7 research outputs found
Finding Even Cycles Faster via Capped k-Walks
In this paper, we consider the problem of finding a cycle of length (a
) in an undirected graph with nodes and edges for constant
. A classic result by Bondy and Simonovits [J.Comb.Th.'74] implies that
if , then contains a , further implying that
one needs to consider only graphs with .
Previously the best known algorithms were an algorithm due to Yuster
and Zwick [J.Disc.Math'97] as well as a algorithm by Alon et al. [Algorithmica'97].
We present an algorithm that uses time and finds a
if one exists. This bound is exactly when . For
-cycles our new bound coincides with Alon et al., while for every our
bound yields a polynomial improvement in .
Yuster and Zwick noted that it is "plausible to conjecture that is
the best possible bound in terms of ". We show "conditional optimality": if
this hypothesis holds then our algorithm is tight as well.
Furthermore, a folklore reduction implies that no combinatorial algorithm can
determine if a graph contains a -cycle in time for any
under the widely believed combinatorial BMM conjecture. Coupled
with our main result, this gives tight bounds for finding -cycles
combinatorially and also separates the complexity of finding - and
-cycles giving evidence that the exponent of in the running time should
indeed increase with .
The key ingredient in our algorithm is a new notion of capped -walks,
which are walks of length that visit only nodes according to a fixed
ordering. Our main technical contribution is an involved analysis proving
several properties of such walks which may be of independent interest.Comment: To appear at STOC'1
Improved Algorithms for Recognizing Perfect Graphs and Finding Shortest Odd and Even Holes
Various classes of induced subgraphs are involved in the deepest results of
graph theory and graph algorithms. A prominent example concerns the {\em
perfection} of that the chromatic number of each induced subgraph of
equals the clique number of . The seminal Strong Perfect Graph Theorem
confirms that the perfection of can be determined by detecting odd holes in
and its complement. Chudnovsky et al. show in 2005 an algorithm
for recognizing perfect graphs, which can be implemented to run in
time for the exponent of square-matrix
multiplication. We show the following improved algorithms.
1. The tractability of detecting odd holes was open for decades until the
major breakthrough of Chudnovsky et al. in 2020. Their algorithm is
later implemented by Lai et al. to run in time, leading to the best
formerly known algorithm for recognizing perfect graphs. Our first result is an
algorithm for detecting odd holes, implying an algorithm for
recognizing perfect graphs.
2. Chudnovsky et al. extend in 2021 the algorithms for detecting odd
holes (2020) and recognizing perfect graphs (2005) into the first polynomial
algorithm for obtaining a shortest odd hole, which runs in time. We
reduce the time for finding a shortest odd hole to .
3. Conforti et al. show in 1997 the first polynomial algorithm for detecting
even holes, running in about time. It then takes a line of
intensive efforts in the literature to bring down the complexity to
, , , and finally . On the other hand,
the tractability of finding a shortest even hole has been open for 16 years
until the very recent algorithm of Cheong and Lu in 2022. We
improve the time of finding a shortest even hole to .Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure