On minimal forbidden subgraph characterizations of balanced graphs

A {0, 1}-matrix is balanced if it contains no square submatrix of odd order with exactly two 1's per row and per column. Balanced matrices lead to ideal formulations for both set packing and set covering problems. Balanced graphs are those graphs whose clique-vertex incidence matrix is balanced.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 some graph classes which also lead to polynomial time or even linear time recognition algorithms within the corresponding subclasses.     

Forbidden induced subgraph characterizations of subclasses and variations of perfect graphs: A survey

A graph is perfect if the chromatic number is equal to the clique number for every induced subgraph of the graph. Perfect graphs were defined by Berge in the sixties. In this survey we present known results about partial characterizations by forbidden induced subgraphs of different graph classes related to perfect graphs. We analyze a variation of perfect graphs, clique-perfect graphs, and two subclasses of perfect graphs, coordinated graphs and balanced graphs.     

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.     

Clique-perfectness of complements of line graphs

The clique-transversal number τ_c(G) of a graph G is the minimum size of a set of vertices meeting all the cliques. The clique-independence number α_c(G) of G is the maximum size of a collection of vertex-disjoint cliques. A graph is clique-perfect if these two numbers are equal for every induced subgraph of G. Unlike perfect graphs, the class of clique-perfect graphs is not closed under graph complementation nor is a characterization by forbidden induced subgraphs known. Nevertheless, partial results in this direction have been obtained. For instance, in [Bonomo, F., M. Chudnovsky and G. Durán, Partial characterizations of clique-perfect graphs I: Subclasses of claw-free graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 156 (2008), pp. 1058–1082], a characterization of those line graphs that are clique-perfect is given in terms of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs. Our main result is a characterization of those complements of line graphs that are clique-perfect, also by means of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs. This implies an O(n²) time algorithm for deciding the clique-perfectness of complements of line graphs and, for those that are clique-perfect, finding α_c and τ_c.     

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.     

A generalization of line graphs: (X,Y)-intersection graphs

Given a pair (X, Y) of fixed graphs X and Y, the (X, Y)-intersection graph of a graph G is a graph whose vertices correspond to distinct induced subgraphs of G that are isomorphic to Y, and where two vertices are adjacent iff the intersection of their corresponding subgraphs contains an induced subgraph isomorphic to X. This generalizes the notion of line graphs, since the line graph of G is precisely the (K₁, K₂)-intersection graph of G. In this paper, we consider the forbidden induced subgraph characterization of (X, Y)-intersection graphs for various (X, Y) pairs; such consideration is motivated by the characterization of line graphs through forbidden induced subgraphs. For this purpose, we restrict our attention to hereditary pairs (a pair (X, Y) is hereditary if every induced subgraph of any (X, Y)-intersection graph is also an (X, Y)-intersection graph), since only for such pairs do (X, Y)-intersection graphs have forbidden induced subgraph characterizations. We show that for hereditary 2-pairs (a pair (X, Y) is a 2-pair if Y contains exactly two induced subgraphs isomorphic to X), the family of line graphs of multigraphs and the family of line graphs of bipartite graphs are the maximum and minimum elements, respectively, of the poset on all families of (X, Y)-intersection graphs ordered by set inclusion. We characterize 2-pairs for which the family of (X, Y)-intersection graphs are exactly the family of line graphs or the family of line graphs of multigraphs. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

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.     

On orthogonal ray graphs

An orthogonal ray graph is an intersection graph of horizontal and vertical rays (half-lines) in the xy-plane. An orthogonal ray graph is a 2-directional orthogonal ray graph if all the horizontal rays extend in the positive x-direction and all the vertical rays extend in the positive y-direction. We first show that the class of orthogonal ray graphs is a proper subset of the class of unit grid intersection graphs. We next provide several characterizations of 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs. Our first characterization is based on forbidden submatrices. A characterization in terms of a vertex ordering follows immediately. Next, we show that 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs are exactly those bipartite graphs whose complements are circular arc graphs. This characterization implies polynomial-time recognition and isomorphism algorithms for 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs. It also leads to a characterization of 2-directional orthogonal ray graphs by a list of forbidden induced subgraphs. We also show a characterization of 2-directional orthogonal ray trees, which implies a linear-time algorithm to recognize such trees. Our results settle an open question of deciding whether a (0,1)-matrix can be permuted to avoid the submatrices .     

