The use of topological ideas to explore various aspects of graph theory, and vice versa, is a fruitful area of research. There are links with other areas of mathematics, such as design theory and geometry, and increasingly with such areas as computer networks where symmetry is an important feature. Other books cover portions of the material here, but there are no other books with such a wide scope. This book contains fifteen expository chapters written by acknowledged international experts in the field. Their well-written contributions have been carefully edited to enhance readability and to standardize the chapter structure, terminology and notation throughout the book. To help the reader, there is an extensive introductory chapter that covers the basic background material in graph theory and the topology of surfaces. Each chapter concludes with an extensive list of references.

Iintroductory treatment emphasizes graph imbedding but also covers connections between topological graph theory and other areas of mathematics. Authors explore the role of voltage graphs in the derivation of genus formulas, explain the Ringel-Youngs theorem, and examine the genus of a group, including imbeddings of Cayley graphs. Many figures. 1987 edition.

This is not a traditional work on topological graph theory. No current graph or voltage graph adorns its pages. Its readers will not compute the genus (orientable or non-orientable) of a single non-planar graph. Their muscles will not flex under the strain of lifting walks from base graphs to derived graphs. What is it, then? It is an attempt to place topological graph theory on a purely combinatorial yet rigorous footing. The vehicle chosen for this purpose is the con cept of a 3-graph, which is a combinatorial generalisation of an imbedding. These properly edge-coloured cubic graphs are used to classify surfaces, to generalise the Jordan curve theorem, and to prove Mac Lane's characterisation of planar graphs. Thus they playa central role in this book, but it is not being suggested that they are necessarily the most effective tool in areas of topological graph theory not dealt with in this volume. Fruitful though 3-graphs have been for our investigations, other jewels must be examined with a different lens. The sole requirement for understanding the logical development in this book is some elementary knowledge of vector spaces over the field Z2 of residue classes modulo 2. Groups are occasionally mentioned, but no expertise in group theory is required. The treatment will be appreciated best, however, by readers acquainted with topology. A modicum of topology is required in order to comprehend much of the motivation we supply for some of the concepts introduced.

The rapidly expanding area of structural graph theory uses ideas of connectivity to explore various aspects of graph theory and vice versa. It has links with other areas of mathematics, such as design theory and is increasingly used in such areas as computer networks where connectivity algorithms are an important feature. Although other books cover parts of this material, none has a similarly wide scope. Ortrud R. Oellermann (Winnipeg), internationally recognised for her substantial contributions to structural graph theory, acted as academic consultant for this volume, helping shape its coverage of key topics. The result is a collection of thirteen expository chapters, each written by acknowledged experts. These contributions have been carefully edited to enhance readability and to standardise the chapter structure, terminology and notation throughout. An introductory chapter details the background material in graph theory and network flows and each chapter concludes with an extensive list of references.

This book considers a number of research topics in graph theory and its applications, including ideas devoted to alpha-discrepancy, strongly perfect graphs, reconstruction conjectures, graph invariants, hereditary classes of graphs, and embedding graphs on topological surfaces. It also discusses applications of graph theory, such as transport networks and hazard assessments based on unified networks. The book is ideal for developers of grant proposals and researchers interested in exploring new areas of graph theory and its applications.

There is no other book with such a wide scope of both areas of algebraic graph theory.