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Let $G=(V(G),E(G))$ be a graph with set of vertices $V(G)$ and set of edges $E(G)$. For $k\ge 0$ an integer, a subset $I_k$ of $V(G)$ is called a $k$-nearly independent vertex subset of $G$ if $I_k$ induces a subgraph of size $k$ in $G$.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-07-15 Zekhaya B. Shozi

Hadwiger's Conjecture asserts that every $K_h$-minor-free graph is properly $(h-1)$-colourable. We prove the following improper analogue of Hadwiger's Conjecture: for fixed $h$, every $K_h$-minor-free graph is $(h-1)$-colourable with…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-06-13 Vida Dujmović , Louis Esperet , Pat Morin , David R. Wood

Hadwiger's conjecture asserts that every graph without a $K_t$-minor is $(t-1)$-colorable. It is known that the exact version of Hadwiger's conjecture does not extend to list coloring, but it has been conjectured by Kawarabayashi and Mohar…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-10-19 Raphael Steiner

The basis number of a graph $G$ is the minimum $k$ such that the cycle space of $G$ is generated by a family of cycles using each edge at most $k$ times. A classical result of Mac Lane states that planar graphs are exactly graphs with basis…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-02-13 Colin Geniet , Ugo Giocanti

We show that the cop number of toroidal graphs is at most 3. This resolves a conjecture by Schroeder from 2001 which is implicit in a question by Andreae from 1986.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-02-05 Florian Lehner

The celebrated Hadwiger's conjecture states that if a graph contains no $K_{t+1}$ minor then it is $t$-colourable. If true, it would in particular imply that every $n$-vertex $K_{t+1}$-minor-free graph has an independent set of size at…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-07-31 Zdeněk Dvořák , Liana Yepremyan

One of the fundamental results in graph minor theory is that for every planar graph $H$, there is a minimum integer $f(H)$ such that graphs with no minor isomorphic to $H$ have treewidth at most $f(H)$. A lower bound for ${f(H)}$ can be…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-01-16 J. Pascal Gollin , Kevin Hendrey , Sang-il Oum , Bruce Reed

In this short paper we study the game of cops and robbers, which is played on the vertices of some fixed graph $G$. Cops and a robber are allowed to move along the edges of $G$ and the goal of cops is to capture the robber. The cop number…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2010-04-13 Alex Scott , Benny Sudakov

Cops and Robbers is a well-studied pursuit-evasion game in which a set of cops seeks to catch a robber in a graph G, where cops and robber move along edges of G. The cop number of G is the minimum number of cops that is sufficient to catch…

Cops and Robber is a well-studied two-player pursuit-evasion game played on a graph, where a group of cops tries to capture the robber. The \emph{cop number} of a graph is the minimum number of cops required to capture the robber.…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2025-04-11 Sandip Das , Harmender Gahlawat

The game of Cops and Robbers is a well known game played on graphs. In this paper we consider the class of graphs of bounded diameter. We improve the strategy of cops and previously used probabilistic method which results in an improved…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-12-17 Seyyed Aliasghar Hosseini , Fiachra Knox , Bojan Mohar

We provide a sublinear bound on the cop throttling number of a connected graph. Related to the graph searching game Cops and Robbers, the cop throttling number, written $\mathrm{th}_c(G)$, is given by…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-01-28 Anthony Bonato , Sean English

We prove that any graph $G$ of minimum degree greater than $2k^2-1$ has a $(k+1)$-connected induced subgraph $H$ such that the number of vertices of $H$ that have neighbors outside of $H$ is at most $2k^2-1$. This generalizes a classical…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-11-04 Irena Penev , Stéphan Thomassé , Nicolas Trotignon

In the game of \emph{cops and robbers} on a graph $G = (V,E)$, $k$ cops try to catch a robber. On the cop turn, each cop may move to a neighboring vertex or remain in place. On the robber's turn, he moves similarly. The cops win if there is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-04-03 Andrew Beveridge , Paolo Codenotti , Aaron Maurer , John McCauley , Silviya Valeva

Cop-width and flip-width are new families of graph parameters introduced by Toru\'nczyk (2023) that generalise treewidth, degeneracy, generalised colouring numbers, clique-width and twin-width. In this paper, we bound the cop-width and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-05-14 Robert Hickingbotham

We survey results at the intersection of topological graph theory and the game of Cops and Robbers, focusing on results, conjectures, and open problems for the cop number of a graph embedded on a surface. After a discussion on results for…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-04-24 Anthony Bonato , Bojan Mohar

A graph G is H-free if it has no induced subgraph isomorphic to H. We prove that a $P_5$-free graph with clique number $\omega\ge 3$ has chromatic number at most $\omega^{\log_2(\omega)}$. The best previous result was an exponential upper…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-10-04 Alex Scott , Paul Seymour , Sophie Spirkl

The traditional game of cops and robbers is played on undirected graph. Recently, the same game played on directed graph is getting attention by more and more people. We knew that if we forbid some subgraph we can bound the cop number of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-01-29 Mingrui Liu

The "slope-number" of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of distinct edge slopes in a straight-line drawing of $G$ in the plane. We prove that for $\Delta\geq5$ and all large $n$, there is a $\Delta$-regular $n$-vertex graph with…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2008-09-09 Vida Dujmovic' , Matthew Suderman , David R. Wood

For given graph $H$, the independence number $\alpha(H)$ of $H$, is the size of the maximum independent set of $V(H)$. Finding the maximum independent set in a graph is a NP-hard problem. Another version of the independence number is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-01-13 Yaser Rowshan