Universal graphs for the topological minor relation

Abstract

A subgraph-universal graph/a topological minor-universal graph in a class of graphs $\mathcal{G}$ is a graph in $\mathcal{G}$ which contains every graph in $\mathcal{G}$ as a subgraph/topological minor. We prove that the class $\mathcal{P}$ of all countable planar graphs does not contain a topological minor-universal graph. This answers a question of Diestel and K\"uhn and strengthens a result of Pach stating that there is no subgraph-universal graph in $\mathcal{P}$. Furthermore, we characterise for which subdivided stars $T$ there is a topological minor-universal graph in the class of all countable $T$-free graphs.