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.     

Minimal comparability completions of arbitrary graphs

A transitive orientation of an undirected graph is an assignment of directions to its edges so that these directed edges represent a transitive relation between the vertices of the graph. Not every graph has a transitive orientation, but every graph can be turned into a graph that has a transitive orientation, by adding edges. We study the problem of adding an inclusion minimal set of edges to an arbitrary graph so that the resulting graph is transitively orientable. We show that this problem can be solved in polynomial time, and we give a surprisingly simple algorithm for it. We use a vertex incremental approach in this algorithm, and we also give a more general result that describes graph classes Π for which Π completion of arbitrary graphs can be achieved through such a vertex incremental approach.     

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.     

Super-connected edge transitive graphs

A graph G is said to be super-connected if any minimum cut of G isolates a vertex. In a previous work due to the second author of this note, super-connected graphs which are both vertex transitive and edge transitive are characterized. In this note, we generalize the characterization to edge transitive graphs which are not necessarily vertex transitive, showing that the only irreducible edge transitive graphs which are not super-connected are the cycles C_n(n?6) and the line graph of the 3-cube, where irreducible means the graph has no vertices with the same neighbor set. Furthermore, we give some sufficient conditions for reducible edge transitive graphs to be super-connected.     

Some properties of edge intersection graphs of single bend paths on a grid

We consider the family of intersection graphs G of paths on a grid, where every vertex v in G corresponds to a single bend path P_v on a grid, and two vertices are adjacent in G if and only if the corresponding paths share an edge on the grid. We first show that these graphs have the Erdös-Hajnal property. Then we present some properties concerning the neighborhood of a vertex in these graphs, and finally we consider some subclasses of chordal graphs for which we give necessary and sufficient conditions to be edge intersection graphs of single bend paths in a grid.     

Some remarks on the geodetic number of a graph

A set of vertices D of a graph G is geodetic if every vertex of G lies on a shortest path between two not necessarily distinct vertices in D. The geodetic number of G is the minimum cardinality of a geodetic set of G.We prove that it is NP-complete to decide for a given chordal or chordal bipartite graph G and a given integer k whether G has a geodetic set of cardinality at most k. Furthermore, we prove an upper bound on the geodetic number of graphs without short cycles and study the geodetic number of cographs, split graphs, and unit interval graphs.     

Theory of path length distributions I

The Path Length Distribution (PLD) of a (p, q) graph is defined to be the array (X₀, X₁, X₂, …, X_p-1), where X₀ is the number of (unordered) pairs of vertices which have no path connecting them and X_l, 1 ≦ l ≦ p-1, is the number of pairs of vertices which are connected by a path of length l (see [1, 2]). The topic of this paper is the occurence of non-isomorphic graphs having the same path length distribution. For trees, a constructive procedure is given, showing that for any positive integer N there exist N non-isomorphic trees of diameter four which have the same PLD. Also considered are PLD-maximal graphs — those graphs with p vertices such that all pairs of vertices are connected by a path of length l for 2 ≦ l ≦ p-1. In addition to providing more examples of non-isomorphic graphs having the same PLD, PLD-maximal graphs are of intrinsic interest. For PLD-maximal graphs, we give sufficient degree and edge conditions and a necessary edge condition.     

Graphs with a Minimal Number of Convex Sets

Let G be a graph with vertex set V(G). A set C of vertices of G is g-convex if for every pair \({u, v \in C}\) the vertices on every u–v geodesic (i.e. shortest u–v path) belong to C. If the only g-convex sets of G are the empty set, V(G), all singletons and all edges, then G is called a g-minimal graph. It is shown that a graph is g-minimal if and only if it is triangle-free and if it has the property that the convex hull of every pair of non-adjacent vertices is V(G). Several properties of g-minimal graphs are established and it is shown that every triangle-free graph is an induced subgraph of a g-minimal graph. Recursive constructions of g-minimal graphs are described and bounds for the number of edges in these graphs are given. It is shown that the roots of the generating polynomials of the number of g-convex sets of each size of a g-minimal graphs are bounded, in contrast to their behaviour over all graphs. A set C of vertices of a graph is m-convex if for every pair \({u, v \in C}\) , the vertices of every induced u–v path belong to C. A graph is m-minimal if it has no m-convex sets other than the empty set, the singletons, the edges and the entire vertex set. Sharp bounds on the number of edges in these graphs are given and graphs that are m-minimal are shown to be precisely the 2-connected, triangle-free graphs for which no pair of adjacent vertices forms a vertex cut-set.     

