k-ordered Hamiltonian graphs

A hamiltonian graph G of order n is k-ordered, 2 ≤ k ≤ n, if for every sequence v₁, v₂, …, v_k of k distinct vertices of G, there exists a hamiltonian cycle that encounters v₁, v₂, …, v_k in this order. Theorems by Dirac and Ore, presenting sufficient conditions for a graph to be hamiltonian, are generalized to k-ordered hamiltonian graphs. The existence of k-ordered graphs with small maximum degree is investigated; in particular, a family of 4-regular 4-ordered graphs is described. A graph G of order n ≥ 3 is k-hamiltonian-connected, 2 ≤ k ≤ n, if for every sequence v₁, v₂, …, v_k of k distinct vertices, G contains a v₁-v_k hamiltonian path that encounters v₁, v₂,…, v_k in this order. It is shown that for k ≥ 3, every (k + 1)-hamiltonian-connected graph is k-ordered and a result of Ore on hamiltonian-connected graphs is generalized to k-hamiltonian-connected graphs. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On k-ordered Hamiltonian graphs

A Hamiltonian graph G of order n is k-ordered, 2 ≤ k ≤ n, if for every sequence v₁, v₂, …, v_k of k distinct vertices of G, there exists a Hamiltonian cycle that encounters v₁, v₂, …, v_k in this order. Define f(k, n) as the smallest integer m for which any graph on n vertices with minimum degree at least m is a k-ordered Hamiltonian graph. In this article, answering a question of Ng and Schultz, we determine f(k, n) if n is sufficiently large in terms of k. Let g(k, n) = − 1. More precisely, we show that f(k, n) = g(k, n) if n ≥ 11k − 3. Furthermore, we show that f(k, n) ≥ g(k, n) for any n ≥ 2k. Finally we show that f(k, n) > g(k, n) if 2k ≤ n ≤ 3k − 6. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 32: 17–25, 1999     

Graph powers and k-ordered Hamiltonicity

It is known that if G is a connected simple graph, then G³ is Hamiltonian (in fact, Hamilton-connected). A simple graph is k-ordered Hamiltonian if for any sequence v₁, v₂,…,v_k of k vertices there is a Hamiltonian cycle containing these vertices in the given order. In this paper, we prove that if k?4, then G^⌊3k/2⌋-2 is k-ordered Hamiltonian for every connected graph G on at least k vertices. By considering the case of the path graph P_n, we show that this result is sharp. We also give a lower bound on the power of the cycle C_n that guarantees k-ordered Hamiltonicity.     

On 3-regular 4-ordered graphs

A simple graph G is k-ordered (respectively, k-ordered hamiltonian), if for any sequence of k distinct vertices v₁,…,v_kof G there exists a cycle (respectively, hamiltonian cycle) in G containing these k vertices in the specified order. In 1997 Ng and Schultz introduced these concepts of cycle orderability and posed the question of the existence of 3-regular 4-ordered (hamiltonian) graphs other than K₄ and K_3,3. Ng and Schultz observed that a 3-regular 4-ordered graph on more than 4 vertices is triangle free. We prove that a 3-regular 4-ordered graph G on more than 6 vertices is square free,and we show that the smallest graph that is triangle and square free, namely the Petersen graph, is 4-ordered. Furthermore, we prove that the smallest graph after K₄ and K_3,3 that is 3-regular 4-ordered hamiltonianis the Heawood graph. Finally, we construct an infinite family of 3-regular 4-ordered graphs.     

On κ—ordered Graphs Involved Degree Sum

A graph G is κ-ordered Hamiltonian 2≤κ≤n,if for every ordered sequence S of κ distinct vertices of G,there exists a Hamiltonian cycle that encounters S in the given order,In this article,we prove that if G is a graph on n vertices with degree sum of nonadjacent vertices at least n 3κ-9/2,then G is κ-ordered Hamiltonian for κ=3,4,…,[n/19].We also show that the degree sum bound can be reduced to n 2[κ/2]-2 if κ(G）≥3κ-1/2 or δ（G）≥5κ-4.Several known results are generalized.     

