New mixed cages, bounds and computational results

Abstract

An $(r,z,g)$-mixed cage is a mixed graph that is $r$-regular in edges, $z$-regular in arcs, of girth $g$ and of minimum order $n=n(r,z,g)$. We give a general lower bound for $n(r,z,g)$. In the case $g=3$, we determine the exact value $n(r,z,3)=r+2z+1$. For $g=4$ we give two improved lower bounds and we determine the exact value $n(r,z,4)=2r+4z$ for $r\ge 2z-2$. We also present computational results, obtaining mixed cages and computational lower bounds by means of exhaustive backtracking searches with symmetry reductions. Moreover, we give an upper bound for $n(1,z,g)$ that matches all our computed values.