The most vital nodes with respect to independent set and vertex cover

Given an undirected graph with weights on its vertices, the k most vital nodes independent set (k most vital nodes vertex cover) problem consists of determining a set of k vertices whose removal results in the greatest decrease in the maximum weight of independent sets (minimum weight of vertex covers, respectively). We also consider the complementary problems, minimum node blocker independent set (minimum node blocker vertex cover) that consists of removing a subset of vertices of minimum size such that the maximum weight of independent sets (minimum weight of vertex covers, respectively) in the remaining graph is at most a specified value. We show that these problems are NP-hard on bipartite graphs but polynomial-time solvable on unweighted bipartite graphs. Furthermore, these problems are polynomial also on cographs and graphs of bounded treewidth. Results on the non-existence of ptas are presented, too.     

R-domination on block graphs

The k-domination problem is to select a minimum cardinality vertex set D of a graph G such that every vertex of G is within distance k from some vertex of D. We consider a generalization of the k-domination problem, called the R-domination problem. A linear algorithm is presented that solves this problem for block graphs. Our algorithm is a generalization of Slater's algorithm [12], which is applicable for forest graphs.     

Hereditary Efficiently Dominatable Graphs

An efficient dominating set (or perfect code) in a graph is a set of vertices the closed neighborhoods of which partition the graph's vertex set. We introduce graphs that are hereditary efficiently dominatable in that sense that every induced subgraph of the graph contains an efficient dominating set. We prove a decomposition theorem for (bull, fork, C₄)‐free graphs, based on which we characterize, in terms of forbidden induced subgraphs, the class of hereditary efficiently dominatable graphs. We also give a decomposition theorem for hereditary efficiently dominatable graphs and examine some algorithmic aspects of such graphs. In particular, we give a polynomial time algorithm for finding an efficient dominating set (if one exists) in a class of graphs properly containing the class of hereditary efficiently dominatable graphs by reducing the problem to the maximum weight independent set problem in claw‐free graphs.     

Orientations of infinite graphs with prescribed edge-connectivity

We prove a decomposition result for locally finite graphs which can be used to extend results on edge-connectivity from finite to infinite graphs. It implies that every 4k-edge-connected graph G contains an immersion of some finite 2k-edge-connected Eulerian graph containing any prescribed vertex set (while planar graphs show that G need not containa subdivision of a simple finite graph of large edge-connectivity). Also, every 8k-edge connected infinite graph has a k-arc-connected orientation, as conjectured in 1989.     

Polar cographs

Polar graphs are a natural extension of some classes of graphs like bipartite graphs, split graphs and complements of bipartite graphs. A graph is (s,k)-polar if there exists a partition A,B of its vertex set such that A induces a complete s-partite graph (i.e., a collection of at most s disjoint stable sets with complete links between all sets) and B a disjoint union of at most k cliques (i.e., the complement of a complete k-partite graph).Recognizing a polar graph is known to be NP-complete. These graphs have not been extensively studied and no good characterization is known. Here we consider the class of polar graphs which are also cographs (graphs without induced path on four vertices). We provide a characterization in terms of forbidden subgraphs. Besides, we give an algorithm in time O(n) for finding a largest induced polar subgraph in cographs; this also serves as a polar cograph recognition algorithm. We examine also the monopolar cographs which are the (s,k)-polar cographs where min(s,k)?1. A characterization of these graphs by forbidden subgraphs is given. Some open questions related to polarity are discussed.     

2K2 vertex-set partition into nonempty parts

A graph is 2K₂-partitionable if its vertex set can be partitioned into four nonempty parts A, B, C, D such that each vertex of A is adjacent to each vertex of B, and each vertex of C is adjacent to each vertex of D. Determining whether an arbitrary graph is 2K₂-partitionable is the only vertex-set partition problem into four nonempty parts according to external constraints whose computational complexity is open. We show that for C₄-free graphs, circular-arc graphs, spiders, P₄-sparse graphs, and bipartite graphs the 2K₂-partition problem can be solved in polynomial time.     

