On the genera of polyhedral embeddings of cubic graph

In this article we present theoretical and computational results on the existence of polyhedral embeddings of graphs. The emphasis is on cubic graphs. We also describe an efficient algorithm to compute all polyhedral embeddings of a given cubic graph and constructions for cubic graphs with some special properties of their polyhedral embeddings. Some key results are that even cubic graphs with a polyhedral embedding on the torus can also have polyhedral embeddings in arbitrarily high genus, in fact in a genus {\em close} to the theoretical maximum for that number of vertices, and that there is no bound on the number of genera in which a cubic graph can have a polyhedral embedding. While these results suggest a large variety of polyhedral embeddings, computations for up to 28 vertices suggest that by far most of the cubic graphs do not have a polyhedral embedding in any genus and that the ratio of these graphs is increasing with the number of vertices.

A Note on Connectivity of a Cubic Graph

Connectedness of a graph has a longstanding interest in combinatorial mathematics. For example, it plays an essential role in applications of graph theory and also plays a basic role in theoretical considerations. In this note, we show that the connectivity, edge connectivity, cyclically edge connectivity and essentially edge connectivity of a cubic graph are equivalent.

Contractible Edges in 3-Connected Cubic Graphs

An edge [Formula: see text] in a 3-connected graph [Formula: see text] is contractible if the contraction [Formula: see text] is still [Formula: see text]-connected. Let [Formula: see text] be the set of contractible edges of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] be the set of vertices adjacent to three vertices of a triangle △. It has been proved that [Formula: see text] in a 3-connected graph [Formula: see text] of order at least 5. In this note [Formula: see text] is a 3-connected cubic graph containing [Formula: see text] triangles, at least [Formula: see text] vertices and with every [Formula: see text] an independent set. Then [Formula: see text]. This is a bound better than [Formula: see text] under some conditions.

Average Edge-Connectivity of Cubic Graphs

In this paper, we consider the concept of the average edge-connectivity [Formula: see text] of a graph [Formula: see text], defined to be the average, over all pairs of vertices, of the maximum number of edge-disjoint paths connecting these vertices. Kim and O previously proved that [Formula: see text] for any connected cubic graph on [Formula: see text] vertices. We refine their result by showing that [Formula: see text] We also characterize the graphs where equality holds.

Determining the Circular Flow Number of a Cubic Graph

A circular nowhere-zero $r$-flow on a bridgeless graph $G$ is an orientation of the edges and an assignment of real values from $[1, r-1]$ to the edges in such a way that the sum of incoming values equals the sum of outgoing values for every vertex. The circular flow number, $\phi_c(G)$, of $G$ is the infimum over all values $r$ such that $G$ admits a nowhere-zero $r$-flow. A flow has its underlying orientation. If we subtract the number of incoming and the number of outgoing edges for each vertex, we get a mapping $V(G) \to \mathbb{Z}$, which is its underlying balanced valuation. In this paper we describe efficient and practical polynomial algorithms to turn balanced valuations and orientations into circular nowhere zero $r$-flows they underlie with minimal $r$. Using this algorithm one can determine the circular flow number of a graph by enumerating balanced valuations. For cubic graphs we present an algorithm that determines $\phi_c(G)$ in case that $\phi_c(G) \leqslant 5$ in time $O(2^{0.6\cdot|V(G)|})$. If $\phi_c(G) > 5$, then the algorithm determines that $\phi_c(G) > 5$ and thus the graph is a counterexample to Tutte's $5$-flow conjecture. The key part is a procedure that generates all (not necessarily proper) $2$-vertex-colourings without a monochromatic path on three vertices in $O(2^{0.6\cdot|V(G)|})$ time. We also prove that there is at most $2^{0.6\cdot|V(G)|}$ of them.

Cycle Lengths Modulo k in Large 3-connected Cubic Graphs, Advances in Combinatorics

The existence of cycles with a given length is classical topic in graph theory with a plethora of open problems. Examples related to the main result of this paper include a conjecture of Burr and Erdős from 1976 asked whether for every integer $m$ and a positive odd integer $k$, there exists $d$ such that every graph with average degree at least $d$ contains a cycle of length $m$ modulo $k$; this conjecture was proven by Bollobás in [Bull. London Math. Soc. 9 (1977), 97-98]( https://doi.org/10.1112/blms/9.1.97). Another example is a problem of Erdős from the 1990s asking whether there exists $A\subseteq\mathbb{N}$ with zero density and constants $n_0$ and $d_0$ such that every graph with at least $n_0$ vertices and the average degree at least $d_0$ contains a cycle with length in the set $A$, which was resolved by Verstraete in [J. Graph Theory 49 (2005), 151-167]( https://doi.org/10.1002/jgt.20072). In 1983, Thomassen conjectured that for all integers $m$ and $k$, every graph with minimum degree $k+1$ contains a cycle of length $2m$ modulo $k$. Note that the parity condition in the first and the third conjectures is necessary because of bipartite graphs. The current paper contributes to this long line of research by proving that for every integer $m$ and a positive odd integer $k$, every sufficiently large $3$-connected cubic graph contains a cycle of length $m$ modulo $k$. The result is the best possible in the sense that the same conclusion is not true for $2$-connected cubic graphs or $3$-connected graphs with minimum degree three.

The Number of Blocks of a Graph with Given Minimum Degree

A block of a graph is a nonseparable maximal subgraph of the graph. We denote by b G the number of block of a graph G . We show that, for a connected graph G of order n with minimum degree k ≥ 1 , b G < 2 k − 3 / k 2 − k − 1 n . The bound is asymptotically tight. In addition, for a connected cubic graph G of order n ≥ 14 , b G ≤ n / 2 − 2 . The bound is tight.