Cycles containing all vertices of maximum degree

For a graph G and an integer k, denote by V_k the set {v ∈ V(G) | d(v) ≥ k}. Veldman proved that if G is a 2-connected graph of order n with n ≤ 3k - 2 and |V_k| ≤ k, then G has a cycle containing all vertices of V_k. It is shown that the upper bound k on |V_k| is close to best possible in general. For the special case k = δ(G), it is conjectured that the condition |V_k| ≤ k can be omitted. Using a variation of Woodall's Hopping Lemma, the conjecture is proved under the additional condition that n ≤ 2δ(G) + δ(G) + 1. This result is an almost-generalization of Jackson's Theorem that every 2-connected k-regular graph of order n with n ≤ 3k is hamiltonian. An alternative proof of an extension of Jackson's Theorem is also presented. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On low degree k-ordered graphs

A simple graph G is k-ordered (respectively, k-ordered hamiltonian) if, for any sequence of k distinct vertices v₁,…,v_k of G, there exists a cycle (respectively, a hamiltonian cycle) in G containing these k vertices in the specified order. In 1997 Ng and Schultz introduced these concepts of cycle orderability, and motivated by the fact that k-orderedness of a graph implies (k-1)-connectivity, they posed the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs. We construct an infinite family of graphs, which we call bracelet graphs, that are (k-1)-regular and are k-ordered hamiltonian for odd k. This result provides the best possible answer to the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs for odd k. We further show that for even k, there exist no k-ordered bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree less than k+2, and we exhibit an infinite family of bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree k+2 that are k-ordered for even k. A concept related to k-orderedness, namely that of k-edge-orderedness, is likewise strongly related to connectivity properties. We study this relation and give bounds on the connectivity necessary to imply k-(edge-)orderedness properties.     

An Ore-Type Theorem on Hamiltonian Square Cycles

The kth power of a cycle C is the graph obtained from C by joining every pair of vertices with distance at most k on C. The second power of a cycle is called a square cycle. Pósa conjectured that every graph with minimum degree at least 2n/3 contains a hamiltonian square cycle. Later, Seymour proposed a more general conjecture that if G is a graph with minimum degree at least (kn)/(k + 1), then G contains the kth power of a hamiltonian cycle. Here we prove an Ore-type version of Pósa’s conjecture that if G is a graph in which deg(u) + deg(v) ≥ 4n/3 ? 1/3 for all non-adjacent vertices u and v, then for sufficiently large n, G contains a hamiltonian square cycle unless its minimum degree is exactly n/3 + 2 or n/3 + 5/3. A consequence of this result is an Ore-type analogue of a theorem of Aigner and Brandt.     

On circuits and pancyclic line graphs

Clark proved that L(G) is hamiltonian if G is a connected graph of order n ≥ 6 such that deg u + deg v ≥ n – 1 – p(n) for every edge uv of G, where p(n) = 0 if n is even and p(n) = 1 if n is odd. Here it is shown that the bound n – 1 – p(n) can be decreased to (2n + 1)/3 if every bridge of G is incident with a vertex of degree 1, which is a necessary condition for hamiltonicity of L(G). Moreover, the conclusion that L(G) is hamiltonian can be strengthened to the conclusion that L(G) is pancyclic. Lesniak-Foster and Williamson proved that G contains a spanning closed trail if |V(G)| = n ≥ 6, δ(G) ≥ 2 and deg u + deg v ≥ n – 1 for every pair of nonadjacent vertices u and v. The bound n – 1 can be decreased to (2n + 3)/3 if G is connected and bridgeless, which is necessary for G to have a spanning closed trail.     

Essential independent sets and Hamiltonian cycles

An independent set S of a graph G is said to be essential if S has a pair of vertices distance two apart in G. We prove that if every essential independent set S of order k ≥ 2 in a k-connected graph of order p satisfies max {deg v:v ϵ S} ≥ ½ p, then g is hamiltonian. This generalizes the result of Fan (J. Combinatorial Theory B 37 (1984), 221–227). If we consider the essential independent sets of order k + 1 instead of k in the assumption of the above statement, we can no longer assure the existence a hamiltonian cycle. However, we can still give a lower bound to the length of a longest cycle. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On spanning connected graphs

A k-containerC(u,v) of G between u and v is a set of k internally disjoint paths between u and v. A k-container C(u,v) of G is a k^*-container if the set of the vertices of all the paths in C(u,v) contains all the vertices of G. A graph G is k^*-connected if there exists a k^*-container between any two distinct vertices. Therefore, a graph is 1^*-connected (respectively, 2^*-connected) if and only if it is hamiltonian connected (respectively, hamiltonian). In this paper, a classical theorem of Ore, providing sufficient conditional for a graph to be hamiltonian (respectively, hamiltonian connected), is generalized to k^*-connected graphs.     

