighborhood of the union of the two other sides, for every geodesic triangle $T$ in $X$. If $X$ is hyperbolic, we denote by $\delta(X)$ the sharp hyperbolicity constant of $X$, i.e. $\delta(X)=\inf\{\delta\ge 0: \, X \, \text{ is $\delta$-hyperbolic}\,\}\,.$ Some previous works characterize the hyperbolic product graphs (for the Cartesian product, strong product and lexicographic product) in terms of properties of the factor graphs. In this paper we characterize the hyperbolic product graphs for graph join $G_1\uplus G_2$ and the corona $G_1\diamond G_2$: $G_1\uplus G_2$ is always hyperbolic, and $G_1\diamond G_2$ is hyperbolic if and only if $G_1$ is hyperbolic. Furthermore, we obtain simple formulae for the hyperbolicity constant of the graph join $G_1\uplus G_2$ and the corona $G_1\diamond G_2$.