Generalizing Pancyclic and <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Ordered Graphs

Given positive integers kmn, a graph G of order n is (k,m)-pancyclic if for any set of k vertices of G and any integer r with mrn, there is a cycle of length r containing the k vertices. Minimum degree conditions and minimum sum of degree conditions of nonadjacent vertices that imply a graph is (k,m)-pancylic are proved. If the additional property that the k vertices must appear on the cycle in a specified order is required, then the graph is said to be (k,m)-pancyclic ordered. Minimum degree conditions and minimum sum of degree conditions for nonadjacent vertices that imply a graph is (k,m)-pancylic ordered are also proved. Examples showing that these constraints are best possible are provided.Acknowledgments. The authors would like to thank the referees for their careful reading of the paper and their useful suggestions.Final version received: January 26, 2004