English

Characterization of $P_3$-connected graphs

Combinatorics 2025-04-09 v1

Abstract

For any pair of edges e,fe,f of a graph GG, we say that {\em e,fe,f are P3P_3-connected in GG} if there exists a sequence of edges e=e0,e1,,ek=fe=e_0,e_1,\ldots, e_k=f such that eie_i and ei+1e_{i+1} are two edges of an induced 33-vertex path in GG for every 0ik10\leq i\leq k-1. If every pair of edges of GG are P3P_3-connected in GG, then GG is {\em P3P_3-connected}. P3P_3-connectivity was first defined by Chudnovsky et al. in 2024 to prove that every connected graph not containing P5P_5 as an induced subgraph has cop number at most two. In this paper, we give a characterization of P3P_3-connected graphs and prove that a simple graph is P3P_3-connected if and only if it is connected and has no homogeneous set whose induced subgraph contains an edge.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.05663,
  title  = {Characterization of $P_3$-connected graphs},
  author = {Rong Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.05663},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:50:19.474Z