Search

Two Eulerian circuits, both starting and ending at the same vertex, are avoiding if at every other point of the circuits they are at least distance 2 apart. An Eulerian graph which admits two such avoiding circuits starting from any vertex is said to be doubly Eulerian. The motivation for this definition is that the extremal Eulerian graphs, i.e. the complete graphs on an odd number of vertices and the cycles, are not doubly Eulerian. We prove results about doubly Eulerian graphs and identify those that are the `densest' and `sparsest' in terms of the number of edges., 22 pages; 9 figures

The classical global criteria for the existence of Hamilton cycles only apply to graphs with large edge density and small diameter. In a series of papers Asratian and Khachatryan developed local criteria for the existence of Hamilton cycles in finite connected graphs, which are analogues of the classical global criteria due to Dirac (1952), Ore (1960), Jung (1978), and Nash-Williams (1971). The idea was to show that the global concept of Hamiltonicity can, under rather general conditions, be captured by local phenomena, using the structure of balls of small radii. (The ball of radius $r$ centered at a vertex $u$ is a subgraph of $G$ induced by the set of vertices whose distances from $u$ do not exceed $r$.) Such results are called localization theorems and present a possibility to extend known classes of finite Hamiltonian graphs. In this paper we formulate a general approach for finding localization theorems and use this approach to formulate local analogues of well-known results of Bauer et al. (1989), Bondy (1980), H\"aggkvist and Nicoghossian (1981), and Moon and Moser (1963). Finally we extend two of our results to infinite locally finite graphs and show that they guarantee the existence of Hamiltonian curves, introduced by K\"undgen, Li and Thomassen (2017)., Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures

The prism over a graph $G$ is the Cartesian product of $G$ with the complete graph $K_2$. A graph $G$ is hamiltonian if there exists a spanning cycle in $G$, and $G$ is prism-hamiltonian if the prism over $G$ is hamiltonian. In [M.~Rosenfeld, D.~Barnette, Hamiltonian circuits in certain prisms, Discrete Math. 5 (1973), 389--394] the authors conjectured that every 3-connected planar graph is prism-hamiltonian. We construct a counterexample to the conjecture.

We prove that every 52-connected line graph of a rank 3 hypergraph is Hamiltonian. This is the first result of this type for hypergraphs of bounded rank other than ordinary graphs.

Let $\mathcal{G}(k)$ denote the set of connected $k$-regular graphs $G$, $k\geq2$, where the number of vertices at distance 2 from any vertex in $G$ does not exceed $k$. Asratian (2006) showed (using other terminology) that a graph $G\in\mathcal{G}(k)$ is Hamiltonian if for each vertex $u$ of $G$ the subgraph induced by the set of vertices at distance at most 2 from $u$ is 2-connected. We prove here that in fact all graphs in the sets $\mathcal{G}(3)$, $\mathcal{G}(4)$ and $\mathcal{G}(5)$ are Hamiltonian. We also prove that the problem of determining whether there exists a Hamilton cycle in a graph from $\mathcal{G}(6)$ is NP-complete. Nevertheless we show that every locally connected graph $G\in\mathcal{G}(k)$, $k\geq6$, is Hamiltonian and that for each non-Hamiltonian cycle $C$ in $G$ there exists a cycle $C'$ of length $|V(C)|+\ell$ in $G$, $\ell\in\{1,2\}$, such that $V(C)\subset V(C')$. Finally, we note that all our conditions for Hamiltonicity apply to infinitely many graphs with large diameters., 19 pages, 6 figures

In 1972, Chvatal gave a well-known sufficient condition for a graphical sequence to be forcibly hamiltonian, and showed that in some sense his condition is best possible. Nash-Williams gave examples of forcibly hamiltonian n-sequences that do not satisfy Chvatla's condition for every n at least 5. In this note we generalize the Nash-Williams examples, and use this generalization to generate \Omega(2^n/n^.5) forcibly hamiltonian n-sequences that do not satisfy Chvatal's condition

We revisit results obtained in [F. Harary, U. Peled, Hamiltonian threshold graphs, Discrete Appl.~Math., 16 (1987), 11--15], where several necessary and necessary and sufficient conditions for a connected threshold graph to be Hamiltonian were obtained. We present these results in new forms, now stated in terms of structural parameters that uniquely define the threshold graph and we extend them to chain graphs. We also identify the chain graph with minimum number of Hamilton cycles within the class of Hamiltonian chain graphs of a given order., 9 pages, 1 figure

