Claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs

The circular chromatic number of a graph is a well‐studied refinement of the chromatic number. Circular‐perfect graphs form a superclass of perfect graphs defined by means of this more general coloring concept. This article studies claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs. First, we prove that if G is a connected claw‐free circular‐perfect graph with χ(G)>ω(G), then min{α(G), ω(G)}=2. We use this result to design a polynomial time algorithm that computes the circular chromatic number of claw‐free circular‐perfect graphs. A consequence of the strong perfect graph theorem is that minimal imperfect graphs G have min{α(G), ω(G)}=2. In contrast to this result, it is shown in Z. Pan and X. Zhu [European J Combin 29(4) (2008), 1055–1063] that minimal circular‐imperfect graphs G can have arbitrarily large independence number and arbitrarily large clique number. In this article, we prove that claw‐free minimal circular‐imperfect graphs G have min{α(G), ω(G)}≤3. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65: 163–172, 2010     

The graph of perfect matching polytope and an extreme problem

For graph G, its perfect matching polytope Poly(G) is the convex hull of incidence vectors of perfect matchings of G. The graph corresponding to the skeleton of Poly(G) is called the perfect matching graph of G, and denoted by PM(G). It is known that PM(G) is either a hypercube or hamilton connected [D.J. Naddef, W.R. Pulleyblank, Hamiltonicity and combinatorial polyhedra, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 31 (1981) 297-312; D.J. Naddef, W.R. Pulleyblank, Hamiltonicity in (0-1)-polytope, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 37 (1984) 41-52]. In this paper, we give a sharp upper bound of the number of lines for the graphs G whose PM(G) is bipartite in terms of sizes of elementary components of G and the order of G, respectively. Moreover, the corresponding extremal graphs are constructed.     

Clique‐inverse graphs of K3‐free and K4‐free graphs

The clique graph K(G) of a given graph G is the intersection graph of the collection of maximal cliques of G. Given a family ℱ of graphs, the clique‐inverse graphs of ℱ are the graphs whose clique graphs belong to ℱ. In this work, we describe characterizations for clique‐inverse graphs of K₃‐free and K₄‐free graphs. The characterizations are formulated in terms of forbidden induced subgraphs. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 35: 257–272, 2000     

Clique‐coloring some classes of odd‐hole‐free graphs

We consider the problem of clique‐coloring, that is coloring the vertices of a given graph such that no maximal clique of size at least 2 is monocolored. Whereas we do not know any odd‐hole‐free graph that is not 3‐clique‐colorable, the existence of a constant C such that any perfect graph is C‐clique‐colorable is an open problem. In this paper we solve this problem for some subclasses of odd‐hole‐free graphs: those that are diamond‐free and those that are bull‐free. We also prove the NP‐completeness of 2‐clique‐coloring K₄‐free perfect graphs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 53: 233–249, 2006     

Degree conditions on claws and modified claws for hamiltonicity of graphs

Ore presented a degree condition involving every pair of nonadjacent vertices for a graph to be hamiltonian. Fan [New sufficient conditions for cycles in graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 37 (1984) 221-227] showed that not all the pairs of nonadjacent vertices are required, but only the pairs of vertices at the distance two suffice. Bedrossian et al. [A generalization of Fan's condition for hamiltonicity, pancyclicity, and hamiltonian connectedness, Discrete Math. 115 (1993) 39-50] improved Fan's result involving the pairs of vertices contained in an induced claw or an induced modified claw. On the other hand, Matthews and Sumner [Longest paths and cycles in K_1,3-free graphs, J. Graph Theory 9 (1985) 269-277] gave a minimum degree condition for a claw-free graph to be hamiltonian. In this paper, we give a new degree condition in an induced claw or an induced modified claw ensuring the hamiltonicity of graphs which extends both results of Bederossian et al. and Matthews and Sumner.     

