Independence polynomial and matching polynomial of the Koch network

Abstract

The lattice gas model and the monomer-dimer model are two classical models in statistical mechanics. It is well known that the partition functions of these two models are associated with the independence polynomial and the matching polynomial in graph theory, respectively. Both polynomials have been shown to belong to the “[Formula: see text]-complete” class, which indicate the problems are computationally “intractable”. We consider these two polynomials of the Koch networks which are scale-free with small-world effects. Explicit recurrences are derived, and explicit formulae are presented for the number of independent sets of a certain type.