Recurrence and coefficient inequality for the partial Petrial polynomial of graphs

Abstract

The partial Petrial polynomial of a ribbon graph, introduced by Gross, Mansour and Tucker, enumerates partial Petrials by Euler genus. Recently, Deng, Jin and Yan defined an analogue for grafts and showed that it can be expressed as a rank-generating function of an adjacency matrix. In this paper we first prove a recurrence relation that reduces the partial Petrial polynomial of a graph with respect to an arbitrary edge, expressing it as a sum of three terms involving graphs obtained by local complementation and edge pivoting. This recurrence extends the known leaf-reduction formula to vertices of any positive degree. Second, using this recurrence we compare the lowest and highest degree coefficients of the polynomial. We prove that the lowest coefficient is always at most the highest coefficient, and that equality holds if and only if the graph has no edges.