Edge connectivity in graphs: an expansion theorem

José Ignacio Alvarez-Hamelin, Jorge Rodolfo Busch

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José Ignacio Alvarez-Hamelin, Jorge Rodolfo Busch. Edge connectivity in graphs: an expansion
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 EDGE CONNECTIVITY IN GRAPHS: AN EXPANSION
THEOREM

ALVAREZ-HAMELIN1,2 , JOSÉ IGNACIO AND BUSCH1 , JORGE RODOLFO

Abstract. We show that if a graph is k-edge-connected, and we adjoin to it

another graph satisfying a “contracted diameter ≤ 2” condition, with minimal
degree ≥ k, and some natural hypothesis on the edges connecting one graph
to the other, the resulting graph is also k-edge-connected.

1. Introduction
Let G be a simple graph (i.e. a graph with no loops, no multiple edges) with
vertex set V (G) and edge set E(G) (we follow in notation the book [Wes01]]. Given
A, B ⊂ V (G), [A, B] is the set of edges of the form ab, joining a vertex a ∈ A to a
hal-00266074, version 1 - 20 Mar 2008

vertex b ∈ B. As we consider edges without orientation, [A, B] = [B, A]. Abusing

of notation, for v ∈ V (G), A ⊂ V (G), we write [v, A] instead of [{v}, A]. The degree
.
of a vertex v ∈ V (G) is degG (v) = |[v, V (G)]|. Given A ⊂ V (G), G(A) is the
graph G such that V (G ) = A and E(G′ ) is the set of edges in E(G) having both
′ ′

endpoints in A. Given v, w ∈ V (G), dG (v, w) is the distance in G from v to w,

that is the minimum length of a path from v to w. If v ∈ V (G), A ⊂ V (G) we set
.
dG (v, A) = minw∈A dG (v, w).
An edge cut in G is a set of edges [S, S̄], where S ⊂ V (G) is non void, and
.
S̄ = V (G) \ S is also assumed to be non void.
The edge-connectivity of G, k ′ (G), is the minimum cardinal of the cuts in G.
We say that G is k-edge-connected if k ′ (G) ≥ k. Menger’s theorem has as a
consequence that given two vertices v, w in V (G), if G is k-edge-connected there
are at least k-edge-disjoint paths joining v to w (see [Wes01], pp.153-169).
In this paper we address the following expansion problem: given a k-edge-
connected graph G2 , give conditions under which the result of adjoining to G2
a graph G1 will be also k edge-connected (see Theorem 1 below).

2. An expansion theorem
.
Let G be a simple graph. Let V1 ⊂ V (G), V2 = V (G) \ V1 , and set G1 =
G(V1 ), G2 = G(V2 ). We assume in the sequel that V1 and V2 are non void. We
define
.
δ(x, y) = min{dG1 (x, y), dG (x, V2 ) + dG (y, V2 )} , x, y ∈ V1
.
δ(x, y) = δ(y, x) = dG (x, V2 ) , x ∈ V, y ∈ V2

.
If x ∈ V and A ⊂ V , we set δ(x, A) = mina∈A δ(x, a).
We shall also use the notations
.
∂V1 = {x ∈ V1 : dG (x, V2 ) = 1}
.
V10 = V1 \ ∂V1
Theorem 1. Assume that
H1: degG (x) ≥ k, x ∈ V (G)
1
2 ALVAREZ-HAMELIN AND BUSCH

