Boxicity of Halin graphs

A k-dimensional box is the Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_k where each R_i is a closed interval on the real line. The boxicity of a graph G, denoted as is the minimum integer k such that G is the intersection graph of a collection of k-dimensional boxes. Halin graphs are the graphs formed by taking a tree with no degree 2 vertex and then connecting its leaves to form a cycle in such a way that the graph has a planar embedding. We prove that if G is a Halin graph that is not isomorphic to K₄, then . In fact, we prove the stronger result that if G is a planar graph formed by connecting the leaves of any tree in a simple cycle, then unless G is isomorphic to K₄ (in which case its boxicity is 1).     

An upper bound for Cubicity in terms of Boxicity

An axis-parallel b-dimensional box is a Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_b where each R_i (for 1≤i≤b) is a closed interval of the form [a_i,b_i] on the real line. The boxicity of any graph G, is the minimum positive integer b such that G can be represented as the intersection graph of axis-parallel b-dimensional boxes. A b-dimensional cube is a Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_b, where each R_i (for 1≤i≤b) is a closed interval of the form [a_i,a_i+1] on the real line. When the boxes are restricted to be axis-parallel cubes in b-dimension, the minimum dimension b required to represent the graph is called the cubicity of the graph (denoted by ). In this paper we prove that , where n is the number of vertices in the graph. We also show that this upper bound is tight.Some immediate consequences of the above result are listed below:

1.

Planar graphs have cubicity at most 3⌈log₂n⌉.

2.

Outer planar graphs have cubicity at most 2⌈log₂n⌉.

3.

Any graph of treewidth tw has cubicity at most (tw+2)⌈log₂n⌉. Thus, chordal graphs have cubicity at most (ω+1)⌈log₂n⌉ and circular arc graphs have cubicity at most (2ω+1)⌈log₂n⌉, where ω is the clique number.

The above upper bounds are tight, but for small constant factors.     

Boxicity of series-parallel graphs

We show that there exist series-parallel graphs with boxicity 3.     

Local and union boxicity

The boxicity $box\left(H\right)$ of a graph $H$ is the smallest integer $d$ such that $H$ is the intersection of $d$ interval graphs, or equivalently, that $H$ is the intersection graph of axis-aligned boxes in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$. These intersection representations can be interpreted as covering representations of the complement $H^c$ of $H$ with co-interval graphs, that is, complements of interval graphs. We follow the recent framework of global, local and folded covering numbers (Knauer and Ueckerdt, 2016) to define two new parameters: the local boxicity ${box}_{?}\left(H\right)$ and the union boxicity $\overline{box}\left(H\right)$ of $H$. The union boxicity of $H$ is the smallest $d$ such that $H^c$ can be covered with $d$ vertex–disjoint unions of co-interval graphs, while the local boxicity of $H$ is the smallest $d$ such that $H^c$ can be covered with co-interval graphs, at most $d$ at every vertex.We show that for every graph $H$ we have ${box}_{?}\left(H\right)\le \overline{box}\left(H\right)\le box\left(H\right)$ and that each of these inequalities can be arbitrarily far apart. Moreover, we show that local and union boxicity are also characterized by intersection representations of appropriate axis-aligned boxes in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$. We demonstrate with a few striking examples, that in a sense, the local boxicity is a better indication for the complexity of a graph, than the classical boxicity.     

The cubicity of hypercube graphs

For a graph G, its cubicity is the minimum dimension k such that G is representable as the intersection graph of (axis-parallel) cubes in k-dimensional space. (A k-dimensional cube is a Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_k, where R_i is a closed interval of the form [a_i,a_i+1] on the real line.) Chandran et al. [L.S. Chandran, C. Mannino, G. Oriolo, On the cubicity of certain graphs, Information Processing Letters 94 (2005) 113-118] showed that for a d-dimensional hypercube H_d, . In this paper, we use the probabilistic method to show that . The parameter boxicity generalizes cubicity: the boxicity of a graph G is defined as the minimum dimension k such that G is representable as the intersection graph of axis-parallel boxes in k-dimensional space. Since for any graph G, our result implies that . The problem of determining a non-trivial lower bound for is left open.     

Planarity of iterated line graphs

The line index of a graph G is the smallest k such that the kth iterated line graph of G is nonplanar. We show that the line index of a graph is either infinite or it is at most 4. Moreover, we give a full characterization of all graphs with respect to their line index.     

Hamiltonian connected hourglass free line graphs

Thomassen [Reflections on graph theory, J. Graph Theory 10 (1986) 309-324] conjectured that every 4-connected line graph is hamiltonian. An hourglass is a graph isomorphic to K₅-E(C₄), where C₄ is a cycle of length 4 in K₅. In Broersma et al. [On factors of 4-connected claw-free graphs, J. Graph Theory 37 (2001) 125-136], it is shown that every 4-connected line graph without an induced subgraph isomorphic to the hourglass is hamiltonian connected. In this note, we prove that every 3-connected, essentially 4-connected hourglass free line graph, is hamiltonian connected.     

Tutte uniqueness of line graphs

We prove that if a graph H has the same Tutte polynomial as the line graph of a d-regular, d-edge-connected graph, then H is the line graph of a d-regular graph. Using this result, we prove that the line graph of a regular complete t-partite graph is uniquely determined by its Tutte polynomial. We prove the same result for the line graph of any complete bipartite graph.     

