End spaces of graphs are normal

We show that the topological space of any infinite graph and its ends is normal. In particular, end spaces themselves are normal.Comment: 8 page

Approximating infinite graphs by normal trees

We show that every connected graph can be approximated by a normal tree, up to some arbitrarily small error phrased in terms of neighbourhoods around its ends. The existence of such approximate normal trees has consequences of both combinatorial and topological nature. On the combinatorial side, we show that a graph has a normal spanning tree as soon as it has normal spanning trees locally at each end; i.e., the only obstruction for a graph to having a normal spanning tree is an end for which none of its neighbourhoods has a normal spanning tree. On the topological side, we show that the end space $\Omega(G)$, as well as the spaces $|G| = G \cup \Omega(G)$ naturally associated with a graph $G$, are always paracompact. This gives unified and short proofs for a number of results by Diestel, Spr\"ussel and Polat, and answers an open question about metrizability of end spaces by Polat.Comment: 9 page

Countably determined ends and graphs

The directions of an infinite graph $G$ are a tangle-like description of its ends: they are choice functions that choose compatibly for all finite vertex sets $X\subseteq V(G)$ a component of $G-X$. Although every direction is induced by a ray, there exist directions of graphs that are not uniquely determined by any countable subset of their choices. We characterise these directions and their countably determined counterparts in terms of star-like substructures or rays of the graph. Curiously, there exist graphs whose directions are all countably determined but which cannot be distinguished all at once by countably many choices. We structurally characterise the graphs whose directions can be distinguished all at once by countably many choices, and we structurally characterise the graphs which admit no such countably many choices. Our characterisations are phrased in terms of normal trees and tree-decompositions. Our four (sub)structural characterisations imply combinatorial characterisations of the four classes of infinite graphs that are defined by the first and second axiom of countability applied to their end spaces: the two classes of graphs whose end spaces are first countable or second countable, respectively, and the complements of these two classes.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Weak geodesic topology and fixed finite subgraph theorems in infinite partial cubes I. Topologies and the geodesic convexity

AbstractThe weak geodesic topology on the vertex set of a partial cube G is the finest weak topology on V(G) endowed with the geodesic convexity. We prove the equivalence of the following properties: (i) the space V(G) is compact; (ii) V(G) is weakly countably compact; (iii) the vertex set of any ray of G has a limit point; (iv) any concentrated subset of V(G) (i.e. a set A such that any two infinite subsets of A cannot be separated by deleting finitely many vertices) has a finite positive number of limit points. Moreover, if V(G) is compact, then it is scattered. We characterize the partial cubes for which the weak geodesic topology and the geodesic topology (see [N. Polat, Graphs without isometric rays and invariant subgraph properties I. J. Graph Theory27 (1998), 99–109]) coincide, and we show that the class of these particular partial cubes is closed under Cartesian products, retracts and gated amalgams

A representation theorem for end spaces of infinite graphs

End spaces of infinite graphs sit at the interface between graph theory, group theory and topology. They arise as the boundary of an infinite graph in a standard sense generalising the theory of the Freudenthal boundary developed by Freudenthal and Hopf in the 1940's for infinite groups. A long-standing quest in infinite graph theory with a rich body of literature seeks to describe the possible end structures of graphs by a set of low-complexity representatives. In this paper we present a solution to this fifty-year-old problem by showing that every end space is homeomorphic to the end space of some (uniform graph on a) special order tree.Comment: 23 pages. V2 adds a moreover-part to Theorem 3.

A tree-of-tangles theorem for infinite tangles

Carmesin has extended Robertson and Seymour's tree-of-tangles theorem to the infinite tangles of locally finite infinite graphs. We extend it further to the infinite tangles of all infinite graphs. Our result has a number of applications for the topology of infinite graphs, such as their end spaces and their compactifications.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure