Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2017

Publication Title

Discrete Mathematics

First Page

3104

Last Page

3115

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.disc.2017.07.002

Abstract

For a graph H , let σ t ( H ) = min { Σ i = 1 t d H ( v i ) | { v 1 , v 2 , … , v t } is an independent set in H } and let U t ( H ) = min { | ⋃ i = 1 t N H ( v i ) | | { v 1 , v 2 , ⋯ , v t } is an independent set in H } . We show that for a given number ϵ and given integers p ≥ t > 0 , k ∈ { 2 , 3 } and N = N ( p , ϵ ) , if H is a k -connected claw-free graph of order n > N with δ ( H ) ≥ 3 and its Ryjác̆ek’s closure c l ( H ) = L ( G ) , and if d t ( H ) ≥ t ( n + ϵ ) ∕ p where d t ( H ) ∈ { σ t ( H ) , U t ( H ) } , then either H is Hamiltonian or G , the preimage of L ( G ) , can be contracted to a k -edge-connected K 3 -free graph of order at most max { 4 p − 5 , 2 p + 1 } and without spanning closed trails. As applications, we prove the following for such graphs H of order n with n sufficiently large:

(i) If k = 2 , δ ( H ) ≥ 3 , and for a given t ( 1 ≤ t ≤ 4 ), then either H is Hamiltonian or c l ( H ) = L ( G ) where G is a graph obtained from K 2 , 3 by replacing each of the degree 2 vertices by a K 1 , s ( s ≥ 1 ). When t = 4 and d t ( H ) = σ 4 ( H ) , this proves a conjecture in Frydrych (2001).

(ii) If k = 3 , δ ( H ) ≥ 24 , and for a given t ( 1 ≤ t ≤ 10 ) d t ( H ) > t ( n + 5 ) 10 , then H is Hamiltonian. These bounds on d t ( H ) in (i) and (ii) are sharp. It unifies and improves several prior results on conditions involved σ t and U t for the hamiltonicity of claw-free graphs. Since the number of graphs of orders at most max { 4 p − 5 , 2 p + 1 } are fixed for given p , improvements to (i) or (ii) by increasing the value of p are possible with the help of a computer.

Rights

This is a post-print version of an article originally published in Discrete Mathematics, 2017, Volume 340, Issue 12.

The version of record is available through: Elsevier.

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