Polar cographs

A graph is (s, k)-polar if there exists a partition A, B of its vertex set such that A induces a complete s-partite graph and B a disjoint union of at most k cliques. Recognizing a polar graph is known to be NP-complete. Here we consider the class of polar graphs which are also cographs. We provide polynomial time algorithms and forbidden subgraphs characterizations for problems related to polar cographs.     

Independent sets in graphs without subtrees with many leaves

A subtree of a graph is called inscribed if no three vertices of the subtree generate a triangle in the graph. We prove that, for fixed k, the independent set problem is solvable in polynomial time for each of the following classes of graphs: (1) graphs without subtrees with k leaves, (2) subcubic graphs without inscribed subtrees with k leaves, and (3) graphs with degree not exceeding k and lacking induced subtrees with four leaves.     

Properties of vertex cover obstructions

We study properties of the sets of minimal forbidden minors for the families of graphs having a vertex cover of size at most k. We denote this set by O(k-VERTEX COVER) and call it the set of obstructions. Our main result is to give a tight vertex bound of O(k-VERTEX COVER), and then confirm a conjecture made by Liu Xiong that there is a unique connected obstruction with maximum number of vertices for k-VERTEX COVER and this graph is C_2k+1. We also find two iterative methods to generate graphs in O((k+1)-VERTEX COVER) from any graph in O(k-VERTEX COVER).     

On intersections of interval graphs

If one can associate with each vertex of a graph an interval of a line, so that two intervals intersect just when the corresponding vertices are joined by an edge, then one speaks of an interval graph.It is shown that any graph on v vertices is the intersection (“product”) of at most [$\text{1}\text{2}$v] interval graphs on the same vertex set.For v=2k, k factors are necessary for, and only for, the complete k-partite graph K_2,2,…,2.Some results for the hypergraph generalization of this question are also obtained.     

On positive-influence target-domination

Consider a graph \(G=(V,E)\) and a vertex subset \(A \subseteq V\). A vertex v is positive-influence dominated by A if either v is in A or at least half the number of neighbors of v belong to A. For a target vertex subset \(S \subseteq V\), a vertex subset A is a positive-influence target-dominating set for target set S if every vertex in S is positive-influence dominated by A. Given a graph G and a target vertex subset S, the positive-influence target-dominating set (PITD) problem is to find the minimum positive-influence dominating set for target S. In this paper, we show two results: (1) The PITD problem has a polynomial-time \((1 + \log \lceil \frac{3}{2} \Delta \rceil )\)-approximation in general graphs where \(\Delta \) is the maximum vertex-degree of the input graph. (2) For target set S with \(|S|=\Omega (|V|)\), the PITD problem has a polynomial-time O(1)-approximation in power-law graphs.     

The diameter of total domination vertex critical graphs

A graph G with no isolated vertex is total domination vertex critical if for any vertex v of G that is not adjacent to a vertex of degree one, the total domination number of G-v is less than the total domination number of G. These graphs we call γ_t-critical. If such a graph G has total domination number k, we call it k-γ_t-critical. We characterize the connected graphs with minimum degree one that are γ_t-critical and we obtain sharp bounds on their maximum diameter. We calculate the maximum diameter of a k-γ_t-critical graph for k?8 and provide an example which shows that the maximum diameter is in general at least 5k/3-O(1).     

Characterization of k-variegated graphs, k ⩾ 3

A graph is said to be k-variegated if its vertex set can be partitioned into k equal parts such that each vertex is adjacent to exactly one vertex from every other part not containing it. Bednarek and Sanders [1] posed the problem of characterizing k-variegated graphs. V.N. Bhat-Nayak, S.A. Choudum and R.N. Naik [2] gave the characterization of 2-variegated graphs. In this paper we characterize k-variegated graphs for k ? 3.     

