We examine two criteria for balance of a gain graph, one based on binary cycles and one on circles. The graphs for which each criterion is valid depend on the set of allowed gain groups. The binary cycle test is invalid, except for forests, if any possible gain group has an element of odd order. Assuming all groups are allowed, or all abelian groups, or merely the cyclic group of order 3, we characterize, both constructively and by forbidden minors, the graphs for which the circle test is valid. It turns out that these three classes of groups have the same set of forbidden minors. The exact reason for the importance of the ternary cyclic group is not clear.
Partial 1-trees are undirected graphs of treewidth at most one. Similarly, partial 1-DAGs are directed graphs of KellyWidth at most two. It is well-known that an undirected graph is a partial 1-tree if and only if it has no K_3 minor. In this paper, we generalize this characterization to partial 1-DAGs. We show that partial 1-DAGs are characterized by three forbidden directed minors, K_3, N_4 and M_5.
For a set of five edges, a graph splits if one of the associated Dodgson polynomials is equal to zero. A graph G splitting for every set of five edges is a minor-closed property. As such there is a finite set of forbidden minors F such that if a graph H does not contain a minor isomorphic to any graph in F, then H splits. In this paper we prove that if a graph G is simple, 3-connected, and splits, then G must not contain any minors isomorphic to K5, K3,3, the octahedron, the cube, or a graph that is a single delta-Y transformation away from the cube. As such this is the set of all simple 3-con…
The cut dominant of a graph is the unbounded polyhedron whose points are all those that dominate some convex combination of proper cuts. Minimizing a nonnegative linear function over the cut dominant is equivalent to finding a minimum weight cut in the graph. We give a forbidden-minor characterization of the graphs whose cut dominant can be defined by inequalities with integer coefficients and right-hand side at most 2. Our result is related to the forbidden-minor characterization of TSP-perfect graphs by Fonlupt and Naddef (Math. Prog., 1992). We prove that our result implies theirs, with a s…
Let $G$ be a graph with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $d$. Fix some minor-closed property $\mathcal{P}$ (such as planarity). We say that $G$ is $\varepsilon$-far from $\mathcal{P}$ if one has to remove $\varepsilon dn$ edges to make it have $\mathcal{P}$. The problem of property testing $\mathcal{P}$ was introduced in the seminal work of Benjamini-Schramm-Shapira (STOC 2008) that gave a tester with query complexity triply exponential in $\varepsilon^{-1}$. Levi-Ron (TALG 2015) have given the best tester to date, with a quasipolynomial (in $\varepsilon^{-1}$) query complexity. It is an open p…
The Graph Minor Theorem of Robertson and Seymour asserts that any graph property, whatsoever, is determined by an associated finite list of graphs. We view this as an impressive generalization of Kuratowski's theorem, which characterizes planarity in terms of two forbidden subgraphs, $K_5$ and $K_{3,3}$. Robertson and Seymour's result empowers students to devise their own Kuratowski type theorems; we propose several undergraduate research projects with that goal. As an explicit example, we determine the seven forbidden minors for a property we call strongly almost--planar (SAP). A graph is SAP…
The element splitting operation on a graphic matroid, in general may not yield a cographic matroid. In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the graphic matroid to yield cographic matroid under the element splitting operation.
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.
We start by building up some theory to state Wagner's Theorem, and then prove it using Kuratowski's Theorem, a proof of which is found in Diester (2000). Following this, we establish some connections between the chromatic number of a graph and some of its forbidden minors. The idea is that if we forbid $G$ to have certain graphs as a minor, then the chromatic number of $G$ cannot be too large. Intuitively, this makes sense: if we disallow $G$ from having too many edges, then this makes it easier to colour the graph with fewer colours; we will of course make this precise. We close by explaining…
We give a characterization of 3-connected graphs which are planar and forbid cube, octahedron, and $H$ minors, where $H$ is the graph which is one $Δ-Y$ away from each of the cube and the octahedron. Next we say a graph is Feynman 5-split if no choice of edge ordering gives an obstruction to parametric Feynman integration at the fifth step. The 3-connected Feynman 5-split graphs turn out to be precisely those characterized above. Finally we derive the full list of forbidden minors for Feynman 5-split graphs of any connectivity.
