The Colin De Verdi`Ere Graph Parameter (Preliminary Version, March 1997)
The Colin de Verdi`ere graph parameter (Preliminary version, March 1997) Hein van der Holst1, L´aszl´o Lov´asz2, and Alexander Schrijver3 Abstract. In 1990, Y. Colin de Verdi`ere introduced a new graph parameter µ(G), based on spectral properties of matrices associated with G. He showed that µ(G) is monotone under taking minors and that planarity of G is characterized by the inequality µ(G) ≤ 3. Recently Lov´asz and Schrijver showed that linkless embeddability of G is characterized by the inequality µ(G) ≤ 4. In this paper we give an overview of results on µ(G) and of techniques to handle it. Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Definition 1.2 Some examples 1.3 Overview 2 Basic facts 2.1 Transversality and the Strong Arnold Property 2.2 Monotonicity and components 2.3 Clique sums 2.4 Subdivision and ∆Y transformation 2.5 The null space of M 3 Vector labellings 3.1 A semidefinite formulation 3.2 Gram labellings 3.3 Null space labellings 3.4 Cages, projective distance, and sphere labellings 4 Small values 4.1 Paths and outerplanar graphs 4.2 Planar graphs 4.3 Linkless embeddable graphs 5 Large values 5.1 The Strong Arnold Property and rigidity 5.2 Graphs with µ ≥ n − 3 5.3 Planar graphs and µ ≥ n − 4 References 1Department of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, U.S.A. 2Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, U.S.A., and Depart- ment of Computer Science, E¨otv¨os Lor´and University, Budapest, Hungary H-1088 3CWI, Kruislaan 413, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Mathematics, University of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 24, 1018 TV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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