New results on upper domatic number of graphs

Abstract

For a graph $G = (V, E)$, a partition $pi = {V_1,$ $V_2,$ $ldots,$ $V_k}$ of the vertex set $V$ is an textit{upper domatic partition} if $V_i$ dominates $V_j$ or $V_j$ dominates $V_i$ or both for every $V_i, V_j in pi$, whenever $i neq j$. The textit{upper domatic number} $D(G)$ is the maximum order of an upper domatic partition. We study the properties of upper domatic number and propose an upper bound in terms of clique number. Further, we discuss the upper domatic number of certain graph classes including unicyclic graphs and power graphs of paths and cycles.