Cubic graphs, also called trivalent graphs, are graphs all of whose nodes have degree
3 (i.e., 3-regular graphs). Cubic graphs on nodes
exist only for even
(Harary 1994, p. 15). Not-necessarily-connected
cubic graphs on ,
6, and 8 are illustrated above. An enumeration of cubic graphs on nodes for small is implemented in the Wolfram
Language as GraphData["Cubic",
n].
A necessary (but not sufficient) criterion for a graph to be cubic is that ,
where is the edge
count and
is the vertex count.
The connected cubic graphs have been determined by Brinkmann (1996) up to 24 nodes,
and the numbers of such graphs for , 4, ... are 0, 1, 2, 5, 19, 85, 509, 4060, 41301, ... (OEIS
A002851). Meringer and Royle independently
maintain enumerations of connected cubic graphs.
-cage graphs
are cubic. In addition, the following tables give some named graphs
that are skeletons of polyhedra.