Partial characterizations of clique-perfect graphs II: Diamond-free and Helly circular-arc graphs

A clique-transversal of a graph G is a subset of vertices that meets all the cliques of G. A clique-independent set is a collection of pairwise vertex-disjoint cliques. A graph G is clique-perfect if the sizes of a minimum clique-transversal and a maximum clique-independent set are equal for every induced subgraph of G. The list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the class of clique-perfect graphs is not known. Another open question concerning clique-perfect graphs is the complexity of the recognition problem. Recently we were able to characterize clique-perfect graphs by a restricted list of forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to two different subclasses of claw-free graphs. These characterizations lead to polynomial time recognition of clique-perfect graphs in these classes of graphs. In this paper we solve the characterization problem in two new classes of graphs: diamond-free and Helly circular-arc () graphs. This last characterization leads to a polynomial time recognition algorithm for clique-perfect graphs.     

Boxicity of Halin graphs

A k-dimensional box is the Cartesian product R₁×R₂×?×R_k where each R_i is a closed interval on the real line. The boxicity of a graph G, denoted as is the minimum integer k such that G is the intersection graph of a collection of k-dimensional boxes. Halin graphs are the graphs formed by taking a tree with no degree 2 vertex and then connecting its leaves to form a cycle in such a way that the graph has a planar embedding. We prove that if G is a Halin graph that is not isomorphic to K₄, then . In fact, we prove the stronger result that if G is a planar graph formed by connecting the leaves of any tree in a simple cycle, then unless G is isomorphic to K₄ (in which case its boxicity is 1).     

Representing edge intersection graphs of paths on degree 4 trees

Let P be a collection of nontrivial simple paths on a host tree T. The edge intersection graph of P, denoted by EPT(P), has vertex set that corresponds to the members of P, and two vertices are joined by an edge if and only if the corresponding members of P share at least one common edge in T. An undirected graph G is called an edge intersection graph of paths in a tree if G=EPT(P) for some P and T. The EPT graphs are useful in network applications. Scheduling undirected calls in a tree network or assigning wavelengths to virtual connections in an optical tree network are equivalent to coloring its EPT graph.An undirected graph G is chordal if every cycle in G of length greater than 3 possesses a chord. Chordal graphs correspond to vertex intersection graphs of subtrees on a tree. An undirected graph G is weakly chordal if every cycle of length greater than 4 in G and in its complement possesses a chord. It is known that the EPT graphs restricted to host trees of vertex degree 3 are precisely the chordal EPT graphs. We prove a new analogous result that weakly chordal EPT graphs are precisely the EPT graphs with host tree restricted to degree 4. Moreover, this provides an algorithm to reduce a given EPT representation of a weakly chordal EPT graph to an EPT representation on a degree 4 tree. Finally, we raise a number of intriguing open questions regarding related families of graphs.     

Intersection models of weakly chordal graphs

We first present new structural properties of a two-pair in various graphs. A two-pair is used in a well-known characterization of weakly chordal graphs. Based on these properties, we prove the main theorem: a graph G is a weakly chordal ()-free graph if and only if G is an edge intersection graph of subtrees on a tree with maximum degree 4. This characterizes the so called [4, 4, 2] graphs. The proof of the theorem constructively finds the representation. Thus, we obtain an algorithm to construct an edge intersection model of subtrees on a tree with maximum degree 4 for such a given graph. This is a recognition algorithm for [4, 4, 2] graphs.     

Constructions for normal graphs and some consequences

Normal graphs can be considered as weaker perfect graphs in several ways. However, only few graphs are known yet to be normal, apart from perfect graphs, odd holes, and odd antiholes of length ≥ 9. Körner and de Simone [J. Körner, C. de Simone, On the odd cycles of normal graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 94 (1999) 161-169] conjectured that every ()-free graph is normal. As there exist normal graphs containing C₅, C₇, or , it is worth looking for other ways to construct or detect normal graphs. For that, we treat the behavior of normal graphs under certain construction techniques (substitution, composition, and clique identification), providing several ways to construct new normal graphs from normal and even not normal ones, and consider the corresponding structural decompositions (homogeneous sets, skew partitions, and clique cutsets). Our results imply that normal graphs cannot be characterized by means of decomposition techniques as well as by forbidden subgraphs. We address negative consequences for the algorithmic behavior of normal graphs, reflected by the fact that neither the imperfection ratio can be bounded for normal graphs nor a χ-binding function exists. The latter is even true for the class of ()-free graphs and related classes. We conclude that normal graphs are indeed only “normal”.     

Cube intersection concepts in median graphs

In this paper, we study different classes of intersection graphs of maximal hypercubes of median graphs. For a median graph G and k≥0, the intersection graph Q_k(G) is defined as the graph whose vertices are maximal hypercubes (by inclusion) in G, and two vertices H_x and H_y in Q_k(G) are adjacent whenever the intersection H_x∩H_y contains a subgraph isomorphic to Q_k. Characterizations of clique-graphs in terms of these intersection concepts when k>0, are presented. Furthermore, we introduce the so-called maximal 2-intersection graph of maximal hypercubes of a median graph G, denoted , whose vertices are maximal hypercubes of G, and two vertices are adjacent if the intersection of the corresponding hypercubes is not a proper subcube of some intersection of two maximal hypercubes. We show that a graph H is diamond-free if and only if there exists a median graph G such that H is isomorphic to . We also study convergence of median graphs to the one-vertex graph with respect to all these operations.     

