Related papers: Splittings of Tangles and Spatial Graphs

Let $G$ be a graph and let $l$ be an integer-valued function on subsets of $V(G)$. The graph $G$ is said to be $l$-partition-connected, if for every partition $P$ of $V(G)$, $e_G(P)\ge \sum_{A\in P} l(A)-l(V(G))$, where $e_G(P)$ denotes the…

A graph is prime (with respect to the split decomposition) if its vertex set does not admit a partition (A,B) (called a split) with |A|, |B| >= 2 such that the set of edges joining A and B induces a complete bipartite graph. We prove that…

A link $L$ in $S^3$ is called a symmetric link if it is preserved by a $\pi$ rotation around a closed geodesic in $S^3$. Any symmetric link can be depicted by a diagram with a symmetry axis lying on the plane of the diagram, called a…

Link homotopy has been an active area of research for knot theorists since its introduction by Milnor in the 1950s. We introduce a new equivalence relation on spatial graphs called component homotopy, which reduces to link homotopy in the…

Menasco showed that a closed surface in the complement of a non-split prime alternating link in $S^3$ contains a circle isotopic in the link complement to a meridian of the links. This result is known as the meridian lemma for alternating…

The cut-rank of a set $X$ in a graph $G$ is the rank of the $X\times (V(G)-X)$ submatrix of the adjacency matrix over the binary field. A split is a partition of the vertex set into two sets $(X,Y)$ such that the cut-rank of $X$ is less…

Let $\partial^L_1\ge\partial^L_2\ge\cdots\ge\partial^L_n$ be the distance Laplacian eigenvalues of a connected graph $G$ and $m(\partial^L_i)$ the multiplicity of $\partial^L_i$. It is well known that the graphs with $m(\partial^L_1)=n-1$…

A graph $G$ is primarily orientable if it is possible to orient its edges in such a way that the resulting oriented graph is prime, i.e., indecomposable under modular decomposition. We characterize primarily orientable graphs.

We establish the following splitter theorem for graphs and its generalization for matroids: Let $G$ and $H$ be $3$-connected simple graphs such that $G$ has an $H$-minor and $k:=|V(G)|-|V(H)|\ge 2$. Let $n:=\left\lceil k/2\right\rceil+1$.…

We say that a graph $G$ is $(2,m)$-linked if, for any distinct vertices $a_1,\ldots, a_m, b_1,b_2$ in $G$, there exist vertex disjoint connected subgraphs $A,B$ of $G$ such that $\{a_1, \ldots, a_m\}$ is contained in $A$ and $\{b_1,b_2\}$…

We prove a prime decomposition theorem for string links in a thickened surface. Namely, we prove that any non-braid string link $\ell \subset \Sigma \times I$, where $\Sigma$ is a compact orientable (not necessarily closed) surface other…

In this paper we study further when tangles embed into the unknot, the unlink or a split link. In particular, we study obstructions to these properties through geometric characterizations, tangle sums and colorings. As an application we…

We prove that all $1$-vertex spatial graphs with adequate diagrams have minimal crossing number, and that spatial graph diagrams obtained by replacing vertices and edges of a planar embedded graph by minimal crossing link or spatial graph…

An intersection graph of curves in the plane is called a string graph. Matousek almost completely settled a conjecture of the authors by showing that every string graph of m edges admits a vertex separator of size O(\sqrt{m}\log m). In the…

We study {\em generalized graph splines,} introduced by Gilbert, Viel, and the last author. For a large class of rings, we characterize the graphs that only admit constant splines. To do this, we prove that if a graph has a particular type…

A graph $G$ is a prime distance graph (respectively, a 2-odd graph) if its vertices can be labeled with distinct integers such that for any two adjacent vertices, the difference of their labels is prime (either 2 or odd). We prove that…

Let ${\rm dim}(G)$ and $D(G)$ respectively denote the metric dimension and the distinguishing number of a graph $G$. It is proved that $D(G) \le {\rm dim}(G)+1$ holds for every connected graph $G$. Among trees, exactly paths and stars…

A graph is $1$-planar if it has a drawing in the plane such that each edge is crossed at most once by another edge. Moreover, if this drawing has the additional property that for each crossing of two edges the end vertices of these edges…

This paper is a short introduction to the theory of tangles, both in graphs and general connectivity systems. An emphasis is put on the correspondence between tangles of order k and k-connected components. In particular, we prove that there…

The fundamental quandle is a complete invariant for unoriented tame knots \cite{JO, Ma} and non-split links \cite{FR}. The proof involves proving a relationship between the components of the fundamental quandle and the cosets of the…