Locating sets and numbers of graphs associated to commutative rings

Abstract

For a graph G(V, E) with order n ≥ 2, the locating code of a vertex v is a finite vector representing distances of v with respect to vertices of some ordered subset W of V(G). The set W is a locating set of G(V, E) if distinct vertices have distinct codes. A locating set containing a minimum number of vertices is a minimum locating set for G(V, E). The locating number denoted by loc (G) is the number of vertices in the minimum locating set. Let R be a commutative ring with identity 1 ≠ 0, the zero-divisor graph denoted by Γ(R), is the (undirected) graph whose vertices are the nonzero zero-divisors of R with two distinct vertices joined by an edge when the product of vertices is zero. We introduce and investigate locating numbers in zero-divisor graphs of a commutative ring R. We then extend our definition to study and characterize the locating numbers of an ideal based zero-divisor graph of a commutative ring R.