Improper colourings inspired by Hadwiger’s conjecture

Hadwiger’s Conjecture asserts that every Kt-minor-free graph has a proper (t − 1)-colouring. We relax the conclusion in Hadwiger’s Conjecture via improper colourings. We prove that every Kt-minor-free graph is (2t − 2)-colourable with monochromatic components of order at most 1/2 (t − 2). This result has no more colours and much smaller monochromatic components than all previous results in this direction. We then prove that every Kt-minor-free graph is (t − 1)-colourable with monochromatic degree at most t − 2. This is the best known degree bound for such a result. Both these theorems are based on a decomposition method of independent interest. We give analogous results for Ks,t-minorfree graphs, which lead to improved bounds on generalised colouring numbers for these classes. Finally, we prove that graphs containing no Kt-immersion are 2-colourable with bounded monochromatic degree

Spanning embeddings of arrangeable graphs with sublinear bandwidth

The Bandwidth Theorem of B\"ottcher, Schacht and Taraz [Mathematische Annalen 343 (1), 175-205] gives minimum degree conditions for the containment of spanning graphs H with small bandwidth and bounded maximum degree. We generalise this result to a-arrangeable graphs H with \Delta(H)<sqrt(n)/log(n), where n is the number of vertices of H. Our result implies that sufficiently large n-vertex graphs G with minimum degree at least (3/4+\gamma)n contain almost all planar graphs on n vertices as subgraphs. Using techniques developed by Allen, Brightwell and Skokan [Combinatorica, to appear] we can also apply our methods to show that almost all planar graphs H have Ramsey number at most 12|H|. We obtain corresponding results for graphs embeddable on different orientable surfaces.Comment: 20 page

Embedding large subgraphs into dense graphs

What conditions ensure that a graph G contains some given spanning subgraph H? The most famous examples of results of this kind are probably Dirac's theorem on Hamilton cycles and Tutte's theorem on perfect matchings. Perfect matchings are generalized by perfect F-packings, where instead of covering all the vertices of G by disjoint edges, we want to cover G by disjoint copies of a (small) graph F. It is unlikely that there is a characterization of all graphs G which contain a perfect F-packing, so as in the case of Dirac's theorem it makes sense to study conditions on the minimum degree of G which guarantee a perfect F-packing. The Regularity lemma of Szemeredi and the Blow-up lemma of Komlos, Sarkozy and Szemeredi have proved to be powerful tools in attacking such problems and quite recently, several long-standing problems and conjectures in the area have been solved using these. In this survey, we give an outline of recent progress (with our main emphasis on F-packings, Hamiltonicity problems and tree embeddings) and describe some of the methods involved

On sufficient conditions for Hamiltonicity in dense graphs

We study structural conditions in dense graphs that guarantee the existence of vertex-spanning substructures such as Hamilton cycles. It is easy to see that every Hamiltonian graph is connected, has a perfect fractional matching and, excluding the bipartite case, contains an odd cycle. Our main result in turn states that any large enough graph that robustly satisfies these properties must already be Hamiltonian. Moreover, the same holds for embedding powers of cycles and graphs of sublinear bandwidth subject to natural generalisations of connectivity, matchings and odd cycles. This solves the embedding problem that underlies multiple lines of research on sufficient conditions for Hamiltonicity in dense graphs. As applications, we recover and establish Bandwidth Theorems in a variety of settings including Ore-type degree conditions, P\'osa-type degree conditions, deficiency-type conditions, locally dense and inseparable graphs, multipartite graphs as well as robust expanders

Local resilience of spanning subgraphs in sparse random graphs

For each real γ>0γ>0 and integers Δ≥2Δ≥2 and k≥1k≥1, we prove that there exist constants β>0β>0 and C>0C>0 such that for all p≥C(log⁡n/n)1/Δp≥C(log⁡n/n)1/Δ the random graph G(n,p)G(n,p) asymptotically almost surely contains – even after an adversary deletes an arbitrary (1/k−γ1/k−γ)-fraction of the edges at every vertex – a copy of every n-vertex graph with maximum degree at most Δ, bandwidth at most βn and at least Cmax⁡{p−2,p−1log⁡n}Cmax⁡{p−2,p−1log⁡n} vertices not in triangles

