Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions V. One neighbor in a hole

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abrishami, Tara, Alecu, Bogdan, Chudnovsky, Maria, Hajebi, Sepehr, Spirkl, Sophie, Vušković, Kristina
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915228355133440
author Abrishami, Tara
Alecu, Bogdan
Chudnovsky, Maria
Hajebi, Sepehr
Spirkl, Sophie
Vušković, Kristina
author_facet Abrishami, Tara
Alecu, Bogdan
Chudnovsky, Maria
Hajebi, Sepehr
Spirkl, Sophie
Vušković, Kristina
contents What are the unavoidable induced subgraphs of graphs with large treewidth? It is well-known that the answer must include a complete graph, a complete bipartite graph, all subdivisions of a wall and line graphs of all subdivisions of a wall (we refer to these graphs as the "basic treewidth obstructions"). So it is natural to ask whether graphs excluding the basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth. Sintiari and Trotignon answered this question in the negative. Their counterexamples, the so-called "layered wheels," contain wheels, where a wheel consists of a hole (i.e., an induced cycle of length at least four) along with a vertex with at least three neighbors in the hole. This leads one to ask whether graphs excluding wheels and the basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth. This also turns out to be false due to Davies' recent example of graphs with large treewidth, no wheels and and no basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs. However, in Davies' example there exist holes and vertices (outside of the hole) with two neighbors in them. Here we prove that a hole with a vertex with at least two neighbors in it is inevitable in graphs with large treewidth and no basic obstruction. Our main result is that graphs in which every vertex has at most one neighbor in every hole (that does not contain it) and with the basic treewidth obstructions excluded as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2205_04420
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions V. One neighbor in a hole
Abrishami, Tara
Alecu, Bogdan
Chudnovsky, Maria
Hajebi, Sepehr
Spirkl, Sophie
Vušković, Kristina
Combinatorics
What are the unavoidable induced subgraphs of graphs with large treewidth? It is well-known that the answer must include a complete graph, a complete bipartite graph, all subdivisions of a wall and line graphs of all subdivisions of a wall (we refer to these graphs as the "basic treewidth obstructions"). So it is natural to ask whether graphs excluding the basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth. Sintiari and Trotignon answered this question in the negative. Their counterexamples, the so-called "layered wheels," contain wheels, where a wheel consists of a hole (i.e., an induced cycle of length at least four) along with a vertex with at least three neighbors in the hole. This leads one to ask whether graphs excluding wheels and the basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth. This also turns out to be false due to Davies' recent example of graphs with large treewidth, no wheels and and no basic treewidth obstructions as induced subgraphs. However, in Davies' example there exist holes and vertices (outside of the hole) with two neighbors in them. Here we prove that a hole with a vertex with at least two neighbors in it is inevitable in graphs with large treewidth and no basic obstruction. Our main result is that graphs in which every vertex has at most one neighbor in every hole (that does not contain it) and with the basic treewidth obstructions excluded as induced subgraphs have bounded treewidth.
title Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions V. One neighbor in a hole
topic Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.04420