Hamilton connectedness and the partially square graphs

Let G be a κ-connected graph on n vertices. The partially square graphG^* of G is obtained by adding edges uv whenever the vertices u,v have a common neighbor x satisfying the condition N_G(x)⊂N_Gu]∪N_Gv]. Clearly G⊆G^*⊆G², where G² is the square of G. In particular G^*=G² if G is quasi-claw-free (and claw-free). In this paper we prove that a κ-connected, (κ?3) graph G is either hamiltonian-connected or the independence number of G^* is at least κ. As a consequence we answer positively two open questions. The first one by Ainouche and Kouider and the second one by Wu et al. As a by-product we prove that a quasi-claw-free (and hence a claw-free) graph satisfying the condition α(G²)<κ is hamiltonian-connected.