09511 Abstracts Collection -- Parameterized complexity and approximation algorithms

From 14. 12. 2009 to 17. 12. 2009., the Dagstuhl Seminar 09511 ``Parameterized complexity and approximation algorithms \u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Finding, Hitting and Packing Cycles in Subexponential Time on Unit Disk Graphs

We give algorithms with running time 2^{O({sqrt{k}log{k}})} n^{O(1)} for the following problems. Given an n-vertex unit disk graph G and an integer k, decide whether G contains (i) a path on exactly/at least k vertices, (ii) a cycle on exactly k vertices, (iii) a cycle on at least k vertices, (iv) a feedback vertex set of size at most k, and (v) a set of k pairwise vertex disjoint cycles. For the first three problems, no subexponential time parameterized algorithms were previously known. For the remaining two problems, our algorithms significantly outperform the previously best known parameterized algorithms that run in time 2^{O(k^{0.75}log{k})} n^{O(1)}. Our algorithms are based on a new kind of tree decompositions of unit disk graphs where the separators can have size up to k^{O(1)} and there exists a solution that crosses every separator at most O(sqrt{k}) times. The running times of our algorithms are optimal up to the log{k} factor in the exponent, assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis

Computational study on planar dominating set problem

AbstractRecently, there has been significant theoretical progress towards fixed-parameter algorithms for the DOMINATING SET problem of planar graphs. It is known that the problem on a planar graph with n vertices and dominating number k can be solved in O(2O(k)n) time using tree/branch-decomposition based algorithms. In this paper, we report computational results of Fomin and Thilikos algorithm which uses the branch-decomposition based approach. The computational results show that the algorithm can solve the DOMINATING SET problem of large planar graphs in a practical time and memory space for the class of graphs with small branchwidth. For the class of graphs with large branchwidth, the size of instances that can be solved by the algorithm in practice is limited to about one thousand edges due to a memory space bottleneck. The practical performances of the algorithm coincide with the theoretical analysis of the algorithm. The results of this paper suggest that the branch-decomposition based algorithms can be practical for some applications on planar graphs

Dynamic programming for graphs on surfaces

We provide a framework for the design and analysis of dynamic programming algorithms for surface-embedded graphs on n vertices and branchwidth at most k. Our technique applies to general families of problems where standard dynamic programming runs in 2O(k·log k). Our approach combines tools from topological graph theory and analytic combinatorics.Postprint (updated version

Algorithmic Properties of Sparse Digraphs

The notions of bounded expansion [Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez, 2008] and nowhere denseness [Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez, 2011], introduced by Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez as structural measures for undirected graphs, have been applied very successfully in algorithmic graph theory. We study the corresponding notions of directed bounded expansion and nowhere crownfulness on directed graphs, introduced by Kreutzer and Tazari [Kreutzer and Tazari, 2012]. The classes of directed graphs having those properties are very general classes of sparse directed graphs, as they include, on one hand, all classes of directed graphs whose underlying undirected class has bounded expansion, such as planar, bounded-genus, and H-minor-free graphs, and on the other hand, they also contain classes whose underlying undirected class is not even nowhere dense. We show that many of the algorithmic tools that were developed for undirected bounded expansion classes can, with some care, also be applied in their directed counterparts, and thereby we highlight a rich algorithmic structure theory of directed bounded expansion and nowhere crownful classes