A class of solutions to the gossip problem,part I

We characterize optimal solutions to the gossip problem in which no one hears his own information. That is, we consider graphs on n vertices where the edges are given a linear ordering such that an increasing path exists from each vertex to every other, but there is no increasing path from a vertex to itself. Such graphs exist if and only if n is even, in which case the fewest number of edges is 2n - 4, as in the original gossip problem (in which the “$\text{N}$o $\text{O}$ne $\text{H}$ears his $\text{O}$wn information” condition did not appear). We characterize optimal solutions of this sort, called NOHO-graphs, by a correspondence with quadruples consisting of two permutations and two binary sequences. The correspondence uses a canonical numbering of the vertices of the graph; it arises from the edge ordering. (Exception: there are two optimal solution graphs which do not meet this characterization.) Also in Part I, we show constructively that NOHO-graphs are Hamiltonian, bipartite, and planar. In Part II, we study other properties of the associated quadruples, which includes enumerating them. In Part III, we enumerate the non-isomorphic NOHO-graphs.     

Monochromatic square-cycle and square-path partitions

The square of a path P is the graph obtained from P by joining every pair of vertices with distance 2 in P. We show that in every 2-colored complete graph on sufficiently many vertices the vertex set can be partitioned by at most 65 vertex disjoint monochromatic square-paths.     

Finding a minimum path cover of a distance-hereditary graph in polynomial time

A path cover of a graph G=(V,E) is a set of pairwise vertex-disjoint paths such that the disjoint union of the vertices of these paths equals the vertex set V of G. The path cover problem is, given a graph, to find a path cover having the minimum number of paths. The path cover problem contains the Hamiltonian path problem as a special case since finding a path cover, consisting of a single path, corresponds directly to the Hamiltonian path problem. A graph is a distance-hereditary graph if each pair of vertices is equidistant in every connected induced subgraph containing them. The complexity of the path cover problem on distance-hereditary graphs has remained unknown. In this paper, we propose the first polynomial-time algorithm, which runs in O(|V|⁹) time, to solve the path cover problem on distance-hereditary graphs.     

Optimal broadcast domination in polynomial time

Broadcast domination was introduced by Erwin in 2002, and it is a variant of the standard dominating set problem, such that different vertices can be assigned different domination powers. Broadcast domination assigns an integer power f(v)?0 to each vertex v of a given graph, such that every vertex of the graph is within distance f(v) from some vertex v having f(v)?1. The optimal broadcast domination problem seeks to minimize the sum of the powers assigned to the vertices of the graph. Since the presentation of this problem its computational complexity has been open, and the general belief has been that it might be NP-hard. In this paper, we show that optimal broadcast domination is actually in P, and we give a polynomial time algorithm for solving the problem on arbitrary graphs, using a non-standard approach.     

On the geodetic number of median graphs

A set of vertices S in a graph is called geodetic if every vertex of this graph lies on some shortest path between two vertices from S. In this paper, minimum geodetic sets in median graphs are studied with respect to the operation of peripheral expansion. Along the way geodetic sets of median prisms are considered and median graphs that possess a geodetic set of size two are characterized.     

A vertex incremental approach for maintaining chordality

For a chordal graph G=(V,E), we study the problem of whether a new vertex u∉V and a given set of edges between u and vertices in V can be added to G so that the resulting graph remains chordal. We show how to resolve this efficiently, and at the same time, if the answer is no, specify a maximal subset of the proposed edges that can be added along with u, or conversely, a minimal set of extra edges that can be added in addition to the given set, so that the resulting graph is chordal. In order to do this, we give a new characterization of chordal graphs and, for each potential new edge uv, a characterization of the set of edges incident to u that also must be added to G along with uv. We propose a data structure that can compute and add each such set in O(n) time. Based on these results, we present an algorithm that computes both a minimal triangulation and a maximal chordal subgraph of an arbitrary input graph in O(nm) time, using a totally new vertex incremental approach. In contrast to previous algorithms, our process is on-line in that each new vertex is added without reconsidering any choice made at previous steps, and without requiring any knowledge of the vertices that might be added subsequently.     

