Hamiltonicity of 3-Arc Graphs

An arc of a graph is an oriented edge and a 3-arc is a 4-tuple (v, u, x, y) of vertices such that both (v, u, x) and (u, x, y) are paths of length two. The 3-arc graph of a graph G is defined to have vertices the arcs of G such that two arcs uv, xy are adjacent if and only if (v, u, x, y) is a 3-arc of G. We prove that any connected 3-arc graph is hamiltonian, and all iterative 3-arc graphs of any connected graph of minimum degree at least three are hamiltonian. As a corollary we obtain that any vertex-transitive graph which is isomorphic to the 3-arc graph of a connected arc-transitive graph of degree at least three must be hamiltonian. This confirms the conjecture, for this family of vertex-transitive graphs, that all vertex-transitive graphs with finitely many exceptions are hamiltonian. We also prove that if a graph with at least four vertices is Hamilton-connected, then so are its iterative 3-arc graphs.     

Hamiltonian decompositions of products of cycles

A graph is said to be decomposable into hamiltonian cycles if its edge set can be partitioned into hamiltonian cycles. We show that the cartesian product of any three cycles can be decomposed into three hamiltonian cycles, thus settling a conjecture by Kotzig. We also show that, more generally, the cartesian product of 2^a3^b graphs, each decomposable into m hamiltonian cycles, can be decomposed into 2^a3^bm hamiltonian cycles.     

Even subgraphs of bridgeless graphs and 2-factors of line graphs

By Petersen's theorem, a bridgeless cubic multigraph has a 2-factor. Fleischner generalised this result to bridgeless multigraphs of minimum degree at least three by showing that every such multigraph has a spanning even subgraph. Our main result is that every bridgeless simple graph with minimum degree at least three has a spanning even subgraph in which every component has at least four vertices. We deduce that if G is a simple bridgeless graph with n vertices and minimum degree at least three, then its line graph has a 2-factor with at most max{1,(3n-4)/10} components. This upper bound is best possible.     

An approximation algorithm for the hamiltonian walk problem on maximal planar graphs

A hamiltonian walk of a graph is a shortest closed walk that passes through every vertex at least once, and the length is the total number of traversed edges. The hamiltonian walk problem in which one would like to find a hamiltonian walk of a given graph is NP-complete. The problem is a generalized hamiltonian cycle problem and is a special case of the traveling salesman problem. Employing the techniques of divide-and-conquer and augmentation, we present an approximation algorithm for the problem on maximal planar graphs. The algorithm finds, in O(p²) time, a closed spanning walk of a given arbitrary maximal planar graph, and the length of the obtained walk is at most $\text{3}\text{2}$(p ? 3) if the graph has p (≥ 9) vertices. Hence the worst-case bound is $\text{3}\text{2}$.     

Spanning Trees with a Bounded Number of Branch Vertices in a Claw-Free Graph

Let k be a non-negative integer. A branch vertex of a tree is a vertex of degree at least three. We show two sufficient conditions for a connected claw-free graph to have a spanning tree with a bounded number of branch vertices: (i) A connected claw-free graph has a spanning tree with at most k branch vertices if its independence number is at most 2k + 2. (ii) A connected claw-free graph of order n has a spanning tree with at most one branch vertex if the degree sum of any five independent vertices is at least n ? 2. These conditions are best possible. A related conjecture also is proposed.     

Decomposition de Km+Kn en cycles hamiltoniens

Let K_m be the complete graph of order m. We prove that the cartesian sum K_m+K_n can be decomposed into $\text{1}\text{2}$(m+n?2) hamiltonian cycles if m+n is even and into $\text{1}\text{2}$(m+n?3) hamiltonian cycles and a perfect matching if m+n is odd.     

Edge disjoint cycles in graphs

Ore proved in 1960 that if G is a graph of order n and the sum of the degrees of any pair of nonadjacent vertices is at least n, then G has a hamiltonian cycle. In 1986, Li Hao and Zhu Yongjin showed that if n ? 20 and the minimum degree δ is at least 5, then the graph G above contains at least two edge disjoint hamiltonian cycles. The result of this paper is that if n ? 2δ², then for any 3 ? l₁ ? l₂ ? ? ? l_k ? n, 1 = k = [(δ - 1)/2], such graph has K edge disjoint cycles with lengths l₁, l₂…l_k, respectively. In particular, when l₁ = l₂ = ? = l_k = n and k = [(δ - 1)/2], the graph contains [(δ - 1)/2] edge disjoint hamiltonian cycles.     

