134 research outputs found
On some intriguing problems in Hamiltonian graph theory -- A survey
We survey results and open problems in Hamiltonian graph theory centred around three themes: regular graphs, -tough graphs, and claw-free graphs
Packing 3-vertex paths in claw-free graphs and related topics
An L-factor of a graph G is a spanning subgraph of G whose every component is
a 3-vertex path. Let v(G) be the number of vertices of G and d(G) the
domination number of G. A claw is a graph with four vertices and three edges
incident to the same vertex. A graph is claw-free if it has no induced subgraph
isomorphic to a claw. Our results include the following. Let G be a 3-connected
claw-free graph, x a vertex in G, e = xy an edge in G, and P a 3-vertex path in
G. Then
(a1) if v(G) = 0 mod 3, then G has an L-factor containing (avoiding) e, (a2)
if v(G) = 1 mod 3, then G - x has an L-factor, (a3) if v(G) = 2 mod 3, then G -
{x,y} has an L-factor, (a4) if v(G) = 0 mod 3 and G is either cubic or
4-connected, then G - P has an L-factor, (a5) if G is cubic with v(G) > 5 and E
is a set of three edges in G, then G - E has an L-factor if and only if the
subgraph induced by E in G is not a claw and not a triangle, (a6) if v(G) = 1
mod 3, then G - {v,e} has an L-factor for every vertex v and every edge e in G,
(a7) if v(G) = 1 mod 3, then there exist a 4-vertex path N and a claw Y in G
such that G - N and G - Y have L-factors, and (a8) d(G) < v(G)/3 +1 and if in
addition G is not a cycle and v(G) = 1 mod 3, then d(G) < v(G)/3.
We explore the relations between packing problems of a graph and its line
graph to obtain some results on different types of packings. We also discuss
relations between L-packing and domination problems as well as between induced
L-packings and the Hadwiger conjecture.
Keywords: claw-free graph, cubic graph, vertex disjoint packing, edge
disjoint packing, 3-vertex factor, 3-vertex packing, path-factor, induced
packing, graph domination, graph minor, the Hadwiger conjecture.Comment: 29 page
On factors of 4-connected claw-free graphs
We consider the existence of several different kinds of factors in 4-connected claw-free graphs. This is motivated by the following two conjectures which are in fact equivalent by a recent result of the third author. Conjecture 1 (Thomassen): Every 4-connected line graph is Hamiltonian, i.e. has a connected 2-factor. Conjecture 2 (Matthews and Sumner): Every 4-connected claw-free graph is hamiltonian. We first show that Conjecture 2 is true within the class of hourglass-free graphs, i.e. graphs that do not contain an induced subgraph isomorphic to two triangles meeting in exactly one vertex. Next we show that a weaker form of Conjecture 2 is true, in which the conclusion is replaced by the conclusion that there exists a connected spanning subgraph in which each vertex has degree two or four. Finally we show that Conjecture 1 and 2 are equivalent to seemingly weaker conjectures in which the conclusion is replaced by the conclusion that there exists a spanning subgraph consisting of a bounded number of paths. \u
On stability of the Hamiltonian index under contractions and closures
The hamiltonian index of a graph is the smallest integer such that the -th iterated line graph of is hamiltonian. We first show that, with one exceptional case, adding an edge to a graph cannot increase its hamiltonian index. We use this result to prove that neither the contraction of an -contractible subgraph of a graph nor the closure operation performed on (if is claw-free) affects the value of the hamiltonian index of a graph
Graphs of Edge-Intersecting Non-Splitting Paths in a Tree: Representations of Holes-Part II
Given a tree and a set P of non-trivial simple paths on it, VPT(P) is the VPT
graph (i.e. the vertex intersection graph) of the paths P, and EPT(P) is the
EPT graph (i.e. the edge intersection graph) of P. These graphs have been
extensively studied in the literature. Given two (edge) intersecting paths in a
graph, their split vertices is the set of vertices having degree at least 3 in
their union. A pair of (edge) intersecting paths is termed non-splitting if
they do not have split vertices (namely if their union is a path). We define
the graph ENPT(P) of edge intersecting non-splitting paths of a tree, termed
the ENPT graph, as the graph having a vertex for each path in P, and an edge
between every pair of vertices representing two paths that are both
edge-intersecting and non-splitting. A graph G is an ENPT graph if there is a
tree T and a set of paths P of T such that G=ENPT(P), and we say that is
a representation of G.
Our goal is to characterize the representation of chordless ENPT cycles
(holes). To achieve this goal, we first assume that the EPT graph induced by
the vertices of an ENPT hole is given. In [2] we introduce three assumptions
(P1), (P2), (P3) defined on EPT, ENPT pairs of graphs. In the same study, we
define two problems HamiltonianPairRec, P3-HamiltonianPairRec and characterize
the representations of ENPT holes that satisfy (P1), (P2), (P3).
In this work, we continue our work by relaxing these three assumptions one by
one. We characterize the representations of ENPT holes satisfying (P3) by
providing a polynomial-time algorithm to solve P3-HamiltonianPairRec. We also
show that there does not exist a polynomial-time algorithm to solve
HamiltonianPairRec, unless P=NP
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