An interval graph is the intersection graph of a finite set of intervals on a line and a circular-arc graph is the intersection graph of a finite set of arcs on a circle. While a forbidden induced subgraph characterization of interval graphs was found fifty years ago, finding an analogous characterization for circular-arc graphs is a long-standing open problem. In this work, we study the intersection graphs of finite sets of arcs on a circle no three of which cover the circle, known as normal Helly circular-arc graphs. Those circular-arc graphs which are minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for…
Reed and Wood and independently Norine, Seymour, Thomas, and Wollan proved that for each positive integer $t$ there is a constant $c(t)$ such that every graph on $n$ vertices with no $K_t$-minor has at most $c(t)n$ cliques. Wood asked in 2007 if we can take $c(t) = c^t$ for some absolute constant $c$. This question was recently answered affirmatively by Lee and Oum. In this paper, we determine the exponential constant. We prove that every graph on $n$ vertices with no $K_t$-minor has at most $3^{2t/3+o(t)}n$ cliques. This bound is tight for $n \geq 4t/3$. More generally, let $H$ be a connected…
Treewidth is an important graph invariant, relevant for both structural and algorithmic reasons. A necessary condition for a graph class to have bounded treewidth is the absence of large cliques. We study graph classes closed under taking induced subgraphs in which this condition is also sufficient, which we call $(tw,ω)$-bounded. Such graph classes are known to have useful algorithmic applications related to variants of the clique and $k$-coloring problems. We consider six well-known graph containment relations: the minor, topological minor, subgraph, induced minor, induced topological minor,…
Forbidden minors and subdivisions for toroidal graphs are numerous. We consider the toroidal graphs with no $K_{3,3}$-subdivisions that coincide with the toroidal graphs with no $K_{3,3}$-minors. These graphs admit a unique decomposition into planar components and have short lists of obstructions. We provide the complete lists of four forbidden minors and eleven forbidden subdivisions for the toroidal graphs with no $K_{3,3}$'s and prove that the lists are sufficient.
We provide a doubly exponential upper bound in $p$ on the size of forbidden pivot-minors for symmetric or skew-symmetric matrices over a fixed finite field $\mathbb{F}$ of linear rank-width at most $p$. As a corollary, we obtain a doubly exponential upper bound in $p$ on the size of forbidden vertex-minors for graphs of linear rank-width at most $p$. This solves an open question raised by Jeong, Kwon, and Oum [Excluded vertex-minors for graphs of linear rank-width at most $k$. European J. Combin., 41:242--257, 2014]. We also give a doubly exponential upper bound in $p$ on the size of forbidden…
Antimatroids were discovered by Dilworth in the context of lattices [4] and introduced by Edelman and Jamison as convex geometries in[5]. The author of the current paper independently discovered (possibly infinite) antimatroids in the context of proof systems in mathematical logic [1]. Carlson, a logician, makes implicit use of this view of proof systems as possibly infinite antimatroids in [2]. Though antimatroids are in a sense dual to matroids, far fewer antimatroid forbidden minor theorems are known. Some results of this form are proved in [6], [7], [8], and [9]. This paper proves two forb…
In 1984, Kelly and Oxley introduced the model of a random representable matroid $M[A_n]$ corresponding to a random matrix $A_n \in \mathbb{F}_q^{m(n) \times n}$, whose entries are drawn independently and uniformly from $\mathbb{F}_q$. Whereas properties such as rank, connectivity, and circuit size have been well-studied, forbidden minors have not yet been analyzed. Here, we investigate the asymptotic probability as $n \to \infty$ that a fixed $\mathbb{F}_q$-representable matroid $M$ is a minor of $M[A_n]$. (We always assume $m(n) \geq \text{rank}(M)$ for all sufficiently large $n$, otherwise $…
A $(0,1)$-matrix has the consecutive-ones property (C1P) if its columns can be permuted to make the $1$'s in each row appear consecutively. This property was characterised in terms of forbidden submatrices by Tucker in 1972. Several graph classes were characterised by means of this property, including interval graphs and strongly chordal digraphs. In this work, we define and characterise 2-nested matrices, which are $(0,1)$-matrices with a variant of the C1P and for which there is also certain assignment of one of two colors to each block of consecutive $1$'s in each row. The characterization …
