Planarity of Mycielski-like graph expansions

Abstract

For a graph $G$, we define its great shadow $S(G)$ as a construction that duplicates each vertex $v$ in $G$ and sets this duplicated vertex adjacent to $v$ and all neighbors of $v$. Great graph shadows arise naturally in the routing of diode-and-switch circuits for computer keyboards, and are closely related to the Mycielski operation. These diode-and-switch circuits can be routed on a single-sided printed-circuit board if and only if the corresponding great shadow is planar. In this paper, we characterize all graphs with planar great shadows. Such graphs are always bipartite cactus graphs.