Algorithms for clique-independent sets on subclasses of circular-arc graphs

A circular-arc graph is the intersection graph of arcs on a circle. A Helly circular-arc graph is a circular-arc graph admitting a model whose arcs satisfy the Helly property. A clique-independent set of a graph is a set of pairwise disjoint cliques of the graph. It is NP-hard to compute the maximum cardinality of a clique-independent set for a general graph. In the present paper, we propose polynomial time algorithms for finding the maximum cardinality and weight of a clique-independent set of a -free CA graph. Also, we apply the algorithms to the special case of an HCA graph. The complexity of the proposed algorithm for the cardinality problem in HCA graphs is O(n). This represents an improvement over the existing algorithm by Guruswami and Pandu Rangan, whose complexity is O(n²). These algorithms suppose that an HCA model of the graph is given.     

Improved induced matchings in sparse graphs

An induced matching in a graph G=(V,E) is a matching M such that (V,M) is an induced subgraph of G. Clearly, among two vertices with the same neighbourhood (called twins) at most one is matched in any induced matching, and if one of them is matched then there is another matching of the same size that matches the other vertex. Motivated by this, Kanj et al. [10] studied induced matchings in twinless graphs. They showed that any twinless planar graph contains an induced matching of size at least and that there are twinless planar graphs that do not contain an induced matching of size greater than . We improve both these bounds to , which is tight up to an additive constant. This implies that the problem of deciding whether a planar graph has an induced matching of size k has a kernel of size at most 28k. We also show for the first time that this problem is fixed parameter tractable for graphs of bounded arboricity.Kanj et al. also presented an algorithm which decides in -time whether an n-vertex planar graph contains an induced matching of size k. Our results improve the time complexity analysis of their algorithm. However, we also show a more efficient -time algorithm. Its main ingredient is a new, O^∗(4^l)-time algorithm for finding a maximum induced matching in a graph of branch width at most l.     

Efficient algorithms for Roman domination on some classes of graphs

A Roman dominating function of a graph G=(V,E) is a function f:V→{0,1,2} such that every vertex x with f(x)=0 is adjacent to at least one vertex y with f(y)=2. The weight of a Roman dominating function is defined to be f(V)=∑_x∈Vf(x), and the minimum weight of a Roman dominating function on a graph G is called the Roman domination number of G. In this paper we first answer an open question mentioned in [E.J. Cockayne, P.A. Dreyer Jr., S.M. Hedetniemi, S.T. Hedetniemi, Roman domination in graphs, Discrete Math. 278 (2004) 11-22] by showing that the Roman domination number of an interval graph can be computed in linear time. We then show that the Roman domination number of a cograph (and a graph with bounded cliquewidth) can be computed in linear time. As a by-product, we give a characterization of Roman cographs. It leads to a linear-time algorithm for recognizing Roman cographs. Finally, we show that there are polynomial-time algorithms for computing the Roman domination numbers of -free graphs and graphs with a d-octopus.     

Tutte’s 5-flow conjecture for highly cyclically connected cubic graphs

In 1954, Tutte conjectured that every bridgeless graph has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. Let ω(G) be the minimum number of odd cycles in a 2-factor of a bridgeless cubic graph G. Tutte’s conjecture is equivalent to its restriction to cubic graphs with ω≥2. We show that if a cubic graph G has no edge cut with fewer than edges that separates two odd cycles of a minimum 2-factor of G, then G has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. This implies that if a cubic graph G is cyclically n-edge connected and , then G has a nowhere-zero 5-flow.     

Improved bottleneck domination algorithms

W.C.K. Yen introduced BOTTLENECK DOMINATION and BOTTLENECK INDEPENDENT DOMINATION. He presented an -time algorithm to compute a minimum bottleneck dominating set. He also obtained that the BOTTLENECK INDEPENDENT DOMINATING SET problem is NP-complete, even when restricted to planar graphs.We present simple linear time algorithms for the BOTTLENECK DOMINATING SET and the BOTTLENECK TOTAL DOMINATING SET problem. Furthermore, we give polynomial time algorithms (most of them with linear time-complexities) for the BOTTLENECK INDEPENDENT DOMINATING SET problem on the following graph classes: AT-free graphs, chordal graphs, split graphs, permutation graphs, graphs of bounded treewidth, and graphs of clique-width at most k with a given k-expression.     

