A note on dilation coefficient, plane-width, and resolution coefficient of graphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates three graph invariants related to graph drawing compactness, compares their properties, and explores their relationships with classical graph parameters and minor-closed classes.

Contribution

It introduces and compares dilation coefficient, plane-width, and resolution coefficient, revealing their differences, similarities, and connections to classical graph parameters.

Findings

Graphs with large dilation coefficient or plane-width have high-valence vertices.

Cubic graphs can have arbitrarily large resolution coefficient.

Connections between resolution coefficient and minor-closed graph classes are established.

Abstract

In this note we study and compare three graph invariants related to the 'compactness' of graph drawing in the plane: the dilation coefficient, defined as the smallest possible quotient between the longest and the shortest edge length; the plane-width, which is the smallest possible quotient between the largest distance between any two points and the shortest length of an edge; and the resolution coefficient, the smallest possible quotient between the longest edge length and the smallest distance between any two points. These three invariants coincide for complete graphs. We show that graphs with large dilation coefficient or plane-width have a vertex with large valence but there exist cubic graphs with arbitrarily large resolution coefficient. Surprisingly enough, the one-dimensional analogues of these three invariants allow us to revisit the three well known graph parameters: the circular chromatic number, the chromatic number, and the bandwidth. We also examine the connection between bounded resolution coefficient and minor-closed graph classes.