1,262 research outputs found
Fixed-parameter tractability, definability, and model checking
In this article, we study parameterized complexity theory from the
perspective of logic, or more specifically, descriptive complexity theory.
We propose to consider parameterized model-checking problems for various
fragments of first-order logic as generic parameterized problems and show how
this approach can be useful in studying both fixed-parameter tractability and
intractability. For example, we establish the equivalence between the
model-checking for existential first-order logic, the homomorphism problem for
relational structures, and the substructure isomorphism problem. Our main
tractability result shows that model-checking for first-order formulas is
fixed-parameter tractable when restricted to a class of input structures with
an excluded minor. On the intractability side, for every t >= 0 we prove an
equivalence between model-checking for first-order formulas with t quantifier
alternations and the parameterized halting problem for alternating Turing
machines with t alternations. We discuss the close connection between this
alternation hierarchy and Downey and Fellows' W-hierarchy.
On a more abstract level, we consider two forms of definability, called Fagin
definability and slicewise definability, that are appropriate for describing
parameterized problems. We give a characterization of the class FPT of all
fixed-parameter tractable problems in terms of slicewise definability in finite
variable least fixed-point logic, which is reminiscent of the Immerman-Vardi
Theorem characterizing the class PTIME in terms of definability in least
fixed-point logic.Comment: To appear in SIAM Journal on Computin
Minimal classes of graphs of unbounded clique-width defined by finitely many forbidden induced subgraphs
We discover new hereditary classes of graphs that are minimal (with respect
to set inclusion) of unbounded clique-width. The new examples include split
permutation graphs and bichain graphs. Each of these classes is characterised
by a finite list of minimal forbidden induced subgraphs. These, therefore,
disprove a conjecture due to Daligault, Rao and Thomasse from 2010 claiming
that all such minimal classes must be defined by infinitely many forbidden
induced subgraphs.
In the same paper, Daligault, Rao and Thomasse make another conjecture that
every hereditary class of unbounded clique-width must contain a labelled
infinite antichain. We show that the two example classes we consider here
satisfy this conjecture. Indeed, they each contain a canonical labelled
infinite antichain, which leads us to propose a stronger conjecture: that every
hereditary class of graphs that is minimal of unbounded clique-width contains a
canonical labelled infinite antichain.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Minors and dimension
It has been known for 30 years that posets with bounded height and with cover
graphs of bounded maximum degree have bounded dimension. Recently, Streib and
Trotter proved that dimension is bounded for posets with bounded height and
planar cover graphs, and Joret et al. proved that dimension is bounded for
posets with bounded height and with cover graphs of bounded tree-width. In this
paper, it is proved that posets of bounded height whose cover graphs exclude a
fixed topological minor have bounded dimension. This generalizes all the
aforementioned results and verifies a conjecture of Joret et al. The proof
relies on the Robertson-Seymour and Grohe-Marx graph structure theorems.Comment: Updated reference
Approximating acyclicity parameters of sparse hypergraphs
The notions of hypertree width and generalized hypertree width were
introduced by Gottlob, Leone, and Scarcello in order to extend the concept of
hypergraph acyclicity. These notions were further generalized by Grohe and
Marx, who introduced the fractional hypertree width of a hypergraph. All these
width parameters on hypergraphs are useful for extending tractability of many
problems in database theory and artificial intelligence. In this paper, we
study the approximability of (generalized, fractional) hyper treewidth of
sparse hypergraphs where the criterion of sparsity reflects the sparsity of
their incidence graphs. Our first step is to prove that the (generalized,
fractional) hypertree width of a hypergraph H is constant-factor sandwiched by
the treewidth of its incidence graph, when the incidence graph belongs to some
apex-minor-free graph class. This determines the combinatorial borderline above
which the notion of (generalized, fractional) hypertree width becomes
essentially more general than treewidth, justifying that way its functionality
as a hypergraph acyclicity measure. While for more general sparse families of
hypergraphs treewidth of incidence graphs and all hypertree width parameters
may differ arbitrarily, there are sparse families where a constant factor
approximation algorithm is possible. In particular, we give a constant factor
approximation polynomial time algorithm for (generalized, fractional) hypertree
width on hypergraphs whose incidence graphs belong to some H-minor-free graph
class
Distance-regular graphs
This is a survey of distance-regular graphs. We present an introduction to
distance-regular graphs for the reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, and
then give an overview of some developments in the area of distance-regular
graphs since the monograph 'BCN' [Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier, A.,
Distance-Regular Graphs, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989] was written.Comment: 156 page
Practical and Efficient Split Decomposition via Graph-Labelled Trees
Split decomposition of graphs was introduced by Cunningham (under the name
join decomposition) as a generalization of the modular decomposition. This
paper undertakes an investigation into the algorithmic properties of split
decomposition. We do so in the context of graph-labelled trees (GLTs), a new
combinatorial object designed to simplify its consideration. GLTs are used to
derive an incremental characterization of split decomposition, with a simple
combinatorial description, and to explore its properties with respect to
Lexicographic Breadth-First Search (LBFS). Applying the incremental
characterization to an LBFS ordering results in a split decomposition algorithm
that runs in time , where is the inverse Ackermann
function, whose value is smaller than 4 for any practical graph. Compared to
Dahlhaus' linear-time split decomposition algorithm [Dahlhaus'00], which does
not rely on an incremental construction, our algorithm is just as fast in all
but the asymptotic sense and full implementation details are given in this
paper. Also, our algorithm extends to circle graph recognition, whereas no such
extension is known for Dahlhaus' algorithm. The companion paper [Gioan et al.]
uses our algorithm to derive the first sub-quadratic circle graph recognition
algorithm
Some results on triangle partitions
We show that there exist efficient algorithms for the triangle packing
problem in colored permutation graphs, complete multipartite graphs,
distance-hereditary graphs, k-modular permutation graphs and complements of
k-partite graphs (when k is fixed). We show that there is an efficient
algorithm for C_4-packing on bipartite permutation graphs and we show that
C_4-packing on bipartite graphs is NP-complete. We characterize the cobipartite
graphs that have a triangle partition
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