Disjoint Dominating Sets with a Perfect Matching

Abstract

In this paper, we consider dominating sets $D$ and $D'$ such that $D$ and $D'$ are disjoint and there exists a perfect matching between them. Let $DD_{\textrm{m}}(G)$ denote the cardinality of smallest such sets $D, D'$ in $G$ (provided they exist, otherwise $DD_{\textrm{m}}(G) = \infty$). This concept was introduced in [Klostermeyer et al., Theory and Application of Graphs, 2017] in the context of studying a certain graph protection problem. We characterize the trees $T$ for which $DD_{\textrm{m}}(T)$ equals a certain graph protection parameter and for which $DD_{\textrm{m}}(T) = \alpha(T)$, where $\alpha(G)$ is the independence number of $G$. We also further study this parameter in graph products, e.g., by giving bounds for grid graphs, and in graphs of small independence number.