A theta graph is a homeomorph of K 2;3. In an embedded planar graph the local rotation at one degree-three vertex of a theta graph determines the local rotation at the other degree-three vertex. Using this observation, we give a characterization of planar graphs in terms of balance in an associated signed graph whose vertices are K 1;3 sub-graphs and whose edges correspond to theta graphs.

These are notes from lectures given in the Queen Mary Combinatorics Study 1 Introductory Definitions In these notes, Γ = (V Γ, EΓ) denotes a graph, as we will use G to denote a group. All graphs considered will be simple, finite, connected and undirected. Definition An automorphism of Γ is a bijective function g : V Γ → V Γ such that v ∼ w if and only if g(v) ∼ g(w). The set of all automorphism...

A recent result of Henning and Southey (A note on graphs with disjoint dominating and total dominating set, Ars Comb. 89 (2008), 159–162) implies that every connected graph of minimum degree at least three has a dominating set D and a total dominating set T which are disjoint. We show that the Petersen graph is the only such graph for which D ∪ T necessarily contains all vertices of the graph.

A signed graph (G,Σ) is an undirected graph G together with an assignment of signs (positive or negative) to all its edges, where Σ denotes the set of negative edges. Two signatures are said to be equivalent if one can be obtained from the other by a sequence of resignings (i.e. switching the sign of all edges incident to a given vertex). Extending the notion of usual graph homomorphisms, homom...

In two recent papers [Hafner, Elec. J. Combin. 11 (R77) (2004), 1–33; Ilić, Pace and Magliveras, J. Combin. Math. Combin. Comput. 80 (2012), 267–275] it was shown that the Higman-Sims graph Γ can be decomposed into a disjoint union of five double Petersen graphs. In the second of these papers, it was further shown that all such decompositions fall into a single orbit under the action of sporadi...

A perfectly one-factorable (P1F) regular graph G is a graph admitting a partition of the edge-set into one-factors such that the union of any two of them is a Hamiltonian cycle. We consider the case in which G is a cubic graph. The existence of a P1F cubic graph is guaranteed for each admissible value of the number of vertices. We give conditions for determining P1F graphs within a subfamily of...

There are several graphs H for which the precise structure of graphs that do not contain a minor isomorphic to H is known. In particular, such structure theorems are known for K5 [13], V8 [8] and [7], the cube [3], the octahedron [4], and several others. Such characterizations can often be very useful, e.g., Hadwiger’s conjecture for k = 4 is verified by using the structure for K5-free graphs, ...

We prove inequalities between the densities of various bipartite subgraphs in signed graphs. One of the main inequalities is that the density of any bipartite graph with girth 2r cannot exceed the density of the 2r-cycle. This study is motivated by the Simonovits–Sidorenko conjecture, which states that the density of a bipartite graph F with m edges in any graph G is at least the m-th power of ...