A conjecture implying Thomassen's chord conjecture in graph theory

Abstract

Thomassen's chord conjecture from 1976 states that every longest cycle in a $3$-connected graph has a chord. This is one of the most important unsolved problems in graph theory. We pose a new conjecture which implies Thomassen's conjecture. It involves bound vertices in a longest path between two vertices in a $k$-connected graph. We also give supporting evidence and analyze a special case. The purpose of making this new conjecture is to explore the surroundings of Thomassen's conjecture.