Forcing spanning subgraphs via Ore type conditions

Abstract We determine an Ore type condition that allows the embedding of 3-colourable bounded degree graphs of sublinear bandwidth: For all ∆, γ &gt; 0 there are β, n 0 &gt; 0 such that for all n ≥ n 0 the following holds. Let G = (V, E) and H be n-vertex graphs such that H is 3-colourable, has maximum degree ∆(H) ≤ ∆ and bandwidth bw(H) ≤ βn, and G satisfies deg(u) + deg(v) ≥

k-L(2,1)-Labelling for Planar Graphs is NP-Complete for k >= 4

A mapping from the vertex set of a graph G = (V,E) into an interval of integers {0,...,k} is an L(2,1)-labelling of G of span k if any two adjacent vertices are mapped onto integers that are at least 2 apart, and every two vertices with a common neighbour are mapped onto distinct integers. It is known that for any fixed k >= 4, deciding the existence of such a labelling is an NP-complete problem while it is polynomial for k = 8, it remains NP-complete when restricted to planar graphs. In this paper, we show that it remains NP-complete for any k >= 4 by reduction from Planar Cubic Two-Colourable Perfect Matching. Schaefer stated without proof that Planar Cubic Two-Colourable Perfect Matching is NP-complete. In this paper we give a proof of this.Comment: 16 pages, includes figures generated using PSTricks. To appear in Discrete Applied Mathematics. Some very minor corrections incorporate

Embedding spanning bipartite graphs of small bandwidth

Boettcher, Schacht and Taraz gave a condition on the minimum degree of a graph G on n vertices that ensures G contains every r-chromatic graph H on n vertices of bounded degree and of bandwidth o(n), thereby proving a conjecture of Bollobas and Komlos. We strengthen this result in the case when H is bipartite. Indeed, we give an essentially best-possible condition on the degree sequence of a graph G on n vertices that forces G to contain every bipartite graph H on n vertices of bounded degree and of bandwidth o(n). This also implies an Ore-type result. In fact, we prove a much stronger result where the condition on G is relaxed to a certain robust expansion property. Our result also confirms the bipartite case of a conjecture of Balogh, Kostochka and Treglown concerning the degree sequence of a graph which forces a perfect H-packing.Comment: 23 pages, file updated, to appear in Combinatorics, Probability and Computin

Embedding into bipartite graphs

The conjecture of Bollob\'as and Koml\'os, recently proved by B\"ottcher, Schacht, and Taraz [Math. Ann. 343(1), 175--205, 2009], implies that for any $\gamma>0$, every balanced bipartite graph on $2n$ vertices with bounded degree and sublinear bandwidth appears as a subgraph of any $2n$-vertex graph $G$ with minimum degree $(1+\gamma)n$, provided that $n$ is sufficiently large. We show that this threshold can be cut in half to an essentially best-possible minimum degree of $(\frac12+\gamma)n$ when we have the additional structural information of the host graph $G$ being balanced bipartite. This complements results of Zhao [to appear in SIAM J. Discrete Math.], as well as Hladk\'y and Schacht [to appear in SIAM J. Discrete Math.], who determined a corresponding minimum degree threshold for $K_{r,s}$-factors, with $r$ and $s$ fixed. Moreover, it implies that the set of Hamilton cycles of $G$ is a generating system for its cycle space.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Ramsey numbers of squares of paths

The Ramsey number R(G;H) has been actively studied for the past 40 years, and it was determined for a large family of pairs (G;H) of graphs. The Ramsey number of paths was determined very early on, but surprisingly very little is known about the Ramsey number for the powers of paths. The r-th power Pr n of a path on n vertices is obtained by joining any two vertices with distance at most r. We determine the exact value of R(P2 n; P2 n) for n large and discuss some related questions