Wheel inequalitites for stable set polytopes

We introduce new classes of valid inequalities, called wheel inequalities, for the stable set polytope P G of a graph G. Each \wheel connguration" gives rise to two such inequalities. The simplest wheel connguration is an \odd" subdivision W of a wheel, and for these we give necessary and suucient conditions for the wheel inequality to be facet-inducing for P W. Generalizations arise by allowing subdivision paths to intersect, and by replacing the \hub" of the wheel by a clique. The separation problem for these inequalities can be solved in polynomial time.