Maximal independent sets on a grid graph

Abstract

An independent vertex set of a graph is a set of vertices of the graph in which no two vertices are adjacent, and a maximal independent set is one that is not a proper subset of any other independent set. In this paper we count the number of maximal independent sets of vertices on a complete rectangular grid graph. More precisely, we provide a recursive matrix-relation producing the partition function with respect to the number of vertices. The asymptotic behavior of the maximal hard square entropy constant is also provided. We adapt the state matrix recursion algorithm, recently invented by the author to answer various two-dimensional regular lattice model problems in enumerative combinatorics and statistical mechanics. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.