Random graphs on surfaces

Counting labelled planar graphs, and typical properties of random labelled planar graphs, have received much attention recently. We start the process here of extending these investigations to graphs embeddable on any fixed surface S. In particular we show that the labelled graphs embeddable on S have the same growth constant as for planar graphs, and the same holds for unlabelled graphs. Also, if we pick a graph uniformly at random from the graphs embeddable on S which have vertex set {1,…,n}, then with probability tending to 1 as n→∞, this random graph either is connected or consists of one giant component together with a few nodes in small planar components.     

Strengthening Erdös–Pósa property for minor‐closed graph classes

Let ?? and ?? be graph classes. We say that ?? has the Erd?s–Pósa property for ?? if for any graph G ∈??, the minimum vertex covering of all ??‐subgraphs of G is bounded by a function f of the maximum packing of ??‐subgraphs in G (by ??‐subgraph of G we mean any subgraph of G that belongs to ??). Robertson and Seymour [J Combin Theory Ser B 41 (1986), 92–114] proved that if ?? is the class of all graphs that can be contracted to a fixed planar graph H, then ?? has the Erd?s–Pósa property for the class of all graphs with an exponential bounding function. In this note, we prove that this function becomes linear when ?? is any non‐trivial minor‐closed graph class. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 66:235‐240, 2011     

Enumerative Properties of Rooted Circuit Maps

In 1966, Barnette introduced a set of graphs, called circuit graphs, which are obtained from 3-connected planar graphs by deleting a vertex. Circuit graphs and 3-connected planar graphs share many interesting properties which are not satisfied by general 2-connected planar graphs. Circuit graphs have nice closure properties which make them easier to deal with than 3-connected planar graphs for studying some graph-theoretic properties. In this paper, we study some enumerative properties of circuit graphs. For enumeration purpose, we define rooted circuit maps and compare the number of rooted circuit maps with those of rooted 2-connected planar maps and rooted 3-connected planar maps.     

On supercompact graphs

A graph G is called a supercompact graph if G is the intersection graph of some family ?? of subsets of a set X such that ?? satisfies the Helly property and for any x≠y in X, there exists S ∈ ?? with x ∈ S, y ? S. Various characterizations of supercompact graphs are given. It is shown that every clique-critical graph is supercompact. Furthermore, for any finite graph, H, there is at most a finite number of different supercompact graphs G such that H is the clique-graph of G.     

On the complexity of the independent set problem in triangle graphs

We consider the complexity of the maximum (maximum weight) independent set problem within triangle graphs, i.e., graphs G satisfying the following triangle condition: for every maximal independent set I in G and every edge uv in G−I, there is a vertex w∈I such that {u,v,w} is a triangle in G. We also introduce a new graph parameter (the upper independent neighborhood number) and the corresponding upper independent neighborhood set problem. We show that for triangle graphs the new parameter is equal to the independence number. We prove that the problems under consideration are NP-complete, even for some restricted subclasses of triangle graphs, and provide several polynomially solvable cases for these problems within triangle graphs. Furthermore, we show that, for general triangle graphs, the maximum independent set problem and the upper independent neighborhood set problem cannot be polynomially approximated within any fixed constant factor greater than one unless P=NP.     

Variations of maximum-clique transversal sets on graphs

A maximum-clique transversal set of a graph G is a subset of vertices intersecting all maximum cliques of G. The maximum-clique transversal set problem is to find a maximum-clique transversal set of G of minimum cardinality. Motivated by the placement of transmitters for cellular telephones, Chang, Kloks, and Lee introduced the concept of maximum-clique transversal sets on graphs in 2001. In this paper, we introduce the concept of maximum-clique perfect and some variations of the maximum-clique transversal set problem such as the {k}-maximum-clique, k-fold maximum-clique, signed maximum-clique, and minus maximum-clique transversal problems. We show that balanced graphs, strongly chordal graphs, and distance-hereditary graphs are maximum-clique perfect. Besides, we present a unified approach to these four problems on strongly chordal graphs and give complexity results for the following classes of graphs: split graphs, balanced graphs, comparability graphs, distance-hereditary graphs, dually chordal graphs, doubly chordal graphs, chordal graphs, planar graphs, and triangle-free graphs.     

