20‐relative neighborhood graphs are hamiltonian

Abstract

AbstractFor any two points p and q in the Euclidean plane, define LUNpq = {v|v ∈ R2, dpv < dpq and dqv < dpq}, where duv is the Euclidean distance between two points u and v. Given a set of points V in the plane, let LUNpq(V) = V ∩ LUNpq. Toussaint defined the relative neighborhood graph of V, denoted by RNG(V) or simply RNG, to be the undirected graph with vertices V such that for each pair p,q ∈ V, (p,q) is an edge of RNG(V) if and only if LUNpq (V) = ϕ. The relative neighborhood graph has several applications in pattern recognition that have been studied by Toussaint. We shall generalize the idea of RNG to define the k‐relative neighborhood graph of V, denoted by kRNG(V) or simply kRNG, to be the undirected graph with vertices V such that for each pair p,q ∈ V, (p,q) is an edge of kRNG(V) if and only if | LUNpq(V) | < k, for some fixed positive number k. It can be shown that the number of edges of a kRNG is less than O(kn). Also, a kRNG can be constructed in O(kn2) time. Let Ec = {epq| p ∈ V and q ∈ V}. Then Gc = (V,Ec) is a complete graph. For any subset F of Ec, define the maximum distance of F as maxepq∈Fdpq. A Euclidean bottleneck Hamiltonian cycle is a Hamiltonian cycle in graph Gc whose maximum distance is the minimum among all Hamiltonian cycles in graph Gc. We shall prove that there exists a Euclidean bottleneck Hamiltonian cycle which is a subgraph of 20RNG(V). Hence, 20RNGs are Hamiltonian.