Approximating Dominating Set on Intersection Graphs of Rectangles and L-frames

We consider the Minimum Dominating Set (MDS) problem on the intersection graphs of geometric objects. Even for simple and widely-used geometric objects such as rectangles, no sub-logarithmic approximation is known for the problem and (perhaps surprisingly) the problem is NP-hard even when all the rectangles are "anchored" at a diagonal line with slope -1 (Pandit, CCCG 2017). In this paper, we first show that for any epsilon>0, there exists a (2+epsilon)-approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on "diagonal-anchored" rectangles, providing the first O(1)-approximation for the problem on a non-trivial subclass of rectangles. It is not hard to see that the MDS problem on "diagonal-anchored" rectangles is the same as the MDS problem on "diagonal-anchored" L-frames: the union of a vertical and a horizontal line segment that share an endpoint. As such, we also obtain a (2+epsilon)-approximation for the problem with "diagonal-anchored" L-frames. On the other hand, we show that the problem is APX-hard in case the input L-frames intersect the diagonal, or the horizontal segments of the L-frames intersect a vertical line. However, as we show, the problem is linear-time solvable in case the L-frames intersect a vertical as well as a horizontal line. Finally, we consider the MDS problem in the so-called "edge intersection model" and obtain a number of results, answering two questions posed by Mehrabi (WAOA 2017)

On dominating set of some subclasses of string graphs

We provide constant factor approximation algorithms for the Minimum Dominating Set (MDS) problem on several subclasses of string graphs i.e. intersection graphs of simple curves on the plane. For k ≥ 0, unit Bk-VPG graphs are intersection graphs of simple rectilinear curves having at most k cusps (bends) and each segment of the curve being unit length. We give an 18-approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on unit B0-VPG graphs. This partially addresses a question of Katz et al. (2005) [24]. We also give an O(k4)- approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on unit Bk-VPG graphs. We show that there is an 8-approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on vertically-stabbed L-graphs. We also give a 656-approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on stabbed rectangle overlap graphs. This is the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for the MDS problem on stabbed rectangle overlap graphs and extends a result of Bandyapadhyay et al. (2019) [31]. We prove some hardness results to complement the above results