For a Hamilton cycle in a rectangular $m \times n$ grid, what is the greatest number of turns that can occur? We give the exact answer in several cases and an answer up to an additive error of $2$ in all other cases. In particular, we give a new proof of the result of Beluhov for the case of a square $n \times n$ grid. Our main method is a surprising link between the problem of 'greatest number of turns' and the problem of 'least number of turns'., Comment: 28 pages, 30 figures; typos corrected

Yang et al. proved that every 3-connected, essentially 11-connected line graph is Hamilton-connected. This was extended by Li and Yang to 3-connected, essentially 10-connected graphs. Strengthening their result further, we prove that 3-connected, essentially 9-connected line graphs are Hamilton-connected. We use a method based on quasigraphs in combination with the discharging technique. The result extends to claw-free graphs.

A graph $\textit{G}$ is a tuple $(\textit{V}, \textit{E})$, where $\textit{V}$ is the vertex set, $\textit{E}$ is the edge set. A reduced graph is a graph of deleting non-Hamiltonian edges and smoothing out the redundant vertices of degree 2 on an edge except for leaving only one vertex of degree 2. We denote by I a set of cycles only jointed by inside vertices. |I| is the number of sets I in a graph. We use a norm graph to denote a reduced graph of |I|=1. $\textit{g}$ is a subgraph obtained by deleting all removable cycles from a basis of a norm graph. In this paper, we show that a norm graph $\textit{G}$ is non-Hamiltonian, if and only if, $\textit{g}$ and K_2_,_3 are homeomorphic., 8 pages, 4 figures

A graph \textit{G} is a tuple (\textit{V}, \textit{E}), where \textit{V} is the vertex set, \textit{E} is the edge set. A reduced graph is a graph of deleting non-Hamiltonian edges and smoothing out the redundant vertices of degree 2 on an edge except for leaving only one vertex of degree 2. A 2-common (\textit{v}, \textit{0}) combination is a cycle set in which every pair of joint cycles \textit{A} and \textit{B} satisfies $|V(A)\cap V(B)|=2$ and $|E(A)\cap E(B)|=0$. In this paper, we investigate the cycle structure of 2-common (\textit{v}, \textit{0}) combination in reduced graphs, and give the characterizations of their Hamiltoncity., 7 pages, 3 figures

Let $G$ be a graph on $n\geq 3$ vertices. A graph $G$ is almost distance-hereditary if each connected induced subgraph $H$ of $G$ has the property $d_{H}(x,y)\leq d_{G}(x,y)+1$ for any pair of vertices $x,y\in V(H)$. A graph $G$ is called 1-heavy (2-heavy) if at least one (two) of the end vertices of each induced subgraph of $G$ isomorphic to $K_{1,3}$ (a claw) has (have) degree at least $n/2$, and called claw-heavy if each claw of $G$ has a pair of end vertices with degree sum at least $n$. Thus every 2-heavy graph is claw-heavy. In this paper we prove the following two results: (1) Every 2-connected, claw-heavy and almost distance-hereditary graph is Hamiltonian. (2) Every 3-connected, 1-heavy and almost distance-hereditary graph is Hamiltonian. In particular, the first result improves a previous theorem of Feng and Guo. Both results are sharp in some sense., Comment: 14 pages; 1 figure; a new theorem is added

In [Graphs Combin.~24 (2008) 469--483.], the third author and the fifth author conjectured that if $G$ is a $k$-connected graph such that $\sigma_{k+1}(G) \ge |V(G)|+\kappa(G)+(k-2)(\alpha(G)-1)$, then $G$ contains a Hamiltonian cycle, where $\sigma_{k+1}(G)$, $\kappa(G)$ and $\alpha(G)$ are the minimum degree sum of $k+1$ independent vertices, the connectivity and the independence number of $G$, respectively. In this paper, we settle this conjecture. This is an improvement of the result obtained by Li: If $G$ is a $k$-connected graph such that $\sigma_{k+1}(G) \ge |V(G)|+(k-1)(\alpha(G)-1)$, then $G$ is Hamiltonian. The degree sum condition is best possible., Comment: 26 page, 6 figures

