As part of their graph minor project, Robertson and Seymour showed in 1990 that the class of graphs that can be embedded in a given surface can be characterized by a finite set of minimal excluded minors. However, their proof, because existential, does not provide any information on these excluded minors. Seymour proved in 1993 the first and, until now, only known upper bound on the order of the minimal excluded minors for a given surface. This bound is double exponential in the Euler genus $g$ of the surface and, therefore, very far from the $Ω(g)$ lower bound on the maximal order of minimal excluded minors for a surface and most likely far from the best possible bound. More than thirty years later, this paper finally makes progress in lowering this bound to a quasi-polynomial in the Euler genus of the surface.
The main catalyzer to reach a quasi-polynomial bound is a breakthrough on the characteristic size of a forbidden structure for a minimal excluded minor $G$ for a surface of Euler genus $g$: although it is not hard to show that $G$ does not contain $O(g)$ disjoint cycles that are contractible and nested in some embedding of $G$ as demonstrated by Seymour, this bound can be lowered to $O(\log g)$ which is essential to obtain the quasi-polynomial bound in this paper.
As subsidiary results, we also improve the current bound on the treewidth of a minimal excluded minor $G$ for a surface by improving the first and, until now, only known bound provided by Seymour.
We find the excluded minors for the minor-closed class of lattice path polymatroids as a subclass of the minor-closed class of Boolean polymatroids. Like lattice path matroids and Boolean polymatroids, there are infinitely many excluded minors, but they fall into a small number of easily-described types.
We show that each real-representable matroid is a minor of a complex-representable excluded minor for real-representability. More generally, for an infinite field $\mathbb{F}_1$ and a field extension $\mathbb{F}_2$, if $\mathbb{F}_1$-representability is not equivalent to $\mathbb{F}_2$-representability, then each $\mathbb{F}_1$-representable matroid is a minor of a $\mathbb{F}_2$-representable excluded minor for $\mathbb{F}_1$-representability.
The "minor crossing number" of a graph $G$ is the minimum crossing number of a graph that contains $G$ as a minor. It is proved that for every graph $H$ there is a constant $c$, such that every graph $G$ with no $H$-minor has minor crossing number at most $c|V(G)|$.
We investigate the set of excluded minors of connectivity 2 for the class of frame matroids. We exhibit a list $\mathcal{E}$ of 18 such matroids, and show that if $N$ is such an excluded minor, then either $N \in \mathcal{E}$ or $N$ is a 2-sum of $U_{2,4}$ and a 3-connected non-binary frame matroid.
In this paper, we first introduce the notions of checkerboard colourable minors for ribbon graphs motivated by the Eulerian ribbon graph minors, and two kinds of bipartite minors for ribbon graphs, one of which is the dual of the checkerboard colourable minors and the other is motivated by the bipartite minors of abstract graphs. Then we give an excluded minor characterization of the class of checkerboard colourable ribbon graphs, bipartite ribbon graphs, plane checkerboard colourable ribbon graphs and plane bipartite ribbon graphs.
A classical result of Robertson and Seymour states that the set of graphs containing a fixed planar graph $H$ as a minor has the so-called Erdős-Pósa property; namely, there exists a function $f$ depending only on $H$ such that, for every graph $G$ and every positive integer $k$, the graph $G$ has $k$ vertex-disjoint subgraphs each containing $H$ as a minor, or there exists a subset $X$ of vertices of $G$ with $|X| \leq f(k)$ such that $G - X$ has no $H$-minor. While the best function $f$ currently known is exponential in $k$, a $O(k \log k)$ bound is known in the special case where $H$ is a f…
An almost quadratic bound for the minimal excluded minors for a surface
National Institute of Informatics（信息学国立研究所）；Graduate university for advanced studies (SOKENDAI)（advanced studies大学（SOKENDAI））；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）
Split matroids form a minor-closed class of matroids, and are defined by placing conditions on the system of split hyperplanes in the matroid base polytope. They can equivalently be defined in terms of structural properties involving cyclic flats. We confirm a conjecture of Joswig and Schröter by proving an excluded-minor characterisation of the class of split matroids.
