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The Robertson–Seymour theorem states that finite undirected graphs and graph minors form a well-quasi-ordering. The graph minor relationship does not contain any infinite descending chain, because each contraction or deletion reduces the number of edges and vertices of the graph (a non-negative integer). [8]
A minor of a graph G is any graph H that is isomorphic to a graph that can be obtained from a subgraph of G by contracting some edges. If G does not have a graph H as a minor, then we say that G is H-free. Let H be a fixed graph. Intuitively, if G is a huge H-free graph, then there ought to be a "good reason" for this.
Another result relating the four-color theorem to graph minors is the snark theorem announced by Robertson, Sanders, Seymour, and Thomas, a strengthening of the four-color theorem conjectured by W. T. Tutte and stating that any bridgeless 3-regular graph that requires four colors in an edge coloring must have the Petersen graph as a minor.
By Robertson–Seymour theorem, any set of finite graphs contains only a finite number of minor-minimal elements. In particular, the set of "yes" instances has a finite number of minor-minimal elements. Given an input graph G, the following "algorithm" solves the above problem: For every minor-minimal element H: If H is a minor of G then return ...
If a family F of graphs is closed under taking minors (every minor of a member of F is also in F), then by the Robertson–Seymour theorem F can be characterized as the graphs that do not have any minor in X, where X is a finite set of forbidden minors. [42]
The Robertson–Seymour theorem proves that subcubic graphs (simple or not) are well-founded by homeomorphic embeddability, implying such a sequence cannot be infinite. Then, by applying Kőnig's lemma on the tree of such sequences under extension, for each value of k there is a sequence with maximal length.
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In 1993, with Seymour and Robin Thomas, Robertson proved the -free case for which the Hadwiger conjecture relating graph coloring to graph minors is known to be true. [ 8 ] In 1996, Robertson, Seymour, Thomas, and Daniel P. Sanders published a new proof of the four color theorem , [ 9 ] confirming the Appel–Haken proof which until then had ...