A forbidden induced subgraph characterization of distance-hereditary 5-leaf powers

A graph G is a k-leaf power if there is a tree T such that the vertices of G are the leaves of T and two vertices are adjacent in G if and only if their distance in T is at most k. In this situation T is called a k-leaf root of G. Motivated by the search for underlying phylogenetic trees, the notion of a k-leaf power was introduced and studied by Nishimura, Ragde and Thilikos and subsequently in various other papers. While the structure of 3- and 4-leaf powers is well understood, for k≥5 the characterization of k-leaf powers remains a challenging open problem.In the present paper, we give a forbidden induced subgraph characterization of distance-hereditary 5-leaf powers. Our result generalizes known characterization results on 3-leaf powers since these are distance-hereditary 5-leaf powers.     

2-Tree probe interval graphs have a large obstruction set

Probe interval graphs (PIGs) are used as a generalization of interval graphs in physical mapping of DNA. G=(V,E) is a probe interval graph (PIG) with respect to a partition (P,N) of V if vertices of G correspond to intervals on a real line and two vertices are adjacent if and only if their corresponding intervals intersect and at least one of them is in P; vertices belonging to P are called probes and vertices belonging to N are called non-probes. One common approach to studying the structure of a new family of graphs is to determine if there is a concise family of forbidden induced subgraphs. It has been shown that there are two forbidden induced subgraphs that characterize tree PIGs. In this paper we show that having a concise forbidden induced subgraph characterization does not extend to 2-tree PIGs; in particular, we show that there are at least 62 minimal forbidden induced subgraphs for 2-tree PIGs.     

The complexity of dissociation set problems in graphs

A subset of vertices in a graph is called a dissociation set if it induces a subgraph with a vertex degree of at most 1. The maximum dissociation set problem, i.e., the problem of finding a dissociation set of maximum size in a given graph is known to be NP-hard for bipartite graphs. We show that the maximum dissociation set problem is NP-hard for planar line graphs of planar bipartite graphs. In addition, we describe several polynomially solvable cases for the problem under consideration. One of them deals with the subclass of the so-called chair-free graphs. Furthermore, the related problem of finding a maximal (by inclusion) dissociation set of minimum size in a given graph is studied, and NP-hardness results for this problem, namely for weakly chordal and bipartite graphs, are derived. Finally, we provide inapproximability results for the dissociation set problems mentioned above.     

A characterization of cycle-free unit probe interval graphs

A graph is a probe interval graph (PIG) if its vertices can be partitioned into probes and nonprobes with an interval assigned to each vertex so that vertices are adjacent if and only if their corresponding intervals overlap and at least one of them is a probe. PIGs are a generalization of interval graphs introduced by Zhang for an application concerning the physical mapping of DNA in the human genome project. PIGs have been characterized in the cycle-free case by Sheng, and other miscellaneous results are given by McMorris, Wang, and Zhang. Johnson and Spinrad give a polynomial time recognition algorithm for when the partition of vertices into probes and nonprobes is given. The complexity for the general recognition problem is not known. Here, we restrict attention to the case where all intervals have the same length, that is, we study the unit probe interval graphs and characterize the cycle-free graphs that are unit probe interval graphs via a list of forbidden induced subgraphs.     

Large 2P3-free graphs with bounded degree

Let ex^* (D;H) be the maximum number of edges in a connected graph with maximum degree D and no induced subgraph H; this is finite if and only if H is a disjoint union of paths. If the largest component of such an H has order m, then ex^*(D; H) = O(D²ex^*(D; P_m)). Constructively, ex^*(D;qP_m) = Θ(gD²ex^*(D;P_m)) if q>1 and m> 2(Θ(gD²) if m = 2). For H = 2P₃ (and D 8), the maximum number of edges is if D is even and

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if D is odd, achieved by a unique extremal graph.     

On double bound graphs and forbidden subposets

For a poset P=(X,≤_P), the double bound graph (DB-graph) of P is the graph DB(P)=(X,E_DB(P)), where xy∈E_DB(P) if and only if x≠y and there exist n,m∈X such that n≤_Px,y≤_Pm. We obtain that for a subposet Q of a poset P,Q is an (n, m)-subposet of P if and only if DB(Q) is an induced subgraph DB(P). Using this result, we show some characterizations of split double bound graphs, threshold double bound graphs and difference double bound graphs in terms of (n, m)-subposets and double canonical posets.     