Grohe and Marx proved that if G does not contain H as a topological minor, then there exist constants g=O(|V(H)|^4), D and t depending only on H such that G is a clique sum of graphs that either contain at most t vertices of degree greater than D or almost embed in some surface of genus at most g. We strengthen this result, giving a more precise description of the latter kind of basic graphs of the decomposition - we only allow graphs that (almost) embed in ways that are impossible for H (similarly to the structure theorem for minors, where only graphs almost embedded in surfaces in that H doe…
An infinite graph G is minor excluded if there is a finite graph that is not a minor of G. We prove that minor excluded graphs have finite Assouad-Nagata dimension and study minor exclusion for Cayley graphs of finitely generated groups. Our main results and observations are: (1) minor exclusion is not a group property: it depends on the choice of generating set; (2) a group with one end has a generating set for which the Cayley graph is not minor excluded; (3) there are groups that are not minor excluded for any set of generators; (4) minor exclusion is preserved under free products; and (5) …
In this paper we consider minors of ribbon graphs (or, equivalently, cellularly embedded graphs). The theory of minors of ribbon graphs differs from that of graphs in that contracting loops is necessary and doing this can create additional vertices and components. Thus the ribbon graph minor relation is incompatible with the graph minor relation. We discuss excluded minor characterisations of minor closed families of ribbon graphs. Our main result is an excluded minor characterisation of the family of ribbon graphs that represent knot and link diagrams.
If EE is a set of matroids, then ex(EE) denotes the set of matroids that have no minor isomorphic to a member of EE. If EE' is a subset of EE, we say that EE' is /superfluous/ if ex(EE - EE') - ex(EE) contains only finitely many 3-connected matroids. We characterize the superfluous subsets of six well-known collections of excluded minors.
The class of quasi-graphic matroids, recently introduced by Geelen, Gerards, and Whittle, is minor closed and contains both the class of lifted-graphic matroids and the class of frame matroids, each of which generalises the class of graphic matroids. In this paper, we prove that the matroids $U_{3,7}$ and $U_{4,7}$ are the only $9$-connected excluded minors for the class of quasi-graphic matroids.
Let $G$ be a graph with $n$ vertices, with independence number $α$, and with with no $K_{t+1}$-minor for some $t\geq5$. It is proved that $(2α-1)(2t-5)\geq2n-5$.
Let $G$ be a graph and $p \in [1, \infty]$. The parameter $f_p(G)$ is the least integer $k$ such that for all $m$ and all vectors $(r_v)_{v \in V(G)} \subseteq \mathbb{R}^m$, there exist vectors $(q_v)_{v \in V(G)} \subseteq \mathbb{R}^k$ satisfying $$\|r_v-r_w\|_p=\|q_v-q_w\|_p, \ \text{ for all }\ vw\in E(G).$$ It is easy to check that $f_p(G)$ is always finite and that it is minor monotone. By the graph minor theorem of Robertson and Seymour, there are a finite number of excluded minors for the property $f_p(G) \leq k$. In this paper, we determine the complete set of excluded minors for $f_…
Frame matroids and lifted-graphic matroids are two distinct minor-closed classes of matroids, each of which generalises the class of graphic matroids. The class of quasi-graphic matroids, recently introduced by Geelen, Gerards, and Whittle, simultaneously generalises both the classes of frame and lifted-graphic matroids. Let $\mathcal{M}$ be one of these three classes, and let $r$ be a positive integer. We show that $\mathcal{M}$ has only a finite number of excluded minors of rank $r$.
Let $M$ be an excluded minor for the class of $\mathbb{P}$-representable matroids for some partial field $\mathbb P$, and let $N$ be a $3$-connected strong $\mathbb{P}$-stabilizer that is non-binary. We prove that either $M$ is bounded relative to $N$, or, up to replacing $M$ by a $Δ$-$Y$-equivalent excluded minor, we can choose a pair of elements $\{a,b\}$ such that either $M\backslash \{a,b\}$ is $N$-fragile, or $M^* \backslash \{a,b\}$ is $N^*$-fragile.
