Obstructions for Minor-Closed Classes of Limiting Densities Below 3/2

Given a graph class 𝒢, the limiting density of 𝒢 is defined as δ(𝒢) = lim_{n → ∞} ex(𝒢,n)/n where ex(𝒢,n) is the maximum number of edges of a graph in 𝒢 on n vertices. The limiting density δ(𝒢) is known to be a rational number when 𝒢 is a minor-closed graph class. For every δ ∈ [0,3/2), we prove that the set of ⊆-minimal minor-closed graph classes with densities > δ is finite and we identify it completely. A consequence of our results is an algorithm that, given a finite set of graphs 𝒵, of total size n, either outputs the value of δ(excl(𝒵)) or reports that δ(excl(𝒵)) ≥ 3/2, where excl(𝒵) is the class of graphs excluding the graphs in 𝒵 as minors. The algorithm runs in 2^{poly(n)} time.