A Characterization of Domination Reducible Graphs

We introduce a hereditary class of domination reducible graphs where the minimum dominating set problem is polynomially solvable, and characterize this class in terms of forbidden induced subgraphs.Acknowledgments The research was supported by DIMACS 2002 and 2003 Awards. The author would like to thank the both referees for their valuable suggestions.Final version received: October 3, 2003     

Forbidden induced subgraphs for star-free graphs

Let H be a family of connected graphs. A graph G is said to be H-free if G is H-free for every graph H in H. In Aldred et al. (2010) [1], it was pointed that there is a family of connected graphs H not containing any induced subgraph of the claw having the property that the set of H-free connected graphs containing a claw is finite, provided also that those graphs have minimum degree at least 2 and maximum degree at least 3. In the same work, it was also asked whether there are other families with the same property. In this paper, we answer this question by solving a wider problem. We consider not only claw-free graphs but the more general class of star-free graphs. Concretely, given t≥3, we characterize all the graph families H such that every large enough H-free connected graph is K_1,t-free. Additionally, for the case t=3, we show the families that one gets when adding the condition ∣H∣≤k for each positive integer k.     

Edge intersection graphs of linear 3-uniform hypergraphs

Let be the class of edge intersection graphs of linear 3-uniform hypergraphs. It is known that the problem of recognition of the class is NP-complete. We prove that this problem is polynomially solvable in the class of graphs with minimum vertex degree ≥10. It is also proved that the class is characterized by a finite list of forbidden induced subgraphs in the class of graphs with minimum vertex degree ≥16.     

On b-perfect Chordal Graphs

The b-chromatic number of a graph G is the largest integer k such that G has a coloring of the vertices in k color classes such that every color class contains a vertex that has a neighbour in all other color classes. We characterize the class of chordal graphs for which the b-chromatic number is equal to the chromatic number for every induced subgraph. This research was supported by Algerian-French program CMEP/Tassili 05 MDU 639.     

Some remarks about Fibonacci multiplication

We give an interpretation of the Fibonacci multiplication defined by D.E. Knuth     

Closest 4-leaf power is fixed-parameter tractable

The NP-complete Closest 4-Leaf Power problem asks, given an undirected graph, whether it can be modified by at most r edge insertions or deletions such that it becomes a 4-leaf power. Herein, a 4-leaf power is a graph that can be constructed by considering an unrooted tree—the 4-leaf root—with leaves one-to-one labeled by the graph vertices, where we connect two graph vertices by an edge iff their corresponding leaves are at distance at most 4 in the tree. Complementing previous work on Closest 2-Leaf Power and Closest 3-Leaf Power, we give the first algorithmic result for Closest 4-Leaf Power, showing that Closest 4-Leaf Power is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the parameter r.     

Some remarks about factors of graphs

A (g, f)‐factor of a graph is a subset F of E such that for all , . Lovasz gave a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a (g, f)‐factor. We extend, to the case of edge‐weighted graphs, a result of Kano and Saito who showed that if for any , then a (g, f)‐factor always exist. In addition, we use results of Anstee to provide new necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a (g, f)‐factor. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 57: 265–274, 2008     

On Seymour’s strengthening of Hadwiger’s conjecture for graphs with certain forbidden subgraphs

Let H be a set of graphs. A graph is called H-free if it does not contain a copy of a member of H as an induced subgraph. If H is a graph then G is called H-free if it is {H}-free. Plummer, Stiebitz, and Toft proved that, for every -free graph H on at most four vertices, every -free graph G has a collection of ⌈|V(G)|/2⌉ many pairwise adjacent vertices and edges (where a vertexvand an edgeeare adjacent if v is disjoint from the set V(e) of endvertices of e and adjacent to some vertex of V(e), and two edgeseandfare adjacent if V(e) and V(f) are disjoint and some vertex of V(e) is adjacent to some vertex of V(f)). Here we generalize this statement to -free graphs H on at most five vertices.