Tree-depthIn graph theory, the tree-depth of a connected undirected graph is a numerical invariant of , the minimum height of a Trémaux tree for a supergraph of . This invariant and its close relatives have gone under many different names in the literature, including vertex ranking number, ordered chromatic number, and minimum elimination tree height; it is also closely related to the cycle rank of directed graphs and the star height of regular languages.
Dense graphIn mathematics, a dense graph is a graph in which the number of edges is close to the maximal number of edges (where every pair of vertices is connected by one edge). The opposite, a graph with only a few edges, is a sparse graph. The distinction of what constitutes a dense or sparse graph is ill-defined, and is often represented by 'roughly equal to' statements. Due to this, the way that density is defined often depends on the context of the problem.
Petersen familyIn graph theory, the Petersen family is a set of seven undirected graphs that includes the Petersen graph and the complete graph K_6. The Petersen family is named after Danish mathematician Julius Petersen, the namesake of the Petersen graph. Any of the graphs in the Petersen family can be transformed into any other graph in the family by Δ-Y or Y-Δ transforms, operations in which a triangle is replaced by a degree-three vertex or vice versa.
Möbius ladderIn graph theory, the Möbius ladder Mn, for even numbers n, is formed from an n-cycle by adding edges (called "rungs") connecting opposite pairs of vertices in the cycle. It is a cubic, circulant graph, so-named because (with the exception of M6 (the utility graph K3,3), Mn has exactly n/2 four-cycles which link together by their shared edges to form a topological Möbius strip. Möbius ladders were named and first studied by .
Peripheral cycleIn graph theory, a peripheral cycle (or peripheral circuit) in an undirected graph is, intuitively, a cycle that does not separate any part of the graph from any other part. Peripheral cycles (or, as they were initially called, peripheral polygons, because Tutte called cycles "polygons") were first studied by , and play important roles in the characterization of planar graphs and in generating the cycle spaces of nonplanar graphs.
Klaus WagnerKlaus Wagner (March 31, 1910 – February 6, 2000) was a German mathematician known for his contributions to graph theory. Wagner studied topology at the University of Cologne under the supervision of Karl Dörge who had been a student of Issai Schur. Wagner received his Ph.D. in 1937, with a dissertation concerning the Jordan curve theorem and four color theorem, and taught at Cologne for many years himself. In 1970, he moved to the University of Duisburg, where he remained until his retirement in 1978.
Planar separator theoremIn graph theory, the planar separator theorem is a form of isoperimetric inequality for planar graphs, that states that any planar graph can be split into smaller pieces by removing a small number of vertices. Specifically, the removal of O(\sqrt{n}) vertices from an n-vertex graph (where the O invokes big O notation) can partition the graph into disjoint subgraphs each of which has at most 2n/3 vertices.
Edge contractionIn graph theory, an edge contraction is an operation that removes an edge from a graph while simultaneously merging the two vertices that it previously joined. Edge contraction is a fundamental operation in the theory of graph minors. Vertex identification is a less restrictive form of this operation. The edge contraction operation occurs relative to a particular edge, . The edge is removed and its two incident vertices, and , are merged into a new vertex , where the edges incident to each correspond to an edge incident to either or .
Branch-decompositionIn graph theory, a branch-decomposition of an undirected graph G is a hierarchical clustering of the edges of G, represented by an unrooted binary tree T with the edges of G as its leaves. Removing any edge from T partitions the edges of G into two subgraphs, and the width of the decomposition is the maximum number of shared vertices of any pair of subgraphs formed in this way. The branchwidth of G is the minimum width of any branch-decomposition of G.
Linkless embeddingIn topological graph theory, a mathematical discipline, a linkless embedding of an undirected graph is an embedding of the graph into three-dimensional Euclidean space in such a way that no two cycles of the graph are linked. A flat embedding is an embedding with the property that every cycle is the boundary of a topological disk whose interior is disjoint from the graph. A linklessly embeddable graph is a graph that has a linkless or flat embedding; these graphs form a three-dimensional analogue of the planar graphs.