Spanning Connectivity of the Power of a Graph and Hamilton-Connected Index of a Graph

Let G = (V, E) be a connected graph. The hamiltonian index h(G) (Hamilton-connected index hc(G)) of G is the least nonnegative integer k for which the iterated line graph L ^k (G) is hamiltonian (Hamilton-connected). In this paper we show the following. (a) If |V(G)| ≥ k + 1 ≥ 4, then in G ^k , for any pair of distinct vertices {u, v}, there exists k internally disjoint (u, v)-paths that contains all vertices of G; (b) for a tree T,  h(T) ≤ hc(T) ≤ h(T) + 1, and for a unicyclic graph G,  h(G) ≤ hc(G) ≤ max{h(G) + 1, k′ + 1}, where k′ is the length of a longest path with all vertices on the cycle such that the two ends of it are of degree at least 3 and all internal vertices are of degree 2; (c) we also characterize the trees and unicyclic graphs G for which hc(G) = h(G) + 1.     

Hamiltonicity of regular 2-connected graphs

Let G be a k-regular 2-connected graph of order n. Jackson proved that G is hamiltonian if n ≤ 3k. Zhu and Li showed that the upper bound 3k on n can be relaxed to 22/7k if G is 3-connected and k ≥ 63. We improve both results by showing that G is hamiltonian if n ≤ 7/2k − 7 and G does not belong to a restricted class F of nonhamiltonian graphs of connectivity 2. To establish this result we obtain a variation of Woodall's Hopping Lemma and use it to prove that if n ≤ 7/2k − 7 and G has a dominating cycle (i.e., a cycle such that the vertices off the cycle constitute an independent set), then G is hamiltonian. We also prove that if n ≤ 4k − 3 and G ∉ F, then G has a dominating cycle. For k ≥ 4 it is conjectured that G is hamiltonian if n ≤ 4k and G ∉ F. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Two‐factors each component of which contains a specified vertex

It is shown that if G is a graph of order n with minimum degree δ(G), then for any set of k specified vertices {v₁,v₂,…,v_k} ? V(G), there is a 2‐factor of G with precisely k cycles {C₁,C₂,…,C_k} such that v_i ∈ V(C_i) for (1 ≤ i ≤ k) if or 3k + 1 ≤ n ≤ 4k, or 4k ≤ n ≤ 6k ? 3,δ(G) ≥ 3k ? 1 or n ≥ 6k ? 3, . Examples are described that indicate this result is sharp. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 188–198, 2003     

Closure Concepts: A Survey

In this paper we survey results of the following type (known as closure results). Let P be a graph property, and let C(u,v) be a condition on two nonadjacent vertices u and v of a graph G. Then G+uv has property P if and only if G has property P. The first and now well-known result of this type was established by Bondy and Chvátal in a paper published in 1976: If u and v are two nonadjacent vertices with degree sum n in a graph G on n vertices, then G+uv is hamiltonian if and only if G is hamiltonian. Based on this result, they defined the n-closure cl_n (G) of a graph G on n vertices as the graph obtained from G by recursively joining pairs of nonadjacent vertices with degree sum n until no such pair remains. They showed that cl_n(G) is well-defined, and that G is hamiltonian if and only if cl_n(G) is hamiltonian. Moreover, they showed that cl_n(G) can be obtained by a polynomial algorithm, and that a Hamilton cycle in cl_n(G) can be transformed into a Hamilton cycle of G by a polynomial algorithm. As a consequence, for any graph G with cl_n(G)=K _n (and n≥3), a Hamilton cycle can be found in polynomial time, whereas this problem is NP-hard for general graphs. All classic sufficient degree conditions for hamiltonicity imply a complete n-closure, so the closure result yields a common generalization as well as an easy proof for these conditions. In their first paper on closures, Bondy and Chvátal gave similar closure results based on degree sum conditions for nonadjacent vertices for other graph properties. Inspired by their first results, many authors developed other closure concepts for a variety of graph properties, or used closure techniques as a tool for obtaining deeper sufficiency results with respect to these properties. Our aim is to survey this progress on closures made in the past (more than) twenty years. Revised: September 27, 1999     

