Graph classes and the complexity of the graph orientation minimizing the maximum weighted outdegree

Given an undirected graph with edge weights, we are asked to find an orientation, that is, an assignment of a direction to each edge, so as to minimize the weighted maximum outdegree in the resulted directed graph. The problem is called MMO, and is a restricted variant of the well-known minimum makespan problem. As in previous studies, it is shown that MMO is in P for trees, weak NP-hard for planar bipartite graphs, and strong NP-hard for general graphs. There are still gaps between those graph classes. The objective of this paper is to show tighter thresholds of complexity: We show that MMO is (i) in P for cactus graphs, (ii) weakly NP-hard for outerplanar graphs, and also (iii) strongly NP-hard for graphs which are both planar and bipartite. This implies the NP-hardness for P₄-bipartite, diamond-free or house-free graphs, each of which is a superclass of cactus. We also show (iv) the NP-hardness for series-parallel graphs and multi-outerplanar graphs, and (v) present a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for graphs with bounded treewidth.     

On the complexity of the multicut problem in bounded tree-width graphs and digraphs

Given an edge- or vertex-weighted graph or digraph and a list of source-sink pairs, the minimum multicut problem consists in selecting a minimum weight set of edges or vertices whose removal leaves no path from each source to the corresponding sink. This is a classical NP-hard problem, and we show that the edge version becomes tractable in bounded tree-width graphs if the number of source-sink pairs is fixed, but remains NP-hard in directed acyclic graphs and APX-hard in bounded tree-width and bounded degree unweighted digraphs. The vertex version, although tractable in trees, is proved to be NP-hard in unweighted cacti of bounded degree and bounded path-width.     

Homomorphisms of 2-edge-colored graphs

In this paper, we study homomorphisms of 2-edge-colored graphs, that is graphs with edges colored with two colors. We consider various graph classes (outerplanar graphs, partial 2-trees, partial 3-trees, planar graphs) and the problem is to find, for each class, the smallest number of vertices of a 2-edge-colored graph H such that each graph of the considered class admits a homomorphism to H.     

On distance-3 matchings and induced matchings

For a finite undirected graph G=(V,E) and positive integer k≥1, an edge set M⊆E is a distance-k matching if the pairwise distance of edges in M is at least k in G. For k=1, this gives the usual notion of matching in graphs, and for general k≥1, distance-k matchings were called k-separated matchings by Stockmeyer and Vazirani. The special case k=2 has been studied under the names induced matching (i.e., a matching which forms an induced subgraph in G) by Cameron and strong matching by Golumbic and Laskar in various papers.Finding a maximum induced matching is NP-complete even on very restricted bipartite graphs and on claw-free graphs but it can be done efficiently on various classes of graphs such as chordal graphs, based on the fact that an induced matching in G corresponds to an independent vertex set in the square L(G)² of the line graph L(G) of G which, by a result of Cameron, is chordal for any chordal graph G.We show that, unlike for k=2, for a chordal graph G, L(G)³ is not necessarily chordal, and finding a maximum distance-3 matching, and more generally, finding a maximum distance-(2k+1) matching for k≥1, remains NP-complete on chordal graphs. For strongly chordal graphs and interval graphs, however, the maximum distance-k matching problem can be solved in polynomial time for every k≥1. Moreover, we obtain various new results for maximum induced matchings on subclasses of claw-free graphs.     

Minimum monopoly in regular and tree graphs

In this paper we consider a graph optimization problem called minimum monopoly problem, in which it is required to find a minimum cardinality set S⊆V, such that, for each u∈V, |N[u]∩S|?|N[u]|/2 in a given graph G=(V,E). We show that this optimization problem does not have a polynomial-time approximation scheme for k-regular graphs (k?5), unless P=NP. We show this by establishing two L-reductions (an approximation preserving reduction) from minimum dominating set problem for k-regular graphs to minimum monopoly problem for 2k-regular graphs and to minimum monopoly problem for (2k-1)-regular graphs, where k?3. We also show that, for tree graphs, a minimum monopoly set can be computed in linear time.     

Tree 3-spanners in 2-sep chordal graphs: Characterization and algorithms

A spanning tree T of a graph G is said to be a treet-spanner if the distance between any two vertices in T is at most t times their distance in G. A graph that has a tree t-spanner is called a treet-spanner admissible graph. The problem of deciding whether a graph is tree t-spanner admissible is NP-complete for any fixed t≥4 and is linearly solvable for t≤2. The case t=3 still remains open. A chordal graph is called a 2-sep chordal graph if all of its minimal a−b vertex separators for every pair of non-adjacent vertices a and b are of size two. It is known that not all 2-sep chordal graphs admit tree 3-spanners. This paper presents a structural characterization and a linear time recognition algorithm of tree 3-spanner admissible 2-sep chordal graphs. Finally, a linear time algorithm to construct a tree 3-spanner of a tree 3-spanner admissible 2-sep chordal graph is proposed.     

