From the Ising and Potts models to the general graph homomorphism polynomial

Abstract: In this note we study some of the properties of the generating polynomial for homomorphisms from a graph to at complete weighted graph on $q$ vertices. We discuss how this polynomial relates to a long list of other well known graph polynomials and the partition functions for different spin models, many of which are specialisations of the homomorphism polynomial. We also identify the smallest graphs which are not determined by their homomorphism polynomials for $q=2$ and $q=3$ and compare this with the corresponding minimal examples for the $U$-polynomial, which generalizes the well known Tutte-polynomal.