On the number of connected convex subgraphs of a connected acyclic digraph

A digraph D is connected if the underlying undirected graph of D is connected. A subgraph H of an acyclic digraph D is convex if there is no directed path between vertices of H which contains an arc not in H. We find the minimum and maximum possible number of connected convex subgraphs in a connected acyclic digraph of order n. Connected convex subgraphs of connected acyclic digraphs are of interest in the area of modern embedded processors technology.     

A linear algorithm for the domination number of a series-parallel graph

A vertex u in an undirected graph G = (V, E) is said to dominate all its adjacent vertices and itself. A subset D of V is a dominating set in G if every vertex in G is dominated by a vertex in D, and is a minimum dominating set in G if no other dominating set in G has fewer vertices than D. The domination number of G is the cardinality of a minimum dominating set in G.The problem of determining, for a given positive integer k and an undirected graph G, whether G has a dominating set D in G satisfying ¦D¦ ≤ k, is a well-known NP-complete problem. Cockayne have presented a linear time algorithm for finding a minimum dominating set in a tree. In this paper, we will present a linear time algorithm for finding a minimum dominating set in a series-parallel graph.     

On the skew energy of orientations of hypercubes

Let D be a digraph of order n and λ₁,λ₂,…,λ_n denote all the eigenvalues of the skew-adjacency matrix of D. The skew energy E_S(D) of D is defined as . In this paper, it is proved that for any positive integer k≥3, there exists a k-regular graph of order n having an orientation D with . This work positively answers a problem proposed by Adiga et al. [C. Adiga, R. Balakrishnan, Wasin So, The skew energy of a digraph, Linear Algebra Appl. 432 (2010) 1825-1835]. In addition, a digraph is also constructed such that its skew energy is the same as the energy of its underlying graph.     

On minimum power connectivity problems

Given a (directed or undirected) graph with edge costs, the power of a node is the maximum cost of an edge leaving it, and the power of the graph is the sum of the powers of its nodes. Motivated by applications for wireless networks, we present polynomial and improved approximation algorithms, as well as inapproximability results, for some classic network design problems under the power minimization criteria. Our main result is for the problem of finding a min-power subgraph that contains k internally-disjoint vs-paths from every node v to a given node s: we give a polynomial algorithm for directed graphs and a logarithmic approximation algorithm for undirected graphs. In contrast, we will show that the corresponding edge-connectivity problems are unlikely to admit even a polylogarithmic approximation.     

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.     

3-Regular digraphs with optimum skew energy

The skew energy of a digraph D is defined as the sum of the singular values of its skew adjacency matrix $S(D)$. In this paper, we first interpret the entries of the power of the skew adjacency matrix of a digraph in terms of the number of its walks and then focus on the question posed by Adiga et al. [C. Adiga, R. Balakrishnan, Wasin So, The skew energy of a graph, Linear Algebra Appl. 432 (2010) 1825–1835] of determining all $3$-regular connected digraphs with optimum skew energy.     

Fast parallel strong orientation of mixed graphs and related augmentation problems

The strong orientation problem is: Given an undirected graph, G, assign orientations to its edges so that the resulting directed graph is strongly connected. Robbins showed when such an orientation exists. A generalization of this problem is when the input graph is mixed (i.e., contains some directed and some undirected edges). Boesch and Tindell gave necessary and sufficient conditions for a strong orientation to exist in a mixed graph. In this paper we give an NC algorithm for constructing a strong orientation for a given mixed graph after determining if it exists. We also give an NC algorithm for adding a minimum set of arcs to a mixed graph to make it strongly orientable. We give simplified NC algorithms for the following special cases: find minimum augmentations to make a digraph strongly connected and to make an undirected graph bridge-connected. All the algorithms presented run within the time and processor bounds required for computing the transitive closure of a digraph.     

The Steiner connectivity problem

The Steiner connectivity problem has the same significance for line planning in public transport as the Steiner tree problem for telecommunication network design. It consists in finding a minimum cost set of elementary paths to connect a subset of nodes in an undirected graph and is, therefore, a generalization of the Steiner tree problem. We propose an extended directed cut formulation for the problem which is, in comparison to the canonical undirected cut formulation, provably strong, implying, e.g., a class of facet defining Steiner partition inequalities. Since a direct application of this formulation is computationally intractable for large instances, we develop a partial projection method to produce a strong relaxation in the space of canonical variables that approximates the extended formulation. We also investigate the separation of Steiner partition inequalities and give computational evidence that these inequalities essentially close the gap between undirected and extended directed cut formulation. Using these techniques, large Steiner connectivity problems with up to 900 nodes can be solved within reasonable optimality gaps of typically less than five percent.     