The galaxies of nonstandard enlargements of infinite and transfinite graphs

The galaxies of the nonstandard enlargements of connected, conventionally infinite graphs as well as of walk-connected transfinite graphs are defined, analyzed, and illustrated by some examples. It is then shown that any such enlargement either has exactly one galaxy, its principal one, or it has infinitely many galaxies. In the latter case, the galaxies are partially ordered by their “closeness” to the principal galaxy. If an enlargement has a galaxy Γ different from its principal galaxy, then it has a two-way infinite sequence of galaxies that contains Γ and is totally ordered according to that “closeness” property. There may be many such totally ordered sequences.Furthermore, a walk-connected graph G¹ of transfinite rank 1 consists in general of connected conventional graphs (graphs of rank 0, called 0-sections) that are walk-connected together at their infinite extremities. The enlargement of G¹ consists of the enlargement of G¹, as well as of the enlargements of its 0-sections. The latter enlargements are all contained within the principal galaxy of . Moreover, may have other galaxies of rank 1; these too are partially and totally ordered as before. These results extend to the enlargements of transfinite graphs of ranks greater than 1.     

The Clique Problem in Ray Intersection Graphs

Ray intersection graphs are intersection graphs of rays, or halflines, in the plane. We show that any planar graph has an even subdivision whose complement is a ray intersection graph. The construction can be done in polynomial time and implies that finding a maximum clique in a segment intersection graph is NP-hard. This solves a 21-year old open problem posed by Kratochvíl and Ne?et?il (Comment Math Univ Carolinae 31(1):85–93, 1990).     

Vertex- and edge-minimal and locally minimal graphs

Given a family of graphs , a graph is called edge-minimal (vertex-minimal) if for every subgraph (induced subgraph) G^′ of G; furthermore, G is called locally edge-minimal (locally vertex-minimal) if whenever G^′ is obtained from G by deleting an edge (a vertex). Similarly, the concepts of minimality and local minimality are introduced for directed graphs (digraphs) and, more generally, for partially ordered sets.For example, by the Strong Perfect Graph Theorem, the only vertex-minimal graphs with χ>ω are odd holes and anti-holes. In contrast, the only locally vertex-minimal graphs with χ>ω are partitionable graphs. Somewhat surprisingly, there are infinitely many non-trivial perfect graphs that are locally edge-minimal and -maximal simultaneously. In other words, such a graph is perfect but it becomes imperfect after any edge is deleted from or added to it.In this paper we consider vertex- and edge-minimal and locally minimal graphs in the following families: (i) perfect and imperfect graphs, (ii) graphs with χ=ω and with χ>ω, (iii) digraphs that have a kernel and kernel-free digraphs, and finally, (iv) vertex-minimal complementary connected d-graphs.     

On minimal forbidden subgraph characterizations of balanced graphs

A graph is balanced if its clique-matrix contains no edge–vertex incidence matrix of an odd chordless cycle as a submatrix. While a forbidden induced subgraph characterization of balanced graphs is known, there is no such characterization by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs. In this work, we provide minimal forbidden induced subgraph characterizations of balanced graphs restricted to graphs that belong to one of the following graph classes: complements of bipartite graphs, line graphs of multigraphs, and complements of line graphs of multigraphs. These characterizations lead to linear-time recognition algorithms for balanced graphs within the same three graph classes.     

On compact and efficient routing in certain graph classes

In this paper we refine the notion of tree-decomposition by introducing acyclic (R,D)-clustering, where clusters are subsets of vertices of a graph and R and D are the maximum radius and the maximum diameter of these subsets. We design a routing scheme for graphs admitting induced acyclic (R,D)-clustering where the induced radius and the induced diameter of each cluster are at most 2. We show that, by constructing a family of special spanning trees, one can achieve a routing scheme of deviation Δ?2R with labels of size bits per vertex and O(1) routing protocol for these graphs. We investigate also some special graph classes admitting induced acyclic (R,D)-clustering with induced radius and diameter less than or equal to 2, namely, chordal bipartite, homogeneously orderable, and interval graphs. We achieve the deviation Δ=1 for interval graphs and Δ=2 for chordal bipartite and homogeneously orderable graphs.     

Partial characterizations of circular‐arc graphs

A circular‐arc graph is the intersection graph of a family of arcs on a circle. A characterization by forbidden induced subgraphs for this class of graphs is not known, and in this work we present a partial result in this direction. We characterize circular‐arc graphs by a list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to any of the following classes: P₄ ‐free graphs, paw‐free graphs, claw‐free chordal graphs and diamond‐free graphs. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 61: 289–306, 2009     

Characterization and linear-time detection of minimal obstructions to concave-round graphs and the circular-ones property

A graph is concave-round if its vertices can be circularly enumerated so that the closed neighborhood of each vertex is an interval in the enumeration. In this study, we give a minimal forbidden induced subgraph characterization for the class of concave-round graphs, solving a problem posed by Bang-Jensen, Huang, and Yeo [SIAM J. Discrete Math., 13 (2000), pp. 179–193]. In addition, we show that it is possible to find one such forbidden induced subgraph in linear time in any given graph that is not concave-round. As part of the analysis, we obtain characterizations by minimal forbidden submatrices for the circular-ones property for rows and for the circular-ones property for rows and columns and show that, also for both variants of the property, one of the corresponding forbidden submatrices can be found (if present) in any given matrix in linear time. We make some final remarks regarding connections to some classes of circular-arc graphs.