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Reinhard Diestel

Publications and source records attributed to Reinhard Diestel.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2017

Profiles of separations: in graphs, matroids and beyond

We show that all the tangles in a finite graph or matroid can be distinguished by a single tree-decomposition that is invariant under the automorphisms of the graph or matroid. This comes as a corollary of a similar decomposition theorem for more general combinatorial structures, which has further applications. These include a new approach to cluster analysis and image segmentation. As another illustration for the abstract theorem, we show that applying it to edge-tangles yields the Gomory-Hu theorem.

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arXiv2017

Abstract Separation Systems

Abstract separation systems provide a simple general framework in which both tree-shape and high cohesion of many combinatorial structures can be expressed, and their duality proved. Applications range from tangle-type duality and tree structure theorems in graphs, matroids or CW-complexes to, potentially, image segmentation and cluster analysis. This paper is intended as a concise common reference for the basic definitions and facts about abstract separation systems in these and any future papers using this framework.

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arXiv2017

Tree sets

We study an abstract notion of tree structure which lies at the common core of various tree-like discrete structures commonly used in combinatorics: trees in graphs, order trees, nested subsets of a set, tree-decompositions of graphs and matroids etc. Unlike graph-theoretical or order trees, these _tree sets_ can provide a suitable formalization of tree structure also for infinite graphs, matroids, and set partitions. Order trees reappear as oriented tree sets. We show how each of the above structures defines a tree set, and which additional information, if any, is needed to reconstruct it from this tree set.

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arXiv2016

A simple existence criterion for normal spanning trees in infinite graphs

Halin proved in 1978 that there exists a normal spanning tree in every connected graph $G$ that satisfies the following two conditions: (i) $G$ contains no subdivision of a `fat' $K_{\aleph_0}$, one in which every edge has been replaced by uncountably many parallel edges; and (ii) $G$ has no $K_{\aleph_0}$ subgraph. We show that the second condition is unnecessary.

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arXiv2015

$k$-Blocks: a connectivity invariant for graphs

A $k$-block in a graph $G$ is a maximal set of at least $k$ vertices no two of which can be separated in $G$ by fewer than $k$ other vertices. The block number $β(G)$ of $G$ is the largest integer $k$ such that $G$ has a $k$-block. We investigate how $β$ interacts with density invariants of graphs, such as their minimum or average degree. We further present algorithms that decide whether a graph has a $k$-block, or which find all its $k$-blocks. The connectivity invariant $β(G)$ has a dual width invariant, the block-width ${\rm bw}(G)$ of $G$. Our algorithms imply the duality theorem $β= {\rm bw}$: a graph has a block-decomposition of width and adhesion $< k$ if and only if it contains no $k$-block.

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arXiv2015

Connected tree-width

The connected tree-width of a graph is the minimum width of a tree-decomposition whose parts induce connected subgraphs. Long cycles are examples of graphs that have small tree-width but large connected tree-width. We show that a graph has small connected tree-width if and only if it has small tree-width and contains no long geodesic cycle. We further prove a connected analogue of the duality theorem for tree-width: a finite graph has small connected tree-width if and only if it has no bramble whose connected covers are all large. Both these results are qualitative: the bounds are good but not tight. We show that graphs of connected tree-width $k$ are $k$-hyperbolic, which is tight, and that graphs of tree-width $k$ whose geodesic cycles all have length at most $\ell$ are $\lfloor{3\over2}\ell(k-1)\rfloor$-hyperbolic. The existence of such a function $h(k,\ell)$ had been conjectured by Sullivan.

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arXiv2015

The structure of 2-separations of infinite matroids

Generalizing a well known theorem for finite matroids, we prove that for every (infinite) connected matroid M there is a unique tree T such that the nodes of T correspond to minors of M that are either 3-connected or circuits or cocircuits, and the edges of T correspond to certain nested 2-separations of M. These decompositions are invariant under duality.

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arXiv2014

Connectivity and tree structure in finite graphs

Considering systems of separations in a graph that separate every pair of a given set of vertex sets that are themselves not separated by these separations, we determine conditions under which such a separation system contains a nested subsystem that still separates those sets and is invariant under the automorphisms of the graph. As an application, we show that the $k$-blocks -- the maximal vertex sets that cannot be separated by at most $k$ vertices -- of a graph $G$ live in distinct parts of a suitable tree-decomposition of $G$ of adhesion at most $k$, whose decomposition tree is invariant under the automorphisms of $G$. This extends recent work of Dunwoody and Krön and, like theirs, generalizes a similar theorem of Tutte for $k=2$. Under mild additional assumptions, which are necessary, our decompositions can be combined into one overall tree-decomposition that distinguishes, for all $k$ simultaneously, all the $k$-blocks of a finite graph.

