Motivated by applications in graph drawing and information visualization, we examine the planar split thickness of a graph, that is, the smallest k such that the graph is k-splittable into a planar graph. A k-split operation substitutes a vertex v by at most k new vertices such that each neighbor of v is connected to at least one of the new vertices. We first examine the planar split thickness of complete graphs, complete bipartite graphs, multipartite graphs, bounded degree graphs, and genus-1 graphs. We then prove that it is NP-hard to recognize graphs that are 2-splittable into a planar graph, and show that one can approximate the planar split thickness of a graph within a constant factor. If the treewidth is bounded, then we can even verify k-splittability in linear time, for a constant k.
Soit un graphe H, on construit un nouveau graphe G avec un sommet de moins en remplacant deux sommets non adjacents u et v de H par un seul sommet qui est adjacent a tous les sommets de H qui sont adjacents avec soit u soit v. On dit que G s'obtient a partir de H par une identification de sommet. On definit le nombre de composition sp(G) d'un graphe G comme etant le plus petit nombre k tel que G puisse s'obtenir d'un graphe planaire par k identifications de sommet If a given graphG can be obtained bys vertex identifications from a suitable planar graph ands is the minimum number for which this is possible thens is called the splitting number ofG. Here a formula for the splitting number of the complete graph is derived. Given a nite, undirected, simple graph G, we are concerned with operations on G that transform it into a planar graph. We give a survey of results about such operations and related graph parameters. While there are many algorithmic results about planarization through edge deletion, the results about vertex splitting, thickness, and crossing number are mostly of a structural nature. We also include a brief section on vertex deletion. We do not consider parallel algorithms, nor do we deal with on-line algorithms.   We consider two graph invariants that are used as a measure of nonplanarity: the splitting number of a graph and the size of a maximum planar subgraph. The splitting number of a graph G is the smallest integer k ≥ 0, such that a planar graph can be obtained from G by k splitting operations. Such operation replaces a vertex v by two nonadjacent vertices v1 and v2, and attaches the neighbors of v either to v1 or to v2. We prove that the splitting number decision problem is NP-complete, even when restricted to cubic graphs. We obtain as a consequence that planar subgraph remains NP-complete when restricted to cubic graphs. Note that NP-completeness for cubic graphs also implies NP-completeness for graphs not containing a subdivision of K5 as a subgraph.