Canonical graph decompositions via local separations
Abstract
Every finite graph can be decomposed in a canonical way that displays its local connectivity-structure [DJKK26]. These decompositions are defined via a suitable more tree-like covering of , whose tangle-tree structure is projected down to . The covering graphs needed here are almost always infinite, and their tangle-tree structure is defined in terms of their (global) low-order separations. The canonical decompositions they induce on are therefore not computable following their definition. We reconstruct these decompositions of from finite information in itself that is sufficiently local to be reflected in the cover. This involves the reconstruction of canonical tangle structure in terms of a new theory of local separations in finite graphs, which we develop for this purpose. As an application, we find that the canonical graph-decompositions from [DJKK26] are computable.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2501.16170,
title = {Canonical graph decompositions via local separations},
author = {Raphael W. Jacobs and Paul Knappe and Jan Kurkofka},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.16170},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
65 pages, 18 figures; updated version incorporating valuable feedback by Reinhard Diestel; new shortened title