Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Mathematics

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This thesis is motivated by a graph-theoretical result of Maffray, which states that a 2-connected graph with no odd cycles exceeding length 3 is bipartite, is isomorphic to K_4, or is a collection of triangles glued together along a common edge. We first prove that a connected simple binary matroid M has no odd circuits other than triangles if and only if M is affine, M is M(K_4) or F_7, or M is the cycle matroid of a graph consisting of a collection of triangles glued together along a common edge. This result implies that a 2-connected loopless graph G has no odd bonds of size at least five if and only if G is Eulerian or G is a subdivision of either K_4 or the graph that is obtained from a cycle of parallel pairs by deleting a single edge. The main theorem of the dissertation extends Maffray's theorem to n-connected graphs with no odd cycles exceeding size 2n-1. To prove this, we first prove the special cases when n=3 and n=4. The proof of the theorem is competed with an argument that treats all n>= 5.

Date

1-11-2018

Committee Chair

Oxley, James

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.4185

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