Haj\'os-Type Constructions and Neighborhood Complexes

Any graph $G$ with chromatic number $k$ can be constructed by iteratively performing certain graph operations on a sequence of graphs starting with $K_k$, resulting in a variety of Haj\'os-type constructions for $G$. Finding such constructions for a given graph or family of graphs is a challenging task. We show that the basic steps in these Haj\'os-type constructions frequently result in the presence of an $S^1$-wedge summand in the neighborhood complex of the resulting graph. Our results imply that for a graph $G$ with a highly-connected neighborhood complex, the end behavior of the construction sequence is quite restricted, and we investigate these restrictions in detail. We also introduce two graph construction algorithms based on different Haj\'os-type constructions and conduct computational experiments using these.