Types of triangle in plane Hamiltonian triangulations and applications to domination and k-walks

We investigate the minimum number t(0)(G) of faces in a Hamiltonian triangulation G so that any Hamiltonian cycle C of G has at least t(0)(G) faces that do not contain an edge of C. We prove upper and lower bounds on the maximum of these numbers for all triangulations with a fixed number of facial triangles. Such triangles play an important role when Hamiltonian cycles in triangulations with 3-cuts are constructed from smaller Hamiltonian cycles of 4-connected subgraphs. We also present results linking the number of these triangles to the length of 3-walks in a class of triangulation and to the domination number

A History of Flips in Combinatorial Triangulations

Given two combinatorial triangulations, how many edge flips are necessary and sufficient to convert one into the other? This question has occupied researchers for over 75 years. We provide a comprehensive survey, including full proofs, of the various attempts to answer it.Comment: Added a paragraph referencing earlier work in the vertex-labelled setting that has implications for the unlabeled settin

Polyhedra with few 3-cuts are hamiltonian

In 1956, Tutte showed that every planar 4-connected graph is hamiltonian. In this article, we will generalize this result and prove that polyhedra with at most three 3-cuts are hamiltonian. In 2002 Jackson and Yu have shown this result for the subclass of triangulations. We also prove that polyhedra with at most four 3-cuts have a hamiltonian path. It is well known that for each $k \ge 6$ non-hamiltonian polyhedra with $k$ 3-cuts exist. We give computational results on lower bounds on the order of a possible non-hamiltonian polyhedron for the remaining open cases of polyhedra with four or five 3-cuts.Comment: 21 pages; changed titl

Hamiltonian properties of polyhedra with few 3-cuts : a survey

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Hamiltonian-connectedness of triangulations with few separating triangles

We prove that 3-connected plane triangulations containing a single edge contained in all separating triangles are hamiltonian-connected. As a direct corollary we have that 3-connected plane triangulations with at most one separating triangle are hamiltonian-connected. In order to show bounds on the strongest form of this theorem, we proved that for any s >= 4 there are 3-connected triangulation with s separating triangles that are not hamiltonian-connected. We also present computational results which show that all `small' 3-connected triangulations with at most 3 separating triangles are hamiltonian-connected

Thoughts on Barnette's Conjecture

We prove a new sufficient condition for a cubic 3-connected planar graph to be Hamiltonian. This condition is most easily described as a property of the dual graph. Let $G$ be a planar triangulation. Then the dual $G^*$ is a cubic 3-connected planar graph, and $G^*$ is bipartite if and only if $G$ is Eulerian. We prove that if the vertices of $G$ are (improperly) coloured blue and red, such that the blue vertices cover the faces of $G$, there is no blue cycle, and every red cycle contains a vertex of degree at most 4, then $G^*$ is Hamiltonian. This result implies the following special case of Barnette's Conjecture: if $G$ is an Eulerian planar triangulation, whose vertices are properly coloured blue, red and green, such that every red-green cycle contains a vertex of degree 4, then $G^*$ is Hamiltonian. Our final result highlights the limitations of using a proper colouring of $G$ as a starting point for proving Barnette's Conjecture. We also explain related results on Barnette's Conjecture that were obtained by Kelmans and for which detailed self-contained proofs have not been published.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Counting cycles in planar triangulations

We investigate the minimum number of cycles of specified lengths in planar $n$-vertex triangulations $G$. It is proven that this number is $\Omega(n)$ for any cycle length at most $3 + \max \{ {\rm rad}(G^*), \lceil (\frac{n-3}{2})^{\log_32} \rceil \}$, where ${\rm rad}(G^*)$ denotes the radius of the triangulation's dual, which is at least logarithmic but can be linear in the order of the triangulation. We also show that there exist planar hamiltonian $n$-vertex triangulations containing $O(n)$ many $k$-cycles for any $k \in \{ \lceil n - \sqrt[5]{n} \rceil, \ldots, n \}$. Furthermore, we prove that planar 4-connected $n$-vertex triangulations contain $\Omega(n)$ many $k$-cycles for every $k \in \{ 3, \ldots, n \}$, and that, under certain additional conditions, they contain $\Omega(n^2)$ $k$-cycles for many values of $k$, including $n$

Polyhedra with few 3-cuts are hamiltonian

In 1956, Tutte showed that every planar 4-connected graph is hamiltonian. In this article, we will generalize this result and prove that polyhedra with at most three 3-cuts are hamiltonian. In 2002 Jackson and Yu have shown this result for the subclass of triangulations. We also prove that polyhedra with at most four 3-cuts have a hamiltonian path. It is well known that for each k ≥ 6 non-hamiltonian polyhedra with k 3-cuts exist. We give computational results on lower bounds on the order of a possible non-hamiltonian polyhedron for the remaining open cases of polyhedra with four or five 3-cuts

Irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary

A triangulation of a surface is irreducible if no edge can be contracted to produce a triangulation of the same surface. In this paper, we investigate irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary. We prove that the number of vertices of an irreducible triangulation of a (possibly non-orientable) surface of genus g>=0 with b>=0 boundaries is O(g+b). So far, the result was known only for surfaces without boundary (b=0). While our technique yields a worse constant in the O(.) notation, the present proof is elementary, and simpler than the previous ones in the case of surfaces without boundary