Representation of graphs by OBDDs

Recently, it has been shown in a series of works that the representation of graphs by Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDDs) often leads to good algorithmic behavior. However, the question for which graph classes an OBDD representation is advantageous, has not been investigated, yet. In this paper, the space requirements for the OBDD representation of certain graph classes, specifically cographs, several types of graphs with few P₄s, unit interval graphs, interval graphs and bipartite graphs are investigated. Upper and lower bounds are proven for all these graph classes and it is shown that in most (but not all) cases a representation of the graphs by OBDDs is advantageous with respect to space requirements.     

Finding monotone paths in edge-ordered graphs

An edge-ordering of a graph G=(V,E) is a one-to-one function f from E to a subset of the set of positive integers. A path P in G is called an f-ascent if f increases along the edge sequence of P. The heighth(f) of f is the maximum length of an f-ascent in G.In this paper we deal with computational problems concerning finding ascents in graphs. We prove that for a given edge-ordering f of a graph G the problem of determining the value of h(f) is NP-hard. In particular, the problem of deciding whether there is an f-ascent containing all the vertices of G is NP-complete. We also study several variants of this problem, discuss randomized and deterministic approaches and provide an algorithm for the finding of ascents of order at least k in graphs of order n in running time O(4^kn^O(1)).     

Maximum transversal in partial Latin squares and rainbow matchings

In a partial Latin square P a set of distinct entries, such that no two of which are in the same row or column is called a transversal. By the size of a transversal T, we mean the number of its entries. We define a duplex to be a partial Latin square of order n containing 2n entries such that exactly two entries lie in each row and column and each of n symbols occurs exactly twice. We show that determining the maximum size of a transversal in a given duplex is an NP-complete problem. This problem relates to independent sets in certain subfamilies of cubic graphs. Generalizing the concept of transversals in edge coloring of graphs we are led to introduce the concept of rainbow matching. We show that if each color appears at most twice then it is a polynomial time problem to know whether there exists a rainbow matching of size at least ⌊n/2⌋-t for each fixed t, where n is the order of the graph. As an application we show that for any fixed t, there is a polynomial time algorithm which decides whether α(G)?n-t, for any graph G on 2n vertices containing a perfect matching. At the end we mention some other applications of rainbow matching.     

On chromatic and flow polynomial unique graphs

It is known that the chromatic polynomial and flow polynomial of a graph are two important evaluations of its Tutte polynomial, both of which contain much information of the graph. Much research is done on graphs determined entirely by their chromatic polynomials and Tutte polynomials, respectively. Oxley asked which classes of graphs or matroids are determined by their chromatic and flow polynomials together. In this paper, we found several classes of graphs with this property. We first study which graphic parameters are determined by the flow polynomials. Then we study flow-unique graphs. Finally, we show that several classes of graphs, ladders, Möbius ladders and squares of n-cycle are determined by their chromatic polynomials and flow polynomials together. A direct consequence of our theorem is a result of de Mier and Noy [A. de Mier, M. Noy, On graphs determined by their Tutte polynomial, Graphs Comb. 20 (2004) 105-119] that these classes of graphs are Tutte polynomial unique.     

2-resonance of plane bipartite graphs and its applications to boron-nitrogen fullerenes

A set H of disjoint faces of a plane bipartite graph G is a resonant pattern if G has a perfect matching M such that the boundary of each face in H is an M-alternating cycle. An elementary result was obtained [Discrete Appl. Math. 105 (2000) 291-311]: a plane bipartite graph is 1-extendable if and only if every face forms a resonant pattern. In this paper we show that for a 2-extendable plane bipartite graph, any pair of disjoint faces form a resonant pattern, and the converse does not necessarily hold. As an application, we show that all boron-nitrogen (B-N) fullerene graphs are 2-resonant, and construct all the 3-resonant B-N fullerene graphs, which are all k-resonant for any positive integer k. Here a B-N fullerene graph is a plane cubic graph with only square and hexagonal faces, and a B-N fullerene graph is k-resonant if any disjoint faces form a resonant pattern. Finally, the cell polynomials of 3-resonant B-N fullerene graphs are computed.     

The clique operator on circular-arc graphs

A circular-arc graphG is the intersection graph of a collection of arcs on the circle and such a collection is called a model of G. Say that the model is proper when no arc of the collection contains another one, it is Helly when the arcs satisfy the Helly Property, while the model is proper Helly when it is simultaneously proper and Helly. A graph admitting a Helly (resp. proper Helly) model is called a Helly (resp. proper Helly) circular-arc graph. The clique graphK(G) of a graph G is the intersection graph of its cliques. The iterated clique graphKⁱ(G) of G is defined by K⁰(G)=G and Kⁱ⁺¹(G)=K(Kⁱ(G)). In this paper, we consider two problems on clique graphs of circular-arc graphs. The first is to characterize clique graphs of Helly circular-arc graphs and proper Helly circular-arc graphs. The second is to characterize the graph to which a general circular-arc graph K-converges, if it is K-convergent. We propose complete solutions to both problems, extending the partial results known so far. The methods lead to linear time recognition algorithms, for both problems.     