Szepietowski [A. Szepietowski, Hamiltonian cycles in hypercubes with $2n-4$ faulty edges, Information Sciences, 215 (2012) 75--82] observed that the hypercube $Q_n$ is not Hamiltonian if it contains a trap disconnected halfway. A proper subgraph $T$ is disconnected halfway if at least half of its nodes have parity 0 (or 1, resp.) and the edges joining all nodes of parity 0 (or 1, resp.) in $T$ with nodes outside $T$, are faulty. The simplest examples of such traps are: (1) a vertex with $n-1$ incident faulty edges, or (2) a cycle $(u,v,w,x)$, where all edges going out of the cycle from $u$ and $w$ are faulty. In this paper we describe all traps disconnected halfway $T$ with the size $|T|\le8$, and discuss the problem whether there exist small sets of faulty edges which preclude Hamiltonian cycles and are not based on sets disconnected halfway. We describe heuristic which detects sets of faulty edges which preclude HC also those sets that are not based on subgraphs disconnected halfway. We describe all $Q_4$ cubes that are not Hamiltonian, and all $Q_5$ cubes with 8 or 9 faulty edges that are not Hamiltonian.

Finding a Hamilton graph from simple connected graphs is an important problem in discrete mathematics and computer science. Grinberg Theorem is a well-known necessary condition for planar Hamilton graphs. It divides a plane into two parts: inside and outside faces. The sum of inside faces in a Hamilton graph is a Hamilton cycle. In this paper, using a basis of the cycle space to represent a graph and by the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle, we derive the equality with respect to the inside faces that can be also obtained from Grinberg Theorem. By further investigating the cycle structure of inside faces, we give a new combinatorial interpretation to Grinberg's condition, which explains why Grinberg Theorem is not sufficient for Hamilton graphs. Our results will improve deriving an efficient condition for Hamilton graphs., Comment: 10 pages, 0 figure

For integers k > 1 and n > 2k+1, the Kneser graph K(n,k) is the graph whose vertices are the k-element subsets of {1, horizontal ellipsis ,n} and whose edges connect pairs of subsets that are disjoint. The Kneser graphs of the form K(2k+1,k) are also known as the odd graphs. We settle an old problem due to Meredith, Lloyd, and Biggs from the 1970s, proving that for every k > 3, the odd graph K(2k+1,k) has a Hamilton cycle. This and a known conditional result due to Johnson imply that all Kneser graphs of the form K(2k+2a,k) with k > 3 and a > 0 have a Hamilton cycle. We also prove that K(2k+1,k) has at least 22k-6 distinct Hamilton cycles for k > 6. Our proofs are based on a reduction of the Hamiltonicity problem in the odd graph to the problem of finding a spanning tree in a suitably defined hypergraph on Dyck words., Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 103 (4), ISSN:0024-6107, ISSN:1469-7750

A finite simple graph is called a 2-graph if all of its unit spheres S(x) are cyclic graphs of length 4 or larger. A 2-graph G is Eulerian if all vertex degrees of G are even. An edge refinement of a graph splits an edge (a,b) to two edges (a,c),(c,b) and connects the newly added vertex c to the intersection of S(a) with S(b). Theorem I assures that every 2-graph can be rendered Eulerian by successive edge refinements. The construction is explicit using geodesic cutting. After the refinement, we have an Eulerian 2-graph that carries a natural geodesic flow. We construct some ergodic ones. A 2-graph with boundary is finite simple graph for which every unit sphere is either a path graph of length n larger than 1 or a cyclic graph of length larger than 3. 2-balls are special 2-graphs are simply connected with a circular boundary. Theorem II tells that every 2-ball can be edge refined using interior edges to become Eulerian if and only if its boundary has length divisible by 3. A billiard map is defined already if all interior vertices have even degree. We will construct some ergodic billiards in 2-balls, where the geodesics bouncing off at the boundary symmetrically and which visit every interior edge exactly once. A consequence of Theorem II is that an Eulerian billiard which is ergodic must have a boundary length that is divisible by 3. We also construct other 2-graphs like tori with ergodic geodesic flows. This clashes with experience in the continuum, where tori have periodic points minimizing the length in homology classes of paths. Ergodic Eulerian 2-graphs or billiards are exciting because they satisfy a Hopf-Rynov result: there exists a geodesic connection between any two vertices. We get so unique canonical metric associated to any ergodic Eulerian graph. It is non-local in the sense that two adjacent vertices can have large distance., Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures

