Removable edges in 3-connected graphs

An edge e of a 3-connected graph G is said to be removable if G - e is a subdivision of a 3-connected graph. If e is not removable, then e is said to be nonremovable. In this paper, we study the distribution of removable edges in 3-connected graphs and prove that a 3-connected graph of order n ≥ 5 has at most [(4 n — 5)/3] nonremovable edges.     

Removable edges in a 5-connected graph and a construction method of 5-connected graphs

An edge e of a k-connected graph G is said to be a removable edge if G?e is still k-connected. A k-connected graph G is said to be a quasi (k+1)-connected if G has no nontrivial k-separator. The existence of removable edges of 3-connected and 4-connected graphs and some properties of quasi k-connected graphs have been investigated [D.A. Holton, B. Jackson, A. Saito, N.C. Wormale, Removable edges in 3-connected graphs, J. Graph Theory 14(4) (1990) 465-473; H. Jiang, J. Su, Minimum degree of minimally quasi (k+1)-connected graphs, J. Math. Study 35 (2002) 187-193; T. Politof, A. Satyanarayana, Minors of quasi 4-connected graphs, Discrete Math. 126 (1994) 245-256; T. Politof, A. Satyanarayana, The structure of quasi 4-connected graphs, Discrete Math. 161 (1996) 217-228; J. Su, The number of removable edges in 3-connected graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 75(1) (1999) 74-87; J. Yin, Removable edges and constructions of 4-connected graphs, J. Systems Sci. Math. Sci. 19(4) (1999) 434-438]. In this paper, we first investigate the relation between quasi connectivity and removable edges. Based on the relation, the existence of removable edges in k-connected graphs (k?5) is investigated. It is proved that a 5-connected graph has no removable edge if and only if it is isomorphic to K₆. For a k-connected graph G such that end vertices of any edge of G have at most k-3 common adjacent vertices, it is also proved that G has a removable edge. Consequently, a recursive construction method of 5-connected graphs is established, that is, any 5-connected graph can be obtained from K₆ by a number of θ⁺-operations. We conjecture that, if k is even, a k-connected graph G without removable edge is isomorphic to either K_k+1 or the graph H_k/2+1 obtained from K_k+2 by removing k/2+1 disjoint edges, and, if k is odd, G is isomorphic to K_k+1.     

Longest cycles in 3-connected graphs contain three contractible edges

We show that if G is a 3-connected graph of order at least seven, then every longest path between distinct vertices in G contains at least two contractible edges. An immediate corollary is that longest cycles in such graphs contain at least three contractible edges.     

Hamiltonian cycles through prescribed edges of 4-connected maximal planar graphs

In 1956, W.T. Tutte proved that every 4-connected planar graph is hamiltonian. Moreover, in 1997, D.P. Sanders extended this to the result that a 4-connected planar graph contains a hamiltonian cycle through any two of its edges. It is shown that Sanders’ result is best possible by constructing 4-connected maximal planar graphs with three edges a large distance apart such that any hamiltonian cycle misses one of them. If the maximal planar graph is 5-connected then such a construction is impossible.     

Large cycles in 4-connected graphs

The first result states that every 4-connected graph G with minimum degree δ and connectivity κ either contains a cycle of length at least 4δ−κ−4 or every longest cycle in G is a dominating cycle. The second result states that any such graph under the additional condition δ≥α either contains a cycle of length at least 4δ−κ−4 or is hamiltonian, where α denotes the independence number of G. Both results are sharp in all respects.     

Longest cycles in 4-connected graphs

Let ${\sigma }_4^1=min\text{{}{\sum }_{i=1}^{4}d\left(v_i\right)+\left|{?}_{i=1}^{4}N\left(v_i\right)\right|?\left|{?}_{i=1}^{4}N\left(v_i\right)\right|:\{v_1,v_2,v_3,v_4\}$ is an independent set of a graph G$\text{}}$. In this paper, we give a low bound for the length of a longest cycle in a 4-connected graph and get the following result: If $G$ is a 4-connected graph on $n$ vertices, then the circumference $c\left(G\right)\ge min\{n,{\sigma }_4^1∕2\}$. Moreover, we give graphs to show that the connectivity in our result is best possible with respect to the low bound and the low bound in our result is also best possible with respect to the connectivity.     

Longest cycles in 3-connected graphs

In this paper, we get the following result: Let G be a 3-connected graph with n vertices. Then , where

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. This is a new lower bound for the circumference c(G) of a 3-connected graph G.     

