3‐Factor‐Criticality of Vertex‐Transitive Graphs

A graph of order n is p ‐factor‐critical, where p is an integer of the same parity as n, if the removal of any set of p vertices results in a graph with a perfect matching. 1‐factor‐critical graphs and 2‐factor‐critical graphs are factor‐critical graphs and bicritical graphs, respectively. It is well known that every connected vertex‐transitive graph of odd order is factor‐critical and every connected nonbipartite vertex‐transitive graph of even order is bicritical. In this article, we show that a simple connected vertex‐transitive graph of odd order at least five is 3‐factor‐critical if and only if it is not a cycle.     

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     

The Second Neighbourhood for Quasi-transitive Oriented Graphs

In 2006, Sullivan stated the conjectures:(1) every oriented graph has a vertex x such that d~(++)(x) ≥ d~-(x);(2) every oriented graph has a vertex x such that d~(++)(x) + d~+(x) ≥ 2 d~-(x);(3) every oriented graph has a vertex x such that d~(++)(x) + d~+(x) ≥ 2 · min{d~+(x), d~-(x)}. A vertex x in D satisfying Conjecture(i) is called a Sullivan-i vertex, i = 1, 2, 3. A digraph D is called quasi-transitive if for every pair xy, yz of arcs between distinct vertices x, y, z, xz or zx("or" is inclusive here) is in D. In this paper, we prove that the conjectures hold for quasi-transitive oriented graphs, which is a superclass of tournaments and transitive acyclic digraphs. Furthermore, we show that a quasi-transitive oriented graph with no vertex of in-degree zero has at least three Sullivan-1 vertices and a quasi-transitive oriented graph has at least three Sullivan-3 vertices unless it belongs to an exceptional class of quasitransitive oriented graphs. For Sullivan-2 vertices, we show that an extended tournament, a subclass of quasi-transitive oriented graphs and a superclass of tournaments, has at least two Sullivan-2 vertices unless it belongs to an exceptional class of extended tournaments.     

On cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs

In 1983, the second author [D. Maru?i?, Ars Combinatoria 16B (1983), 297–302] asked for which positive integers n there exists a non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph on n vertices. (The term non‐Cayley numbers has later been given to such integers.) Motivated by this problem, Feng [Discrete Math 248 (2002), 265–269] asked to determine the smallest valency ?(n) among valencies of non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. As cycles are clearly Cayley graphs, ?(n)?3 for any non‐Cayley number n. In this paper a goal is set to determine those non‐Cayley numbers n for which ?(n) = 3, and among the latter to determine those for which the generalized Petersen graphs are the only non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order n. It is known that for a prime p every vertex‐transitive graph of order p, p² or p³ is a Cayley graph, and that, with the exception of the Coxeter graph, every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 2p, 4p or 2p² is a generalized Petersen graph. In this paper the next natural step is taken by proving that every cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graph of order 4p², p>7 a prime, is a generalized Petersen graph. In addition, cubic non‐Cayley vertex‐transitive graphs of order 2p^k, where p>7 is a prime and k?p, are characterized. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 77–95, 2012     

Cycle‐Continuous Mappings—Order Structure

Given two graphs, a mapping between their edge‐sets is cycle‐continuous , if the preimage of every cycle is a cycle. The motivation for this definition is Jaeger's conjecture that for every bridgeless graph there is a cycle‐continuous mapping to the Petersen graph, which, if solved positively, would imply several other important conjectures (e.g., the Cycle double cover conjecture). Answering a question of DeVos, Ne?et?il, and Raspaud, we prove that there exists an infinite set of graphs with no cycle‐continuous mapping between them. Further extending this result, we show that every countable poset can be represented by graphs and the existence of cycle‐continuous mappings between them.     

Triply Existentially Complete Triangle‐Free Graphs

A triangle‐free graph G is called k‐existentially complete if for every induced k‐vertex subgraph H of G, every extension of H to a ‐vertex triangle‐free graph can be realized by adding another vertex of G to H. Cherlin  11 , 12 asked whether k‐existentially complete triangle‐free graphs exist for every k. Here, we present known and new constructions of 3‐existentially complete triangle‐free graphs.     

Odd 4‐edge‐colorability of graphs

An odd k‐edge‐coloring of a graph G is a (not necessarily proper) edge‐coloring with at most k colors such that each nonempty color class induces a graph in which every vertex is of odd degree. Pyber (1991) showed that every simple graph is odd 4‐edge‐colorable, and Lužar et al. (2015) showed that connected loopless graphs are odd 5‐edge‐colorable, with one particular exception that is odd 6‐edge‐colorable. In this article, we prove that connected loopless graphs are odd 4‐edge‐colorable, with two particular exceptions that are respectively odd 5‐ and odd 6‐edge‐colorable. Moreover, a color class can be reduced to a size at most 2.     

