Algebraically grid-like graphs have large tree-width (Q668066)

Summary: By the Grid Minor Theorem of Robertson and Seymour, every graph of sufficiently large tree-width contains a large grid as a minor. Tree-width may therefore be regarded as a measure of `grid-likeness' of a graph. The grid contains a long cycle on the perimeter, which is the \(\mathbb{F}_2\)-sum of the rectangles inside. Moreover, the grid distorts the metric of the cycle only by a factor of two. We prove that every graph that resembles the grid in this algebraic sense has large tree-width: Let \(k\), \(p\) be integers, \(\gamma\) a real number and \(G\) a graph. Suppose that \(G\) contains a cycle of length at least \(2 \gamma p k\) which is the \(\mathbb{F}_2\)-sum of cycles of length at most \(p\) and whose metric is distorted by a factor of at most \(\gamma\). Then \(G\) has tree-width at least \(k\).