Non removable edges in 3-connected cubic graphs

LetG be a cyclicallyk-edge-connected cubic graph withk 3. Lete be an edge ofG. LetG be the cubic graph obtained fromG by deletinge and its end vertices. The edgee is said to bek-removable ifG is also cyclicallyk-edge-connected. Let us denote by S _k (G) the graph induced by thek-removable edges and by N _k (G) the graph induced by the non 3-removable edges ofG. In a previous paper [7], we have proved that N ₃(G) is empty if and only ifG is cyclically 4-edge connected and that if N ₃(G) is not empty then it is a forest containing at least three trees. Andersen, Fleischner and Jackson [1] and, independently, McCuaig [11] studied N ₄(G). Here, we study the structure of N _k (G) fork 5 and we give some constructions of graphs such thatN _k (G) = E(G). We note that the main result of this paper (Theorem 5) has been announced independently by McCuaig [11].

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Résumé SoitG un graphe cubique cyliquementk-arête-connexe, aveck 3. Soite une arête deG et soitG le graphe cubique obtenu à partir deG en supprimante et ses extrémités. L'arêtee est ditek-suppressible siG est aussi cycliquementk-arête-connexe. Désignons par S _k (G) le graphe induit par les arêtesk-suppressibles et par N _k (G) celui induit par les arêtes nonk-suppressibles. Dans un précédent article [7], nous avons montré que N ₃(G) est vide si et seulement siG est cycliquement 4-arête-connexe et que si N ₃(G) n'est pas vide alors c'est une forêt possédant au moins trois arbres. Andersen, Fleischner and Jackson [1] et, indépendemment, McCuaig [11] ont étudié N ₄(G). Ici, nous étudions la structure de N _k (G) pourk 5 et nous donnons des constructions de graphes pour lesquelsN _k (G) = E(G). Nous signalons que le résultat principal de cet article (Théorème 5) a été annoncé indépendamment par McCuaig [11].

     

Hamiltonian cycles in 3-connected claw-free graphs

In this paper, we show that every 3-connected claw-free graph on n vertices with δ ≥ (n + 5)/5 is hamiltonian. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Hamilton cycles in regular 3-connected graphs

We show in this paper that for k63, every 3-connected, k-regular simple graph on at most vertices is hamiltonian.     

Removable edges in cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graphs

We consider various ways of obtaining smaller cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graphs from a given such graph. In particular, we consider removable edges: an edgee of a cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graphG is said to be removable ifG is also cyclically 4-edge-connected, whereG is the cubic graph obtained fromG by deletinge and suppressing the two vertices of degree 2 created by the deletion. We prove that any cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graphG with at least 12 vertices has at least 1/5(|E(G)| + 12) removable edges, and we characterize the graphs with exactly 1/5(|E(G)| + 12) removable edges.This work was carried out while the first author held a Niels Bohr Fellowship from the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences.     

The number of contractible edges in 3-connected graphs

An edge of a 3-connected graph is calledcontractible if its contraction results in a 3-connected graph. Ando, Enomoto and Saito proved that every 3-connected graph of order at least five has |G|/2 or more contractible edges. As another lower bound, we prove that every 3-connected graph, except for six graphs, has at least (2|E(G)| + 12)/7 contractible edges. We also determine the extremal graphs. Almost all of these extremal graphsG have more than |G|/2 contractible edges.     

Hamiltonian cycles in 3-connected Claw-free graphs

It is shown that every 3-connected claw-free graph having at most 6δ−7 vertices is hamiltonian, where δ is the minimum degree.     

Long cycles in 4-connected planar graphs

Let G be a 4-connected planar graph on n vertices. Malkevitch conjectured that if G contains a cycle of length 4, then G contains a cycle of length k for every k∈{n,n−1,…,3}. This conjecture is true for every k∈{n,n−1,…,n−6} with k≥3. In this paper, we prove that G also has a cycle of length n−7 provided n≥10.     

Cycles through four edges in 3-connected cubic graphs

We give necessary and sufficient conditions for four edges in a 3-connected cubic graph to lie on a cycle. As a consequence, if such a graph is cyclically 4-edge-connected with order greater than 8 it is shown that any four independent edges lie on a cycle.     

Cycles through five edges in 3-connected cubic graphs

Given five edges in a 3-connected cubic graph there are obvious reasons why there may not be one cycle passing through all of them. For instance, an odd subset of the edges may form a cutset of the graph. By restricting the sets of five edges in a natural way we are able to give necessary and sufficient conditions for the set to be a subset of edges of some cycle. It follows as a corollary that, under suitable restrictions, any five edges of a cyclically 5-edge connected cubic graph lie on a cycle.     

5-Shredders in 5-connected graphs

For a graph G, a subset S of V(G) is called a shredder if G−S consists of three or more components. We show that if G is a 5-connected graph with |V(G)|≥135, then the number of shredders of cardinality 5 of G is less than or equal to (2|V(G)|−10)/3.