Equistarable Graphs and Counterexamples to Three Conjectures on Equistable Graphs

Equistable graphs are graphs admitting positive weights on vertices such that a subset of vertices is a maximal stable set if and only if it is of total weight 1. Strongly equistable graphs are graphs such that for every and every nonempty subset T of vertices that is not a maximal stable set, there exist positive vertex weights assigning weight 1 to every maximal stable set such that the total weight of T does not equal c . General partition graphs are the intersection graphs of set systems over a finite ground set U such that every maximal stable set of the graph corresponds to a partition of U . General partition graphs are exactly the graphs every edge of which is contained in a strong clique. In 1994, Mahadev, Peled, and Sun proved that every strongly equistable graph is equistable, and conjectured that the converse holds as well. In 2009, Orlin proved that every general partition graph is equistable, and conjectured that the converse holds as well. Orlin's conjecture, if true, would imply the conjecture due to Mahadev, Peled, and Sun. An “intermediate” conjecture, posed by Miklavi? and Milani? in 2011, states that every equistable graph has a strong clique. The above conjectures have been verified for several graph classes. We introduce the notion of equistarable graphs and based on it construct counterexamples to all three conjectures within the class of complements of line graphs of triangle‐free graphs. We also show that not all strongly equistable graphs are general partition.     

Claw‐free graphs and 2‐factors that separate independent vertices

In this article, we prove that a line graph with minimum degree δ≥7 has a spanning subgraph in which every component is a clique of order at least three. This implies that if G is a line graph with δ≥7, then for any independent set S there is a 2‐factor of G such that each cycle contains at most one vertex of S. This supports the conjecture that δ≥5 is sufficient to imply the existence of such a 2‐factor in the larger class of claw‐free graphs. It is also shown that if G is a claw‐free graph of order n and independence number α with δ≥2n/α?2 and n≥3α³/2, then for any maximum independent set S, G has a 2‐factor with α cycles such that each cycle contains one vertex of S. This is in support of a conjecture that δ≥n/α≥5 is sufficient to imply the existence of a 2‐factor with α cycles, each containing one vertex of a maximum independent set. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69: 251–263, 2012     

On Toughness and Hamiltonicity of 2K2‐Free Graphs

The toughness of a (noncomplete) graph G is the minimum value of t for which there is a vertex cut A whose removal yields components. Determining toughness is an NP‐hard problem for general input graphs. The toughness conjecture of Chvátal, which states that there exists a constant t such that every graph on at least three vertices with toughness at least t is hamiltonian, is still open for general graphs. We extend some known toughness results for split graphs to the more general class of 2K₂‐free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain two vertex‐disjoint edges as an induced subgraph. We prove that the problem of determining toughness is polynomially solvable and that Chvátal's toughness conjecture is true for 2K₂‐free graphs.     

Cross‐intersecting couples of graphs

Two graphs on the same vertex set form a cross‐intersecting couple if they have a pair of clique coverings with the property that every pair of cliques from the respective coverings intersect. In particular, a graph is called normal if it forms a cross‐intersecting couple with its complement. We determine the largest size of families of graphs every pair of which forms a cross‐intersecting couple under various additional restrictions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 56: 105–112, 2007     

Hitting time results for Maker‐Breaker games

We study Maker‐Breaker games played on the edge set of a random graph. Specifically, we analyze the moment a typical random graph process first becomes a Maker's win in a game in which Maker's goal is to build a graph which admits some monotone increasing property \begin{align*}\mathcal{P}\end{align*}. We focus on three natural target properties for Maker's graph, namely being k ‐vertex‐connected, admitting a perfect matching, and being Hamiltonian. We prove the following optimal hitting time results: with high probability Maker wins the k ‐vertex connectivity game exactly at the time the random graph process first reaches minimum degree 2k; with high probability Maker wins the perfect matching game exactly at the time the random graph process first reaches minimum degree 2; with high probability Maker wins the Hamiltonicity game exactly at the time the random graph process first reaches minimum degree 4. The latter two statements settle conjectures of Stojakovi? and Szabó. We also prove generalizations of the latter two results; these generalizations partially strengthen some known results in the theory of random graphs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2011     

