On the approximability of the maximum induced matching problem

In this paper we consider the approximability of the maximum induced matching problem (MIM). We give an approximation algorithm with asymptotic performance ratio <i>d</i>-1 for MIM in <i>d</i>-regular graphs, for each <i>d</i>≥3. We also prove that MIM is APX-complete in <i>d</i>-regular graphs, for each <i>d</i>≥3

Unifying Sparsest Cut, Cluster Deletion, and Modularity Clustering Objectives with Correlation Clustering

Graph clustering, or community detection, is the task of identifying groups of closely related objects in a large network. In this paper we introduce a new community-detection framework called LambdaCC that is based on a specially weighted version of correlation clustering. A key component in our methodology is a clustering resolution parameter, $\lambda$, which implicitly controls the size and structure of clusters formed by our framework. We show that, by increasing this parameter, our objective effectively interpolates between two different strategies in graph clustering: finding a sparse cut and forming dense subgraphs. Our methodology unifies and generalizes a number of other important clustering quality functions including modularity, sparsest cut, and cluster deletion, and places them all within the context of an optimization problem that has been well studied from the perspective of approximation algorithms. Our approach is particularly relevant in the regime of finding dense clusters, as it leads to a 2-approximation for the cluster deletion problem. We use our approach to cluster several graphs, including large collaboration networks and social networks

Parameterized Complexity of Edge Interdiction Problems

We study the parameterized complexity of interdiction problems in graphs. For an optimization problem on graphs, one can formulate an interdiction problem as a game consisting of two players, namely, an interdictor and an evader, who compete on an objective with opposing interests. In edge interdiction problems, every edge of the input graph has an interdiction cost associated with it and the interdictor interdicts the graph by modifying the edges in the graph, and the number of such modifications is constrained by the interdictor's budget. The evader then solves the given optimization problem on the modified graph. The action of the interdictor must impede the evader as much as possible. We focus on edge interdiction problems related to minimum spanning tree, maximum matching and shortest paths. These problems arise in different real world scenarios. We derive several fixed-parameter tractability and W[1]-hardness results for these interdiction problems with respect to various parameters. Next, we show close relation between interdiction problems and partial cover problems on bipartite graphs where the goal is not to cover all elements but to minimize/maximize the number of covered elements with specific number of sets. Hereby, we investigate the parameterized complexity of several partial cover problems on bipartite graphs

Covering Many (Or Few) Edges with k Vertices in Sparse Graphs

We study the following two fixed-cardinality optimization problems (a maximization and a minimization variant). For a fixed ? between zero and one we are given a graph and two numbers k ? ? and t ? ?. The task is to find a vertex subset S of exactly k vertices that has value at least (resp. at most for minimization) t. Here, the value of a vertex set computes as ? times the number of edges with exactly one endpoint in S plus 1-? times the number of edges with both endpoints in S. These two problems generalize many prominent graph problems, such as Densest k-Subgraph, Sparsest k-Subgraph, Partial Vertex Cover, and Max (k,n-k)-Cut. In this work, we complete the picture of their parameterized complexity on several types of sparse graphs that are described by structural parameters. In particular, we provide kernelization algorithms and kernel lower bounds for these problems. A somewhat surprising consequence of our kernelizations is that Partial Vertex Cover and Max (k,n-k)-Cut not only behave in the same way but that the kernels for both problems can be obtained by the same algorithms