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].     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect and coordinated graphs: superclasses of triangle-free graphs

A graph is clique-perfect if the cardinality of a maximum clique-independent set equals the cardinality of a minimum clique-transversal, for all its induced subgraphs. A graph G is coordinated if the chromatic number of the clique graph of H equals the maximum number of cliques of H with a common vertex, for every induced subgraph H of G. Coordinated graphs are a subclass of perfect graphs. The complete lists of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the classes of cliqueperfect and coordinated graphs are not known, but some partial characterizations have been obtained. In this paper, we characterize clique-perfect and coordinated graphs by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph is either paw-free or {gem,W₄,bull}-free, two superclasses of triangle-free graphs.     

Forbidden subgraphs and the König–Egerváry property

The matching number of a graph is the maximum size of a set of vertex-disjoint edges. The transversal number is the minimum number of vertices needed to meet every edge. A graph has the König–Egerváry property  if its matching number equals its transversal number. Lovász proved a characterization of graphs having the König–Egerváry property by means of forbidden subgraphs within graphs with a perfect matching. Korach, Nguyen, and Peis proposed an extension of Lovász’s result to a characterization of all graphs having the König–Egerváry property in terms of forbidden configurations (which are certain arrangements of a subgraph and a maximum matching). In this work, we prove a characterization of graphs having the König–Egerváry property by means of forbidden subgraphs which is a strengthened version of the characterization by Korach et al. Using our characterization of graphs with the König–Egerváry property, we also prove a forbidden subgraph characterization for the class of edge-perfect graphs.     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect and coordinated graphs: Superclasses of triangle-free graphs

A graph G is clique-perfect if the cardinality of a maximum clique-independent set of H equals the cardinality of a minimum clique-transversal of H, for every induced subgraph H of G. A graph G is coordinated if the minimum number of colors that can be assigned to the cliques of H in such a way that no two cliques with non-empty intersection receive the same color equals the maximum number of cliques of H with a common vertex, for every induced subgraph H of G. Coordinated graphs are a subclass of perfect graphs. The complete lists of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the classes of clique-perfect and coordinated graphs are not known, but some partial characterizations have been obtained. In this paper, we characterize clique-perfect and coordinated graphs by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph is either paw-free or {gem, W₄, bull}-free, both superclasses of triangle-free graphs.     

Partial characterizations of clique-perfect graphs I: Subclasses of claw-free 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. The clique-transversal number and clique-independence number of G are the sizes of a minimum clique-transversal and a maximum clique-independent set of G, respectively. A graph G is clique-perfect if these two numbers 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. In this paper, we present a partial result in this direction; that is, we characterize clique-perfect graphs by a restricted list of forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph belongs to two different subclasses of claw-free graphs.     

Claw-free graphs with strongly perfect complements. Fractional and integral version. Part I. Basic graphs

Strongly perfect graphs have been studied by several authors (e.g. Berge and Duchet (1984) [1], Ravindra (1984) [12] and Wang (2006) [14]). In a series of two papers, the current paper being the first one, we investigate a fractional relaxation of strong perfection. Motivated by a wireless networking problem, we consider claw-free graphs that are fractionally strongly perfect in the complement. We obtain a forbidden induced subgraph characterization and display graph-theoretic properties of such graphs. It turns out that the forbidden induced subgraphs that characterize claw-free graphs that are fractionally strongly perfect in the complement are precisely the cycle of length 6, all cycles of length at least 8, four particular graphs, and a collection of graphs that are constructed by taking two graphs, each a copy of one of three particular graphs, and joining them in a certain way by a path of arbitrary length. Wang (2006) [14] gave a characterization of strongly perfect claw-free graphs. As a corollary of the results in this paper, we obtain a characterization of claw-free graphs whose complements are strongly perfect.     

