Strong equality of domination parameters in trees

Abstract

We study the concept of strong equality of domination parameters. Let P₁ and P₂ be properties of vertex subsets of a graph, and assume that every subset of V(G) with property P₂ also has property P₁. Let ψ₁(G) and ψ₂(G), respectively, denote the minimum cardinalities of sets with properties P₁ and P₂, respectively. Then ψ₁(G)⩽ψ₂(G). If ψ₁(G)=ψ₂(G) and every ψ₁(G)-set is also a ψ₂(G)-set, then we say ψ₁(G) strongly equals ψ₂(G), written ψ₁(G)≡ψ₂(G). We provide a constructive characterization of the trees T such that γ(T)≡i(T), where γ(T) and i(T) are the domination and independent domination numbers, respectively. A constructive characterization of the trees T for which γ(T)=γ_t(T), where γ_t(T) denotes the total domination number of T, is also presented.