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Related papers: Cops and robbers on $P_5$-free graphs

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We prove the following theorem. Let $r\ge 4$ be an integer, and $G$ be a $K_{1,r}$-free $r$-edge-connected $r$-regular graph. Then, for every set $W$ of even number of vertices of $G$ such that the distance between any two vertices of $W$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-08-18 Yoshimi Egawa , Mikio Kano , Kenta Ozeki

This paper considers a game in which a single cop and a single robber take turns moving along the edges of a given graph $G$. If there exists a strategy for the cop which enables it to be positioned at the same vertex as the robber…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-08-20 Thomas Erlebach , Jakob T. Spooner

We present an algorithm to color a graph $G$ with no triangle and no induced $7$-vertex path (i.e., a $\{P_7,C_3\}$-free graph), where every vertex is assigned a list of possible colors which is a subset of $\{1,2,3\}$. While this is a…

\textsc{Cops and Robber} is one of the most studied two-player pursuit-evasion games played on graphs, where multiple \textit{cops}, controlled by one player, pursue a single \textit{robber}. The main parameter of interest is the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-07-04 Harmender Gahlawat , Zin Mar Myint , Sagnik Sen

The Connected Vertex Cover problem is to decide if a graph G has a vertex cover of size at most $k$ that induces a connected subgraph of $G$. This is a well-studied problem, known to be NP-complete for restricted graph classes, and, in…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-07-06 Matthew Johnson , Giacomo Paesani , Daniel Paulusma

Let v(G) and p(G) be the number of vertices and the maximum number of disjoint 3-vertex paths in G, respectively. We discuss the following old Problem: Is the following claim (P) true ? (P) if G is a 3-connected and cubic graph, then p(G) =…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2008-01-09 Alexander Kelmans

A cycle is a graph is dominating if every edge of the graph is incident with a vertex of the cycle. In this paper, we investigate the characterization of the class of the forbidden pairs guaranteeing the existence of a dominating cycle and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-02-11 Shuya Chiba , Michitaka Furuya , Shoichi Tsuchiya

This paper describes a 720-vertex connected planar graph G such that cop1(G), denoting the minimum number of cops needed to catch the robber in the 1-cop-move game on G, is at least 4 and at most 7. Furthermore, G has a connected subgraph H…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-12-17 Wei Quan Lim

We consider the cop-throttling number of a graph $G$ for the game of Cops and Robbers, which is defined to be the minimum of $(k + \text{capt}_k(G))$, where $k$ is the number of cops and $\text{capt}_k(G)$ is the minimum number of rounds…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-02-27 Jane Breen , Boris Brimkov , Joshua Carlson , Leslie Hogben , K. E. Perry , Carolyn Reinhart

Thomassen's chord conjecture from 1976 states that every longest cycle in a $3$-connected graph has a chord. This is one of the most important unsolved problems in graph theory. Let $H$ be a subgraph of a graph $G$. A vertex $v$ of $H$ is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-04-17 Chengli Li , Feng Liu

A graph $G$ is $k$-vertex-critical if $\chi(G)=k$, but $\chi(G')<k$ for every proper induced subgraph $G'$ of $G$. For a family of graphs $\mathcal{F}$, $G$ is $\mathcal{F}$-free if no graph $F \in \mathcal{F}$ is an induced subgraph of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-24 Yidong Zhou , Jorik Jooken , Baoyuan Shan , Jan Goedgebeur , Shenwei Huang

In the cops and robber games played on a simple graph $G$, Aigner and Fromme's lemma states that one cop can guard a shortest path in the sense that the robber cannot enter this path without getting caught after finitely many steps. In this…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-04-11 Linyuan Lu , Zhiyu Wang

In this paper, we are interested in some problems related to chromatic number and clique number for the class of $(P_5,K_5-e)$-free graphs, and prove the following. $(a)$ If $G$ is a connected ($P_5,K_5-e$)-free graph with $\omega(G)\geq…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-08-17 Arnab Char , T. Karthick

The 'Cheating Robot' version of Cops and Robbers is played on a finite, simple, connected graph. The players move in the same time period. However, before moving, the robot observes to which vertices the cops are moving and it is fast…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-03-12 Melissa A. Huggan , Richard J. Nowakowski

We consider "Containment": a variation of the graph pursuit game of Cops and Robber in which cops move from edge to adjacent edge, the robber moves from vertex to adjacent vertex (but cannot move along an edge occupied by a cop), and the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-03-19 Danny Crytser , Natasha Komarov , John Mackey

Lee, Mart\'inez-Pedroza and Rodr\'iguez-Quinche define two new group invariants, the strong cop number $\operatorname{sCop}$ and the weak cop number $\operatorname{wCop}$, by examining winning strategies for certain combinatorial games…

Group Theory · Mathematics 2025-02-10 Raphael Appenzeller , Kevin Klinge

We consider a variant of Cops and Robbers wherein each edge traversed by the robber is deleted from the graph. The focus is on determining the minimum number of cops needed to capture a robber on a graph $G$, called the {\em bridge-burning…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-12-27 William B. Kinnersley , Eric Peterson

In the Independent set problem, the input is a graph $G$, every vertex has a non-negative integer weight, and the task is to find a set $S$ of pairwise non-adjacent vertices, maximizing the total weight of the vertices in $S$. We give an…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-09-02 Daniel Lokshtanov , Marcin Pilipczuk , Erik Jan van Leeuwen

The $k$-Colouring problem is to decide if the vertices of a graph can be coloured with at most $k$ colours for a fixed integer $k$ such that no two adjacent vertices are coloured alike. If each vertex u must be assigned a colour from a…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-02-19 Tereza Klimošová , Josef Malík , Tomáš Masařík , Jana Novotná , Daniël Paulusma , Veronika Slívová

A graph $H$ is said to be positive if the homomorphism density $t_H(G)$ is non-negative for all weighted graphs $G$. The positive graph conjecture proposes a characterisation of such graphs, saying that a graph is positive if and only if it…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-04-29 David Conlon , Joonkyung Lee , Leo Versteegen