Graph G is the square of graph H if two vertices x, y have an edge in G if
and only if x, y are of distance at most two in H. Given H it is easy to
compute its square H2, however Motwani and Sudan proved that it is NP-complete
to determine if a given graph G is the square of some graph H (of girth 3). In
this paper we consider the characterization and recognition problems of graphs
that are squares of graphs of small girth, i.e. to determine if G = H2 for some
graph H of small girth. The main results are the following. - There is a graph
theoretical characterization for graphs that are squares of some graph of girth
at least 7. A corollary is that if a graph G has a square root H of girth at
least 7 then H is unique up to isomorphism. - There is a polynomial time
algorithm to recognize if G = H2 for some graph H of girth at least 6. - It is
NP-complete to recognize if G = H2 for some graph H of girth 4. These results
almost provide a dichotomy theorem for the complexity of the recognition
problem in terms of girth of the square roots. The algorithmic and graph
theoretical results generalize previous results on tree square roots, and
provide polynomial time algorithms to compute a graph square root of small
girth if it exists. Some open questions and conjectures will also be discussed