Edge disjoint Hamilton cycles in graphs

Let G be a graph of order n and k ≥ 0 an integer. It is conjectured in [8] that if for any two vertices u and v of a 2(k + 1)‐connected graph G,d _G (u,v) = 2 implies that max{d(u;G), d(v;G)} ≥ (n/2) + 2k, then G has k + 1 edge disjoint Hamilton cycles. This conjecture is true for k = 0, 1 (see cf. [3] and [8]). It will be proved in this paper that the conjecture is true for every integer k ≥ 0. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 35: 8–20, 2000     

The Sigma Chromatic Number of a Graph

For a nontrivial connected graph G, let ${c: V(G)\to {{\mathbb N}}}For a nontrivial connected graph G, let c: V(G)? \mathbb N{c: V(G)\to {{\mathbb N}}} be a vertex coloring of G, where adjacent vertices may be colored the same. For a vertex v of G, let N(v) denote the set of vertices adjacent to v. The color sum σ(v) of v is the sum of the colors of the vertices in N(v). If σ(u) ≠ σ(v) for every two adjacent vertices u and v of G, then c is called a sigma coloring of G. The minimum number of colors required in a sigma coloring of a graph G is called its sigma chromatic number σ(G). The sigma chromatic number of a graph G never exceeds its chromatic number χ(G) and for every pair a, b of positive integers with a ≤ b, there exists a connected graph G with σ(G) = a and χ(G) = b. There is a connected graph G of order n with σ(G) = k for every pair k, n of positive integers with k ≤n if and only if k ≠ n − 1. Several other results concerning sigma chromatic numbers are presented.     

Closures,cycles, and paths

In 1960 Ore proved the following theorem: Let G be a graph of order n. If d(u) + d(v)≥n for every pair of nonadjacent vertices u and v, then G is hamiltonian. Since then for several other graph properties similar sufficient degree conditions have been obtained, so‐called “Ore‐type degree conditions”. In [R. J. Faudree, R. H. Schelp, A. Saito, and I. Schiermeyer, Discrete Math 307 (2007), 873–877], Faudree et al. strengthened Ore's theorem as follows: They determined the maximum number of pairs of nonadjacent vertices that can have degree sum less than n (i.e. violate Ore's condition) but still imply that the graph is hamiltonian. In this article we prove that for some other graph properties the corresponding Ore‐type degree conditions can be strengthened as well. These graph properties include traceable graphs, hamiltonian‐connected graphs, k‐leaf‐connected graphs, pancyclic graphs, and graphs having a 2‐factor with two components. Graph closures are computed to show these results. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 314–323, 2012     

Mutually Independent Hamiltonian Connectivity of (n, k)-Star Graphs

A graph G is hamiltonian connected if there exists a hamiltonian path joining any two distinct nodes of G. Two hamiltonian paths and of G from u to v are independent if u = u ₁ = v ₁, v = u _v(G) = v _v(G) , and u _i ≠ v _i for every 1 < i < v(G). A set of hamiltonian paths, {P ₁, P ₂, . . . , P _k }, of G from u to v are mutually independent if any two different hamiltonian paths are independent from u to v. A graph is k mutually independent hamiltonian connected if for any two distinct nodes u and v, there are k mutually independent hamiltonian paths from u to v. The mutually independent hamiltonian connectivity of a graph G, IHP(G), is the maximum integer k such that G is k mutually independent hamiltonian connected. Let n and k be any two distinct positive integers with n–k ≥ 2. We use S _n,k to denote the (n, k)-star graph. In this paper, we prove that IHP(S _n,k ) = n–2 except for S _4,2 such that IHP(S _4,2) = 1.      

An improvement of fraisse's sufficient condition for hamiltonian graphs

Let G be a k-connected graph of order n. For an independent set c, let d(S) be the number of vertices adjacent to at least one vertex of S and > let i(S) be the number of vertices adjacent to at least |S| vertices of S. We prove that if there exists some s, 1 ≤ s ≤ k, such that Σ_xiEX d(X\{X_i}) > s(n?1) – k[s/2] – i(X)[(s?1)/2] holds for every independetn set X ={x₀, x₁ ?x_s} of s + 1 vertices, then G is hamiltonian. Several known results, including Fraisse's sufficient condition for hamiltonian graphs, are dervied as corollaries.