The local tree-width of a graph G=(V,E) is the function ltw^G: N -> N that associates with every natural number r the maximal tree-width of an r-neighborhood in G. Our main graph theoretic result is a decomposition theorem for graphs with excluded minors that essentially says that such graphs can be decomposed into trees of graphs of bounded local tree-width. As an application of this theorem, we show that a number of combinatorial optimization problems, such as Minimum Vertex Cover, Minimum Dominating Set, and Maximum Independent Set have a polynomial time approximation scheme when restricted…
A graph is nearly embedded in a surface if it consists of graph $G_0$ that is embedded in the surface, together with a bounded number of vortices having no large transactions. It is shown that every large wall (or grid minor) in a nearly embedded graph, many rows of which intersect the embedded subgraph $G_0$ of the near-embedding, contains a large subwall that is planarly embedded within $G_0$. This result provides some hidden details needed for a strong version of the Robertson and Seymour's excluded minor theorem as presented in [K. Kawarabayashi, B. Mohar, Some recent progress and applicat…
Bicircular lift matroids are a class of matroids defined on the edge set of a graph. For a given graph $G$, the circuits of its bicircular lift matroid $L(G)$ are the edge sets of those subgraphs of $G$ that contain at least two cycles, and are minimal with respect to this property. For each cycle $C$ of $G$, since $L(G)/C$ is graphic and most graphic matroids are not bicircular lift, the class of bicircular lift matroids is not minor-closed. In this paper, we prove that the class of matroids that are graphic or bicircular lift has a finite list of excluded minors.
Graphs that are critical (minimal excluded minors) for embeddability in surfaces are studied. In Part I, it was shown that graphs that are critical for embeddings into surfaces of Euler genus $k$ or for embeddings into nonorientable surface of genus $k$ are built from 3-connected components, called hoppers and cascades. In Part II, all cascades for Euler genus 2 are classified. As a consequence, the complete list of obstructions of connectivity 2 for embedding graphs into the Klein bottle is obtained.
Graphs that are critical (minimal excluded minors) for embeddability in surfaces are studied. In Part I we consider the structure of graphs with a 2-vertex-cut that are critical with respect to the Euler genus. A general theorem describing the building blocks is presented. These constituents, called hoppers and cascades, are classified for the case when Euler genus is small. As a consequence, the complete list of obstructions of connectivity 2 for embedding graphs into the Klein bottle is obtained. This is the first complete result about obstructions for embeddability of graphs in the Klein bo…
In this paper we characterize graphs which maximize the spectral radius of their adjacency matrix over all graphs of Colin de Verdière parameter at most $m$. We also characterize graphs of maximum spectral radius with no $H$ as a minor when $H$ is either $K_r$ or $K_{s,t}$. Interestingly, the extremal graphs match those which maximize the number of edges over all graphs with no $H$ as a minor when $r$ and $s$ are small, but not when they are larger.
We prove two results: 1. A graph $G$ on at least seven vertices with a vertex $v$ such that $G-v$ is planar and $t$ triangles satisfies $|E(G)| \leq 3|V(G)|- 9 + t/3$. 2. For $p=2,3,\ldots,9$, a triangle-free graph $G$ on at least $2p-5$ vertices with no $K_p$-minor satisfies $|E(G)|\leq (p-2)|V(G)| - (p-2)^2$.
Let $V_{8}+e$ denote the unique graph obtained from the Wagner graph, also known as $V_{8}$, by adding an edge between two vertices of distance 3 on the Hamilton cycle, which is exactly a split of a minor of the Petersen graph. A complete characterization of all internally 4-connected graphs with no $V_{8}$ minor is given in [J. Maharry and N. Robertson, The structure of graphs not topologically containing the Wagner graph, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 121 (2016) 398-420]. In this paper we characterize all internally 4-connected graphs with no $V_{8}+e$ minor.
Let ${\rm ex \,} {\mathcal B}$ be a minor-closed class of graphs with a set ${\mathcal B}$ of minimal excluded minors. We study (a) the asymptotic number of graphs without $k+1$ disjoint minors in ${\mathcal B}$ and (b) the properties of a uniformly random graph drawn from all such graphs on vertices $\{1,\dots,n\}$. We present new results in the case when ${\rm ex \,} {\mathcal B}$ contains arbitrarily large fans for a general (good enough) set of forbidden minors ${\mathcal B}$. A particular case where our results hold is ${\mathcal B} = \{K_4\}$. For any fixed $k = 1, 2, \dots$ we derive pr…
In this short note, we relate the boxicity of graphs (and the dimension of posets) with their generalized coloring parameters. In particular, together with known estimates, our results imply that any graph with no $K_t$-minor can be represented as the intersection of $O(t^2\log t)$ interval graphs (improving the previous bound of $O(t^4)$), and as the intersection of $\tfrac{15}2 t^2$ circular-arc graphs.