Planar graphs and poset dimension

We view the incidence relation of a graph G=(V. E) as an order relation on its vertices and edges, i.e. a<_G b if and only of a is a vertex and b is an edge incident on a. This leads to the definition of the order-dimension of G as the minimum number of total orders on V E whose intersection is <_G. Our main result is the characterization of planar graphs as the graphs whose order-dimension does not exceed three. Strong versions of several known properties of planar graphs are implied by this characterization. These properties include: each planar graph has arboricity at most three and each planar graph has a plane embedding whose edges are straight line segments. A nice feature of this embedding is that the coordinates of the vertices have a purely combinatorial meaning.     

Enumeration of ladder graphs

Consider N points labelled cyclically forming the vertex set of a planar convex polygon, pairs of which may be connected by bonds. Define a ladder graph to be a graph with no crossing bonds. New simple proofs are given for two results of Kirkman relating to the total number of ladder graphs with A bonds. Relations are derived for calculating the number of connected ladder graphs with A bonds, and asymptotic expressions are obtained.     

Combinatorial properties of polyominoes

A finite set of cells in the infinite planar square grid is often called a polyomino. With each polyominoP, we may associate a hypergraph whose vertices are the cells ofP and whose edges are the maximal rectangles (in the standard position) contained inP. It turns out that these hypergraphs have many nice properties generalizing various properties of bipartite graphs and trees. We survey results in this direction.     

The dominating set problem is fixed parameter tractable for graphs of bounded genus

We describe an algorithm for the dominating set problem with time complexity O((4g+40)^kn²) for graphs of bounded genus g1, where k is the size of the set. It has previously been shown that this problem is fixed parameter tractable for planar graphs. We give a simpler proof for the previous O(8^kn²) result for planar graphs. Our method is a refinement of the earlier techniques.     

Minimum independent dominating sets of random cubic graphs

We present a heuristic for finding a small independent dominating set ?? of cubic graphs. We analyze the performance of this heuristic, which is a random greedy algorithm, on random cubic graphs using differential equations, and obtain an upper bound on the expected size of ??. A corresponding lower bound is derived by means of a direct expectation argument. We prove that ?? asymptotically almost surely satisfies 0.2641n ≤ |??| ≤ 0.27942n. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 21: 147–161, 2002     

Universal Sets of n Points for One-bend Drawings of Planar Graphs with n Vertices

This paper shows that any planar graph with n vertices can be point-set embedded with at most one bend per edge on a universal set of n points in the plane. An implication of this result is that any number of planar graphs admit a simultaneous embedding without mapping with at most one bend per edge.     

Small Drawings of Outerplanar Graphs,Series-Parallel Graphs,and Other Planar Graphs

In this paper, we study small planar drawings of planar graphs. For arbitrary planar graphs, Θ(n ²) is the established upper and lower bound on the worst-case area. A long-standing open problem is to determine for what graphs a smaller area can be achieved. We show here that series-parallel graphs can be drawn in O(n ^3/2) area, and outerplanar graphs can be drawn in O(nlog n) area, but 2-outerplanar graphs and planar graphs of proper pathwidth 3 require Ω(n ²) area. Our drawings are visibility representations, which can be converted to polyline drawings of asymptotically the same area.     

An algorithm for constructing star-shaped drawings of plane graphs

A straight-line planar drawing of a plane graph is called a convex drawing if every facial cycle is drawn as a convex polygon. Convex drawings of graphs is a well-established aesthetic in graph drawing, however not all planar graphs admit a convex drawing. Tutte [W.T. Tutte, Convex representations of graphs, Proc. of London Math. Soc. 10 (3) (1960) 304–320] showed that every triconnected plane graph admits a convex drawing for any given boundary drawn as a convex polygon. Thomassen [C. Thomassen, Plane representations of graphs, in: Progress in Graph Theory, Academic Press, 1984, pp. 43–69] gave a necessary and sufficient condition for a biconnected plane graph with a prescribed convex boundary to have a convex drawing.In this paper, we initiate a new notion of star-shaped drawing of a plane graph as a straight-line planar drawing such that each inner facial cycle is drawn as a star-shaped polygon, and the outer facial cycle is drawn as a convex polygon. A star-shaped drawing is a natural extension of a convex drawing, and a new aesthetic criteria for drawing planar graphs in a convex way as much as possible. We give a sufficient condition for a given set A of corners of a plane graph to admit a star-shaped drawing whose concave corners are given by the corners in A, and present a linear time algorithm for constructing such a star-shaped drawing.     

