Windmill graph
Graph family made by joining complete graphs at a universal node

In the mathematical field of graph theory, the windmill graph Wd(k,n) is an undirected graph constructed for k ≥ 2 and n ≥ 2 by joining n copies of the complete graph Kk at a shared universal vertex. That is, it is a 1-clique-sum of these complete graphs.
01Properties
It has n(k − 1) + 1 vertices and nk(k − 1)/2 edges, girth 3 (if k > 2), radius 1 and diameter 2. It has vertex connectivity 1 because its central vertex is an articulation point; however, like the complete graphs from which it is formed, it is (k − 1)-edge-connected. It is trivially perfect and a block graph.

02Special cases
By construction, the windmill graph Wd(3,n) is the friendship graph Fn, the windmill graph Wd(2,n) is the star graph Sn and the windmill graph Wd(3,2) is the butterfly graph.
03Labeling and colouring
The windmill graph has chromatic number k and chromatic index n(k − 1). Its chromatic polynomial can be deduced from the chromatic polynomial of the complete graph and is equal to
The windmill graph Wd(k,n) is proved not graceful if k > 5. In 1979, Bermond has conjectured that Wd(4,n) is graceful for all n ≥ 4. Through an equivalence with perfect difference families, this has been proved for n ≤ 1000. Bermond, Kotzig, and Turgeon proved that Wd(k,n) is not graceful when k = 4 and n = 2 or n = 3, and when k = 5 and n = 2. The windmill Wd(3,n) is graceful if and only if n ≡ 0 (mod 4) or n ≡ 1 (mod 4).
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Windmill graph”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Windmill graph Wd(5,4).svg by Koko90, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Windmill graphs.svg by Koko90, CC BY-SA 3.0
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