Sepehr Hajebi — Page 3

arXiv2022

Minimal induced subgraphs of two classes of 2-connected non-Hamiltonian graphs

In 1981, Duffus, Gould, and Jacobson showed that every connected graph either has a Hamiltonian path, or contains a claw ($K_{1,3}$) or a net (a fixed six-vertex graph) as an induced subgraph. This implies that subject to being connected, these two are the only minimal (under taking induced subgraphs) graphs with no Hamiltonian path. Brousek (1998) characterized the minimal graphs that are $2$-connected, non-Hamiltonian and do not contain the claw as an induced subgraph. We characterize the minimal graphs that are $2$-connected and non-Hamiltonian for two classes of graphs: (1) split graphs, (2) triangle-free graphs. We remark that testing for Hamiltonicity is NP-hard in both of these classes.

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arXiv2016

Edge Clique Cover of Claw-free Graphs

The smallest number of cliques, covering all edges of a graph $ G $, is called the (edge) clique cover number of $ G $ and is denoted by $ cc(G) $. It is an easy observation that for every line graph $ G $ with $ n $ vertices, $cc(G)\leq n $. G. Chen et al. [Discrete Math. 219 (2000), no. 1--3, 17--26; MR1761707] extended this observation to all quasi-line graphs and questioned if the same assertion holds for all claw-free graphs. In this paper, using the celebrated structure theorem of claw-free graphs due to Chudnovsky and Seymour, we give an affirmative answer to this question for all claw-free graphs with independence number at least three. In particular, we prove that if $ G $ is a connected claw-free graph on $ n $ vertices with $ α(G)\geq 3 $, then $ cc(G)\leq n $ and equality holds if and only if $ G $ is either the graph of icosahedron, or the complement of a graph on $10$ vertices called twister or the $p^{th}$ power of the cycle $ C_n $, for $1\leq p \leq \lfloor (n-1)/3\rfloor $.

math.CO↗