In unpublished work, Geelen proved that a matroid is near-regular if and only if it has no minor isomorphic to: U2,5; U3,5; the Fano plane and its dual; the non-Fano and its dual; the single-element deletion of AG(2,3), its dual, and the matroid obtained from it with a Delta-Y operation; and P8. We provide a proof of this characterization.
As a major step in their proof of Wagner's conjecture, Robertson and Seymour showed that every graph not containing a fixed graph $H$ as a minor has a tree-decomposition in which each torso is almost embeddable in a surface of bounded genus. Recently, Grohe and Marx proved a similar result for graphs not containing $H$ as a topological minor. They showed that every graph which does not contain $H$ as a topological minor has a tree-decomposition in which every torso is either almost embeddable in a surface of bounded genus, or has a bounded number of vertices of high degree. We give a short pro…
The notion of thin sums matroids was invented to extend the notion of representability to non-finitary matroids. A matroid is tame if every circuit-cocircuit intersection is finite. We prove that a tame matroid is a thin sums matroid over a finite field k if and only if all its finite minors are representable over k. We expect that the method we use to prove this will make it possible to lift many theorems about finite matroids representable over a finite field to theorems about tame thin sums matroids over these fields. We give three examples of this: various characterisations of binary tame …
We prove local convergence results for the uniformly random, labelled or unlabelled, graphs from subcritical families. As an example special case, we prove Benjamini-Schramm convergence for the uniform random unlabelled tree. We introduce a compactification of the space of countable (connected) rooted graphs, and use it to generalise the notion of Benjamini-Schramm convergence in order to allow for vertices of infinite degree in the limit object.
Let G be a cubic graph, with girth at least five, such that for every partition X,Y of its vertex set with |X|,|Y|>6 there are at least six edges between X and Y. We prove that if there is no homeomorphic embedding of the Petersen graph in G, and G is not one particular 20-vertex graph, then either G\v is planar for some vertex v, or G can be drawn with crossings in the plane, but with only two crossings, both on the infinite region. We also prove several other theorems of the same kind.
At the core of the Robertson-Seymour theory of graph minors lies a powerful structure theorem which captures, for any fixed graph H, the common structural features of all the graphs not containing H as a minor. Robertson and Seymour prove several versions of this theorem, each stressing some particular aspects needed at a corresponding stage of the proof of the main result of their theory, the graph minor theorem. We prove a new version of this structure theorem: one that seeks to combine maximum applicability with a minimum of technical ado, and which might serve as a canonical version for fu…
A set $X \subseteq V(G)$ in a graph $G$ is $(q,k)$-unbreakable if every separation $(A,B)$ of order at most $k$ in $G$ satisfies $|A \cap X| \leq q$ or $|B \cap X| \leq q$. In this paper, we prove the following result: If a graph $G$ excludes a fixed complete graph $K_h$ as a minor and satisfies certain unbreakability guarantees, then $G$ is almost rigid in the following sense: the vertices of $G$ can be partitioned in an isomorphism-invariant way into a part inducing a graph of bounded treewidth and a part that admits a small isomorphism-invariant family of labelings. This result is the key i…
We study the Excluded Grid Theorem of Robertson and Seymour. This is a fundamental result in graph theory, that states that there is some function $f: Z^+\rightarrow Z^+$, such that for all integers $g>0$, every graph of treewidth at least $f(g)$ contains the $(g\times g)$-grid as a minor. Until recently, the best known upper bounds on $f$ were super-exponential in $g$. A recent work of Chekuri and Chuzhoy provided the first polynomial bound, by showing that treewidth $f(g)=O(g^{98}\operatorname{poly}\log g)$ is sufficient to ensure the existence of the $(g\times g)$-grid minor in any graph. I…
