On a Closure Concept in Claw-Free Graphs

IfGis a claw-free graph, then there is a graphcl(G) such that (i) Gis a spanning subgraph ofcl(G), (ii) cl(G) is a line graph of a triangle-free graph, and (iii) the length of a longest cycle inGand incl(G) is the same. A sufficient condition for hamiltonicity in claw-free graphs, the equivalence of some conjectures on hamiltonicity in 2-tough graphs and the hamiltonicity of 7-connected claw-free graphs are obtained as corollaries.