A bijection for essentially 3-connected toroidal maps

We present a bijection for toroidal maps that are essentially 3-connected (3-connected in the periodic planar representation). Our construction actually proceeds on certain closely related bipartite toroidal maps with all faces of degree 4 except for a hexagonal root-face. We show that these maps are in bijection with certain well-characterized bipartite unicellular maps. Our bijection, closely related to the recent one by Bonichon and Lévêque for essentially 4-connected toroidal triangulations, can be seen as the toroidal counterpart of the one developed in the planar case by Fusy, Poulalhon and Schaeffer, and it extends the one recently proposed by Fusy and Lévêque for essentially simple toroidal triangulations. Moreover, we show that rooted essentially 3-connected toroidal maps can be decomposed into two pieces, a toroidal part that is treated by our bijection, and a planar part that is treated by the above-mentioned planar case bijection. This yields a combinatorial derivation for the bivariate generating function of rooted essentially 3-connected toroidal maps, counted by vertices and faces.     

An extension of Sallee’s theorem to infinite locally finite vap-free plane graphs

A graph isk-cyclable if givenk vertices there is a cycle that contains thek vertices. Sallee showed that every finite 3-connected planar graph is 5-cyclable. In this paper, by characterizing the circuit graphs and investigating the structure of LV-graphs, we extend his result to 3-connected infinite locally finite VAP-free plane graphs.     

Cycle Covers of Planar 2-Edge-Connected Graphs

A graph with n vertices is said to have a small cycle cover provided its edges can be covered with at most (2n ? 1)/3 cycles. Bondy [2] has conjectured that every 2-connected graph has a small cycle cover. In [3] Lai and Lai prove Bondy’s conjecture for plane triangulations. In [1] the author extends this result to all planar 3-connected graphs, by proving that they can be covered by at most (n + 1)/2 cycles. In this paper we show that Bondy’s conjecture holds for all planar 2-connected graphs. We also show that all planar 2-edge-connected graphs can be covered by at most (3n ? 3)/4 cycles and we show an infinite family of graphs for which this bound is attained.     

A generalization of chordal graphs

In a 3-connected planar triangulation, every circuit of length ≥ 4 divides the rest of the edges into two nontrivial parts (inside and outside) which are “separated” by the circuit. Neil Robertson asked to what extent triangulations are characterized by this property, and conjectured an answer. In this paper we prove his conjecture, that if G is simple and 3-connected and every circuit of length ≥ 4 has at least two “bridges,” then G may be built up by “clique-sums” starting from complete graphs and planar triangulations. This is a generalization of Dirac's theorem about chordal graphs.     

带根2-连通3-正则平面地图计数

本文利用不可分离的3-正则有根平面地图的计数结果,间接地给出了2-连通 3-正则有根平面地图依边数和根面次的计数显式．     

Non-Hamiltonian non-Grinbergian graphs

Settling a question of Tutte and a similar question of Grünbaum and Zaks, we present a 3-valent 3-connected planar graph that has only pentagons and octagons, has 92 (200, respectively) vertices and its longest circuit (path, respectively) contains at most 90 (198, respectively) vertices; moreover, it is shown that the family of all 3-valent 3-connected planar graphs, having n-gons only if n≡ 2 (mod3) (or n≡ 1 (mod3)), has a shortness exponent which is less than one.     

Maximum Genus of Strong Embeddings

The strong embedding conjecture states that any 2-connected graph has a strong embedding on some surface. It implies the circuit double cover conjecture: Any 2-connected graph has a circuit double cover.Conversely, it is not true. But for a 3-regular graph, the two conjectures are equivalent. In this paper, a characterization of graphs having a strong embedding with exactly 3 faces, which is the strong embedding of maximum genus, is given. In addition, some graphs with the property are provided. More generally, an upper bound of the maximum genus of strong embeddings of a graph is presented too. Lastly, it is shown that the interpolation theorem is true to planar Halin graph.     

Hamiltonian properties of polyhedra with few 3-cuts—A survey

We give an overview of the most important techniques and results concerning the hamiltonian properties of planar 3-connected graphs with few 3-vertex-cuts. In this context, we also discuss planar triangulations and their decomposition trees. We observe an astonishing similarity between the hamiltonian behavior of planar triangulations and planar 3-connected graphs. In addition to surveying, (i) we give a unified approach to constructing non-traceable, non-hamiltonian, and non-hamiltonian-connected triangulations, and show that planar 3-connected graphs (ii) with at most one 3-vertex-cut are hamiltonian-connected, and (iii) with at most two 3-vertex-cuts are 1-hamiltonian, filling two gaps in the literature. Finally, we discuss open problems and conjectures.     