Exhaustive generation of k‐critical ‐free graphs

We describe an algorithm for generating all k‐critical ‐free graphs, based on a method of Hoàng et al. (A graph G is k‐critical H‐free if G is H‐free, k‐chromatic, and every H‐free proper subgraph of G is ‐colorable). Using this algorithm, we prove that there are only finitely many 4‐critical ‐free graphs, for both and . We also show that there are only finitely many 4‐critical ‐free graphs. For each of these cases we also give the complete lists of critical graphs and vertex‐critical graphs. These results generalize previous work by Hell and Huang, and yield certifying algorithms for the 3‐colorability problem in the respective classes. In addition, we prove a number of characterizations for 4‐critical H‐free graphs when H is disconnected. Moreover, we prove that for every t, the class of 4‐critical planar ‐free graphs is finite. We also determine all 52 4‐critical planar P₇‐free graphs. We also prove that every P₁₁‐free graph of girth at least five is 3‐colorable, and show that this is best possible by determining the smallest 4‐chromatic P₁₂‐free graph of girth at least five. Moreover, we show that every P₁₄‐free graph of girth at least six and every P₁₇‐free graph of girth at least seven is 3‐colorable. This strengthens results of Golovach et al.     

Vertex-Colored Encompassing Graphs

It is shown that every disconnected vertex-colored plane straight line graph with no isolated vertices can be augmented (by adding edges) into a connected plane straight line graph such that the new edges respect the coloring and the degree of every vertex increases by at most two. The upper bound for the increase of vertex degrees is best possible: there are input graphs that require the addition of two new edges incident to a vertex. The exclusion of isolated vertices is necessary: there are input graphs with isolated vertices that cannot be augmented to a connected vertex-colored plane straight line graph.     

6‐regular 4‐critical graph

P. Erd?s conjectured in [2] that r‐regular 4‐critical graphs exist for every r ≥ 3 and noted that no such graphs are known for r ≥ 6. This article contains the first example of a 6‐regular 4‐critical graph. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 41: 286–291, 2002     

List colourings of planar graphs

A graph G = G(V, E) is called L-list colourable if there is a vertex colouring of G in which the colour assigned to a vertex v is chosen from a list L(v) associated with this vertex. We say G is k-choosable if all lists L(v) have the cardinality k and G is L-list colourable for all possible assignments of such lists. There are two classical conjectures from Erd s, Rubin and Taylor 1979 about the choosability of planar graphs:

every planar graph is 5-choosable and,

there are planar graphs which are not 4-choosable.

We will prove the second conjecture.     

Tetravalent vertex‐transitive graphs of order 4p

A graph is vertex‐transitive if its automorphism group acts transitively on vertices of the graph. A vertex‐transitive graph is a Cayley graph if its automorphism group contains a subgroup acting regularly on its vertices. In this article, the tetravalent vertex‐transitive non‐Cayley graphs of order 4p are classified for each prime p. As a result, there are one sporadic and five infinite families of such graphs, of which the sporadic one has order 20, and one infinite family exists for every prime p>3, two families exist if and only if p≡1 (mod 8) and the other two families exist if and only if p≡1 (mod 4). For each family there is a unique graph for a given order. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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     

Planar graphs without 4‐cycles adjacent to 3‐cycles are list vertex 2‐arborable

It is known that not all planar graphs are 4‐choosable; neither all of them are vertex 2‐arborable. However, planar graphs without 4‐cycles and even those without 4‐cycles adjacent to 3‐cycles are known to be 4‐choosable. We extend this last result in terms of covering the vertices of a graph by induced subgraphs of variable degeneracy. In particular, we prove that every planar graph without 4‐cycles adjacent to 3‐cycles can be covered by two induced forests. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 62, 234–240, 2009     

Locally s‐distance transitive graphs

We give a unified approach to analyzing, for each positive integer s, a class of finite connected graphs that contains all the distance transitive graphs as well as the locally s‐arc transitive graphs of diameter at least s. A graph is in the class if it is connected and if, for each vertex v, the subgroup of automorphisms fixing v acts transitively on the set of vertices at distance i from v, for each i from 1 to s. We prove that this class is closed under forming normal quotients. Several graphs in the class are designated as degenerate, and a nondegenerate graph in the class is called basic if all its nontrivial normal quotients are degenerate. We prove that, for s≥2, a nondegenerate, nonbasic graph in the class is either a complete multipartite graph or a normal cover of a basic graph. We prove further that, apart from the complete bipartite graphs, each basic graph admits a faithful quasiprimitive action on each of its (1 or 2) vertex‐orbits or a biquasiprimitive action. These results invite detailed additional analysis of the basic graphs using the theory of quasiprimitive permutation groups. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 69:176‐197, 2012