Equitable partition of graphs into induced forests

An equitable partition of a graph $G$ is a partition of the vertex-set of $G$ such that the sizes of any two parts differ by at most one. We show that every graph with an acyclic coloring with at most $k$ colors can be equitably partitioned into $k-1$ induced forests. We also prove that for any integers $d\ge 1$ and $k\ge 3^{d-1}$, any $d$-degenerate graph can be equitably partitioned into $k$ induced forests. Each of these results implies the existence of a constant $c$ such that for any $k \ge c$, any planar graph has an equitable partition into $k$ induced forests. This was conjectured by Wu, Zhang, and Li in 2013.Comment: 4 pages, final versio

Arboricity, h-Index, and Dynamic Algorithms

In this paper we present a modification of a technique by Chiba and Nishizeki [Chiba and Nishizeki: Arboricity and Subgraph Listing Algorithms, SIAM J. Comput. 14(1), pp. 210--223 (1985)]. Based on it, we design a data structure suitable for dynamic graph algorithms. We employ the data structure to formulate new algorithms for several problems, including counting subgraphs of four vertices, recognition of diamond-free graphs, cop-win graphs and strongly chordal graphs, among others. We improve the time complexity for graphs with low arboricity or h-index.Comment: 19 pages, no figure

On the Implicit Graph Conjecture

The implicit graph conjecture states that every sufficiently small, hereditary graph class has a labeling scheme with a polynomial-time computable label decoder. We approach this conjecture by investigating classes of label decoders defined in terms of complexity classes such as P and EXP. For instance, GP denotes the class of graph classes that have a labeling scheme with a polynomial-time computable label decoder. Until now it was not even known whether GP is a strict subset of GR. We show that this is indeed the case and reveal a strict hierarchy akin to classical complexity. We also show that classes such as GP can be characterized in terms of graph parameters. This could mean that certain algorithmic problems are feasible on every graph class in GP. Lastly, we define a more restrictive class of label decoders using first-order logic that already contains many natural graph classes such as forests and interval graphs. We give an alternative characterization of this class in terms of directed acyclic graphs. By showing that some small, hereditary graph class cannot be expressed with such label decoders a weaker form of the implicit graph conjecture could be disproven.Comment: 13 pages, MFCS 201

Characterization of removable elements with respect to having k disjoint bases in a matroid

AbstractThe well-known spanning tree packing theorem of Nash-Williams and Tutte characterizes graphs with k edge-disjoint spanning trees. Edmonds generalizes this theorem to matroids with k disjoint bases. For any graph G that may not have k-edge-disjoint spanning trees, the problem of determining what edges should be added to G so that the resulting graph has k edge-disjoint spanning trees has been studied by Haas (2002) [11] and Liu et al. (2009) [17], among others. This paper aims to determine, for a matroid M that has k disjoint bases, the set Ek(M) of elements in M such that for any e∈Ek(M), M−e also has k disjoint bases. Using the matroid strength defined by Catlin et al. (1992) [4], we present a characterization of Ek(M) in terms of the strength of M. Consequently, this yields a characterization of edge sets Ek(G) in a graph G with at least k edge-disjoint spanning trees such that ∀e∈Ek(G), G−e also has k edge-disjoint spanning trees. Polynomial algorithms are also discussed for identifying the set Ek(M) in a matroid M, or the edge subset Ek(G) for a connected graph G

Non-crossing shortest paths in planar graphs with applications to max flow, and path graphs

This thesis is concerned with non-crossing shortest paths in planar graphs with applications to st-max flow vitality and path graphs. In the first part we deal with non-crossing shortest paths in a plane graph G, i.e., a planar graph with a fixed planar embedding, whose extremal vertices lie on the same face of G. The first two results are the computation of the lengths of the non-crossing shortest paths knowing their union, and the computation of the union in the unweighted case. Both results require linear time and we use them to describe an efficient algorithm able to give an additive guaranteed approximation of edge and vertex vitalities with respect to the st-max flow in undirected planar graphs, that is the max flow decrease when the edge/vertex is removed from the graph. Indeed, it is well-known that the st-max flow in an undirected planar graph can be reduced to a problem of non-crossing shortest paths in the dual graph. We conclude this part by showing that the union of non-crossing shortest paths in a plane graph can be covered with four forests so that each path is contained in at least one forest. In the second part of the thesis we deal with path graphs and directed path graphs, where a (directed) path graph is the intersection graph of paths in a (directed) tree. We introduce a new characterization of path graphs that simplifies the existing ones in the literature. This characterization leads to a new list of local forbidden subgraphs of path graphs and to a new algorithm able to recognize path graphs and directed path graphs. This algorithm is more intuitive than the existing ones and does not require sophisticated data structures

Compact Labelings For Efficient First-Order Model-Checking

We consider graph properties that can be checked from labels, i.e., bit sequences, of logarithmic length attached to vertices. We prove that there exists such a labeling for checking a first-order formula with free set variables in the graphs of every class that is \emph{nicely locally cwd-decomposable}. This notion generalizes that of a \emph{nicely locally tree-decomposable} class. The graphs of such classes can be covered by graphs of bounded \emph{clique-width} with limited overlaps. We also consider such labelings for \emph{bounded} first-order formulas on graph classes of \emph{bounded expansion}. Some of these results are extended to counting queries