On Vertices of Degree 6 of Minimal and Contraction Critical 6-Connected Graph

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to study vertices of degree 6 of minimal and contraction critical 6-connected graph, i.e., a 6-connected graph that looses 6-connectivity both upon removal and upon contraction of any edge. It is proved that if x and z are adjacent vertices of degree 6, then x and z have at least 4 common neighbors. In addition, a detailed description of the neighborhood of the set {x, z} is given. An infinite series of examples of minimal and contraction critical 6-connected graphs for which the fraction of vertices of degree 6 equals $$ \frac{11}{17} $$ is constructed.