On the structure of strong 3-quasi-transitive digraphs

Abstract

In this paper, D = (V (D), A(D)) denotes a loopless directed graph (digraph) with at most one arc from u to v for every pair of vertices u and v of V (D). Given a digraph D, we say that D is 3-quasi-transitive if, whenever u -> v -> w -> z in D, then u and z are adjacent or u = z. In Bang-Jensen (2004)[3], Bang-Jensen introduced 3-quasi-transitive digraphs and claimed that the only strong 3-quasi-transitive digraphs are the strong semicomplete digraphs and strong semicomplete bipartite digraphs. In this paper, we exhibit a family of strong 3-quasi-transitive digraphs distinct from strong semicomplete digraphs and strong semicomplete bipartite digraphs and provide a complete characterization of strong 3-quasi-transitive digraphs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.