We study a new geometric graph parameter $\egd(G)$, defined as the smallest integer $r\ge 1$ for which any partial symmetric matrix which is completable to a correlation matrix and whose entries are specified at the positions of the edges of $G$, can be completed to a matrix in the convex hull of correlation matrices of $\rank $ at most $r$. This graph parameter is motivated by its relevance to the problem of finding low rank solutions to semidefinite programs over the elliptope, and also by its relevance to the bounded rank Grothendieck constant. Indeed, $\egd(G)\le r$ if and only if the rank…
Hadwiger's conjecture from 1943 states that for every integer $t\ge1$, every graph either can be $t$-colored or has a subgraph that can be contracted to the complete graph on $t+1$ vertices. As pointed out by Paul Seymour in his recent survey on Hadwiger's conjecture, proving that graphs with no $K_7$ minor are $6$-colorable is the first case of Hadwiger's conjecture that is still open. It is not known yet whether graphs with no $K_7$ minor are $7$-colorable. Using a Kempe-chain argument along with the fact that an induced path on three vertices is dominating in a graph with independence numbe…
The classical Hadwiger conjecture dating back to 1940's states that any graph of chromatic number at least $r$ has the clique of order $r$ as a minor. Hadwiger's conjecture is an example of a well studied class of problems asking how large a clique minor one can guarantee in a graph with certain restrictions. One problem of this type asks what is the largest size of a clique minor in a graph on $n$ vertices of independence number $α(G)$ at most $r$. If true Hadwiger's conjecture would imply the existence of a clique minor of order $n/α(G)$. Results of Kuhn and Osthus and Krivelevich and Sudako…
The Gram dimension $\gd(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k\ge 1$ such that any partial real symmetric matrix, whose entries are specified on the diagonal and at the off-diagonal positions corresponding to edges of $G$, can be completed to a positive semidefinite matrix of rank at most $k$ (assuming a positive semidefinite completion exists). For any fixed $k$ the class of graphs satisfying $\gd(G) \le k$ is minor closed, hence it can characterized by a finite list of forbidden minors. We show that the only minimal forbidden minor is $K_{k+1}$ for $k\le 3$ and that there are two mini…
A graph is circle if there is a family of chords in a circle such that two vertices are adjacent if the corresponding chords cross each other. There are diverse characterizations of circle graphs, many of them using the notions of local complementation or split decomposition. However, there are no known structural characterization by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for circle graphs. In this thesis, we give a characterization by forbidden induced subgraphs of circle graphs within split graphs. A $(0,1)$-matrix has the consecutive-ones property (C1P) for the rows if there is a permutation o…
The NP-hard problem of correlation clustering is to partition a signed graph such that the number of conflicts between the partition and the signature of the graph is minimized. This paper studies graph signatures that allow the optimal partition to be found efficiently. We define the class of flow-partitionable signed graphs, which have the property that the standard linear programming relaxation based on so-called cycle inequalities is tight. In other words, flow-partitionable signed graphs satisfy an exact max-multiflow-min-multicut relation in the associated instances of minimum multicut. …
The perfect quantum strategies of a linear system game correspond to certain representations of its solution group. We study the solution groups of graph incidence games, which are linear system games in which the underlying linear system is the incidence system of a (non-properly) two-coloured graph. While it is undecidable to determine whether a general linear system game has a perfect quantum strategy, for graph incidence games this problem is solved by Arkhipov's theorem, which states that the graph incidence game of a connected graph has a perfect quantum strategy if and only if it either…
Elementary lift is a generalized splitting operation. Splitting of a binary gammoid need not be a gammoid. This paper finds forbidden minors for a binary gammoid whose elementary lift is a binary gammoid. We also find forbidden minors for a binary gammoid whose single element coextension is a binary gammoid.
