Asteroidal Triple-Free Graphs

  • Authors:
  • Derek G. Corneil;Stephan Olariu;Lorna Stewart

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-;-

  • Venue:
  • SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics
  • Year:
  • 1997

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Abstract

An independent set of three vertices such that each pair is joined by a path that avoids the neighborhood of the third is called an asteroidal triple. A graph is asteroidal triple-free (AT-free) if it contains no asteroidal triples. The motivation for this investigation was provided, in part, by the fact that the AT-free graphs provide a common generalization of interval, permutation, trapezoid, and cocomparability graphs. The main contribution of this work is to investigate and reveal fundamental structural properties of AT-free graphs. Specifically, we show that every connected AT-free graph contains a dominating pair, that is, a pair of vertices such that every path joining them is a dominating set in the graph. We then provide characterizations of AT-free graphs in terms of dominating pairs and minimal triangulations. Subsequently, we state and prove a decomposition theorem for AT-free graphs. An assortment of other properties of AT-free graphs is also provided. These properties generalize known structural properties of interval, permutation, trapezoid, and cocomparability graphs.