Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2008
We consider networks in which both the nodes and the links may fail. We represent the network by an undirected graph G. Vertices of the graph fail with probability p and edges of the graph fail with probability q, where all failures are assumed independent. We shall be concerned with minimising the probability P(G) that G is disconnected for graphs with given numbers of vertices and edges. We show how to construct these optimal graphs in many cases when p and q are ‘small’.