Obstructions to chordal circular-arc graphs of small independence number

A blocking quadruple (BQ) is a quadruple of vertices of a graph such that any two vertices of the quadruple either miss (have no neighbours on) some path connecting the remaining two vertices of the quadruple, or are connected by some path missed by the remaining two vertices. This is akin to the notion of asteroidal triple used in the classical characterization of interval graphs by Lekkerkerker and Boland [Klee, V., What are the intersection graphs of arcs in a circle?, American Mathematical Monthly 76 (1976), pp. 810–813.].In this note, we first observe that blocking quadruples are obstructions for circular-arc graphs. We then focus on chordal graphs, and study the relationship between the structure of chordal graphs and the presence/absence of blocking quadruples.Our contribution is two-fold. Firstly, we provide a forbidden induced subgraph characterization of chordal graphs without blocking quadruples. In particular, we observe that all the forbidden subgraphs are variants of the subgraphs forbidden for interval graphs [Klee, V., What are the intersection graphs of arcs in a circle?, American Mathematical Monthly 76 (1976), pp. 810–813.]. Secondly, we show that the absence of blocking quadruples is sufficient to guarantee that a chordal graph with no independent set of size five is a circular-arc graph. In our proof we use a novel geometric approach, constructing a circular-arc representation by traversing around a carefully chosen clique tree.     

Dominator Colorings in Some Classes of Graphs

A dominator coloring is a coloring of the vertices of a graph such that every vertex is either alone in its color class or adjacent to all vertices of at least one other class. We present new bounds on the dominator coloring number of a graph, with applications to chordal graphs. We show how to compute the dominator coloring number in polynomial time for P ₄-free graphs, and we give a polynomial-time characterization of graphs with dominator coloring number at most 3.     

Solving the path cover problem on circular-arc graphs by using an approximation algorithm

A path cover of a graph G=(V,E) is a family of vertex-disjoint paths that covers all vertices in V. Given a graph G, the path cover problem is to find a path cover of minimum cardinality. This paper presents a simple O(n)-time approximation algorithm for the path cover problem on circular-arc graphs given a set of n arcs with endpoints sorted. The cardinality of the path cover found by the approximation algorithm is at most one more than the optimal one. By using the result, we reduce the path cover problem on circular-arc graphs to the Hamiltonian cycle and Hamiltonian path problems on the same class of graphs in O(n) time. Hence the complexity of the path cover problem on circular-arc graphs is the same as those of the Hamiltonian cycle and Hamiltonian path problems on circular-arc graphs.     

On the Maximum Zagreb Indices of Graphs with <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis> Cut Vertices

For a (molecular) graph, the first Zagreb index M ₁ is equal to the sum of squares of the vertex degrees, and the second Zagreb index M ₂ is equal to the sum of products of degrees of pairs of adjacent vertices. In this paper, we study the Zagreb indices of n-vertex connected graphs with k cut vertices, the upper bound for M ₁- and M ₂-values of n-vertex connected graphs with k cut vertices are determined, respectively. The corresponding extremal graphs are characterized.     

Perfectly orderable graphs and almost all perfect graphs are kernelM-solvable

A graph is perfectly orderable if and only if it admits an acyclic orientation which does not contain an induced subgraph with verticesa, b, c, d and arcsab, bc, dc. Further a graph is called kernelM-solvable if for every direction of the edges (here pairs of symmetric, i.e. reversible, arcs are allowed) such that every directed triangle possesses at least two pairs of symmetric arcs, there exists a kernel, i.e. an independent setK of vertices such that every other vertex sends some arc towardsK. We prove that perfectly orderable graphs are kernelM-solvable. Using a deep result of Prömel and Steger we derive that almost all perfect graphs are kernelM-solvable.     

More on the Harary index of cacti

The Harary index is defined as the sum of reciprocals of distances between all pairs of vertices of a connected graph. A cactus is a connected graph in which two cycles have at most one vertex in common. In this paper, we first determine graphs with the largest Harary index among all the cacti with n vertices and a perfect matching. Then we characterize the cacti with given order, cut edges and maximum Harary index. Finally, we establish upper bounds for Harary index among all cacti with n vertices and k pendant vertices.