1,212 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
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
Upper bounds on the k-forcing number of a graph
Given a simple undirected graph and a positive integer , the
-forcing number of , denoted , is the minimum number of vertices
that need to be initially colored so that all vertices eventually become
colored during the discrete dynamical process described by the following rule.
Starting from an initial set of colored vertices and stopping when all vertices
are colored: if a colored vertex has at most non-colored neighbors, then
each of its non-colored neighbors becomes colored. When , this is
equivalent to the zero forcing number, usually denoted with , a recently
introduced invariant that gives an upper bound on the maximum nullity of a
graph. In this paper, we give several upper bounds on the -forcing number.
Notable among these, we show that if is a graph with order and
maximum degree , then . This simplifies to, for the zero forcing number case
of , . Moreover, when and the graph is -connected, we prove that , which is an improvement when , and
specializes to, for the zero forcing number case, . These results resolve a problem posed by
Meyer about regular bipartite circulant graphs. Finally, we present a
relationship between the -forcing number and the connected -domination
number. As a corollary, we find that the sum of the zero forcing number and
connected domination number is at most the order for connected graphs.Comment: 15 pages, 0 figure
Hamilton cycles in 5-connected line graphs
A conjecture of Carsten Thomassen states that every 4-connected line graph is
hamiltonian. It is known that the conjecture is true for 7-connected line
graphs. We improve this by showing that any 5-connected line graph of minimum
degree at least 6 is hamiltonian. The result extends to claw-free graphs and to
Hamilton-connectedness
- …