Extending a theorem of Whitney of 1931 we prove that all connected d-graphs are Hamiltonian for positive d. A d-graph is a type of combinatorial manifold which is inductively defined as a finite simple graph for which every unit sphere is a (d-1)-sphere. A d-sphere is d-graph such that removing one vertex renders the graph contractible. A graph is contractible if there exists a vertex for which the unit sphere and the graph without that vertex are both contractible. These inductive definitions are primed with the assumptions that the empty graph 0 is the (-1)-sphere and that the one-point graph 1 is the smallest contractible graph. The proof is constructive and shows that unlike for general graphs, the complexity of the construction of Hamiltonian cycles in d-graphs is polynomial in the number of vertices of the graph., Comment: 41 pages 32 figures

We prove that for any integers $p\geq k\geq 3$ and any $k$-tuple of positive integers $(n_1,\ldots ,n_k)$ such that $p=\sum _{i=1}^k{n_i}$ and $n_1\geq n_2\geq \ldots \geq n_k$, the condition $n_1\leq {p\over 2}$ is necessary and sufficient for every subgraph of the complete $k$-partite graph $K(n_1,\ldots ,n_k)$ with at least \[{{4 -2p+2n_1+\sum _{i=1}^{k} n_i(p-n_i)}\over 2}\] edges to be chorded pancyclic. Removing all but one edge incident with any vertex of minimum degree in $K(n_1,\ldots ,n_k)$ shows that this result is best possible. Our result implies that for any integers, $k\geq 3$ and $n\geq 1$, a balanced $k$-partite graph of order $kn$ with has at least ${{(k^2-k)n^2-2n(k-1)+4}\over 2}$ edges is chorded pancyclic. In the case $k=3$, this result strengthens a previous one by Adamus, who in 2009 showed that a balanced tripartite graph of order $3n$, $n \geq 2$, with at least $3n^2 - 2n + 2$ edges is pancyclic., Comment: The manuscript was submitted with title {\it A note on pancyclicity of $k$-partite graphs} and accepted with the title {\it Chorded pancyclicity in $k$-partite graphs.} This version corresponds to the paper accepted for publication in Graphs. Combin

Akbari, Etesami, Mahini, and Mahmoody conjectured that every proper edge colouring of $K_n$ with $n$ colours contains a Hamilton cycle with $\leq O(\log n)$ colours. They proved that there is always a Hamilton cycle with $\leq 8\sqrt n$ colours. In this note we improve this bound to $O(\log^3 n)$.

The problem of characterizing maximal non-Hamiltonian graphs may be naturally extended to characterizing graphs that are maximal with respect to non-traceability and beyond that to $t$-path traceability. We show how traceability behaves with respect to disjoint union of graphs and the join with a complete graph. Our main result is a decomposition theorem that reduces the problem of characterizing maximal $t$-path traceable graphs to characterizing those that have no universal vertex. We generalize a construction of maximal non-traceable graphs by Zelinka to $t$-path traceable graphs., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

We discuss the recently introduced concept of k-in-out graphs, and provide a construction for k-in-out graphs for any positive integer k. We derive a lower bound for the number of vertices of a k-in-out graph for any positive integer k, and demonstrate that our construction meets this bound in all cases. For even k, we also prove our construction is optimal with respect to the number of edges, and results in a planar graph. Among the possible uses of in-out graphs, they can convert the generalized traveling salesman problem to the asymmetric traveling salesman problem, avoiding the "big M" issue present in most other conversions. We give constraints satisfied by all in-out graphs to assist cutting-plane algorithms in solving instances of traveling salesman problem which contain in-out graphs., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures

In this paper, we study the Hamiltonicity of graphs with large minimum degree. Firstly, we present some conditions for a simple graph to be Hamilton-connected and traceable from every vertex in terms of the spectral radius of the graph or its complement respectively. Secondly, we give the conditions for a nearly balanced bipartite graph to be traceable in terms of spectral radius, signless Laplacian spectral radius of the graph or its quasi-complement respectively., Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1602.01033 by other authors

The classical Dirac theorem asserts that every graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with minimum degree $\delta(G) \ge \lceil n/2 \rceil$ is Hamiltonian. The lower bound of $\lceil n/2 \rceil$ on the minimum degree of a graph is tight. In this paper, we extend the classical Dirac theorem to the case where $\delta(G) \ge \lfloor n/2 \rfloor $ by identifying the only non-Hamiltonian graph families in this case. We first present a short and simple proof. We then provide an alternative proof that is constructive and self-contained. Consequently, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm that constructs a Hamiltonian cycle, if exists, of a graph $G$ with $\delta(G) \ge \lfloor n/2 \rfloor$, or determines that the graph is non-Hamiltonian. Finally, we present a self-contained proof for our algorithm which provides insight into the structure of Hamiltonian cycles when $\delta(G) \ge \lfloor n/2 \rfloor$ and is promising for extending the results of this paper to the cases with smaller degree bounds.

