Loose Cover of Graphs

This paper introduces a new definition of embedding a local structure to a given network, called loose cover of graphs. We derive several basic properties on the notion of loose cover, which includes transitivity, maximality, and the computational complexity of finding a loose cover by paths and cycles. In particular, we show that the decision problem is in P if the given local structure is a path with three or less vertices, while it is NP-complete for paths consisting of six or more vertices.