English

A construction of a $\frac{3}{2}$-tough plane triangulation with no 2-factor

Combinatorics 2024-04-30 v3

Abstract

In 1956, Tutte proved the celebrated theorem that every 4-connected planar graph is hamiltonian. This result implies that every more than 32\frac{3}{2}-tough planar graph on at least three vertices is hamiltonian and so has a 2-factor. Owens in 1999 constructed non-hamiltonian maximal planar graphs of toughness arbitrarily close to 32\frac{3}{2} and asked whether there exists a maximal non-hamiltonian planar graph of toughness exactly 32\frac{3}{2}. In fact, the graphs Owens constructed do not even contain a 2-factor. Thus the toughness of exactly 32\frac{3}{2} is the only case left in asking the existence of 2-factors in tough planar graphs. This question was also asked by Bauer, Broersma, and Schmeichel in a survey. In this paper, we close this gap by constructing a maximal 32\frac{3}{2}-tough plane graph with no 2-factor, answering the question asked by Owens as well as by Bauer, Broersma, and Schmeichel.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.11714,
  title  = {A construction of a $\frac{3}{2}$-tough plane triangulation with no 2-factor},
  author = {Songling Shan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.11714},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

The first two versions were to "prove" that every 3/2-tough maximal planar graph on at least three vertices has a 2-factor. However, a calculation error was found by a referee and the error was not fixable, which leads to this new version. Here a counterexample is constructed