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Robertson and Seymour proved that for every finite tree $H$, there exists $k$ such that every finite graph $G$ with no $H$ minor has path-width at most $k$; and conversely, for every integer $k$, there is a finite tree $H$ such that every…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-16 Tung Nguyen , Alex Scott , Paul Seymour

This paper shows that $K_t$-minor-free (and $K_{s, t}$-minor-free) graphs $G$ are subgraphs of products of a tree-like graph $H$ (of bounded treewidth) and a complete graph $K_m$. Our results include optimal bounds on the treewidth of $H$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-11-11 Freddie Illingworth , Alex Scott , David R. Wood

A graph $H$ is an induced minor of a graph $G$ if it can be obtained from an induced subgraph of $G$ by contracting edges. Otherwise, $G$ is said to be $H$-induced minor-free. Robin Thomas showed that $K_4$-induced minor-free graphs are…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-01-23 Jarosław Błasiok , Marcin Kamiński , Jean-Florent Raymond , Théophile Trunck

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…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-01-19 Dibyayan Chakraborty

Many recent works address the question of characterizing induced obstructions to bounded treewidth. In 2022, Lozin and Razgon completely answered this question for graph classes defined by finitely many forbidden induced subgraphs. Their…

We consider the $H$-Induced Minor problem: for a fixed graph~$H$, decide whether a given graph $G$ contains $H$ as an induced minor. While the problem is known to be NP-complete for some trees~$H$ on more than $2^{300}$ vertices, the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-04-28 Tala Eagling-Vose , Barnaby Martin , Daniël Paulusma , Nicolas Trotignon

In recent years, there has been significant interest in characterizing the induced subgraph obstructions to bounded treewidth and pathwidth. While this has recently been resolved for pathwidth, the case of treewidth remains open, and prior…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-07-31 Maria Chudnovsky , David Fischer , Sepehr Hajebi , Sophie Spirkl , Bartosz Walczak

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…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-12-30 Chun-Hung Liu , Robin Thomas

We study two graph parameters defined via tree decompositions: tree-independence number and induced matching treewidth. Both parameters are defined similarly as treewidth, but with respect to different measures of a tree decomposition…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2025-11-07 Noga Alon , Martin Milanič , Paweł Rzążewski

We prove that the tree-width of graphs in a hereditary class defined by a finite set $F$ of forbidden induced subgraphs is bounded if and only if $F$ includes a complete graph, a complete bipartite graph, a tripod (a forest in which every…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-01-06 Vadim Lozin , Igor Razgon

A $k$-ladder is the graph obtained from two disjoint paths, each with $k$ vertices, by joining the $i$th vertices of both paths with an edge for each $i\in\{ 1,\ldots,k\}$. In this paper, we show that for all positive integers $k$ and $d$,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-05 Mujin Choi , Sebastian Wiederrecht

The celebrated Erd\H{o}s-P\'{o}sa Theorem, in one formulation, asserts that for every $c\geq 1$, graphs with no subgraph (or equivalently, minor) isomorphic to the disjoint union of $c$ cycles have bounded treewidth. What can we say about…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-03-10 Bogdan Alecu , Maria Chudnovsky , Sepehr Hajebi , Sophie Spirkl

A classical result of Robertson and Seymour (1986) states that the treewidth of a graph is linearly tied to its separation number: the smallest integer $k$ such that, for every weighting of the vertices, the graph admits a balanced…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-07-23 Maria Chudnovsky , Robert Hickingbotham

One of the major results of [N. Robertson and P. D. Seymour. Graph minors. XIII. The disjoint paths problem. J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 63(1):65--110, 1995], also known as the weak structure theorem, revealed the local structure of graphs…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2011-03-01 Archontia C. Giannopoulou , Dimitrios M. Thilikos

Treewidth is an important graph invariant, relevant for both structural and algorithmic reasons. A necessary condition for a graph class to have bounded treewidth is the absence of large cliques. We study graph classes closed under taking…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-11-09 Clément Dallard , Martin Milanič , Kenny Štorgel

We prove that if a graph contains the complete bipartite graph $K_{134, 12}$ as an induced minor, then it contains a cycle of length at most~12 or a theta as an induced subgraph. With a longer and more technical proof, we prove that if a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-04 Maria Chudnovsky , Meike Hatzel , Tuukka Korhonen , Nicolas Trotignon , Sebastian Wiederrecht

The Graph Minors Structure Theorem (GMST) of Robertson and Seymour states that for every graph $H,$ any $H$-minor-free graph $G$ has a tree-decomposition of bounded adhesion such that the torso of every bag embeds in a surface $\Sigma$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-01-28 Dimitrios M. Thilikos , Sebastian Wiederrecht

Let $H$ be a graph and let $\mathcal{C}$ be a hereditary class of theta-free graphs such that $H\notin \mathcal{C}$. We prove that if (a) $H$ is a forest; and (b) $\mathcal{C}$ excludes the line graphs of all subdivisions of some wall, then…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-03-10 Maria Chudnovsky , Julien Codsi , Sepehr Hajebi , Sophie Spirkl

The celebrated theorem of Robertson and Seymour states that in the family of minor-closed graph classes, there is a unique minimal class of graphs of unbounded tree-width, namely, the class of planar graphs. In the case of tree-width, the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-02-01 A. Collins , J. Foniok , N. Korpelainen , V. Lozin , V. Zamaraev

Treewidth is a graph parameter that plays a fundamental role in several structural and algorithmic results. We study the problem of decomposing a given graph $G$ into node-disjoint subgraphs, where each subgraph has sufficiently large…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2013-04-08 Chandra Chekuri , Julia Chuzhoy