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     

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.     

Interval <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-Graphs and Orders

An interval k-graph is the intersection graph of a family of intervals of the real line partitioned into k classes with vertices adjacent if and only if their corresponding intervals intersect and belong to different classes. In this paper we study the cocomparability interval k-graphs; that is, the interval k-graphs whose complements have a transitive orientation and are therefore the incomparability graphs of strict partial orders. For brevity we call these orders interval k-orders. We characterize the kind of interval representations a cocomparability interval k-graph must have, and identify the structure that guarantees an order is an interval k-order. The case k =?2 is peculiar: cocomparability interval 2-graphs (equivalently proper- or unit-interval bigraphs, bipartite permutation graphs, and complements of proper circular-arc graphs to name a few) have been characterized in many ways, but we show that analogous characterizations do not hold if k >?2. We characterize the cocomparability interval 3-graphs via one forbidden subgraph and hence interval 3-orders via one forbidden suborder.     

Partial characterizations of coordinated graphs: line graphs and complements of forests

A graph G is coordinated if the minimum number of colors that can be assigned to the cliques of H in such a way that no two cliques with non-empty intersection receive the same color is equal to the maximum number of cliques of H with a common vertex, for every induced subgraph H of G. Coordinated graphs are a subclass of perfect graphs. The list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for the class of coordinated graphs is not known. In this paper, we present a partial result in this direction, that is, we characterize coordinated graphs by minimal forbidden induced subgraphs when the graph is either a line graph, or the complement of a forest. F. Bonomo, F. Soulignac, and G. Sueiro’s research partially supported by UBACyT Grant X184 (Argentina), and CNPq under PROSUL project Proc. 490333/2004-4 (Brazil). The research of G. Durán is partially supported by FONDECyT Grant 1080286 and Millennium Science Institute “Complex Engineering Systems” (Chile), and CNPq under PROSUL project Proc. 490333/2004-4 (Brazil).     

A characterization of partial directed line graphs

Can a directed graph be completed to a directed line graph? If possible, how many arcs must be added? In this paper we address the above questions characterizing partial directed line (PDL) graphs, i.e., partial subgraph of directed line graphs. We show that for such class of graphs a forbidden configuration criterion and a Krausz's like theorem are equivalent characterizations. Furthermore, the latter leads to a recognition algorithm that requires O(m) worst case time, where m is the number of arcs in the graph. Given a partial line digraph, our characterization allows us to find a minimum completion to a directed line graph within the same time bound.The class of PDL graphs properly contains the class of directed line graphs, characterized in [J. Blazewicz, A. Hertz, D. Kobler, D. de Werra, On some properties of DNA graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 98(1-2) (1999) 1-19], hence our results generalize those already known for directed line graphs. In the undirected case, we show that finding a minimum line graph edge completion is NP-hard, while the problem of deciding whether or not an undirected graph is a partial graph of a simple line graph is trivial.     

Claw-free graphs with strongly perfect complements. Fractional and integral version, Part II: Nontrivial strip-structures

Strongly perfect graphs have been studied by several authors (e.g., Berge and Duchet (1984) [1], Ravindra (1984) [7] and Wang (2006) [8]). In a series of two papers, the current paper being the second one, we investigate a fractional relaxation of strong perfection. Motivated by a wireless networking problem, we consider claw-free graphs that are fractionally strongly perfect in the complement. We obtain a forbidden induced subgraph characterization and display graph-theoretic properties of such graphs. It turns out that the forbidden induced subgraphs that characterize claw-free graphs that are fractionally strongly perfect in the complement are precisely the cycle of length 6, all cycles of length at least 8, four particular graphs, and a collection of graphs that are constructed by taking two graphs, each a copy of one of three particular graphs, and joining them in a certain way by a path of arbitrary length. Wang (2006) [8] gave a characterization of strongly perfect claw-free graphs. As a corollary of the results in this paper, we obtain a characterization of claw-free graphs whose complements are strongly perfect.