Counting non-isomorphic three-connected planar maps

A counting formula for the number of non-isomorphic planar maps with m edges was obtained by V. A. Liskovets, and non-isomorphic 2-connected planar maps were counted by Liskovets and the author. R. W. Robinson's generalization of Polya's counting theory can be applied to these formulae to count, in polynomial time, non-isomorphic planar maps satisfying various sets of restrictions. Here two sets of planar maps are counted: maps with given 2-connected components, and 3-connected maps.     

Mutation on knots and Whitney’s 2-isomorphism theorem

Whitney’s 2-switching theorem states that any two embeddings of a 2-connected planar graph in S ² can be connected via a sequence of simple operations, named 2-switching. In this paper, we obtain two operations on planar graphs from the view point of knot theory, which we will term “twisting” and “2-switching” respectively. With the twisting operation, we give a pure geometrical proof of Whitney’s 2-switching theorem. As an application, we obtain some relationships between two knots which correspond to the same signed planar graph. Besides, we also give a necessary and sufficient condition to test whether a pair of reduced alternating diagrams are mutants of each other by their signed planar graphs.     

Pairs of edge disjoint Hamiltonian circuits in 5-connected planar graphs

Summary A variety of examples of 4-connected 4-regular graphs with no pair of disjoint Hamiltonian circuits were constructed in response to Nash-Williams conjecture that every 4-connected 4-regular graph is Hamiltonian and also admits a pair of edge-disjoint Hamiltonian circuits. Nash-Williams's problem is especially interesting for planar graphs since 4-connected planar graphs are Hamiltonian. Examples of 4-connected 4-regular planar graphs in which every pair of Hamiltonian circuits have edges in common are included in the above mentioned examples.B. Grünbaum asked whether 5-connected planar graphs always admit a pair of disjoint Hamiltonian circuits. In this paper we introduce a technique that enables us to construct infinitely many examples of 5-connected planar graphs, 5-regular and non regular, in which every pair of Hamiltonian circuits have edges in common.     

Dynamic programming and planarity: Improved tree-decomposition based algorithms

We study some structural properties for tree-decompositions of 2-connected planar graphs that we use to improve upon the runtime of tree-decomposition based dynamic programming approaches for several NP-hard planar graph problems. E.g., we derive the fastest algorithm for Planar Dominating Set of runtime 3^tw⋅n^O(1), when we take the width tw of a given tree-decomposition as the measure for the exponential worst case behavior. We also introduce a tree-decomposition based approach to solve non-local problems efficiently, such as Planar Hamiltonian Cycle in runtime 6^tw⋅n^O(1). From any input tree-decomposition of a 2-connected planar graph, one computes in time O(nm) a tree-decomposition with geometric properties, which decomposes the plane into disks, and where the graph separators form Jordan curves in the plane.     

A note on Barnette’s conjecture

A well-known conjecture of Barnette states that every 3-connected cubic bipartite planar graph has a Hamiltonian cycle, which is equivalent to the statement that every 3-connected even plane triangulation admits a 2-tree coloring, meaning that the vertices of the graph have a 2-coloring such that each color class induces a tree. In this paper we present a new approach to Barnette’s conjecture by using 2-tree coloring.A Barnette triangulation is a 3-connected even plane triangulation, and a B-graph is a smallest Barnette triangulation without a 2-tree coloring. A configuration is reducible if it cannot be a configuration of a B-graph. We prove that certain configurations are reducible. We also define extendable, non-extendable and compatible graphs; and discuss their connection with Barnette’s conjecture.     

On n-skein isomorphisms of graphs

H. Whitney [Amer. J. Math.54 (1932), 150–168] proved that edge isomorphisms between connected graphs with at least five vertices are induced by isomorphisms and that circuit isomorphisms between 3-connected graphs are induced by isomorphisms. R. Halin and H. A. Jung [J. London Math. Soc.42 (1967), 254–256] generalized these results by showing that for n ≥ 2, n-skein isomorphisms between (n+1)-connected graphs are induced by isomorphisms. In this paper we show that for n ≥ 2, n-skein isomorphisms between 3-connected graphs having (n+1)-skeins are induced by isomorphisms.     