Tutte showed that $4$-connected planar graphs are Hamiltonian, but it is well known that $3$-connected planar graphs need not be Hamiltonian. We show that $K_{2,5}$-minor-free $3$-connected planar graphs are Hamiltonian. This does not extend to $K_{2,5}$-minor-free $3$-connected graphs in general, as shown by the Petersen graph, and does not extend to $K_{2,6}$-minor-free $3$-connected planar graphs, as we show by an infinite family of examples., Comment: 18 pages, 29 figures

Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)., The generalised Sudoku problem with NN symbols is known to be NP-complete, and hence is equivalent to any other NP-complete problem, even for the standard restricted version where NN is a perfect square. In particular, generalised Sudoku is equivalent to the, classical, Hamiltonian cycle problem. A constructive algorithm is given that reduces generalised Sudoku to the Hamiltonian cycle problem, where the resultant instance of Hamiltonian cycle problem is sparse, and has O(N3)O(N3) vertices. The Hamiltonian cycle problem instance so constructed is a directed graph, and so a (known) conversion to undirected Hamiltonian cycle problem is also provided so that it can be submitted to the best heuristics. A simple algorithm for obtaining the valid Sudoku solution from the Hamiltonian cycle is provided. Techniques to reduce the size of the resultant graph are also discussed.

We show that every sufficiently large oriented graph with minimum in- and outdegree at least (3n-4)/8 contains a Hamilton cycle. This is best possible and solves a problem of Thomassen from 1979., Comment: revised version

A simple graph G is k-ordered (respectively, k-ordered hamiltonian) if, for any sequence of k distinct vertices v_1, ..., v_k of G, there exists a cycle (respectively, a hamiltonian cycle) in G containing these k vertices in the specified order. In 1997 Ng and Schultz introduced these concepts of cycle orderability, and motivated by the fact that k-orderedness of a graph implies (k-1)-connectivity, they posed the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs. We construct an infinite family of graphs, which we call bracelet graphs, that are (k-1)-regular and are k-ordered hamiltonian for odd k. This result provides the best possible answer to the question of the existence of low degree k-ordered hamiltonian graphs for odd k. We further show that for even k, there exist no k-ordered bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree less than k+2, and we exhibit an infinite family of bracelet graphs with minimum degree k-1 and maximum degree k+2 that are k-ordered for even k. A concept related to k-orderedness, namely that of k-edge-orderedness, is likewise strongly related to connectivity properties. We study this relation in both undirected and directed graphs, and give bounds on the connectivity necessary to imply k-(edge-)orderedness properties., Comment: 13 pages, 0 figures

The vertex-nullity interlace polynomial of a graph, described by Arratia, Bollob\'as and Sorkin as evolving from questions of DNA sequencing, and extended to a two-variable interlace polynomial by the same authors, evokes many open questions. These include relations between the interlace polynomial and the Tutte polynomial and the computational complexity of the vertex-nullity interlace polynomial. Here, we prove that the one-variable vertex-nullity interlace polynomial is in general #P-hard to compute. We also show a relation between the two-variable interlace polynomial and the topological Tutte polynomial of Bollob\'as and Riordan. We define the \gamma invariant as the coefficient of x^1 in the vertex-nullity interlace polynomial, analogously to the \beta invariant, which is the coefficient of x^1 in the Tutte polynomial. We then turn to distance hereditary graphs, and show that graphs in this class have \gamma invariant of 2^{n+1} when n true twins are added in their construction. We furthermore show that bipartite distance hereditary graphs are exactly the class of graphs with \gamma invariant 2, just as the series-parallel graphs are exactly the class of graphs with \beta invariant 1. In addition, we show that a bipartite distance hereditary graph arises precisely as the circle graph of any Euler circuit in the oriented medial graph of a series-parallel graph. From this we conclude that the vertex-nullity interlace polynomial is polynomial time to compute for bipartite distance hereditry graphs, just as the Tutte polynomial is polynomial time to compute for series-parallel graphs., Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, minor edits

