A Comparison between the Metric Dimension and Zero Forcing Number of Trees and Unicyclic Graphs

The metric dimension dim(G)of a graph G is the minimum number of vertices such that every vertex of G is uniquely determined by its vector of distances to the chosen vertices.The zero forcing number Z(G)of a graph G is the minimum cardinality of a set S of black vertices(whereas vertices in V(G)\S are colored white)such that V(G)is turned black after finitely many applications of"the color-change rule":a white vertex is converted black if it is the only white neighbor of a black vertex.We show that dim(T)≤Z(T)for a tree T,and that dim(G)≤Z(G)+1 if G is a unicyclic graph;along the way,we characterize trees T attaining dim(T)=Z(T).For a general graph G,we introduce the"cycle rank conjecture".We conclude with a proof of dim(T)-2≤dim(T+e)≤dim(T)+1 for e∈E(T).