Given graphs $G$ and $H$, we propose a method to implicitly enumerate topological-minor-embeddings of $H$ in $G$ using decision diagrams. We show a useful application of our method to enumerating subgraphs characterized by forbidden topological minors, that is, planar, outerplanar, series-parallel, and cactus subgraphs. Computational experiments show that our method can find all planar subgraphs in a given graph at most five orders of magnitude faster than a naive backtracking-based method.
In this paper we extend a result about a sufficient condition for Hamiltonicity for finite graphs by Broersma and Veldmann to locally finite graphs. In order to do this we use topological circles within the Freudenthal compactification of a locally finite graph as infinite cycles. The condition we focus on in this paper is in terms of forbidden induced subgraphs, namely being claw-free and a relaxation of being paw-free.
In 2009, Brown gave a set of conditions which when satisfied imply that a Feynman integral evaluates to a multiple zeta value. One of these conditions is called reducibility, which loosely says there is an order of integration for the Feynman integral for which Brown's techniques will succeed. Reducibility can be abstracted away from the Feynman integral to just being a condition on two polynomials, the first and second Symanzik polynomials. These polynomials can be defined from graphs, and thus reducibility is a property of graphs. We prove that for a fixed number of external momenta and no m…
A circle graph is an intersection graph of a set of chords of a circle. We describe the unavoidable induced subgraphs of circle graphs with large treewidth. This includes examples that are far from the `usual suspects'. Our results imply that treewidth and Hadwiger number are linearly tied on the class of circle graphs, and that the unavoidable induced subgraphs of a vertex-minor-closed class with large treewidth are the usual suspects if and only if the class has bounded rank-width. Using the same tools, we also study the treewidth of graphs $G$ that have a circular drawing whose crossing gra…
We introduce a notion of bipartite minors and prove a bipartite analog of Wagner's theorem: a bipartite graph is planar if and only if it does not contain $K_{3,3}$ as a bipartite minor. Similarly, we provide a forbidden minor characterization for outerplanar graphs and forests. We then establish a recursive characterization of bipartite $(2,2)$-Laman graphs --- a certain family of graphs that contains all maximal bipartite planar graphs.
Minimal separators in graphs are an important concept in algorithmic graph theory. In particular, many problems that are NP-hard for general graphs are known to become polynomial-time solvable for classes of graphs with a polynomially bounded number of minimal separators. Several well-known graph classes have this property, including chordal graphs, permutation graphs, circular-arc graphs, and circle graphs. We perform a systematic study of the question which classes of graphs defined by small forbidden induced subgraphs have a polynomially bounded number of minimal separators. We focus on set…
Given a graph $G$, the Hadwiger number of $G$, denoted by $h(G)$, is the largest integer $k$ such that $G$ contains the complete graph $K_k$ as a minor. A hole in $G$ is an induced cycle of length at least four. Hadwiger's Conjecture from 1943 states that for every graph $G$, $h(G)\ge χ(G)$, where $χ(G)$ denotes the chromatic number of $G$. In this paper we establish more evidence for Hadwiger's conjecture by showing that if a graph $G$ with independence number $α(G)\ge3$ has no hole of length between $4$ and $2α(G)-1$, then $h(G)\geχ(G)$. We also prove that if a graph $G$ with independence nu…
The scramble number of a graph provides a lower bound for gonality and an upper bound for treewidth, making it a graph invariant of interest. In this paper we study graphs of scramble number at most two, and give a classification of all such graphs with a finite list of forbidden topological minors. We then prove that there exists no finite list of forbidden topological minors to characterize graphs of any fixed scramble number greater than two.
In a paper from 2001 (Journal of the LMS), Diestel and Leader offered a proof that a connected graph has a normal spanning tree if and only if it does not contain a minor from two specific forbidden classes of graphs, all of cardinality $\aleph_1$. Unfortunately, their proof contains a gap, and their result is incorrect. In this paper, we construct a third type of obstruction: an $\aleph_1$-sized graph without a normal spanning tree that contains neither of the two types described by Diestel and Leader as a minor. Further, we show that any list of forbidden minors characterising the graphs wit…
We look at a graph property called reducibility which is closely related to a condition developed by Brown to evaluate Feynman integrals. We show for graphs with a fixed number of external momenta, that reducibility with respect to both Symanzik polynomials is graph minor closed. We also survey the known forbidden minors and the known structural results. This gives some structural information on those Feynman diagrams which are reducible.