Tetravalent half‐edge‐transitive graphs and non‐normal Cayley graphs

Let X be a vertex‐transitive graph, that is, the automorphism group Aut(X) of X is transitive on the vertex set of X. The graph X is said to be symmetric if Aut(X) is transitive on the arc set of X. suppose that Aut(X) has two orbits of the same length on the arc set of X. Then X is said to be half‐arc‐transitive or half‐edge‐transitive if Aut(X) has one or two orbits on the edge set of X, respectively. Stabilizers of symmetric and half‐arc‐transitive graphs have been investigated by many authors. For example, see Tutte [Canad J Math 11 (1959), 621–624] and Conder and Maru?i? [J Combin Theory Ser B 88 (2003), 67–76]. It is trivial to construct connected tetravalent symmetric graphs with arbitrarily large stabilizers, and by Maru?i? [Discrete Math 299 (2005), 180–193], connected tetravalent half‐arc‐transitive graphs can have arbitrarily large stabilizers. In this article, we show that connected tetravalent half‐edge‐transitive graphs can also have arbitrarily large stabilizers. A Cayley graph Cay(G, S) on a group G is said to be normal if the right regular representation R(G) of G is normal in Aut(Cay(G, S)). There are only a few known examples of connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs on non‐abelian simple groups. In this article, we give a sufficient condition for non‐normal Cayley graphs and by using the condition, infinitely many connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs are constructed. As an application, all connected tetravalent non‐normal Cayley graphs on the alternating group A₆ are determined. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

An approximate version of Hadwiger's conjecture for claw‐free graphs

Hadwiger's conjecture states that every graph with chromatic number χ has a clique minor of size χ. In this paper we prove a weakened version of this conjecture for the class of claw‐free graphs (graphs that do not have a vertex with three pairwise nonadjacent neighbors). Our main result is that a claw‐free graph with chromatic number χ has a clique minor of size $\lceil\frac{2}{3}\chi\rceil$. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 63: 259–278, 2010     

On perfect Γ‐decompositions of the complete graph

Generalizing the well‐known concept of an i‐perfect cycle system, Pasotti [Pasotti, in press, Australas J Combin] defined a Γ‐decomposition (Γ‐factorization) of a complete graph K_v to be i‐perfect if for every edge [x, y] of K_v there is exactly one block of the decomposition (factor of the factorization) in which x and y have distance i. In particular, a Γ‐decomposition (Γ‐factorization) of K_v that is i‐perfect for any i not exceeding the diameter of a connected graph Γ will be said a Steiner (Kirkman) Γ‐system of order v. In this article we first observe that as a consequence of the deep theory on decompositions of edge‐colored graphs developed by Lamken and Wilson [Lamken and Wilson, 2000, J Combin Theory Ser A 89, 149–200], there are infinitely many values of v for which there exists an i‐perfect Γ‐decomposition of K_v provided that Γ is an i‐equidistance graph, namely a graph such that the number of pairs of vertices at distance i is equal to the number of its edges. Then we give some concrete direct constructions for elementary abelian Steiner Γ‐systems with Γ the wheel on 8 vertices or a circulant graph, and for elementary abelian 2‐perfect cube‐factorizations. We also present some recursive constructions and some results on 2‐transitive Kirkman Γ‐systems. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 17: 197–209, 2009     

Strong Chromatic Index of 2‐Degenerate Graphs

We prove that the strong chromatic index of a 2‐degenerate graph is linear in the maximum degree Δ. This includes the class of all chordless graphs (graphs in which every cycle is induced) which in turn includes graphs where the cycle lengths are multiples of four, and settles a problem by Faudree et al. (Ars Combin 29(B) (1990), 205–211). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Graph Theory 73: 119–126, 2013     