H2: G2 is k-edge connected

H3: maxx,y∈V δ(x, y) ≤ 2P
H4: (a) ∂V1 ≥ k or (b) x∈V1 min{|[x, V10 ]|, |[x, V2 ]|} ≥ k
Then G is k-edge-connected.
Proof. Let [S, S̄] be any cut in G. We are to show that, under the listed hypotheses,
|[S, S̄]| ≥ k.
(1) If S ∩ V2 6= ∅ and S̄ ∩ V2 6= ∅, then, as
[S ∩ V2 , S̄ ∩ V2 ] ⊂ [S, S̄]
is a cut in G2 , which we assumed to be k-edge connected, we obtain
|[S, S̄]| ≥ k.
Without loss of generality, we assume in the sequel that V2 ⊂ S.
(2) Suppose now that S = V2 . It is easy to show that any of the alternative
hypoteses described in H4 (a) (b) implies that |[V1 , V2 ]| ≥ k.
From now on, we may assume that V2 ⊂ S, S ∩ V1 6= ∅.
(3) We consider two cases:
• For any s̄ ∈ S̄ δ(s̄, S) = 1 (see Figure 1(c)):
Let s̄ ∈ S̄. Then we have k1 edges s̄si , 1 ≤ i ≤ k1 with si ∈ S and
(eventually) k2 edges s̄s̄j , s̄j ∈ S̄. But each s̄j satisfies δ(s̄j , S) = 1,
thus we have k2 new edges (here we used that G is simple, because we
assumed that the vertices s̄j are different) s̄j s′j , with s′j ∈ S, whence
|[S, S̄]| ≥ k1 + k2 = deg(s̄) ≥ k
• There exists s̄0 ∈ S̄ such that δ(s̄0 , S) = 2:
For each s ∈ S ∩ V1 , as δ(s̄0 , s) = 2, there exists s̄′ such that δ(s̄0 , s̄′ ) =
δ(s̄′ , s) = 1, and δ(s̄0 , S) = 2 implies that s̄′ ∈ S̄. We have thus shown
that for any s ∈ S ∩ V1 , δ(s, S̄) = 1. Again, consider two cases:
– There existe s0 ∈ S ∩ V1 with no edge joining it to V2 (see Figure
1(d)): This case is similar to the previously discussed; we have
edges s0 s̄i , 1 ≤ i ≤ k1 , s̄i ∈ S̄, and eventually s0 sj , 1 ≤ j ≤ k2 ,
sj ∈ S ∩ V1 . But for each sj , we have an edge sj s̄′j , with s̄′j ∈ S̄,
thus it follows that
|[S, S̄]| ≥ k1 + k2 = deg(s0 ) ≥ k
In fact, if we notice that if v ∈ V2 then δ(s0 , v) = 2 forces the
existence of w ∈ S̄ such that δ(s0 , w) = δ(w, v) = 1, we can show
that in this case |[S, S̄]| is indeed strictly greater than k.
– Each node in S ∩ V1 has an edge joining it to V2 :
Under H4(a) (see Figure 1(b)):
For each node s ∈ S ∩ V1 , we have an edge joining it to S̄, and
we have at least k − |S ∩ V1 | nodes in S̄ directly joined to V2 ,
thus
|[S, S̄]| ≥ |S ∩ V1 | + (k − |S ∩ V1 |) = k
Under H4(b) (see Figure 1(a)):
Notice that in this case V10 ⊂ S̄, then
X
|[S ∩ V1 , S̄]| ≥ |[S ∩ V1 , V10 ]| ≥ min{|[x, V10 ]|, |[x, V2 ]|}
x∈S∩V1
X X
|[V2 , S̄]| = |[x, V2 ]| ≥ min{|[x, V10 ]|, |[x, V2 ]|}
x∈S̄ x∈S̄∩V1
 EDGE CONNECTIVITY IN GRAPHS: AN EXPANSION THEOREM 3

Adding, it follows that

X
|[S, S̄]| ≥ min{|[x, V10 ]|, |[x, V2 ]|} ≥ k
x∈V1

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 1. Filled polygons represent cliques. In each subfigure

the dotted line is between G2 (the upper graph) and G1 , and the
red line is between S and S̄. k = 4 in the four examples. (a)
Shows an example where the hypothesis H4(b) holds, and H4(a)
does not hold. (b) Shows an example where the hypothesis H4(a)
holds, and H4(b) does not hold. (c) Shows an example where the
argument for the first case in point 3 of the proof applies. (d) Shows
an example where the first argument for the second case in point
3 of the proof applies. Notice that in this case |[S, S̄]| = 5 > k, as
remarked in the proof.

3. Final remarks
Theorem 1 is related to a well known theorem of Plesnı́k (see [Ple75], Theorem
6), which states that in a simple graph of diameter 2 the edge connectivity is equal
to the minimum degree. In fact, under hypothesis H4(a), our theorem follows
from Plesnı́k’s result by “contracting” V2 to a vertex. The resulting graph is not
simple, but we can avoid this problem by replacing all edges joining one vertex to
the contracted one by only one edge.

References
[Ple75] J. Plesnı́k. Critical graphs of a given diameter. Acta Fac. Rerum Natur. Univ. Comenian.
Math., 30:71–93, 1975.
[Wes01] Douglas B. West. Introduction to Graph Theory. Prentice Hall, 2001.
4 ALVAREZ-HAMELIN AND BUSCH

1 Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ingenierı́a, Paseo Colón 850, C1063ACV

Buenos Aires, Argentina

2 CONICET (Argentinian Council of Scientific and Technological Research)
URL: http://cnet.fi.uba.ar/