| Summary: | We study the question of whether, for a given class of finite graphs, one can
define, for each graph of the class, a linear ordering in monadic second-order
logic, possibly with the help of monadic parameters. We consider two variants
of monadic second-order logic: one where we can only quantify over sets of
vertices and one where we can also quantify over sets of edges. For several
special cases, we present combinatorial characterisations of when such a linear
ordering is definable. In some cases, for instance for graph classes that omit
a fixed graph as a minor, the presented conditions are necessary and
sufficient; in other cases, they are only necessary. Other graph classes we
consider include complete bipartite graphs, split graphs, chordal graphs, and
cographs. We prove that orderability is decidable for the so called
HR-equational classes of graphs, which are described by equation systems and
generalize the context-free languages.
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