Conditions on Ramsey Nonequivalence

Given a graph H , a graph G is called a Ramsey graph of H if there is a monochromatic copy of H in every coloring of the edges of G with two colors. Two graphs G , H are called Ramsey equivalent if they have the same set of Ramsey graphs. Fox et al. (J Combin Theory Ser B 109 (2014), 120–133) asked whether there are two nonisomorphic connected graphs that are Ramsey equivalent. They proved that a clique is not Ramsey equivalent to any other connected graph. Results of Ne?et?il et al. showed that any two graphs with different clique number (Combinatorica 1(2) (1981), 199–202) or different odd girth (Comment Math Univ Carolin 20(3) (1979), 565–582) are not Ramsey equivalent. These are the only structural graph parameters we know that “distinguish” two graphs in the above sense. This article provides further supportive evidence for a negative answer to the question of Fox et al. by claiming that for wide classes of graphs, the chromatic number is a distinguishing parameter. In addition, it is shown here that all stars and paths and all connected graphs on at most five vertices are not Ramsey equivalent to any other connected graph. Moreover, two connected graphs are not Ramsey equivalent if they belong to a special class of trees or to classes of graphs with clique‐reduction properties.     

Hourglasses and Hamilton cycles in 4‐connected claw‐free graphs

We show that if G is a 4‐connected claw‐free graph in which every induced hourglass subgraph S contains two non‐adjacent vertices with a common neighbor outside S, then G is hamiltonian. This extends the fact that 4‐connected claw‐free, hourglass‐free graphs are hamiltonian, thus proving a broader special case of a conjecture by Matthews and Sumner. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 267–276, 2005     

Note on cycle double covers of graphs

Kriesell [M. Kriesell, Contractions, cycle double covers and cyclic colorings in locally connected graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 96 (2006) 881-900] proved the cycle double cover conjecture for locally connected graphs. In this note, we give much shorter proofs for two stronger results.     

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 Conjectures 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 © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 37: 125–136, 2001     

Acyclic 4‐Choosability of Planar Graphs with No 4‐ and 5‐Cycles

Every planar graph is known to be acyclically 7‐choosable and is conjectured to be acyclically 5‐choosable (O. V. Borodin, D. G. Fon‐Der‐Flaass, A. V. Kostochka, E. Sopena, J Graph Theory 40 (2002), 83–90). This conjecture if proved would imply both Borodin's (Discrete Math 25 (1979), 211–236) acyclic 5‐color theorem and Thomassen's (J Combin Theory Ser B 62 (1994), 180–181) 5‐choosability theorem. However, as yet it has been verified only for several restricted classes of graphs. Some sufficient conditions are also obtained for a planar graph to be acyclically 4‐ and 3‐choosable. In particular, the acyclic 4‐choosability was proved for the following planar graphs: without 3‐, 4‐, and 5‐cycles (M. Montassier, P. Ochem, and A. Raspaud, J Graph Theory 51 (2006), 281–300), without 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐cycles, or without 4‐, 5‐, and 7‐cycles, or without 4‐, 5‐, and intersecting 3‐cycles (M. Montassier, A. Raspaud, W. Wang, Topics Discrete Math (2006), 473–491), and neither 4‐ and 5‐cycles nor 8‐cycles having a triangular chord (M. Chen and A. Raspaud, Discrete Math. 310(15–16) (2010), 2113–2118). The purpose of this paper is to strengthen these results by proving that each planar graph without 4‐ and 5‐cycles is acyclically 4‐choosable.     

Perfect Digraphs

The clique number of a digraph D is the size of the largest bidirectionally complete subdigraph of D. D is perfect if, for any induced subdigraph H of D, the dichromatic number defined by Neumann‐Lara (The dichromatic number of a digraph, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 33 (1982), 265–270) equals the clique number . Using the Strong Perfect Graph Theorem (M. Chudnovsky, N. Robertson, P. Seymour, and R. Thomas, The strong perfect graph theorem, Ann. Math. 164 (2006), 51–229) we give a characterization of perfect digraphs by a set of forbidden induced subdigraphs. Modifying a recent proof of Bang‐Jensen et al. (Finding an induced subdivision of a digraph, Theoret. Comput. Sci. 443 (2012), 10–24) we show that the recognition of perfect digraphs is co‐‐complete. It turns out that perfect digraphs are exactly the complements of clique‐acyclic superorientations of perfect graphs. Thus, we obtain as a corollary that complements of perfect digraphs have a kernel, using a result of Boros and Gurvich (Perfect graphs are kernel solvable, Discrete Math. 159 (1996), 35–55). Finally, we prove that it is ‐complete to decide whether a perfect digraph has a kernel.     