If a graph has no induced subgraph isomorphic to any graph in a finite family $\{H_1,\ldots,H_p\}$, it is said to be $(H_1,\ldots,H_p)$-free. The class of $H$-free graphs has bounded clique-width if and only if $H$ is an induced subgraph of the 4-vertex path $P_4$. We study the (un)boundedness of the clique-width of graph classes defined by two forbidden induced subgraphs $H_1$ and $H_2$. Prior to our study it was not known whether the number of open cases was finite. We provide a positive answer to this question. To reduce the number of open cases we determine new graph classes of bounded cli…
A circular-arc graph is the intersection graph of arcs of a circle. It is a well-studied graph model with numerous natural applications. A certifying algorithm is an algorithm that outputs a certificate, along with its answer (be it positive or negative), where the certificate can be used to easily justify the given answer. While the recognition of circular-arc graphs has been known to be polynomial since the 1980s, no polynomial-time certifying recognition algorithm is known to date, despite such algorithms being found for many subclasses of circular-arc graphs. This is largely due to the fac…
In a series of papers, of which this is the first, we study sufficient conditions for Hamiltonicity in terms of forbidden induced subgraphs and extend such results to locally finite infinite graphs. For this we use topological circles within the Freudenthal compactification of a locally finite graph as infinite cycles. In this paper we focus on conditions involving claws, nets and bulls as induced subgraphs. We extend Hamiltonicity results for finite claw-free and net-free graphs by Shepherd to locally finite graphs. Moreover, we generalise a classification of finite claw-free and net-free gra…
A graph $G$ is $H$-free, if it contains no $H$ as a subgraph. A graph is said to be \emph{$H$-minor free}, if it does not contain $H$ as a minor. In recent years, Nikiforov asked that what is the maximum spectral radius of an $H$-free graph of order $n$? In this paper, we consider about some Brualdi-Solheid-Turán type problems on bipartite graphs. In 2015, Zhai, Lin and Gong proved that if $G$ is a bipartite graph with order $n \geq 2k+2$ and $ρ(G)\geq ρ(K_{k,n-k})$, then $G$ contains a $C_{2k+2}$ unless $G \cong K_{k,n-k}$ [Linear Algebra Appl. 471 (2015)]. Firstly, we give a new and more sim…
We prove that for all positive integers $t$, every $n$-vertex graph with no $K_t$-subdivision has at most $2^{50t}n$ cliques. We also prove that asymptotically, such graphs contain at most $2^{(5+o(1))t}n$ cliques, where $o(1)$ tends to zero as $t$ tends to infinity. This strongly answers a question of D. Wood asking if the number of cliques in $n$-vertex graphs with no $K_t$-minor is at most $2^{ct}n$ for some constant $c$.
Diestel and Leader have characterised connected graphs that admit a normal spanning tree via two classes of forbidden minors. One class are Halin's $(\aleph_0,\aleph_1)$-graphs: bipartite graphs with bipartition $(\mathbb{N},B)$ such that $B$ is uncountable and every vertex of $B$ has infinite degree. Our main result is that under Martin's Axiom and the failure of the Continuum Hypothesis, the class of forbidden $(\aleph_0,\aleph_1)$-graphs in Diestel and Leader's result can be replaced by one single instance of such a graph. Under CH, however, the class of $(\aleph_0,\aleph_1)$-graphs contain…
Robin Thomas asked whether for every proper minor-closed class C, there exists a polynomial-time algorithm approximating the chromatic number of graphs from C up to a constant additive error independent on the class C. We show this is not the case: unless P=NP, for every integer k>=1, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to color a K_{4k+1}-minor-free graph G using at most chi(G)+k-1 colors. More generally, for every k>=1 and 1<=β<=4/3, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to color a K_{4k+1}-minor-free graph G using less than beta.chi(G)+(4-3beta)k colors. As far as we know, this is the fir…
