Gray Code Results for Acyclic Orientations

Given a graph G, the acyclic orientation graph of G, denoted AO(G), is the graph whose vertices are the acyclic orientations of G, and two acyclic orientations are joined by an edge in AO(G) iff they differ by the reversal of a single edge. A hamilton cycle in AO(G) gives a Gray code listing of the acyclic orientations of G. We prove that for certain graphs G, AO(G) is hamiltonian, and give explicit constructions of hamilton cycles or paths. This work includes Gray codes for listing the acyclic orientations of trees, complete graphs, odd cycles, chordal graphs, odd ladder graphs, and odd wheel graphs. We also give examples of graphs whose acyclic orientation graph is not hamiltonian. We show that the acyclic orientations of even cycles, some complete bipartite graphs, even ladder graphs, and even wheel graphs cannot be listed by the defined Gray code.