Reconstruction and Edge Reconstruction of Triangle-free Graphs

Abstract

The Reconstruction Conjecture due to Kelly and Ulam states that every graph with at least 3 vertices is uniquely determined by its multiset of subgraphs $\{G-v: v\in V(G)\}$. Let $diam(G)$ and $\kappa(G)$ denote the diameter and the connectivity of a graph $G$, respectively, and let $\mathcal{G}_2:=\{G: \textrm{diam}(G)=2\}$ and $\mathcal{G}_3:=\{G:\textrm{diam}(G)=\textrm{diam}(\overline{G})=3\}$. It is known that the Reconstruction Conjecture is true if and only if it is true for every 2-connected graph in $\mathcal{G}_2\cup \mathcal{G}_3$. Balakumar and Monikandan showed that the Reconstruction Conjecture holds for every triangle-free graph $G$ in $\mathcal{G}_2\cup \mathcal{G}_3$ with $\kappa(G)=2$. Moreover, they asked whether the result still holds if $\kappa(G)\ge 3$. (If yes, the class of graphs critical for solving the Reconstruction Conjecture is restricted to 2-connected graphs in $\mathcal{G}_2\cup\mathcal{G}_3$ which contain triangles.) In this paper, we give a partial solution to their question by showing that the Reconstruction Conjecture holds for every triangle-free graph $G$ in $\mathcal{G}_3$ and every triangle-free graph $G$ in $\mathcal{G}_2$ with $\kappa(G)=3$. We also prove similar results about the Edge Reconstruction Conjecture.