Sphericity, cubicity, and edge clique covers of graphs

The sphericity sph(G) of a graph G is the minimum dimension d for which G is the intersection graph of a family of congruent spheres in R^d. The edge clique cover number θ(G) is the minimum cardinality of a set of cliques (complete subgraphs) that covers all edges of G. We prove that if G has at least one edge, then sph(G)?θ(G). Our upper bound remains valid for intersection graphs defined by balls in the L_p-norm for 1?p?∞.     

Collapsible graphs and reductions of line graphs

A graph G is collapsible if for every even subset X⊆V(G), G has a subgraph Γ such that G−E(Γ) is connected and the set of odd-degree vertices of Γ is X. A graph obtained by contracting all the non-trivial collapsible subgraphs of G is called the reduction of G. In this paper, we characterize graphs of diameter two in terms of collapsible subgraphs and investigate the relationship between the line graph of the reduction and the reduction of the line graph. Our results extend former results in [H.-J. Lai, Reduced graph of diameter two, J. Graph Theory 14 (1) (1990) 77-87], and in [P.A. Catlin, Iqblunnisa, T.N. Janakiraman, N. Srinivasan, Hamilton cycles and closed trails in iterated line graphs, J. Graph Theory 14 (1990) 347-364].     

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.     

A characterization of partial directed line graphs

Can a directed graph be completed to a directed line graph? If possible, how many arcs must be added? In this paper we address the above questions characterizing partial directed line (PDL) graphs, i.e., partial subgraph of directed line graphs. We show that for such class of graphs a forbidden configuration criterion and a Krausz's like theorem are equivalent characterizations. Furthermore, the latter leads to a recognition algorithm that requires O(m) worst case time, where m is the number of arcs in the graph. Given a partial line digraph, our characterization allows us to find a minimum completion to a directed line graph within the same time bound.The class of PDL graphs properly contains the class of directed line graphs, characterized in [J. Blazewicz, A. Hertz, D. Kobler, D. de Werra, On some properties of DNA graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 98(1-2) (1999) 1-19], hence our results generalize those already known for directed line graphs. In the undirected case, we show that finding a minimum line graph edge completion is NP-hard, while the problem of deciding whether or not an undirected graph is a partial graph of a simple line graph is trivial.     

On the Zagreb indices of the line graphs of the subdivision graphs

The aim of this paper is to investigate the Zagreb indices of the line graphs of the tadpole graphs, wheel graphs and ladder graphs using the subdivision concepts.     

On even cycle decompositions of line graphs of cubic graphs

An even cycle decomposition of a graph is a partition of its edges into cycles of even length. In 2012, Markström conjectured that the line graph of every 2-connected cubic graph has an even cycle decomposition and proved this conjecture for cubic graphs with oddness at most 2. However, for 2-connected cubic graphs with oddness 2, Markström only considered these graphs with a chordless 2-factor. (A chordless 2-factor of a graph is a 2-factor consisting of only induced cycles.) In this paper, we first construct an infinite family of 2-connected cubic graphs with oddness 2 and without chordless 2-factors. We then give a complete proof of Markström’s result and further prove this conjecture for cubic graphs with oddness 4.     

A characterization of the interval distance monotone graphs

A simple connected graph G is said to be interval distance monotone if the interval I(u,v) between any pair of vertices u and v in G induces a distance monotone graph. A?¨der and Aouchiche [Distance monotonicity and a new characterization of hypercubes, Discrete Math. 245 (2002) 55-62] proposed the following conjecture: a graph G is interval distance monotone if and only if each of its intervals is either isomorphic to a path or to a cycle or to a hypercube. In this paper we verify the conjecture.     

Essential edge connectivity of line graphs

Let $G$ be a graph and $L\left(G\right)$ be its line graph. In 1969, Chartrand and Stewart proved that ${\kappa }^{\prime }\left(L\left(G\right)\right)\ge 2{\kappa }^{\prime }\left(G\right)?2$, where ${\kappa }^{\prime }\left(G\right)$ and ${\kappa }^{\prime }\left(L\left(G\right)\right)$ denote the edge connectivity of $G$ and $L\left(G\right)$ respectively. We show a similar relationship holds for the essential edge connectivity of $G$ and $L\left(G\right)$, written ${\kappa }_e^{\prime }\left(G\right)$ and ${\kappa }_e^{\prime }\left(L\left(G\right)\right)$, respectively. In this note, it is proved that if $L\left(G\right)$ is not a complete graph and $G$ does not have a vertex of degree two, then ${\kappa }_e^{\prime }\left(L\left(G\right)\right)\ge 2{\kappa }_e^{\prime }\left(G\right)?2$. An immediate corollary is that $\kappa \left(L^2\left(G\right)\right)\ge 2\kappa \left(L\left(G\right)\right)?2$ for such graphs $G$, where the vertex connectivity of the line graph $L\left(G\right)$ and the second iterated line graph $L^2\left(G\right)$ are written as $\kappa \left(L\left(G\right)\right)$ and $\kappa \left(L^2\left(G\right)\right)$ respectively.