A graph subdivision replaces each edge of a simple graph by a graph path of at least one edge joining its original endpoints. The original vertices are branch vertices of a graph subdivision. The replacement graph paths have pairwise disjoint interiors, contain no branch vertices of a graph subdivision internally, and together make up the entire new graph. Leaving an edge unchanged is allowed.[ref]
The Basics (author-hosted chapter preview). §1.7, printed p. 18: subdivision, branch vertices and subdividing vertices
For an explicit example, take with vertex set and edges : a triangle in a graph with one attached leaf of a graph. Replace its edges by the following branch paths of a graph subdivision:The resulting graph subdivision has vertex set and edges . The internal vertex sets are , so disjointness is explicit. The degrees of vertices of remain , respectively; the three new internal vertices each have degree of a vertex two.
A graph subdivision of a triangle in a graph with an attached leaf of a graph: colours track the four branch paths of a graph subdivision
. Details. Adding internal vertices to a finite graph increases both its vertex count and its edge count by . Here , so four vertices and four edges become seven of each; the graph excess is unchanged. Each replacement graph path remains a route between the same junctions. Thus graph subdivision preserves whether a graph is a planar graph: insert intermediate vertices along a crossing-free drawing, or trace each replacement graph path as one edge to recover a drawing of the original graph. Travel times or capacities are separate modelling choices and are not determined by this adjacency construction.
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