Spanning trees without adjacent vertices of degree 2

Albertson, Berman, Hutchinson, and Thomassen showed in 1990 that there exist highly connected graphs in which every spanning tree contains vertices of degree 2. Using a result of Alon and Wormald, we show that there exists a natural number $d$ such that every graph of minimum degree at least $d$ contains a spanning tree without adjacent vertices of degree 2. Moreover, we prove that every graph with minimum degree at least 3 has a spanning tree without three consecutive vertices of degree 2.     

Subgraphs with Restricted Degrees of Their Vertices in Planar 3-Connected Graphs

We have proved that every 3-connected planar graph G either contains a path on k vertices each of which has degree at most 5k or does not contain any path on k vertices; the bound 5k is the best possible. Moreover, for every connected planar graph H other than a path and for every integer m ≥ 3 there is a 3-connected planar graph G such that each copy of H in G contains a vertex of degree at least m.     

Cubic vertices in planar hypohamiltonian graphs

Thomassen showed in 1978 that every planar hypohamiltonian graph contains a cubic vertex. Equivalently, a planar graph with minimum degree at least 4 in which every vertex-deleted subgraph is hamiltonian, must be itself hamiltonian. By applying work of Brinkmann and the author, we extend this result in three directions. We prove that (i) every planar hypohamiltonian graph contains at least four cubic vertices, (ii) every planar almost hypohamiltonian graph contains a cubic vertex, which is not the exceptional vertex (solving a problem of the author raised in J. Graph Theory [79 (2015) 63–81]), and (iii) every hypohamiltonian graph with crossing number 1 contains a cubic vertex. Furthermore, we settle a recent question of Thomassen by proving that asymptotically the ratio of the minimum number of cubic vertices to the order of a planar hypohamiltonian graph vanishes.     

Cycles in 2-Factors of Balanced Bipartite Graphs

In the study of hamiltonian graphs, many well known results use degree conditions to ensure sufficient edge density for the existence of a hamiltonian cycle. Recently it was shown that the classic degree conditions of Dirac and Ore actually imply far more than the existence of a hamiltonian cycle in a graph G, but also the existence of a 2-factor with exactly k cycles, where . In this paper we continue to study the number of cycles in 2-factors. Here we consider the well-known result of Moon and Moser which implies the existence of a hamiltonian cycle in a balanced bipartite graph of order 2n. We show that a related degree condition also implies the existence of a 2-factor with exactly k cycles in a balanced bipartite graph of order 2n with . Revised: May 7, 1999     

Degree conditions for 2-factors

For any positive integer k, we investigate degree conditions implying that a graph G of order n contains a 2-factor with exactly k components (vertex disjoint cycles). In particular, we prove that for k ≤ (n/4), Ore's classical condition for a graph to be hamiltonian (k = 1) implies that the graph contains a 2-factor with exactly k components. We also obtain a sufficient degree condition for a graph to have k vertex disjoint cycles, at least s of which are 3-cycles and the remaining are 4-cycles for any s ≤ k. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Degree conditions on claws and modified claws for hamiltonicity of graphs

Ore presented a degree condition involving every pair of nonadjacent vertices for a graph to be hamiltonian. Fan [New sufficient conditions for cycles in graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 37 (1984) 221-227] showed that not all the pairs of nonadjacent vertices are required, but only the pairs of vertices at the distance two suffice. Bedrossian et al. [A generalization of Fan's condition for hamiltonicity, pancyclicity, and hamiltonian connectedness, Discrete Math. 115 (1993) 39-50] improved Fan's result involving the pairs of vertices contained in an induced claw or an induced modified claw. On the other hand, Matthews and Sumner [Longest paths and cycles in K_1,3-free graphs, J. Graph Theory 9 (1985) 269-277] gave a minimum degree condition for a claw-free graph to be hamiltonian. In this paper, we give a new degree condition in an induced claw or an induced modified claw ensuring the hamiltonicity of graphs which extends both results of Bederossian et al. and Matthews and Sumner.     

