425 research outputs found
Algorithms and Bounds for Very Strong Rainbow Coloring
A well-studied coloring problem is to assign colors to the edges of a graph
so that, for every pair of vertices, all edges of at least one shortest
path between them receive different colors. The minimum number of colors
necessary in such a coloring is the strong rainbow connection number
(\src(G)) of the graph. When proving upper bounds on \src(G), it is natural
to prove that a coloring exists where, for \emph{every} shortest path between
every pair of vertices in the graph, all edges of the path receive different
colors. Therefore, we introduce and formally define this more restricted edge
coloring number, which we call \emph{very strong rainbow connection number}
(\vsrc(G)).
In this paper, we give upper bounds on \vsrc(G) for several graph classes,
some of which are tight. These immediately imply new upper bounds on \src(G)
for these classes, showing that the study of \vsrc(G) enables meaningful
progress on bounding \src(G). Then we study the complexity of the problem to
compute \vsrc(G), particularly for graphs of bounded treewidth, and show this
is an interesting problem in its own right. We prove that \vsrc(G) can be
computed in polynomial time on cactus graphs; in contrast, this question is
still open for \src(G). We also observe that deciding whether \vsrc(G) = k
is fixed-parameter tractable in and the treewidth of . Finally, on
general graphs, we prove that there is no polynomial-time algorithm to decide
whether \vsrc(G) \leq 3 nor to approximate \vsrc(G) within a factor
, unless PNP
Approximate Hypergraph Coloring under Low-discrepancy and Related Promises
A hypergraph is said to be -colorable if its vertices can be colored
with colors so that no hyperedge is monochromatic. -colorability is a
fundamental property (called Property B) of hypergraphs and is extensively
studied in combinatorics. Algorithmically, however, given a -colorable
-uniform hypergraph, it is NP-hard to find a -coloring miscoloring fewer
than a fraction of hyperedges (which is achieved by a random
-coloring), and the best algorithms to color the hypergraph properly require
colors, approaching the trivial bound of as
increases.
In this work, we study the complexity of approximate hypergraph coloring, for
both the maximization (finding a -coloring with fewest miscolored edges) and
minimization (finding a proper coloring using fewest number of colors)
versions, when the input hypergraph is promised to have the following stronger
properties than -colorability:
(A) Low-discrepancy: If the hypergraph has discrepancy ,
we give an algorithm to color the it with colors.
However, for the maximization version, we prove NP-hardness of finding a
-coloring miscoloring a smaller than (resp. )
fraction of the hyperedges when (resp. ). Assuming
the UGC, we improve the latter hardness factor to for almost
discrepancy- hypergraphs.
(B) Rainbow colorability: If the hypergraph has a -coloring such
that each hyperedge is polychromatic with all these colors, we give a
-coloring algorithm that miscolors at most of the
hyperedges when , and complement this with a matching UG
hardness result showing that when , it is hard to even beat the
bound achieved by a random coloring.Comment: Approx 201
Computing Minimum Rainbow and Strong Rainbow Colorings of Block Graphs
A path in an edge-colored graph is rainbow if no two edges of it are
colored the same. The graph is rainbow-connected if there is a rainbow path
between every pair of vertices. If there is a rainbow shortest path between
every pair of vertices, the graph is strongly rainbow-connected. The
minimum number of colors needed to make rainbow-connected is known as the
rainbow connection number of , and is denoted by . Similarly,
the minimum number of colors needed to make strongly rainbow-connected is
known as the strong rainbow connection number of , and is denoted by
. We prove that for every , deciding whether
is NP-complete for split graphs, which form a subclass
of chordal graphs. Furthermore, there exists no polynomial-time algorithm for
approximating the strong rainbow connection number of an -vertex split graph
with a factor of for any unless P = NP. We
then turn our attention to block graphs, which also form a subclass of chordal
graphs. We determine the strong rainbow connection number of block graphs, and
show it can be computed in linear time. Finally, we provide a polynomial-time
characterization of bridgeless block graphs with rainbow connection number at
most 4.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Counting dominating sets and related structures in graphs
We consider some problems concerning the maximum number of (strong)
dominating sets in a regular graph, and their weighted analogues. Our primary
tool is Shearer's entropy lemma. These techniques extend to a reasonably broad
class of graph parameters enumerating vertex colorings satisfying conditions on
the multiset of colors appearing in (closed) neighborhoods. We also generalize
further to enumeration problems for what we call existence homomorphisms. Here
our results are substantially less complete, though we do solve some natural
problems
Rainbow Coloring Hardness via Low Sensitivity Polymorphisms
A k-uniform hypergraph is said to be r-rainbow colorable if there is an r-coloring of its vertices such that every hyperedge intersects all r color classes. Given as input such a hypergraph, finding a r-rainbow coloring of it is NP-hard for all k >= 3 and r >= 2. Therefore, one settles for finding a rainbow coloring with fewer colors (which is an easier task). When r=k (the maximum possible value), i.e., the hypergraph is k-partite, one can efficiently 2-rainbow color the hypergraph, i.e., 2-color its vertices so that there are no monochromatic edges. In this work we consider the next smaller value of r=k-1, and prove that in this case it is NP-hard to rainbow color the hypergraph with q := ceil[(k-2)/2] colors. In particular, for k <=6, it is NP-hard to 2-color (k-1)-rainbow colorable k-uniform hypergraphs.
Our proof follows the algebraic approach to promise constraint satisfaction problems. It proceeds by characterizing the polymorphisms associated with the approximate rainbow coloring problem, which are rainbow colorings of some product hypergraphs on vertex set [r]^n. We prove that any such polymorphism f: [r]^n -> [q] must be C-fixing, i.e., there is a small subset S of C coordinates and a setting a in [q]^S such that fixing x_{|S} = a determines the value of f(x). The key step in our proof is bounding the sensitivity of certain rainbow colorings, thereby arguing that they must be juntas. Armed with the C-fixing characterization, our NP-hardness is obtained via a reduction from smooth Label Cover
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