112 research outputs found
Topologically Trivial Closed Walks in Directed Surface Graphs
Let be a directed graph with vertices and edges, embedded on a
surface , possibly with boundary, with first Betti number . We
consider the complexity of finding closed directed walks in that are either
contractible (trivial in homotopy) or bounding (trivial in integer homology) in
. Specifically, we describe algorithms to determine whether contains a
simple contractible cycle in time, or a contractible closed walk in
time, or a bounding closed walk in time. Our
algorithms rely on subtle relationships between strong connectivity in and
in the dual graph ; our contractible-closed-walk algorithm also relies on
a seminal topological result of Hass and Scott. We also prove that detecting
simple bounding cycles is NP-hard.
We also describe three polynomial-time algorithms to compute shortest
contractible closed walks, depending on whether the fundamental group of the
surface is free, abelian, or hyperbolic. A key step in our algorithm for
hyperbolic surfaces is the construction of a context-free grammar with
non-terminals that generates all contractible closed walks of
length at most L, and only contractible closed walks, in a system of quads of
genus . Finally, we show that computing shortest simple contractible
cycles, shortest simple bounding cycles, and shortest bounding closed walks are
all NP-hard.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures; fixed several minor bugs and added one figure.
An extended abstraction of this paper will appear at SOCG 201
Topologically Trivial Closed Walks in Directed Surface Graphs
Let G be a directed graph with n vertices and m edges, embedded on a surface S, possibly with boundary, with first Betti number beta. We consider the complexity of finding closed directed walks in G that are either contractible (trivial in homotopy) or bounding (trivial in integer homology) in S. Specifically, we describe algorithms to determine whether G contains a simple contractible cycle in O(n+m) time, or a contractible closed walk in O(n+m) time, or a bounding closed walk in O(beta (n+m)) time. Our algorithms rely on subtle relationships between strong connectivity in G and in the dual graph G^*; our contractible-closed-walk algorithm also relies on a seminal topological result of Hass and Scott. We also prove that detecting simple bounding cycles is NP-hard.
We also describe three polynomial-time algorithms to compute shortest contractible closed walks, depending on whether the fundamental group of the surface is free, abelian, or hyperbolic. A key step in our algorithm for hyperbolic surfaces is the construction of a context-free grammar with O(g^2L^2) non-terminals that generates all contractible closed walks of length at most L, and only contractible closed walks, in a system of quads of genus g >= 2. Finally, we show that computing shortest simple contractible cycles, shortest simple bounding cycles, and shortest bounding closed walks are all NP-hard
Minimum cycle and homology bases of surface embedded graphs
We study the problems of finding a minimum cycle basis (a minimum weight set
of cycles that form a basis for the cycle space) and a minimum homology basis
(a minimum weight set of cycles that generates the -dimensional
()-homology classes) of an undirected graph embedded on a
surface. The problems are closely related, because the minimum cycle basis of a
graph contains its minimum homology basis, and the minimum homology basis of
the -skeleton of any graph is exactly its minimum cycle basis.
For the minimum cycle basis problem, we give a deterministic
-time algorithm for graphs embedded on an orientable
surface of genus . The best known existing algorithms for surface embedded
graphs are those for general graphs: an time Monte Carlo
algorithm and a deterministic time algorithm. For the
minimum homology basis problem, we give a deterministic -time algorithm for graphs embedded on an orientable or non-orientable
surface of genus with boundary components, assuming shortest paths are
unique, improving on existing algorithms for many values of and . The
assumption of unique shortest paths can be avoided with high probability using
randomization or deterministically by increasing the running time of the
homology basis algorithm by a factor of .Comment: A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 32nd Annual
International Symposium on Computational Geometr
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 2^{O(k log k)} n steps. Our approach combines tools from
topological graph theory and analytic combinatorics. In particular, we
introduce a new type of branch decomposition called "surface cut
decomposition", generalizing sphere cut decompositions of planar graphs
introduced by Seymour and Thomas, which has nice combinatorial properties.
Namely, the number of partial solutions that can be arranged on a surface cut
decomposition can be upper-bounded by the number of non-crossing partitions on
surfaces with boundary. It follows that partial solutions can be represented by
a single-exponential (in the branchwidth k) number of configurations. This
proves that, when applied on surface cut decompositions, dynamic programming
runs in 2^{O(k)} n steps. That way, we considerably extend the class of
problems that can be solved in running times with a single-exponential
dependence on branchwidth and unify/improve most previous results in this
direction.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figure
Schnyder woods for higher genus triangulated surfaces
The final version of this extended abstract has been published in "Discrete and Computational Geometry (2009)"International audienceSchnyder woods are a well known combinatorial structure for planar graphs, which yields a decomposition into 3 vertex-spanning trees. Our goal is to extend definitions and algorithms for Schnyder woods designed for planar graphs (corresponding to combinatorial surfaces with the topology of the sphere, i.e., of genus 0) to the more general case of graphs embedded on surfaces of arbitrary genus. First, we define a new traversal order of the vertices of a triangulated surface of genus g together with an orientation and coloration of the edges that extends the one proposed by Schnyder for the planar case. As a by-product we show how some recent schemes for compression and compact encoding of graphs can be extended to higher genus. All the algorithms presented here have linear time complexity
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