A note on the cyclical edge-connectivity of fullerene graphs

A fullerene graph is a 3-regular (cubic) and 3-connected spherical graph that has exactly 12 pentagonal faces and other hexagonal faces. The cyclical edge-connectivity of a graph G is the maximum integer k such that G cannot be separated into two components, each containing a cycle, by deletion of fewer than k edges. Došlić proved that the cyclical edge-connectivity of every fullerene graph is equal to 5. By using Euler’s formula, we give a simplified proof, mending a small oversight in Došlić’s proof. Further, it is proved that the cyclical connectivity of every fullerene graph is also equal to 5.