Let $G$ be a graph. Adopting the terminology of Broersma et al. and \v{C}ada, respectively, we say that $G$ is 2-heavy if every induced claw ($K_{1,3}$) of $G$ contains two end-vertices each one has degree at least $|V(G)|/2$; and $G$ is o-heavy if every induced claw of $G$ contains two end-vertices with degree sum at least $|V(G)|$ in $G$. In this paper, we introduce a new concept, and say that $G$ is \emph{$S$-c-heavy} if for a given graph $S$ and every induced subgraph $G'$ of $G$ isomorphic to $S$ and every maximal clique $C$ of $G'$, every non-trivial component of $G'-C$ contains a vertex of degree at least $|V(G)|/2$ in $G$. In terms of this concept, our original motivation that a theorem of Hu in 1999 can be stated as every 2-connected 2-heavy and $N$-c-heavy graph is hamiltonian, where $N$ is the graph obtained from a triangle by adding three disjoint pendant edges. In this paper, we will characterize all connected graphs $S$ such that every 2-connected o-heavy and $S$-c-heavy graph is hamiltonian. Our work results in a different proof of a stronger version of Hu's theorem. Furthermore, our main result improves or extends several previous results., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, finial version for publication in Discussiones Mathematicae Graph Theory

A set $S\subseteq V$ is called an {\em $q^+$-set} ({\em $q^-$-set}, respectively) if $S$ has at least two vertices and, for every $u\in S$, there exists $v\in S, v\neq u$ such that $N^+(u)\cap N^+(v)\neq \emptyset$ ($N^-(u)\cap N^-(v)\neq \emptyset$, respectively). A digraph $D$ is called {\em s-quadrangular} if, for every $q^+$-set $S$, we have $|\cup \{N^+(u)\cap N^+(v): u\neq v, u,v\in S\}|\ge |S|$ and, for every $q^-$-set $S$, we have $|\cup \{N^-(u)\cap N^-(v): u,v\in S)\}\ge |S|$. We conjecture that every strong s-quadrangular digraph has a Hamilton cycle and provide some support for this conjecture., 8 pages

The enumeration of Hamiltonian cycles on 2n*2n grids of nodes is a longstanding problem in combinatorics. Previous work has concentrated on counting all cycles. The current work enumerates nonisomorphic cycles -- that is, the number of isomorphism classes (up to all symmetry operations of the square). It is shown that the matrix method used previously can be modified to count cycles with all combinations of reflective and 180-degree rotational symmetry. Cycles with 90-degree rotational symmetry were counted by a direct search, using a modification of Knuth's Dancing Links algorithm. From these counts, the numbers of nonisomorphic cycles were calculated for n

A graph is Hamiltonian if it contains a cycle which goes through all vertices exactly once. Determining if a graph is Hamiltonian is known as a NP-complete problem and no satisfactory characterization for these graphs has been found. In 1976 Bondy and Chvatal introduced a way to get round the Hamiltonicity problem complexity by using a closure of the graph. This closure is a supergraph of G which preserves Hamiltonicity, that is, which is Hamiltonian if and only if G is. Since this seminal work, several closure concepts preserving Hamiltonicity were introduced. In particular Ryjacek defined in 1997 a closure concept for claw-free graphs based on local completion. The completion is performed for every eligible vertex of the graph. Extending these works, Vallee and Bretto recently introduced a new closure concept preserving Hamiltonicity and based on local completion. The local completion is performed for each neighborhood-equivalence eligible vertex of the graph. In this article, we generalize the main results of Vallee and Bretto by introducing a broader notion of neighborhood equivalence eligibility, allowing the definition of a denser graph closure which still preserves Hamiltonicity., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

An even-cycle decomposition of a graph G is a partition of E(G) into cycles of even length. Evidently, every Eulerian bipartite graph has an even-cycle decomposition. Seymour (1981) proved that every 2-connected loopless Eulerian planar graph with an even number of edges also admits an even-cycle decomposition. Later, Zhang (1994) generalized this to graphs with no K5-minor. Our main theorem gives sufficient conditions for the existence of even-cycle decompositions of graphs in the absence of odd minors. Namely, we prove that every 2-connected loopless Eulerian odd-K4-minor-free graph with an even number of edges has an even-cycle decomposition. This is best possible in the sense that ‘odd-K4-minor-free’ cannot be replaced with ‘odd-K5-minor-free.’ The main technical ingredient is a structural characterization of the class of odd-K4-minor-free graphs, which is due to Lovász, Seymour, Schrijver, and Truemper., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

