Bounding the Size of Equimatchable Graphs of Fixed Genus

A graph G is said to be equimatchable if every matching in G extends to (i.e., is a subset of) a maximum matching in G. In an earlier paper with Saito, the authors showed that there are only a finite number of 3-connected equimatchable planar graphs. In the present paper, this result is extended by showing that in a surface of any fixed genus (orientable or non-orientable), there are only a finite number of 3-connected equimatchable graphs having a minimal embedding of representativity at least three. (In fact, if the graphs considered are non-bipartite, the representativity three hypothesis may be dropped.) The proof makes use of the Gallai-Edmonds decomposition theorem for matchings.      

Minimal claw-free graphs

A graph G is a minimal claw-free graph (m.c.f. graph) if it contains no K _1,3 (claw) as an induced subgraph and if, for each edge e of G, G ™ e contains an induced claw. We investigate properties of m.c.f. graphs, establish sharp bounds on their orders and the degrees of their vertices, and characterize graphs which have m.c.f. line graphs. Support by the South African National Research Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.     

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.     

Clique-transversal sets in 4-regular claw-free graphs

A clique-transversal set D of a graph G is a set of vertices of G such that D meets all cliques of G. The clique-transversal number, denoted by τ _c (G), is the minimum cardinality of a clique-transversal set in G. In this paper we give the exact value of the clique-transversal number for the line graph of a complete graph. Also, we give a lower bound on the clique-transversal number for 4-regular claw-free graphs and characterize the extremal graphs achieving the lower bound.     

Non-traceability of large connected claw-free graphs

Let G be a connected claw-free graph on n vertices. Let ς₃(G) be the minimum degree sum among triples of independent vertices in G. It is proved that if ς₃(G) ≥ n − 3 then G is traceable or else G is one of graphs G_n each of which comprises three disjoint nontrivial complete graphs joined together by three additional edges which induce a triangle K₃. Moreover, it is shown that for any integer k ≥ 4 there exists a positive integer ν(k) such that if ς₃(G) ≥ n − k, n > ν(k) and G is non-traceable, then G is a factor of a graph G_n. Consequently, the problem HAMILTONIAN PATH restricted to claw-free graphs G = (V, E) (which is known to be NP-complete) has linear time complexity O(|E|) provided that ς₃(G) ≥ . This contrasts sharply with known results on NP-completeness among dense graphs. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 27: 75–86, 1998     

Minimally non-Pfaffian graphs

We consider the question of characterizing Pfaffian graphs. We exhibit an infinite family of non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to the matching minor relation. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, as Little [C.H.C. Little, A characterization of convertible (0,1)-matrices, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 18 (1975) 187–208] proved that every bipartite non-Pfaffian graph contains a matching minor isomorphic to K_3,3. We relax the notion of a matching minor and conjecture that there are only finitely many (perhaps as few as two) non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to this notion.We define Pfaffian factor-critical graphs and study them in the second part of the paper. They seem to be of interest as the number of near perfect matchings in a Pfaffian factor-critical graph can be computed in polynomial time. We give a polynomial time recognition algorithm for this class of graphs and characterize non-Pfaffian factor-critical graphs in terms of forbidden central subgraphs.     

Circumferences of regular claw-free graphs

A known result obtained independently by Fan and Jung is that every 3-connected k-regular graph on n vertices contains a cycle of length at least min{3k,n}. This raises the question of how much can be said about the circumferences of 3-connected k-regular claw-free graphs. In this paper, we show that every 3-connected k-regular claw-free graph on n vertices contains a cycle of length at least min{6k-17,n}.     

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.     

Equimatchable factor-critical graphs

A simple graph G(X, E) is factor-critical if the induced subgraph 〈X – x〉 admits a perfect matching for every vertex x of G. It is equimatchable if every maximal matching of G is maximum. The equimatchable non-factor-critical graphs have been studied by Lesk, Plummer, and Pulleyblank. In this paper, we study the equimatchable factor-critical graphs; in particular we show that if such a graph is two-connected, it is hamiltonian.     

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.     

无爪图上团横贯数的界

设 G=(V,E) 为简单图,图 G 的每个至少有两个顶点的极大完全子图称为 G 的一个团. 一个顶点子集 S\subseteq V 称为图 G 的团横贯集, 如果 S 与 G 的所有团都相交,即对于 G 的任意的团 C 有 S\cap{V(C)}\neq\emptyset. 图 G 的团横贯数是图 G 的最小团横贯集所含顶点的数目,记为~${\large\tau}_{C}(G)$. 证明了棱柱图的补图(除5-圈外)、非奇圈的圆弧区间图和 Hex-连接图这三类无爪图的团横贯数不超过其阶数的一半.     

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.     

Construction for bicritical graphs and k-extendable bipartite graphs

A graph G is said to be bicritical if G-u-v has a perfect matching for every choice of a pair of points u and v. Bicritical graphs play a central role in decomposition theory of elementary graphs with respect to perfect matchings. As Plummer pointed out many times, the structure of bicritical graphs is far from completely understood. This paper presents a concise structure characterization on bicritical graphs in terms of factor-critical graphs and transversals of hypergraphs. A connected graph G with at least 2k+2 points is said to be k-extendable if it contains a matching of k lines and every such matching is contained in a perfect matching. A structure characterization for k-extendable bipartite graphs is given in a recursive way. Furthermore, this paper presents an O(mn) algorithm for determining the extendability of a bipartite graph G, the maximum integer k such that G is k-extendable, where n is the number of points and m is the number of lines in G.     

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 hamiltonicity of 2-connected claw-free graphs

A graph G has the hourglass property if every induced hourglass S (a tree with a degree sequence 22224) contains two non-adjacent vertices which have a common neighbor in G - V(S).For an integer k ≥ 4,...     

Eigenvalues and edge-connectivity of regular graphs

In this paper, we show that if the second largest eigenvalue of a d-regular graph is less than , then the graph is k-edge-connected. When k is 2 or 3, we prove stronger results. Let ρ(d) denote the largest root of x³-(d-3)x²-(3d-2)x-2=0. We show that if the second largest eigenvalue of a d-regular graph G is less than ρ(d), then G is 2-edge-connected and we prove that if the second largest eigenvalue of G is less than , then G is 3-edge-connected.