Minimally non-Pfaffian graphs

We consider the question of characterizing Pfaffian graphs. We exhibit an infinite family of non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to the matching minor relation. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, as Little [C.H.C. Little, A characterization of convertible (0,1)-matrices, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 18 (1975) 187–208] proved that every bipartite non-Pfaffian graph contains a matching minor isomorphic to K_3,3. We relax the notion of a matching minor and conjecture that there are only finitely many (perhaps as few as two) non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to this notion.We define Pfaffian factor-critical graphs and study them in the second part of the paper. They seem to be of interest as the number of near perfect matchings in a Pfaffian factor-critical graph can be computed in polynomial time. We give a polynomial time recognition algorithm for this class of graphs and characterize non-Pfaffian factor-critical graphs in terms of forbidden central subgraphs.     

Cycles and perfect matchings

Fan Chung and Ron Graham (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 65 (1995) 273–290) introduced the cover polynomial for a directed graph and showed that it was connected with classical rook theory. Dworkin (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 71 (1997) 17–53) showed that the cover polynomial naturally factors for directed graphs associated with Ferrers boards. The authors (Adv. Appl. Math. 27 (2001) 438–481) developed a rook theory for shifted Ferrers boards where the analogue of a rook placement is replaced by a partial perfect matching of K_2n, the complete graph on 2n vertices. In this paper, we show that an analogue of Dworkin's result holds for shifted Ferrers boards in this setting. We also show how cycle-counting matching numbers are connected to cycle-counting “hit numbers” (which involve perfect matchings of K_2n).     

Contractibility techniques as a closure concept

We introduce a closure concept in the class of line graphs and claw‐free graphs based on contractibility of certain subgraphs in the line graph preimage. The closure can be considered as a common generalization and strengthening of the reduction techniques of Catlin and Veldman and of the closure concept introduced by the first author. We show that the closure is uniquely determined and the closure operation preserves the circumference of the graph. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 37–48, 2003     

Complexity of clique‐coloring odd‐hole‐free graphs

In this paper we investigate the problem of clique‐coloring, which consists in coloring the vertices of a graph in such a way that no monochromatic maximal clique appears, and we focus on odd‐hole‐free graphs. On the one hand we do not know any odd‐hole‐free graph that is not 3‐clique‐colorable, but on the other hand it is NP‐hard to decide if they are 2‐clique‐colorable, and we do not know if there exists any bound k₀ such that they are all k₀ ‐clique‐colorable. First we will prove that (odd hole, codiamond)‐free graphs are 2‐clique‐colorable. Then we will demonstrate that the complexity of 2‐clique‐coloring odd‐hole‐free graphs is actually Σ₂ P‐complete. Finally we will study the complexity of deciding whether or not a graph and all its subgraphs are 2‐clique‐colorable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 62: 139–156, 2009     

Hamiltonian connectedness in 3-connected line graphs

We investigate graphs G such that the line graph L(G) is hamiltonian connected if and only if L(G) is 3-connected, and prove that if each 3-edge-cut contains an edge lying in a short cycle of G, then L(G) has the above mentioned property. Our result extends Kriesell’s recent result in [M. Kriesell, All 4-connected line graphs of claw free graphs are hamiltonian-connected, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 82 (2001) 306-315] that every 4-connected line graph of a claw free graph is hamiltonian connected. Another application of our main result shows that if L(G) does not have an hourglass (a graph isomorphic to K₅−E(C₄), where C₄ is an cycle of length 4 in K₅) as an induced subgraph, and if every 3-cut of L(G) is not independent, then L(G) is hamiltonian connected if and only if κ(L(G))≥3, which extends a recent result by Kriesell [M. Kriesell, All 4-connected line graphs of claw free graphs are hamiltonian-connected, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 82 (2001) 306-315] that every 4-connected hourglass free line graph is hamiltonian connected.