On the clique behavior of graphs of low degree (Q2141759)

Let \(G\) be a simple graph. The clique graph of \(G\), denoted by \(K(G)\), is the intersection graph of the maximal complete subgraphs of \(G\), and the sequence of iterated clique graphs of \(G\) is defined as \(K^{0}(G)=G\), \(K^{n}(G)=K(K^{n-1}(G))\) for \(n \geq 1\). The graph \(G\) is convergent if there are \(m<n\) such that \(K^{m}(G)\) is isomorphic to \(K^{n}(G)\), and it is divergent otherwise. In [Colloq. Int. CNRS No. 260, 313--315 (1978; Zbl 0413.05058)], as the first example of a divergent graph, \textit{V. Neumann-Lara} proved that the graph of the octahedron is divergent. In this paper, the author proves that the octahedron is the only divergent graph among the connected graphs with the maximum degree of at most four.