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arXiv2014

Canonical tree-decompositions of finite graphs I. Existence and algorithms

We construct tree-decompositions of graphs that distinguish all their k-blocks and tangles of order k, for any fixed integer k. We describe a family of algorithms to construct such decompositions, seeking to maximize their diversity subject to the requirement that they commute with graph isomorphisms. In particular, all the decompositions constructed are invariant under the automorphisms of the graph.

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arXiv2014

Canonical tree-decompositions of finite graphs II. Essential parts

In Part I of this series we described three algorithms that construct canonical tree-decompositions of graphs which distinguish all their k-blocks and tangles of order k. We now establish bounds on the number of parts in these decompositions that contain no such block or tangle, and determine conditions under which such parts contain nothing but a k-block.

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arXiv2013

Orthogonality and minimality in the homology of locally finite graphs

Given a finite set $E$, a subset $D\sub E$ (viewed as a function $E\to \F_2$) is orthogonal to a given subspace $\FF$ of the $\F_2$-vector space of functions $E\to \F_2$ as soon as $D$ is orthogonal to every $\sub$-minimal element of $\FF$. This fails in general when $E$ is infinite. However, we prove the above statement for the six subspaces $\FF$ of the edge space of any 3-connected locally finite graph that are relevant to its homology: the topological, algebraic, and finite cycle and cut spaces. This solves a problem of [5]

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arXiv2013

Axioms for infinite matroids

We give axiomatic foundations for non-finitary infinite matroids with duality, in terms of independent sets, bases, circuits, closure and rank. This completes the solution to a problem of Rado of 1966.

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arXiv2012

Forcing finite minors in sparse infinite graphs by large-degree assumptions

Developing further Stein's recent notion of relative end degrees in infinite graphs, we investigate which degree assumptions can force a locally finite graph to contain a given finite minor, or a finite subgraph of given minimum degree. This is part of a wider project which seeks to develop an extremal theory of sparse infinite graphs.

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arXiv2012

Locally finite graphs with ends: a topological approach

This paper is intended as an introductory survey of a newly emerging field: a topological approach to the study of locally finite graphs that crucially incorporates their ends. Topological arcs and circles, which may pass through ends, assume the role played in finite graphs by paths and cycles. This approach has made it possible to extend to locally finite graphs many classical theorems of finite graph theory that do not extend verbatim. The shift of paradigm it proposes is thus as much an answer to old questions as a source of new ones; many concrete problems of both types are suggested in the paper. This paper attempts to provide an entry point to this field for readers that have not followed the literature that has emerged in the last 10 years or so. It takes them on a quick route through what appear to be the most important lasting results, introduces them to key proof techniques, identifies the most promising open problems, and offers pointers to the literature for more detail.

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arXiv2012

Infinite matroids in graphs

It has recently been shown that infinite matroids can be axiomatized in a way that is very similar to finite matroids and permits duality. This was previously thought impossible, since finitary infinite matroids must have non-finitary duals. In this paper we illustrate the new theory by exhibiting its implications for the cycle and bond matroids of infinite graphs. We also describe their algebraic cycle matroids, those whose circuits are the finite cycles and double rays, and determine their duals. Finally, we give a sufficient condition for a matroid to be representable in a sense adapted to infinite matroids. Which graphic matroids are representable in this sense remains an open question.

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arXiv2011

Dual trees must share their ends

We extend to infinite graphs the matroidal characterization of finite graph duality, that two graphs are dual iff they have complementary spanning trees in some common edge set. The naive infinite analogue of this fails. The key in an infinite setting is that dual trees must share between them not only the edges of their host graphs but also their ends: the statement that a set of edges is acyclic and connects all the vertices in one of the graphs iff the remaining edges do the same in its dual will hold only once each of the two graphs' common ends has been assigned to one graph but not the other, and 'cycle' and 'connected' are interpreted topologically in the space containing the respective edges and precisely the ends thus assigned. This property characterizes graph duality: if, conversely, the spanning trees of two infinite graphs are complementary in this end-sharing way, the graphs form a dual pair.

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arXiv2011

On the homology of locally compact spaces with ends

We propose a homology theory for locally compact spaces with ends in which the ends play a special role. The approach is motivated by results for graphs with ends, where it has been highly successful. But it was unclear how the original graph-theoretical definition could be captured in the usual language for homology theories, so as to make it applicable to more general spaces. In this paper we provide such a general topological framework: we define a homology theory which satisfies the usual axioms, but which maintains the special role for ends that has made this homology work so well for graphs.

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