On separation pairs and split components of biconnected graphs

Abstract

The decomposition of a biconnected graph G into its triconnected components is fundamental in graph theory and has a wide range of applications. Based on a palm tree of G, the algorithm by Hopcroft and Tarjan is able to compute them in linear time if some corrections are applied. Today, the algorithm is still considered very hard to understand and proofs of its correctness are technical and challenging. The article at hand provides a more comprehensive description of the algorithm, making it easier to understand and implement. Its correctness is validated by explicitly mapping the algorithmic detection criteria to the graph-theoretic characterization of type-1 and type-2 separation pairs. Further, it reveals further errors and inaccuracies in the common definitions. This includes the description and proofs of further properties and relationships of separation pairs. The presented results also answer the question whether and under which preconditions type-1 and type-2 pairs can be computed separately from each other