We show that under certain conditions the square of the graph obtained by identifying a vertex in two graphs with hamiltonian square is also hamiltonian. Using this result, we prove necessary and sufficient conditions for hamiltonicity of the square of a connected graph such that every vertex of degree at least three in a block graph corresponds to a cut vertex and any two these vertices are at distance at least four., Comment: 16 pages

Bingo is played on a $5\times 5$ grid. Take the 25 squares to be the ground set of a closure system in which square $s$ is dependent on a set $S$ of squares iff $s$ completes a line - a row, column, or diagonal - with squares that are already in $S$. The closure of a set $S$ is obtained via an iterative process in which, at each stage, the squares dependent upon the current state are added. In this paper we establish for the $n \times n$ Bingo board the maximum number of steps required in this closure process., 6 pages

We use a randomised embedding method to prove that for all $\alpha>0$ any sufficiently large oriented graph $G$ with minimum in-degree and out-degree $\delta^+(G),\delta^-(G)\geq (3/8+\alpha)|G|$ contains every possible orientation of a Hamilton cycle. This confirms a conjecture of Häggkvist and Thomason.

A permutation sigma in Sn is a k-derangement if for any subset X = {a1, . . ., ak} \subseteq [n], {sigma(a1), . . ., sigma(ak)} is not equal to X. One can form the k-derangement graph on the set of permutations of Sn by connecting two permutations sigma and tau if sigma(tau)^-1 is a k-derangement. We characterize when such a graph is connected or Eulerian. For n an odd prime power, we determine the independence, clique and chromatic number of the 2-derangement graph., 8 pages, 1 figure

We prove that, in the Gilbert model for a random geometric graph, almost every graph becomes Hamiltonian exactly when it first becomes 2-connected. This answers a question of Penrose. We also show that in the k-nearest neighbor model, there is a constant \kappa\ such that almost every \kappa-connected graph has a Hamilton cycle., Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AAP718 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices. An induced subgraph $H$ of $G$ is called heavy if there exist two nonadjacent vertices in $H$ with degree sum at least $n$ in $G$. We say that $G$ is $H$-heavy if every induced subgraph of $G$ isomorphic to $H$ is heavy. For a family $\mathcal{H}$ of graphs, $G$ is called $\mathcal{H}$-heavy if $G$ is $H$-heavy for every $H\in\mathcal{H}$. In this paper we characterize all connected graphs $R$ and $S$ other than $P_3$ (the path on three vertices) such that every 2-connected $\{R,S\}$-heavy graph is Hamiltonian. This extends several previous results on forbidden subgraph conditions for Hamiltonian graphs.

A conjecture of Carsten Thomassen states that every 4-connected line graph is hamiltonian. It is known that the conjecture is true for 7-connected line graphs. We improve this by showing that any 5-connected line graph of minimum degree at least 6 is hamiltonian. The result extends to claw-free graphs and to Hamilton-connectedness.

We show that every sufficiently large regular tournament can almost completely be decomposed into edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. More precisely, for each \eta>0 every regular tournament G of sufficiently large order n contains at least (1/2-\eta)n edge-disjoint Hamilton cycles. This gives an approximate solution to a conjecture of Kelly from 1968. Our result also extends to almost regular tournaments., Comment: 38 pages, 2 figures. Added section sketching how we can extend our main result. To appear in the Proceedings of the LMS

What conditions ensure that a graph G contains some given spanning subgraph H? The most famous examples of results of this kind are probably Dirac's theorem on Hamilton cycles and Tutte's theorem on perfect matchings. Perfect matchings are generalized by perfect F-packings, where instead of covering all the vertices of G by disjoint edges, we want to cover G by disjoint copies of a (small) graph F. It is unlikely that there is a characterization of all graphs G which contain a perfect F-packing, so as in the case of Dirac's theorem it makes sense to study conditions on the minimum degree of G which guarantee a perfect F-packing. The Regularity lemma of Szemeredi and the Blow-up lemma of Komlos, Sarkozy and Szemeredi have proved to be powerful tools in attacking such problems and quite recently, several long-standing problems and conjectures in the area have been solved using these. In this survey, we give an outline of recent progress (with our main emphasis on F-packings, Hamiltonicity problems and tree embeddings) and describe some of the methods involved.

