No label defined (Q4352948)

\textit{N. Robertson} and \textit{P. D. Seymour} [J. Algorithms 7, 309-322 (1986; Zbl 0611.05017), or J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 48, No. 2, 227-254 (1990; Zbl 0719.05032)] developed the theory of tree decomposition of graphs and introduced the tree width, a connectivity invariant of graphs (mostly of infinite type) focussing on global properties of graphs. The author discusses a new connectivity invariant, the bramble number, of a graph \(G\). A bramble is a set of connected subgraphs of \(G\), any two of which intersect or are joined by an edge. Then the order of a bramble \(\beta\) is the minimum cardinality of a set of vertices which intersects every element of \(\beta\). The bramble number \(\text{BN} (G)\) of \(G\) is the maximum of the orders of its brambles. For any graph \(G\), the tree width of \(G\) is equal to \(\text{BN} (G)-1\), see also \textit{P. D. Seymour} and \textit{R. Thomas} [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 58, No. 1, 22-23 (1993; Zbl 0795.05110)]. Besides the proof of this theorem, the author examines also the structure of graphs with large bramble numbers and resolves many questions on such graphs. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0869.00029].