On characterization of Hamiltonian graphs

A necessary and a sufficient condition are derived for a graph to be non-Hamiltonian

Disjointness Graphs of segments in R^2 are almost all Hamiltonian

Let P be a set of n >= 2 points in general position in R^2. The edge disjointness graph D(P) of P is the graph whose vertices are all the closed straight line segments with endpoints in P, two of which are adjacent in D(P) if and only if they are disjoint. In this note, we give a full characterization of all those edge disjointness graphs that are hamiltonian. More precisely, we shall show that (up to order type isomorphism) there are exactly 8 instances of P for which D(P) is not hamiltonian. Additionally, from one of these 8 instances, we derive a counterexample to a criterion for the existence of hamiltonian cycles due to A. D. Plotnikov in 1998

Contracting to a Longest Path in H-Free Graphs

The Path Contraction problem has as input a graph G and an integer k and is to decide if G can be modified to the k-vertex path P_k by a sequence of edge contractions. A graph G is H-free for some graph H if G does not contain H as an induced subgraph. The Path Contraction problem restricted to H-free graphs is known to be NP-complete if H = claw or H = P? and polynomial-time solvable if H = P?. We first settle the complexity of Path Contraction on H-free graphs for every H by developing a common technique. We then compare our classification with a (new) classification of the complexity of the problem Long Induced Path, which is to decide for a given integer k, if a given graph can be modified to P_k by a sequence of vertex deletions. Finally, we prove that the complexity classifications of Path Contraction and Cycle Contraction for H-free graphs do not coincide. The latter problem, which has not been fully classified for H-free graphs yet, is to decide if for some given integer k, a given graph contains the k-vertex cycle C_k as a contraction

Contracting to a longest path in H-free graphs

The Path Contraction problem has as input a graph G and an integer k and is to decide if G can be modified to the k-vertex path P_k by a sequence of edge contractions. A graph G is H-free for some graph H if G does not contain H as an induced subgraph. The Path Contraction problem restricted to H-free graphs is known to be NP-complete if H = claw or H = P₆ and polynomial-time solvable if H = P₅. We first settle the complexity of Path Contraction on H-free graphs for every H by developing a common technique. We then compare our classification with a (new) classification of the complexity of the problem Long Induced Path, which is to decide for a given integer k, if a given graph can be modified to P_k by a sequence of vertex deletions. Finally, we prove that the complexity classifications of Path Contraction and Cycle Contraction for H-free graphs do not coincide. The latter problem, which has not been fully classified for H-free graphs yet, is to decide if for some given integer k, a given graph contains the k-vertex cycle C_k as a contraction