Improved Sufficient Conditions for the Existence of Anti-Directed Hamiltonian Cycles in Digraphs

Let D be a directed graph of order n. An anti-directed (hamiltonian) cycle H in D is a (hamiltonian) cycle in the graph underlying D such that no pair of consecutive arcs in H form a directed path in D. In this paper we give sufficient conditions for the existence of anti-directed hamiltonian cycles. Specifically, we prove that a directed graph D of even order n with minimum indegree and outdegree greater than ${\frac{1}{2}n + 7\sqrt{n}/3}$ contains an anti-directed hamiltonian cycle. In addition, we show that D contains anti-directed cycles of all possible (even) lengths when n is sufficiently large and has minimum in- and out-degree at least ${(1/2+ \epsilon)n}$ for any ${\epsilon > 0}$ .     

Series parallel extensions of plane graphs to dual-eulerian graphs

A plane graph is dual-eulerian if it has an eulerian tour with the property that the same sequence of edges also forms an eulerian tour in the dual graph. Dual-eulerian graphs are of interest in the design of CMOS VLSI circuits.Every dual-eulerian plane graph also has an eulerian Petrie (left–right) tour thus we consider series-parallel extensions of plane graphs to graphs, which have eulerian Petrie tours. We reduce several special cases of extensions to the problem of finding hamiltonian cycles. In particular, a 2-connected plane graph G has a single series parallel extension to a graph with an eulerian Petrie tour if and only if its medial graph has a hamiltonian cycle.     

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.     

Edge-dominating cycles in graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G is said to be an edge-dominating set if every edge in G is incident with a vertex in S. A cycle in G is said to be a dominating cycle if its vertex set is an edge-dominating set. Nash-Williams [Edge-disjoint hamiltonian circuits in graphs with vertices of large valency, Studies in Pure Mathematics, Academic Press, London, 1971, pp. 157-183] has proved that every longest cycle in a 2-connected graph of order n and minimum degree at least is a dominating cycle. In this paper, we prove that for a prescribed positive integer k, under the same minimum degree condition, if n is sufficiently large and if we take k disjoint cycles so that they contain as many vertices as possible, then these cycles form an edge-dominating set. Nash-Williams’ Theorem corresponds to the case of k=1 of this result.     

Dirac-type generalizations concerning large cycles in graphs

Bondy conjectured a common generalization of various results in hamiltonian graph theory concerning Hamilton and dominating cycles by introducing a notion of PD_λ-cycles (cycles that dominate all paths of lengths at least λ). We show that the minimum degree version of Bondy’s conjecture is true (along with the reverse version) if PD_λ-cycles are replaced by CD_λ-cycles (cycles that dominate all cycles of lengths at least λ). Fraisse proved a minimum degree generalization including a theorem of Nash-Williams for Hamilton cycles as a special case. We present the reverse version of this result including a theorem of Voss and Zuluaga as a special case. Two earlier less known results (due to the author) are crucial for the proofs of these results. All results are sharp in all respects. A number of possible similar generalizations are conjectured as well.     

Girth in graphs

It is shown that a graph of large girth and minimum degree at least 3 share many properties with a graph of large minimum degree. For example, it has a contraction containing a large complete graph, it contains a subgraph of large cyclic vertex-connectivity (a property which guarantees, e.g., that many prescribed independent edges are in a common cycle), it contains cycles of all even lengths modulo a prescribed natural number, and it contains many disjoint cycles of the same length. The analogous results for graphs of large minimum degree are due to Mader (Math. Ann.194 (1971), 295–312; Abh. Math. Sem. Univ. Hamburg37 (1972), 86–97), Woodall (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B22 (1977), 274–278), Bollobás (Bull. London Math. Soc.9 (1977), 97–98) and Häggkvist (Equicardinal disjoint cycles in sparse graphs, to appear). Also, a graph of large girth and minimum degree at least 3 has a cycle with many chords. An analogous result for graphs of chromatic number at least 4 has been announced by Voss (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B32 (1982), 264–285).