Circumferences and minimum degrees in 3-connected claw-free graphs

In this paper, we prove that every 3-connected claw-free graph G on n vertices contains a cycle of length at least min{n,6δ−15}, thereby generalizing several known results.     

Circumference of 3-connected claw-free graphs and large Eulerian subgraphs of 3-edge-connected graphs

The circumference of a graph is the length of its longest cycles. Results of Jackson, and Jackson and Wormald, imply that the circumference of a 3-connected cubic n-vertex graph is Ω(n^0.694), and the circumference of a 3-connected claw-free graph is Ω(n^0.121). We generalize and improve the first result by showing that every 3-edge-connected graph with m edges has an Eulerian subgraph with Ω(m^0.753) edges. We use this result together with the Ryjá?ek closure operation to improve the lower bound on the circumference of a 3-connected claw-free graph to Ω(n^0.753). Our proofs imply polynomial time algorithms for finding large Eulerian subgraphs of 3-edge-connected graphs and long cycles in 3-connected claw-free graphs.     

On stable cutsets in claw-free graphs and planar graphs

A stable cutset in a connected graph is a stable set whose deletion disconnects the graph. Let $K_4$ and $K_{1,3}$ (claw) denote the complete (bipartite) graph on 4 and $1+3$ vertices. It is NP-complete to decide whether a line graph (hence a claw-free graph) with maximum degree five or a $K_4$-free graph admits a stable cutset. Here we describe algorithms deciding in polynomial time whether a claw-free graph with maximum degree at most four or whether a (claw, $K_4$)-free graph admits a stable cutset. As a by-product we obtain that the stable cutset problem is polynomially solvable for claw-free planar graphs, and also for planar line graphs.Thus, the computational complexity of the stable cutset problem is completely determined for claw-free graphs with respect to degree constraint, and for claw-free planar graphs. Moreover, we prove that the stable cutset problem remains NP-complete for $K_4$-free planar graphs with maximum degree five.     

Extremal problems on the Hamiltonicity of claw-free graphs

In 1962, Erd?s proved that if a graph $G$ with $n$ vertices satisfies

$e\left(G\right)>max\left\{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n?k}{2}\right)+k^2,\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{?(n+1)∕2?}{2}\right)+{?\frac{n?1}{2}?}^2\right\},$

where the minimum degree $\delta \left(G\right)\ge k$ and $1\le k\le (n?1)∕2$, then it is Hamiltonian. For $n\ge 2k+1$, let $E_n^k=K_k\vee (k{K}_1+K_{n?2k})$, where “$\vee$” is the “join” operation. One can observe $e\left(E_n^k\right)=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n?k}{2}\right)+k^2$ and $E_n^k$ is not Hamiltonian. As $E_n^k$ contains induced claws for $k\ge 2$, a natural question is to characterize all 2-connected claw-free non-Hamiltonian graphs with the largest possible number of edges. We answer this question completely by proving a claw-free analog of Erd?s’ theorem. Moreover, as byproducts, we establish several tight spectral conditions for a 2-connected claw-free graph to be Hamiltonian. Similar results for the traceability of connected claw-free graphs are also obtained. Our tools include Ryjá?ek’s claw-free closure theory and Brousek’s characterization of minimal 2-connected claw-free non-Hamiltonian graphs.     

Connected even factors in claw-free graphs

A connected even [2,2s]-factor of a graph G is a connected factor with all vertices of degree i (i=2,4,…,2s), where s?1 is an integer. In this paper, we show that every supereulerian K_1,s-free graph (s?2) contains a connected even [2,2s-2]-factor, hereby generalizing the result that every 4-connected claw-free graph has a connected [2,4]-factor by Broersma, Kriesell and Ryjacek.     

Closure operation for even factors on claw-free graphs

Ryjá?ek (1997) [6] defined a powerful closure operation on claw-free graphs G. Very recently, Ryjá?ek et al. (2010) [8] have developed the closure operation on claw-free graphs which preserves the (non)-existence of a 2-factor. In this paper, we introduce a closure operation on claw-free graphs that generalizes the above two closure operations. The closure of a graph is unique determined and the closure turns a claw-free graph into the line graph of a graph containing no cycle of length at most 5 and no cycles of length 6 satisfying a certain condition and no induced subgraph being isomorphic to the unique tree with a degree sequence 111133. We show that these closure operations on claw-free graphs all preserve the minimum number of components of an even factor. In particular, we show that a claw-free graph G has an even factor with at most k components if and only if (, respectively) has an even factor with at most k components. However, the closure operation does not preserve the (non)-existence of a 2-factor.     

On s-hamiltonian line graphs of claw-free graphs

For an integer $s\ge 0$, a graph $G$ is $s$-hamiltonian if for any vertex subset $S?V\left(G\right)$ with $\left|S\right|\le s$, $G?S$ is hamiltonian, and $G$ is $s$-hamiltonian connected if for any vertex subset $S?V\left(G\right)$ with $\left|S\right|\le s$, $G?S$ is hamiltonian connected. Thomassen in 1984 conjectured that every 4-connected line graph is hamiltonian (see Thomassen, 1986), and Ku?zel and Xiong in 2004 conjectured that every 4-connected line graph is hamiltonian connected (see Ryjá?ek and Vrána, 2011). In Broersma and Veldman (1987), Broersma and Veldman raised the characterization problem of $s$-hamiltonian line graphs. In Lai and Shao (2013), it is conjectured that for $s\ge 2$, a line graph $L\left(G\right)$ is $s$-hamiltonian if and only if $L\left(G\right)$ is $(s+2)$-connected. In this paper we prove the following.(i) For an integer $s\ge 2$, the line graph $L\left(G\right)$ of a claw-free graph $G$ is $s$-hamiltonian if and only if $L\left(G\right)$ is $(s+2)$-connected.(ii) The line graph $L\left(G\right)$ of a claw-free graph $G$ is 1-hamiltonian connected if and only if $L\left(G\right)$ is 4-connected.     