On some balanced, totally balanced and submodular delivery games

This paper studies a class of delivery problems associated with the Chinese postman problem and a corresponding class of delivery games. A delivery problem in this class is determined by a connected graph, a cost function defined on its edges and a special chosen vertex in that graph which will be referred to as the post office. It is assumed that the edges in the graph are owned by different individuals and the delivery game is concerned with the allocation of the traveling costs incurred by the server, who starts at the post office and is expected to traverse all edges in the graph before returning to the post office. A graph G is called Chinese postman-submodular, or, for short, CP-submodular (CP-totally balanced, CP-balanced, respectively) if for each delivery problem in which G is the underlying graph the associated delivery game is submodular (totally balanced, balanced, respectively). For undirected graphs we prove that CP-submodular graphs and CP-totally balanced graphs are weakly cyclic graphs and conversely. An undirected graph is shown to be CP-balanced if and only if it is a weakly Euler graph. For directed graphs, CP-submodular graphs can be characterized by directed weakly cyclic graphs. Further, it is proven that any strongly connected directed graph is CP-balanced. For mixed graphs it is shown that a graph is CP-submodular if and only if it is a mixed weakly cyclic graph. Finally, we note that undirected, directed and mixed weakly cyclic graphs can be recognized in linear time. Received May 20, 1997 / Revised version received August 18, 1998?Published online June 11, 1999     

Diameter vulnerability of graphs

Let f(t, D) denote the maximum possible diameter of a graph obtained from a (t+1)-edge-connected graph of diameter D by deleting t edges. F.R.K. Chung and M.R. Garey have shown that for D≥4,(t+1)(D?2)≤ f(t, D)≤(t+1)D+t. Here we consider the cases D=2 and D=3 and show that f(t,2)=4 and $\text{3}\text{2t}\text{?3≤f(t,3)≤3}\text{2t}\text{+4}$ if t is large enough. We solve also the problem for the directed case (answering a question of F.R.K. Chung and M.R. Garey) by showing that if D ≥ 3 the diameter of a diagraph obtained from a (t + 1)-arc-connected digraph of order n by deleting t arcs is at most n?2t+1. In the case D=.....2, the maximum possible diameter of the resulting digraph is (like in the undirected case) 4. We also consider the same problem for vertices.     

A Generalization of Opsut’s Lower Bounds for the Competition Number of a Graph

The notion of a competition graph was introduced by Cohen in 1968. The competition graph C(D) of a digraph D is a (simple undirected) graph which has the same vertex set as D and has an edge between two distinct vertices x and y if and only if there exists a vertex v in D such that (x, v) and (y, v) are arcs of D. For any graph G, G together with sufficiently many isolated vertices is the competition graph of some acyclic digraph. In 1978, Roberts defined the competition number k(G) of a graph G as the minimum number of such isolated vertices. In general, it is hard to compute the competition number k(G) for a graph G and it has been one of the important research problems in the study of competition graphs to characterize a graph by its competition number. In 1982, Opsut gave two lower bounds for the competition number of a graph. In this paper, we give a generalization of these two lower bounds for the competition number of a graph.     

Influence Digraphs Induced by Time-Stamped Graphs (Extended Abstract)

A time-stamped graph is an undirected graph with a real number on each edge. Vertex u influences vertex v if there is an increasing path from u to v. The induced influence digraph of a time-stamped graph is the directed graph that records the influences. In this paper we study the realizability problem: Given a parameter value, does there exist a time-stamped graph whose induced influence digraph has the given parameter value? In particular, we solve this problem when the parameter is the number of arcs. Moreover, if the candidates for the time-stamped graphs are restricted to trees, then every realizable value can be achieved by a tree homeomorphic to K₂ or K_1,3. A number of other questions are also explored. The full version of this paper is submitted to a referreed journal.     