Another two graphs with no planar covers

A graph H is a cover of a graph G if there exists a mapping φ from V( H ) onto V( G ) such that φ maps the neighbors of every vertex υ in H bijectively to the neighbors of φ(υ) in G . Negami conjectured in 1986 that a connected graph has a finite planar cover if and only if it embeds in the projective plane. It follows from the results of Archdeacon, Fellows, Negami, and the author that the conjecture holds as long as K _1,2,2,2 has no finite planar cover. However, this is still an open question, and K _1,2,2,2 is not the only minor‐minimal graph in doubt. Let ??₄ (?₂) denote the graph obtained from K _1,2,2,2 by replacing two vertex‐disjoint triangles (four edge‐disjoint triangles) not incident with the vertex of degree 6 with cubic vertices. We prove that the graphs ??₄ and ?₂ have no planar covers. This fact is used in [P. Hlin?ný, R. Thomas, On possible counterexamples to Negami's planar cover conjecture, 1999 (submitted)] to show that there are, up to obvious constructions, at most 16 possible counterexamples to Negami's conjecture. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 37: 227–242, 2001     

Connected Domatic Number in Planar Graphs

A dominating set in a graph G is a connected dominating set of G if it induces a connected subgraph of G. The connected domatic number of G is the maximum number of pairwise disjoint, connected dominating sets in V(G). We establish a sharp lower bound on the number of edges in a connected graph with a given order and given connected domatic number. We also show that a planar graph has connected domatic number at most 4 and give a characterization of planar graphs having connected domatic number 3.     

Weyl Groups are Finite — and Other Finiteness Properties of Cartan Subalgebras

For each pair (??,??) consisting of a real Lie algebra ?? and a subalgebra a of some Cartan subalgebra ?? of ?? such that [??, ??]∪ [??, ??] we define a Weyl group W(??, ??) and show that it is finite. In particular, W(??, ??,) is finite for any Cartan subalgebra h. The proof involves the embedding of 0 into the Lie algebra of a complex algebraic linear Lie group to which the structure theory of Lie algebras and algebraic groups is applied. If G is a real connected Lie group with Lie algebra ??, the normalizer N(??, G) acts on the finite set Λ of roots of the complexification ??c with respect to hc, giving a representation π : N(??, G)→ S(Λ) into the symmetric group on the set Λ. We call the kernel of this map the Cartan subgroup C(??) of G with respect to h; the image is isomorphic to W(??, ??), and C(??)= {g G : Ad(g)(h)— h ε [h,h] for all h ε h }. All concepts introduced and discussed reduce in special situations to the familiar ones. The information on the finiteness of the Weyl groups is applied to show that under very general circumstance, for b ∪ ?? the set ??? ?(b) remains finite as ? ranges through the full group of inner automorphisms of ??.     

Infinite paths in planar graphs II,structures and ladder nets

A graph is k‐indivisible, where k is a positive integer, if the deletion of any finite set of vertices results in at most k – 1 infinite components. In 1971, Nash‐Williams conjectured that a 4‐connected infinite planar graph contains a spanning 2‐way infinite path if and only if it is 3‐indivisible. In this paper, we prove a structural result for 2‐indivisible infinite planar graphs. This structural result is then used to prove Nash‐Williams conjecture for all 4‐connected 2‐indivisible infinite planar graphs. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 247–266, 2005     

N-free orders and minimal interval extensions

We investigate problems related to the set of minimal interval extensions of N-free orders. This leads us to a correspondence between this set for an arbitrary order and a certain set of its maximal N-free reductions. We also get a 1-1-correspondence between the set of linear extensions of an arbitrary order and the set of minimal interval extensions of the linegraph of that order. This has an algorithmic consequence, namely the problem of counting minimal interval extensions of an N-free order is #P-complete. Finally a characterization of all N-free orders with isomorphic root graph is given in terms of their lattice of maximal antichains; the lattices are isomorphic iff the root graphs agree.This work was supported by the PROCOPE Program. The first author is supported by the DFG.