Even cycles and even 2-factors in the line graph of a simple graph

Let G be a connected graph with an even number of edges. We show that if the subgraph of G induced by the vertices of odd degree has a perfect matching, then the line graph of G has a 2-factor whose connected components are cycles of even length (an even 2-factor). For a cubic graphG, we also give a necessary and sufficient condition so that the corresponding line graph L(G) has an even cycle decomposition of index 3, i.e., the edge-set of L(G) can be partitioned into three 2-regular subgraphs whose connected components are cycles of even length. The more general problem of the existence of even cycle decompositions of index m in 2d-regular graphs is also addressed

An Even 2-Factor in the Line Graph of a Cubic Graph

An even 2-factor is one such that each cycle is of even length. A 4- regular graph G is 4-edge-colorable if and only if G has two edge-disjoint even 2- factors whose union contains all edges in G. It is known that the line graph of a cubic graph without 3-edge-coloring is not 4-edge-colorable. Hence, we are interested in whether those graphs have an even 2-factor. Bonisoli and Bonvicini proved that the line graph of a connected cubic graph G with an even number of edges has an even 2-factor, if G has a perfect matching [Even cycles and even 2-factors in the line graph of a simple graph, Electron. J. Combin. 24 (2017), P4.15]. In this paper, we extend this theorem to the line graph of a connected cubic graph G satisfying certain conditions