The elimination procedure for the competition number is not optimal

Given an acyclic digraph D, the competition graph C(D) is defined to be the undirected graph with V(D) as its vertex set and where vertices x and y are adjacent if there exists another vertex z such that the arcs (x,z) and (y,z) are both present in D. The competition number k(G) for an undirected graph G is the least number r such that there exists an acyclic digraph F on |V(G)|+r vertices where C(F) is G along with r isolated vertices. Kim and Roberts [The Elimination Procedure for the Competition Number, Ars Combin. 50 (1998) 97-113] introduced an elimination procedure for the competition number, and asked whether the procedure calculated the competition number for all graphs. We answer this question in the negative by demonstrating a graph where the elimination procedure does not calculate the competition number. This graph also provides a negative answer to a similar question about the related elimination procedure for the phylogeny number introduced by the current author in [S.G. Hartke, The Elimination Procedure for the Phylogeny Number, Ars Combin. 75 (2005) 297-311].     

Note on Halin's theorem on minimally connected graphs

In this note it is shown that any finite directed graph of strong connectivity n contains either a vertex with indegree n, a vertex with outdegree n, or an edge whose removal does not decrease the connectivity. This is a directed graph counterpart of Halin's theorem on undirected graphs. It is pointed out that only a few preparations and modifications are necessary to make his proof valid for directed graphs.     

The intersection graphs of subtrees in trees are exactly the chordal graphs

The intersection graph of a family of subtrees in an undirected tree is called a subtree graph. A graph is called chordal if every simple circuit with more than three vertices has an edge connecting two non-consecutive vertices. In this paper, we prove that, for a graph G, the following conditions are equivalent: (i) G is a chordal graph; (ii) G is a subtree graph; (iii) G is a proper subtree graph.Consider a chordal graph G. We give an efficient algorithm for constructing a representation of G by a family of subtrees in a tree.     

The knapsack problem with neighbour constraints

We study a constrained version of the knapsack problem in which dependencies between items are given by the adjacencies of a graph. In the 1-neighbour knapsack problem, an item can be selected only if at least one of its neighbours is also selected. In the all-neighbours knapsack problem, an item can be selected only if all its neighbours are also selected.We give approximation algorithms and hardness results when the vertices have both uniform and arbitrary weight and profit functions, and when the dependency graph is directed and undirected.     

The Steiner tree problem I: Formulations,compositions and extension of facets

In this paper we give some integer programming formulations for the Steiner tree problem on undirected and directed graphs and study the associated polyhedra. We give some families of facets for the undirected case along with some compositions and extensions. We also give a projection that relates the Steiner tree polyhedron on an undirected graph to the polyhedron for the corresponding directed graph. This is used to show that the LP-relaxation of the directed formulation is superior to the LP-relaxation of the undirected one.Corresponding author.     

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.     

Relations between the Local Chromatic Number and Its Directed Version

The local chromatic number is a coloring parameter defined as the minimum number of colors that should appear in the most colorful closed neighborhood of a vertex under any proper coloring of the graph. Its directed version is the same when we consider only outneighborhoods in a directed graph. For digraphs with all arcs being present in both directions the two values are obviously equal. Here, we consider oriented graphs. We show the existence of a graph where the directed local chromatic number of all oriented versions of the graph is strictly less than the local chromatic number of the underlying undirected graph. We show that for fractional versions the analogous problem has a different answer: there always exists an orientation for which the directed and undirected values coincide. We also determine the supremum of the possible ratios of these fractional parameters, which turns out to be e, the basis of the natural logarithm.     

The competition number of a graph and the dimension of its hole space

The competition graph of a digraph D is a (simple undirected) graph which has the same vertex set as D and has an edge between x and y if and only if there exists a vertex v in D such that (x,v) and (y,v) are arcs of D. For any graph G, G together with sufficiently many isolated vertices is the competition graph of some acyclic digraph. The competition number k(G) of G is the smallest number of such isolated vertices. In general, it is hard to compute the competition number k(G) for a graph G and it has been one of the important research problems in the study of competition graphs to characterize a graph by its competition number. Recently, the relationship between the competition number and the number of holes of a graph has been studied. A hole of a graph is a cycle of length at least 4 as an induced subgraph. In this paper, we conjecture that the dimension of the hole space of a graph is not smaller than the competition number of the graph. We verify this conjecture for various kinds of graphs and show that our conjectured inequality is indeed an equality for connected triangle-free graphs.