On the 3-restricted edge connectivity of permutation graphs

An edge cut W of a connected graph G is a k-restricted edge cut if G−W is disconnected, and every component of G−W has at least k vertices. The k-restricted edge connectivity is defined as the minimum cardinality over all k-restricted edge cuts. A permutation graph is obtained by taking two disjoint copies of a graph and adding a perfect matching between the two copies. The k-restricted edge connectivity of a permutation graph is upper bounded by the so-called minimum k-edge degree. In this paper some sufficient conditions guaranteeing optimal k-restricted edge connectivity and super k-restricted edge connectivity for permutation graphs are presented for k=2,3.     

On the colored Tutte polynomial of a graph of bounded treewidth

We observe that a formula given by Negami [Polynomial invariants of graphs, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 299 (1987) 601-622] for the Tutte polynomial of a k-sum of two graphs generalizes to a colored Tutte polynomial. Consequently, an algorithm of Andrzejak [An algorithm for the Tutte polynomials of graphs of bounded treewidth, Discrete Math. 190 (1998) 39-54] may be directly adapted to compute the colored Tutte polynomial of a graph of bounded treewidth in polynomial time. This result has also been proven by Makowsky [Colored Tutte polynomials and Kauffman brackets for graphs of bounded tree width, Discrete Appl. Math. 145 (2005) 276-290], using a different algorithm based on logical techniques.     

Some complexity problems on single input double output controllers

We investigate the time complexity of constructing single input double output state feedback controller structures, given the directed structure graph G of a system. Such a controller structure defines a restricted type of P₃-partition of the graph G. A necessary condition (∗) is described and some classes of graphs are identified where the search problem of finding a feasible P₃-partition is polynomially solvable and, in addition, (∗) is not only necessary but also sufficient for the existence of a P₃-partition. It is also proved that the decision problem on two particular graph classes — defined in terms of forbidden subgraphs — remains NP-complete, but is polynomially solvable on the intersection of those two classes. The polynomial-time solvability of some further related problems is shown, too.     

Ramsey numbers for a disjoint union of good graphs

We give the Ramsey number for a disjoint union of some G-good graphs versus a graph G generalizing the results of Stahl (1975) [5] and Baskoro et al. (2006) [1] and the previous result of the author Bielak (2009) [2]. Moreover, a family of G-good graphs with s(G)>1 is presented.     

Triangular line graphs and word sense disambiguation

Linguists often represent the relationships between words in a collection of text as an undirected graph G=(V,E), where V is the vocabulary and vertices are adjacent in G if and only if the words that they represent co-occur in a relevant pattern in the text. Ideally, the words with similar meanings give rise to the vertices of a component of the graph. However, many words have several distinct meanings, preventing components from characterizing distinct semantic fields. This paper examines how the structural properties of triangular line graphs motivate the use of a clustering coefficient on the triangular line graph, thereby helping to identify polysemous words. The triangular line graph of G, denoted by T(G), is the subgraph of the line graph of G where two vertices are adjacent if the corresponding edges in G belong to a K₃.     

Partial characterizations of circle graphs

A circle graph is the intersection graph of a family of chords on a circle. There is no known characterization of circle graphs by forbidden induced subgraphs that do not involve the notions of local equivalence or pivoting operations. We characterize circle graphs by a list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to one of the following classes: linear domino graphs, P₄-tidy graphs, and tree-cographs. We also completely characterize by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs the class of unit Helly circle graphs, which are those circle graphs having a model whose chords have all the same length, are pairwise different, and satisfy the Helly property.     

Some properties for a class of interchange graphs

The Wiener number is the sum of distances between all pairs of vertices of a connected graph. In this paper, we give an explicit algebraic formula for the Wiener number of a class of interchange graphs. Moreover, distance-related properties and cliques of this class of interchange graphs are investigated.     

Satisfiability of mixed Horn formulas

In this paper the class of mixed Horn formulas is introduced that contain a Horn part and a 2-CNF (conjunctive normal form) (also called quadratic) part. We show that SAT remains NP-complete for such instances and also that any CNF formula can be encoded in terms of a mixed Horn formula in polynomial time. Further, we provide an exact deterministic algorithm showing that SAT for mixed Horn formulas containing n variables is solvable in time O(2^0.5284n). A strong argument showing that it is hard to improve a time bound of O(2^n/2) for mixed Horn formulas is provided. We also obtain a fixed-parameter tractability classification for SAT restricted to mixed Horn formulas C of at most k variables in its positive 2-CNF part providing the bound O(∥C∥2^0.5284k). We further show that the NP-hard optimization problem minimum weight SAT for mixed Horn formulas can be solved in time O(2^0.5284n) if non-negative weights are assigned to the variables. Motivating examples for mixed Horn formulas are level graph formulas [B. Randerath, E. Speckenmeyer, E. Boros, P. Hammer, A. Kogan, K. Makino, B. Simeone, O. Cepek, A satisfiability formulation of problems on level graphs, ENDM 9 (2001)] and graph colorability formulas.