Related papers: Induced minors and well-quasi-ordering

A well-quasi-order is an order which contains no infinite decreasing sequence and no infinite collection of incomparable elements. In this paper, we consider graph classes defined by excluding one graph as contraction. More precisely, we…

A graph $H$ is said to be an induced minor of a graph $G$ if $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by a sequence of vertex deletions and edge contractions. Equivalently, $H$ is an induced minor of $G$ if there exists an induced minor model of $H$ in…

A graph $G$ contains a graph $H$ as an induced minor if $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by vertex deletions and edge contractions. The class of $H$-induced-minor-free graphs generalizes the class of $H$-minor-free graphs, but unlike…

A graph $H$ is an induced minor of a graph $G$ if $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by vertex deletions and edge contractions. We show that there is a function $f(k, d) = O(k^{10} + 2^{d^5})$ so that if a graph has treewidth at least $f(k, d)$…

A graph $H$ is an \emph{induced minor} of a graph $G$ if $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by a sequence of edge contractions and vertex deletions. Otherwise, $G$ is \emph{$H$-induced minor-free}. In this paper, we provide a different proof of…

The central theorem of topological graph theory states that the graph minor relation is a well-quasi-order on graphs. It has far-reaching consequences, in particular in the study of graph structures and the design of (parameterized)…

Given two graphs $G$ and $H$, we say that $G$ contains $H$ as an induced minor if a graph isomorphic to $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by a sequence of vertex deletions and edge contractions. We study the complexity of Graph Isomorphism on…

A plane graph $H$ is a {\em plane minor} of a plane graph $G$ if there is a sequence of vertex and edge deletions, and edge contractions performed on the plane, that takes $G$ to $H$. Motivated by knot theory problems, it has been asked if…

In the first paper of the Graph Minors series [JCTB '83], Robertson and Seymour proved the Forest Minor theorem: the $H$-minor-free graphs have bounded pathwidth if and only if $H$ is a forest. In recent years, considerable effort has been…

We first prove that for every vertex x of a 4-connected graph G there exists a subgraph H in G isomorphic to a subdivision of the complete graph K4 on four vertices such that G-V(H) is connected and contains x. This implies an affirmative…

Given a graph $G$ and a graph property $P$ we say that $G$ is minimal with respect to $P$ if no proper induced subgraph of $G$ has the property $P$. An HC-obstruction is a minimal 2-connected non-Hamiltonian graph. Given a graph $H$, a…

We study classes of countable graphs where every member does not contain a given finite graph as an induced subgraph -- denoted by $\mathsf{Free}(\mathcal{G})$ for a given finite graph $\mathcal{G}$. Our main results establish a structural…

Grohe and Marx proved that if G does not contain H as a topological minor, then there exist constants g=O(|V(H)|^4), D and t depending only on H such that G is a clique sum of graphs that either contain at most t vertices of degree greater…

Robertson and Seymour's celebrated Graph Minor Theorem states that graphs are well-quasi-ordered by the minor relation. Unlike the minor relation, the topological minor relation does not well-quasi-order graphs in general. Among all known…

We prove that for every graph $H$, if a graph $G$ has no (odd) $H$ minor, then its vertex set $V(G)$ can be partitioned into three sets $X_1$, $X_2$, $X_3$ such that for each~$i$, the subgraph induced on $X_i$ has no component of size…

In the aftermath of the Robertson--Seymour Graph Minor Theorem, Thomas conjectured that the countable graphs are well-quasi-ordered under the minor relation. We prove that this conjecture, when restricted to graphs with no infinite paths…

The $H$-Induced Minor Containment problem ($H$-IMC) consists in deciding if a fixed graph $H$ is an induced minor of a graph $G$ given as input, that is, whether $H$ can be obtained from $G$ by deleting vertices and contracting edges.…

The Graph Minors Structure Theorem of Robertson and Seymour asserts that, for every graph $H,$ every $H$-minor-free graph can be obtained by clique-sums of ``almost embeddable'' graphs. Here a graph is ``almost embeddable'' if it can be…

A recent paper by the authors (ITCS'26) initiates the study of the Triangle Detection problem in graphs avoiding a fixed pattern $H$ as a subgraph and proposes a \emph{dichotomy hypothesis} characterizing which patterns $H$ make the…

Given a family $\mathcal{H}$ of graphs, we say that a graph $G$ is $\mathcal{H}$-induced-minor-free if no induced minor of $G$ is isomorphic to a member of $\mathcal{H}$, We denote by $W_{t\times t}$ the $t$-by-$t$ hexagonal grid, and by…