Matching theory and Barnette's conjecture

Barnette's Conjecture claims that all cubic, 3-connected, planar, bipartite graphs are Hamiltonian. We give a translation of this conjecture into the matching-theoretic setting. This allows us to relax the requirement of planarity to give the equivalent conjecture that all cubic, 3-connected, Pfaffian, bipartite graphs are Hamiltonian.A graph, other than the path of length three, is a brace if it is bipartite and any two disjoint edges are part of a perfect matching. Our perspective allows us to observe that Barnette's Conjecture can be reduced to cubic, planar braces. We show a similar reduction to braces for cubic, 3-connected, bipartite graphs regarding four stronger versions of Hamiltonicity. Note that in these cases we do not need planarity.As a practical application of these results, we provide some supplements to a generation procedure for cubic, 3-connected, planar, bipartite graphs discovered by Holton et al. (1985) [14]. These allow us to check whether a graph we generated is a brace.     

The uniquely embeddable planar graphs

Whitney [7] proved in 1932 that for any two embeddings of a planar 3-connected graph, their combinatorial duals are isomorphic. In this manner, the term “uniquely embeddable planar graph” was introduced. It is a well-known fact that combinatorial and geometrical duals are equivalent concepts. In this paper, the concept of unique embeddability is introduced in terms of special types of isomorphisms between any two embeddings of a planar graph. From this, the class U of all graphs which are uniquely embeddable in the plane according to this definition, is determined, and the planar 3-connected graphs are a proper subset of U. It turns out that the graphs in U have a unique geometrical dual (i.e., for any two embeddings of such a graph, their geometrical duals are isomorphic). Furthermore, the theorems and their proofs do not involve any type of duals.     

Heavy fans, cycles and paths in weighted graphs of large connectivity

A set of paths joining a vertex y and a vertex set L is called (y,L)-fan if any two of the paths have only y in common, and its width is the number of paths forming it. In weighted graphs, it is known that the existence of heavy fan is useful to find a heavy cycle containing some specified vertices.In this paper, we show the existence of heavy fans with large width containing some specified vertices in weighted graphs of large connectivity, which is a weighted analogue of Perfect's theorem. Using this, in 3-connected weighted graphs, we can find heavy cycles containing three specified vertices, and also heavy paths joining two specified vertices containing two more specified vertices. These results extend the previous results in 2-connected weighted graphs to 3-connected weighted graphs.     

Nowhere-zero integral chains and flows in bidirected graphs

General results on nowhere-zero integral chain groups are proved and then specialized to the case of flows in bidirected graphs. For instance, it is proved that every 4-connected (resp. 3-connected and balanced triangle free) bidirected graph which has at least an unbalanced circuit and a nowhere-zero flow can be provided with a nowhere-zero integral flow with absolute values less than 18 (resp. 30). This improves, for these classes of graphs, Bouchet's 216-flow theorem (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 34 (1982), 279–292). We also approach his 6-flow conjecture by proving it for a class of 3-connected graphs. Our method is inspired by Seymour's proof of the 6-flow theorem (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 30 (1981), 130–136), and makes use of new connectedness properties of signed graphs.     

CYCLE SPACES OF GRAPHS ON THE SPHERE AND THE PROJECTIVE PLANE

Cycle base theory of a graph has been well studied in abstract mathematical field such matroid theory as Whitney and Tutte did and found many applications in pratical uses such as electric circuit theory and structure analysis, etc. In this paper graph embedding theory is used to investigate cycle base structures of a 2-(edge)-connected graph on the sphere and the projective plane and it is shown that short cycles do generate the cycle spaces in the case of ““““small face-embeddings““““. As applications the authors find the exact formulae for the minimum lengthes of cycle bases of some types of graphs and present several known results. Infinite examples shows that the conditions in their main results are best possible and there are many 3-connected planar graphs whose minimum cycle bases can not be determined by the planar formulae but may be located by re-embedding them into the projective plane.     

The number of polyhedral (3-Connected Planar) Graphs

Data is presented on the number of 3-connected planar graphs, isomorphic to the graphs of convex polyhedra, with up to 26 edges. Results have been checked with the the number of rooted c-nets of R.C. Mullin and P.J. Schellenberg and Liu Yanpei.