Abstract. The crossing number of a graph G is the minimum number of crossings in a drawing of G. The determination of the crossing number is an NP-complete problem. We present two general lower bounds for the crossing number, and survey their applications and generalizations. 1

This paper develops new techniques for constructing separators for graphs embedded on surfaces of bounded genus. For any arbitrarily small positive " we show that any n-vertex graph G of genus g can be divided in O(n + g) time into components whose sizes do not exceed "n by removing a set C of O( p (g + 1=")n) vertices. Our result improves the best previous ones with respect to the size of C and the time complexity of the algorithm. Moreover, we show that one can cut off from G a piece of no more than (1 \Gamma ")n vertices by removing a set of O( p n"(g" + 1) vertices. Both results are optimal up to a constant factor. Keywords: graph separator, graph genus, algorithm, divide-and-conquer, topological graph theory AMS(MOS) subject classifications: 05C10, 05C85, 68R10 1 Bulgarian Academy of Sci., CICT, G.Bonchev 25-A, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria 2 Department of Comp.Sci.,Rice University, P.O.Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251, USA 1 Introduction Let S be a class of graphs closed under t...

In this paper we show that every 2-connected embedded planar graph with faces of sizes d!..... df has a simple cycle separator of size 1.58~,/dl 2 +...+d} and we give an almost linear time algorithm for finding these separators, O(m~(n. n)). We show that the new upper bound expressed as a function of IG { = ~/d ~ +..- + d} is no larger, up to a constant factor than previous bounds that where expressed in terms of ~S. v where d is the maximum face size and v is the number of vertices and is much smaller for many graphs. The algorithms developed are simpler than earlier algorithms in that they work directly with the planar graph and its dual. They need not construct or work with the face-incidence graph as in [Mi186, GM87, GM]. 1

A planarizing set of a graph is a set of edges or vertices whose removal leaves a planar graph. It is shown that, if G is an n-vertex graph of maximum degree d and orientable genus g, then there exists a planarizing set of O( p dgn) edges. This result is tight within a constant factor. Similar results are obtained for planarizing vertex sets and for graphs embedded on nonorientable surfaces. Planarizing edge and vertex sets can be found in O(n + g) time, if an embedding of G on a surface of genus g is given. We also construct an approximation algorithm that finds an O( p gn log g) planarizing vertex set of G in O(n log g) time if no genus-g embedding is given as an input. 1 Introduction A graph G is planar if G can be drawn in the plane so that no two edges intersect. Planar graphs arise naturally in many applications of graph theory, e.g. in VLSI and circuit design, in network design and analysis, in computer graphics, and is one of the most intensively studied class of graphs [2...

We prove that every n-vertex graph of genus g and maximal degree k has an edge separator of size O( gkn). The upper bound is best possible to within a constant factor. This extends known results on planar graphs and similar results about vertex separators. We apply the edge separator to the isoperimetric number problem, graph embeddings and lower bounds for crossing numbers.