The structure of even factors in claw-free graphs

Recently, Jackson and Yoshimoto proved that every bridgeless simple graph G with δ(G)≥3 has an even factor in which every component has order at least four, which strengthens a classical result of Petersen. In this paper, we give a strengthening of the above result and show that the above graphs have an even factor in which every component has order at least four that does not contain any given edge. We also extend the above result to the graphs with minimum degree at least three such that all bridges lie in a common path and to the bridgeless graphs that have at most two vertices of degree two respectively. Finally we use this extended result to show that every simple claw-free graph G of order n with δ(G)≥3 has an even factor with at most components. The upper bound is best possible.     

On cycle lengths in claw-free graphs with complete closure

We show a construction that gives an infinite family of claw-free graphs of connectivity κ=2,3,4,5 with complete closure and without a cycle of a given fixed length. This construction disproves a conjecture by the first author, A. Saito and R.H. Schelp.     

Degree and neighborhood conditions for hamiltonicity of claw-free graphs

For a graph $H$, let ${\sigma }_t\left(H\right)=min\left\{{\Sigma }_{i=1}^t{d}_H\left(v_i\right)\right|\{v_1,v_2,\dots ,v_t\}\text{is an independent set in }H\}$ and let $U_t\left(H\right)=min\left\{\right|{?}_{i=1}^t{N}_H\left(v_i\right)\left|\right|\{v_1,v_2,?,v_t\}\text{is an independent set in }H\}$. We show that for a given number $?$ and given integers $p\ge t>0$, $k\in \{2,3\}$ and $N=N(p,?)$, if $H$ is a $k$-connected claw-free graph of order $n>N$ with $\delta \left(H\right)\ge 3$ and its Ryjác?ek’s closure $cl\left(H\right)=L\left(G\right)$, and if $d_t\left(H\right)\ge t(n+?)∕p$ where $d_t\left(H\right)\in \{{\sigma }_t\left(H\right),U_t\left(H\right)\}$, then either $H$ is Hamiltonian or $G$, the preimage of $L\left(G\right)$, can be contracted to a $k$-edge-connected $K_3$-free graph of order at most $max\{4p?5,2p+1\}$ and without spanning closed trails. As applications, we prove the following for such graphs $H$ of order $n$ with $n$ sufficiently large:(i) If $k=2$, $\delta \left(H\right)\ge 3$, and for a given $t$ ($1\le t\le 4$) $d_t\left(H\right)\ge \frac{tn}{4}$, then either $H$ is Hamiltonian or $cl\left(H\right)=L\left(G\right)$ where $G$ is a graph obtained from $K_{2,3}$ by replacing each of the degree 2 vertices by a $K_{1,s}$ ($s\ge 1$). When $t=4$ and $d_t\left(H\right)={\sigma }_4\left(H\right)$, this proves a conjecture in Frydrych (2001).(ii) If $k=3$, $\delta \left(H\right)\ge 24$, and for a given $t$ ($1\le t\le 10$) $d_t\left(H\right)>\frac{t(n+5)}{10}$, then $H$ is Hamiltonian. These bounds on $d_t\left(H\right)$ in (i) and (ii) are sharp. It unifies and improves several prior results on conditions involved ${\sigma }_t$ and $U_t$ for the hamiltonicity of claw-free graphs. Since the number of graphs of orders at most $max\{4p?5,2p+1\}$ are fixed for given $p$, improvements to (i) or (ii) by increasing the value of $p$ are possible with the help of a computer.     

Path extendability of claw-free graphs

Let G be a connected, locally connected, claw-free graph of order n and x,y be two vertices of G. In this paper, we prove that if for any 2-cut S of G, S∩{x,y}=∅, then each (x,y)-path of length less than n-1 in G is extendable, that is, for any path P joining x and y of length h(<n-1), there exists a path P^′ in G joining x and y such that V(P)⊂V(P^′) and |P^′|=h+1. This generalizes several related results known before.     

The asymptotic number of claw-free cubic graphs

Let H_n be the number of claw-free cubic graphs on 2n labeled nodes. In an earlier paper we characterized claw-free cubic graphs and derived a recurrence relation for H_n. Here we determine the asymptotic behavior of this sequence:

     

Domination versus total domination in claw-free cubic graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G is a dominating set if every vertex not in S is adjacent to a vertex in S. If, in addition, every vertex in S is adjacent to some other vertex in S, then S is a total dominating set. The domination number $\gamma (G)$ of G is the minimum cardinality of a dominating set in G, while the total domination number ${\gamma }_t(G)$ of G is the minimum cardinality of total dominating set in G. A claw-free graph is a graph that does not contain $K_{1,3}$ as an induced subgraph. Let G be a connected, claw-free, cubic graph of order n. We show that if we exclude two graphs, then $\frac{{\gamma }_t(G)}{\gamma (G)}\le \frac{12}{7}$, and this bound is best possible. In order to prove this result, we prove that if we exclude four graphs, then ${\gamma }_t(G)\le \frac{3}{7}n$, and this bound is best possible. These bounds improve previously best known results due to Favaron and Henning (2008) [7], Southey and Henning (2010) [19].