Contractions, removals and certifying 3-connectivity in linear time

As existence result, it is well known that every 3-connected graph G=(V,E) on more than 4 vertices admits a sequence of contractions and a sequence of removal operations to K_4 such that every intermediate graph in the sequences is 3-connected. We show that both sequences can be computed in linear time, improving the previous best known running time of O(|V|^2) to O(|V|+|E|). This settles also the open question of finding a certifying 3-connectivity test in linear time and extents to certify 3-edge-connectivity in linear time as well

A Planarity Test via Construction Sequences

Optimal linear-time algorithms for testing the planarity of a graph are well-known for over 35 years. However, these algorithms are quite involved and recent publications still try to give simpler linear-time tests. We give a simple reduction from planarity testing to the problem of computing a certain construction of a 3-connected graph. The approach is different from previous planarity tests; as key concept, we maintain a planar embedding that is 3-connected at each point in time. The algorithm runs in linear time and computes a planar embedding if the input graph is planar and a Kuratowski-subdivision otherwise

Contractions, Removals and How to Certify 3-Connectivity in Linear Time

It is well-known as an existence result that every 3-connected graph G=(V,E) on more than 4 vertices admits a sequence of contractions and a sequence of removal operations to K_4 such that every intermediate graph is 3-connected. We show that both sequences can be computed in optimal time, improving the previously best known running times of O(|V|^2) to O(|V|+|E|). This settles also the open question of finding a linear time 3-connectivity test that is certifying and extends to a certifying 3-edge-connectivity test in the same time. The certificates used are easy to verify in time O(|E|).Comment: preliminary versio

Optimal Morphs of Convex Drawings

We give an algorithm to compute a morph between any two convex drawings of the same plane graph. The morph preserves the convexity of the drawing at any time instant and moves each vertex along a piecewise linear curve with linear complexity. The linear bound is asymptotically optimal in the worst case.Comment: To appear in SoCG 201

Analyse eines den 4-Zusammenhang zertifizierenden Algorithmus

Zertifikate sind in der Graphentheorie hilfreich um Eigenschaften von Graphen schnell nachweisen zu können. Elmasry, Mehlhorn und Schmidt setzten sich mit 3-Zusammenhang in Hamiltongraphen auseinander und entwickelten ein Zertifikat, welches mittels eines Algorithmus in Laufzeit O(m + n) verifiziert, ob ein Hamiltongraph 3-zusammenhängend ist. Schmidt hat dies 2010 auf allgemeine Graphen mithilfe der Barnett-Grünbaum-Pfade erweitert. Somit gibt es ein Zertifikat für 3-Zusammenhang in Graphen. In dieser Arbeit beschäftigt uns die Frage: Kann man auch ein Zertifikat für 4-Zusammenhang aufstellen? Dabei stützen wir uns auf die Resultate der Arbeiten von Martinov und von Mader bezüglich 4-zusammenhängender Graphen. Ziel ist es, einen vorgegebenen Graphen G aus einem kontraktionskritischen, 4-zusammenhängenden Ausgangsgraphen mittels einer Sequenz den 4-Zusammenhang erhaltenden Kantenexpansionen zu rekonstruieren.Certificates are useful in graph theory to quickly prove properties of graphs. Elmasry, Mehlhorn and Schmidt studied 3-connection in Hamilton graphs and developed a certificate which verifies whether a Hamilton graph is 3-connected using an algorithm in runtime O(m + n). Schmidt extended this to general graphs using the Barnett-Grünbaum Pfade in 2010. Thus there is a certificate for 3-connected graphs. In this thesis we are concerned with the question: Is it possible to create a certificate for 4-connected graphs? We base this on the results of Martinov's and Mader's work on 4-connected graphs. The goal is to reconstruct a given graph G from a contraction-critical, 4-connected initial graph by using a sequence of edge expansions that preserve the 4-connection

A Combinatorial Certifying Algorithm for Linear Programming Problems with Gainfree Leontief Substitution Systems

Linear programming (LP) problems with gainfree Leontief substitution systems have been intensively studied in economics and operations research, and include the feasibility problem of a class of Horn systems, which arises in, e.g., polyhedral combinatorics and logic. This subclass of LP problems admits a strongly polynomial time algorithm, where devising such an algorithm for general LP problems is one of the major theoretical open questions in mathematical optimization and computer science. Recently, much attention has been paid to devising certifying algorithms in software engineering, since those algorithms enable one to confirm the correctness of outputs of programs with simple computations. In this paper, we provide the first combinatorial (and strongly polynomial time) certifying algorithm for LP problems with gainfree Leontief substitution systems. As a by-product, we answer affirmatively an open question whether the feasibility problem of the class of Horn systems admits a combinatorial certifying algorithm

The {Mondshein} Sequence

Canonical orderings [STOC'88, FOCS'92] have been used as a key tool in graph drawing, graph encoding and visibility representations for the last decades. We study a far-reaching generalization of canonical orderings to non-planar graphs that was published by Lee Mondshein in a PhD-thesis at M.I.T.\ as early as 1971. Mondshein proposed to order the vertices of a graph in a sequence such that, for any $i$, the vertices from $1$ to $i$ induce essentially a $2$-connected graph while the remaining vertices from $i+1$ to $n$ induce a connected graph. Mondshein's sequence generalizes canonical orderings and became later and independently known under the name \emph{non-separating ear decomposition}. Currently, the best known algorithm for computing this sequence achieves a running time of $O(nm)$; the main open problem in Mondshein's and follow-up work is to improve this running time to a subquadratic time. In this paper, we present the first algorithm that computes a Mondshein sequence in time and space $O(m)$, improving the previous best running time by a factor of $n$. In addition, we illustrate the impact of this result by deducing linear-time algorithms for several other problems, for which the previous best running times have been quadratic. In particular, we show how to compute three independent spanning trees in a $3$-connected graph in linear time, improving a result of Cheriyan and Maheshwari [J. Algorithms 9(4)]. Secondly, we improve the preprocessing time for the output-sensitive data structure by Di Battista, Tamassia and Vismara [Algorithmica 23(4)] that reports three internally disjoint paths between any given vertex pair from $O(n^2)$ to $O(m)$. Finally, we show how a very simple linear-time planarity test can be derived once a Mondshein sequence is computed