Neighborhood intersections and Hamiltonicity in almost claw-free graphs Original Research Article

Let G be a graph. The partially square graph G∗ of G is a graph obtained from G by adding edges uv satisfying the conditions uv∉E(G), and there is some w∈N(u)∩N(v), such that N(w)⊆N(u)∪N(v)∪{u,v}. Let t>1 be an integer and Y⊆V(G), denote n(Y)=|{v∈V(G) | miny∈Y{distG(v,y)}⩽2}|, It(G)={Z | Z is an independent set of G,|Z|=t}. In this paper, we show that a k-connected almost claw-free graph with k⩾2 is hamiltonian if ∑z∈Zd(z)⩾n(Z)−k in G for each Z∈Ik+1(G∗), thereby solving a conjecture proposed by Broersma, Ryjác̆ek and Schiermeyer. Zhangʹs result is also generalized by the new result.