Domatic partitions of computable graphs

Given a graph G, we say that a subset D of the vertex set V is a dominating set if it is near all the vertices, in that every vertex outside of D is adjacent to a vertex in D. A domatic k-partition of G is a partition of V into k dominating sets. In this paper, we will consider issues of computability related to domatic partitions of computable graphs. Our investigation will center on answering two types of questions for the case when k = 3. First, if domatic 3-partitions exist in a computable graph, how complicated can they be? Second, a decision problem: given a graph, how difficult is it to decide whether it has a domatic 3-partition? We will completely classify this decision problem for highly computable graphs, locally finite computable graphs, and computable graphs in general. Specifically, we show the decision problems for these kinds of graphs to be ${\Pi^{0}_{1}}$ -, ${\Pi^{0}_{2}}$ -, and ${\Sigma^{1}_{1}}$ -complete, respectively.     

A forbidden subgraph characterization of line-polar bipartite graphs

A graph is polar if the vertex set can be partitioned into A and B in such a way that the subgraph induced by A is a complete multipartite graph and the subgraph induced by B is a disjoint union of cliques. Polar graphs are a common generalization of bipartite, cobipartite, and split graphs. However, recognizing polar graphs is an NP-complete problem in general. This led to the study of the polarity of special classes of graphs such as cographs and chordal graphs, cf. Ekim et al. (2008) [7] and [5]. In this paper, we study the polarity of line graphs and call a graph line-polar if its line graph is polar. We characterize line-polar bipartite graphs in terms of forbidden subgraphs. This answers a question raised in the fist reference mentioned above. Our characterization has already been used to develop a linear time algorithm for recognizing line-polar bipartite graphs, cf. Ekim (submitted for publication) [6].     

An iterative rounding 2-approximation algorithm for the k-partial vertex cover problem

We study a generalization of the vertex cover problem. For a given graph with weights on the vertices and an integer k, we aim to find a subset of the vertices with minimum total weight, so that at least k edges in the graph are covered. The problem is called the k-partial vertex cover problem. There are some 2-approximation algorithms for the problem. In the paper we do not improve on the approximation ratios of the previous algorithms, but we derive an iterative rounding algorithm. We present our technique in two algorithms. The first is an iterative rounding algorithm and gives a （2 ＋ Q/OPT ）-approximation for the k-partial vertex cover problem where Q is the largest finite weight in the problem definition and OPT is the optimal value for the instance. The second algorithm uses the first as a subroutine and achieves an approximation ratio of 2.     

Complexity of representation of graphs by set systems

Let $\text{F}$ be a family of subsets of S and let G be a graph with vertex set $\text{V={x}{}_{\mathrm{A}}\text{|A ∈}\text{F}\text{}}$ such that: (x_A, x_B) is an edge iff $\text{A?B≠}\text{0}\text{/}$. The family $\text{F}$ is called a set representation of the graph G.It is proved that the problem of finding minimum k such that G can be represented by a family of sets of cardinality at most k is NP-complete. Moreover, it is NP-complete to decide whether a graph can be represented by a family of distinct 3-element sets.The set representations of random graphs are also considered.     

Edge Coloring of Split Graphs

A split graph is a graph whose vertex set admits a partition into a stable set and a clique. The chromatic indexes for some subsets of split graphs, such as split graphs with odd maximum degree and split-indifference graphs, are known. However, for the general class, the problem remains unsolved. This paper presents new results about the classification problem for split graphs as a contribution in the direction of solving the entire problem for this class.     

New Cases of the Polynomial Solvability of the Independent Set Problem for Graphs with Forbidden Paths

The independent set problem is solvable in polynomial time for the graphs not containing the path P _k for any fixed k. If the induced path P _k is forbidden then the complexity of this problem is unknown for k > 6. We consider the intermediate cases that the induced path P _k and some of its spanning supergraphs are forbidden. We prove the solvability of the independent set problem in polynomial time for the following cases: (1) the supergraphs whose minimal degree is less than k/2 are forbidden; (2) the supergraphs whose complementary graph has more than k/2 edges are forbidden; (3) the supergraphs from which we can obtain P _k by means of graph intersection are forbidden.