Minimum degree conditions for H-linked graphs

AbstractFor a fixed multigraph H with vertices w1,…,wm, a graph G is H-linked if for every choice of vertices v1,…,vm in G, there exists a subdivision of H in G such that vi is the branch vertex representing wi (for all i). This generalizes the notions of k-linked, k-connected, and k-ordered graphs.Given a connected multigraph H with k edges and minimum degree at least two and n⩾7.5k, we determine the least integer d such that every n-vertex simple graph with minimum degree at least d is H-linked. This value D(H,n) appears to equal the least integer d′ such that every n-vertex graph with minimum degree at least d′ is b(H)-connected, where b(H) is the maximum number of edges in a bipartite subgraph of H

Subdivisions with Distance Constraints in Large Graphs

In this dissertation we are concerned with sharp degree conditions that guarantee the existence of certain types of subdivisions in large graphs. Of particular interest are subdivisions with a certain number of arbitrarily specified vertices and with prescribed path lengths. Our non-standard approach makes heavy use of the Regularity Lemma (Szemerédi, 1978), the Blow-Up Lemma (Komlós, Sárkózy, and Szemerédi, 1994), and the minimum degree panconnectivity criterion (Williamson, 1977).Sharp minimum degree criteria for a graph G to be H-linked have recently been discovered. We define (H,w,d)-linkage, a condition stronger than H-linkage, by including a weighting function w consisting of required lengths for each edge-path of a desired H-subdivision. We establish sharp minimum degree criteria for a large graph G to be (H,w,d)-linked for all nonnegative d. We similarly define the weaker condition (H,S,w,d)-semi-linkage, where S denotes the set of vertices of H whose corresponding vertices in an H-subdivision are arbitrarily specified. We prove similar sharp minimum degree criteria for a large graph G to be (H,S,w,d)-semi-linked for all nonnegativeWe also examine path coverings in large graphs, which could be seen as a special case of (H,S,w)-semi-linkage. In 2000, Enomoto and Ota conjectured that a graph G of order n with degree sum σ2(G) satisfying σ2(G) \u3e n + k - 2 may be partitioned into k paths, each of prescribed order and with a specified starting vertex. We prove the Enomoto-Ota Conjecture for graphs of sufficiently large order

Extremal and Structural Problems of Graphs

In this dissertation, we are interested in studying several parameters of graphs and understanding their extreme values. We begin in Chapter~$2$ with a question on edge colouring. When can a partial proper edge colouring of a graph of maximum degree $\Delta$ be extended to a proper colouring of the entire graph using an `optimal' set of colours? Albertson and Moore conjectured this is always possible provided no two precoloured edges are within distance $2$. The main result of Chapter~$2$ comes close to proving this conjecture. Moreover, in Chapter~$3$, we completely answer the previous question for the class of planar graphs. Next, in Chapter~$4$, we investigate some Ramsey theoretical problems. We determine exactly what minimum degree a graph $G$ must have to guarantee that, for any two-colouring of $E(G)$, we can partition $V(G)$ into two parts where each part induces a connected monochromatic subgraph. This completely resolves a conjecture of Bal and Debiasio. We also prove a `covering' version of this result. Finally, we study another variant of these problems which deals with coverings of a graph by monochromatic components of distinct colours. The following saturation problem proposed by Barrus, Ferrara, Vandenbussche, and Wenger is considered in Chapter~$5$. Given a graph $H$ and a set of colours $\{1,2,\ldots,t\}$ (for some integer $t\geq |E(H)|$), we define $sat_{t}(n, R(H))$ to be the minimum number of $t$-coloured edges in a graph on $n$ vertices which does not contain a rainbow copy of $H$ but the addition of any non-edge in any colour from $\{1,2,\ldots,t\}$ creates such a copy. We prove several results concerning these extremal numbers. In particular, we determine the correct order of $sat_{t}(n, R(H))$, as a function of $n$, for every connected graph $H$ of minimum degree greater than $1$ and for every integer $t\geq e(H)$. In Chapter~$6$, we consider the following question: under what conditions does a Hamiltonian graph on $n$ vertices possess a second cycle of length at least $n-o(n)$? We prove that the `weak' assumption of a minimum degree greater or equal to $3$ guarantees the existence of such a long cycle. We solve two problems related to majority colouring in Chapter~$7$. This topic was recently studied by Kreutzer, Oum, Seymour, van der Zypen and Wood. They raised the problem of determining, for a natural number $k$, the smallest positive integer $m = m(k)$ such that every digraph can be coloured with $m$ colours, where each vertex has the same colour as at most a proportion of $\frac{1}{k}$ of its out-neighbours. Our main theorem states that $m(k) \in \{2k-1, 2k\}$. We study the following problem, raised by Caro and Yuster, in Chapter~$8$. Does every graph $G$ contain a `large' induced subgraph $H$ which has $k$ vertices of degree exactly $\Delta(H)$? We answer in the affirmative an approximate version of this question. Indeed, we prove that, for every $k$, there exists $g(k)$ such that any $n$ vertex graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta$ contains an induced subgraph $H$ with at least $n-g(k)\sqrt{\Delta}$ vertices such that $V(H)$ contains at least $k$ vertices of the same degree $d \ge \Delta(H)-g(k)$. This result is sharp up to the order of $g(k)$. %Subsequently, we investigate a concept called $\textit{path-pairability}$. A graph is said to be path-pairable if for any pairing of its vertices there exist a collection of edge-disjoint paths routing the the vertices of each pair. A question we are concerned here asks whether every planar path pairable graph on $n$ vertices must possess a vertex of degree linear in $n$. Indeed, we answer this question in the affirmative. We also sketch a proof resolving an analogous question for graphs embeddable on surfaces of bounded genus. Finally, in Chapter~$9$, we move on to examine $k$-linked tournaments. A tournament $T$ is said to be $k$-linked if for any two disjoint sets of vertices $\{x_1,\ldots ,x_k\}$ and $\{y_1,\dots,y_k\}$ there are directed vertex disjoint paths $P_1,\dots, P_k$ such that $P_i$ joins $x_i$ to $y_i$ for $i = 1,\ldots, k$. We prove that any $4k$ strongly-connected tournament with sufficiently large minimum out-degree is $k$-linked. This result comes close to proving a conjecture of Pokrovskiy

Separating path systems

We study separating systems of the edges of a graph where each member of the separating system is a path. We conjecture that every $n$-vertex graph admits a separating path system of size $O(n)$ and prove this in certain interesting special cases. In particular, we establish this conjecture for random graphs and graphs with linear minimum degree. We also obtain tight bounds on the size of a minimal separating path system in the case of trees.Comment: 21 pages, fixed misprints, Journal of Combinatoric

Claw-free t-perfect graphs can be recognised in polynomial time

A graph is called t-perfect if its stable set polytope is defined by non-negativity, edge and odd-cycle inequalities. We show that it can be decided in polynomial time whether a given claw-free graph is t-perfect