Double Italian domination in trees

Abstract

Let $G$ be a graph with vertex set $V=V(G)$. A double Roman dominating function on a graph $G$ is a function $f:V\to \{0,1,2,3\}$ satisfying the conditions that if $f(v)=0$, then vertex $v$ must have at least two neighbors in $V_2$ or one neighbor in $V_3$, if $f(v)=1$, then vertex $v$ must have at least one neighbor in $V_2\cup V_3$. The weight of a double Roman dominating function $f$ is the sum $f(V)={\sum }_{v\in V}f(v)$, and the double Roman domination number ${\hat{I}}_{dR}^3(G)$ is the minimum weight of a double Roman dominating function on $G$. A double Italian dominating function on a graph $G$ is a function $f:V\to \{0,1,2,3\}$ satisfying the condition that for every vertex $u\in V$, if $f(u)\in \{0,1\}$, then ${\sum }_{v\in N[u]}f(v)\ge 3$. The double Roman domination number ${\hat{I}}_{dI}^3(G)$ is the minimum weight of a double Italian dominating function on $G$. Mojdeh and Volkmann [D.A. Mojdeh and L. Volkmann, Roman {3}-domination (double Italian domination), Discrete Appl. Math. 283 (2020), 555--564] proved that ${\hat{I}}_{dI}^3(T)={\hat{I}}_{dR}^3(T)$ for any tree $T$. However, we find that there is a minor issue in the proof. In this paper, we first prove that ${\hat{I}}_{dI}^3(T)\ne {\hat{I}}_{dR}^3(T)$. Subsequently, we present a sharp bound on the double Italian domination number of any non-trivial tree $T$, and characterize the trees attaining this bound.

9 pages