We show that for each \ell\geq 4 every sufficiently large oriented graph G with \delta^+(G), \delta^-(G) \geq \lfloor |G|/3 \rfloor +1 contains an \ell-cycle. This is best possible for all those \ell\geq 4 which are not divisible by 3. Surprisingly, for some other values of \ell, an \ell-cycle is forced by a much weaker minimum degree condition. We propose and discuss a conjecture regarding the precise minimum degree which forces an \ell-cycle (with \ell \geq 4 divisible by 3) in an oriented graph. We also give an application of our results to pancyclicity and consider \ell-cycles in general digraphs., Comment: Minor revisions suggested by reviewer

For a graph $G$ and $S\subset V(G)$, if $G - S$ is acyclic, then $S$ is said to be a decycling set of $G$. The size of a smallest decycling set of $G$ is called the decycling number of $G$. The purpose of this paper is a comprehensive review of recent results and several open problems on this graph parameter. Results to be reviewed include recent work on decycling numbers of cubes, grids and snakes. A structural description of graphs with a fixed decycling number based on connectivity is also presented. Graphs with small decycling numbers are characterized.

We show that for each \alpha>0 every sufficiently large oriented graph G with \delta^+(G),\delta^-(G)\ge 3|G|/8+ \alpha |G| contains a Hamilton cycle. This gives an approximate solution to a problem of Thomassen. In fact, we prove the stronger result that G is still Hamiltonian if \delta(G)+\delta^+(G)+\delta^-(G)\geq 3|G|/2 + \alpha |G|. Up to the term \alpha |G| this confirms a conjecture of H\"aggkvist. We also prove an Ore-type theorem for oriented graphs., Comment: Added an Ore-type result

Let D be the circulant digraph with n vertices and connection set {2,3,c}. (Assume D is loopless and has outdegree 3.) Work of S.C.Locke and D.Witte implies that if n is a multiple of 6, c is either (n/2) + 2 or (n/2) + 3, and c is even, then D does not have a hamiltonian cycle. For all other cases, we construct a hamiltonian cycle in D., 11 pages, no figures

We propose a universal approach to a range of enumeration problems in graphs. The key point is in contracting suitably chosen symmetric tensors placed at the vertices of a graph along the edges. In particular, this leads to an algorithm that counts the number of d-regular subgraphs of an arbitrary graph including the number of d-factors (previously we considered the case d=2 with a special emphasis on the enumeration of Hamiltonian cycles; cf. math.CO/0403339). We briefly discuss the problem of the computational complexity of this algorithm.

The vertex set of the kth cartesian power of a directed cycle of length m can be naturally identified with the set of k-tuples of integers modulo m. For any two vertices v and w of this graph, it is easy to see that if there is a hamiltonian path from v to w, then the sum of the coordinates of v is congruent, modulo m, to one more than the sum of the coordinates of w. We prove the converse, unless k = 2 and m is odd., Comment: 8 pages, no figures

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a bipartite graph embedded in a plane (or $n$-holed torus). Two subgraphs of $G$ differ by a {\it $Z$-transformation} if their symmetric difference consists of the boundary edges of a single face---and if each subgraph contains an alternating set of the edges of that face. For a given $\phi: V \mapsto \mathbb Z^+$, $S_{\phi}$ is the set of subgraphs of $G$ in which each $v\in V$ has degree $\phi(v)$. Two elements of $S_{\phi}$ are said to be adjacent if they differ by a $Z$-transformation. We determine the connected components of $S_{\phi}$ and assign a {\it height function} to each of its elements. If $\phi$ is identically two, and $G$ is a grid graph, $S_{\phi}$ contains the partitions of the vertices of $G$ into cycles. We prove that we can always apply a series of $Z$-transformations to decrease the total number of cycles provided there is enough ``slack'' in the corresponding height function. This allows us to determine in polynomial time the minimal number of cycles into which $G$ can be partitioned provided $G$ has a limited number of non-square faces. In particular, we determine the Hamiltonicity of polyomino graphs in $O(|V|^2)$ steps. The algorithm extends to $n$-holed-torus-embedded graphs that have grid-like properties. We also provide Markov chains for sampling and approximately counting the Hamiltonian cycles of $G$., Comment: 42 pages, fifteen figures, includes new references