53,924 research outputs found
First-Order Interpretations of Bounded Expansion Classes
The notion of bounded expansion captures uniform sparsity of graph classes and renders various algorithmic problems that are hard in general tractable. In particular, the model-checking problem for first-order logic is fixed-parameter tractable over such graph classes. With the aim of generalizing such results to dense graphs, we introduce classes of graphs with structurally bounded expansion, defined as first-order interpretations of classes of bounded expansion. As a first step towards their algorithmic treatment, we provide their characterization analogous to the characterization of classes of bounded expansion via low treedepth decompositions, replacing treedepth by its dense analogue called shrubdepth
Testing first-order properties for subclasses of sparse graphs
We present a linear-time algorithm for deciding first-order (FO) properties
in classes of graphs with bounded expansion, a notion recently introduced by
Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez. This generalizes several results from the
literature, because many natural classes of graphs have bounded expansion:
graphs of bounded tree-width, all proper minor-closed classes of graphs, graphs
of bounded degree, graphs with no subgraph isomorphic to a subdivision of a
fixed graph, and graphs that can be drawn in a fixed surface in such a way that
each edge crosses at most a constant number of other edges. We deduce that
there is an almost linear-time algorithm for deciding FO properties in classes
of graphs with locally bounded expansion.
More generally, we design a dynamic data structure for graphs belonging to a
fixed class of graphs of bounded expansion. After a linear-time initialization
the data structure allows us to test an FO property in constant time, and the
data structure can be updated in constant time after addition/deletion of an
edge, provided the list of possible edges to be added is known in advance and
their simultaneous addition results in a graph in the class. All our results
also hold for relational structures and are based on the seminal result of
Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez on the existence of low tree-depth colorings
Testing first-order properties for subclasses of sparse graphs
We present a linear-time algorithm for deciding first-order (FO) properties in classes of graphs with bounded expansion, a notion recently introduced by NeÅ”etÅil and Ossona de Mendez. This generalizes several results from the literature, because many natural classes of graphs have bounded expansion: graphs of bounded tree-width, all proper minor-closed classes of graphs, graphs of bounded degree, graphs with no subgraph isomorphic to a subdivision of a fixed graph, and graphs that can be drawn in a fixed surface in such a way that each edge crosses at most a constant number of other edges. We deduce that there is an almost linear-time algorithm for deciding FO properties in classes of graphs with locally bounded expansion.
More generally, we design a dynamic data structure for graphs belonging to a fixed class of graphs of bounded expansion. After a linear-time initialization the data structure allows us to test an FO property in constant time, and the data structure can be updated in constant time after addition/deletion of an edge, provided the list of possible edges to be added is known in advance and their simultaneous addition results in a graph in the class. All our results also hold for relational structures and are based on the seminal result of NeÅ”etÅil and Ossona de Mendez on the existence of low tree-depth colorings
Shrub-depth: Capturing Height of Dense Graphs
The recent increase of interest in the graph invariant called tree-depth and
in its applications in algorithms and logic on graphs led to a natural
question: is there an analogously useful "depth" notion also for dense graphs
(say; one which is stable under graph complementation)? To this end, in a 2012
conference paper, a new notion of shrub-depth has been introduced, such that it
is related to the established notion of clique-width in a similar way as
tree-depth is related to tree-width. Since then shrub-depth has been
successfully used in several research papers. Here we provide an in-depth
review of the definition and basic properties of shrub-depth, and we focus on
its logical aspects which turned out to be most useful. In particular, we use
shrub-depth to give a characterization of the lower levels of the
MSO1 transduction hierarchy of simple graphs
Decidability Results for the Boundedness Problem
We prove decidability of the boundedness problem for monadic least
fixed-point recursion based on positive monadic second-order (MSO) formulae
over trees. Given an MSO-formula phi(X,x) that is positive in X, it is
decidable whether the fixed-point recursion based on phi is spurious over the
class of all trees in the sense that there is some uniform finite bound for the
number of iterations phi takes to reach its least fixed point, uniformly across
all trees. We also identify the exact complexity of this problem. The proof
uses automata-theoretic techniques. This key result extends, by means of
model-theoretic interpretations, to show decidability of the boundedness
problem for MSO and guarded second-order logic (GSO) over the classes of
structures of fixed finite tree-width. Further model-theoretic transfer
arguments allow us to derive major known decidability results for boundedness
for fragments of first-order logic as well as new ones
Recovering sparse graphs
We construct a fixed parameter algorithm parameterized by d and k that takes
as an input a graph G' obtained from a d-degenerate graph G by complementing on
at most k arbitrary subsets of the vertex set of G and outputs a graph H such
that G and H agree on all but f(d,k) vertices.
Our work is motivated by the first order model checking in graph classes that
are first order interpretable in classes of sparse graphs. We derive as a
corollary that if G_0 is a graph class with bounded expansion, then the first
order model checking is fixed parameter tractable in the class of all graphs
that can obtained from a graph G from G_0 by complementing on at most k
arbitrary subsets of the vertex set of G; this implies an earlier result that
the first order model checking is fixed parameter tractable in graph classes
interpretable in classes of graphs with bounded maximum degree
Courcelle's Theorem - A Game-Theoretic Approach
Courcelle's Theorem states that every problem definable in Monadic
Second-Order logic can be solved in linear time on structures of bounded
treewidth, for example, by constructing a tree automaton that recognizes or
rejects a tree decomposition of the structure. Existing, optimized software
like the MONA tool can be used to build the corresponding tree automata, which
for bounded treewidth are of constant size. Unfortunately, the constants
involved can become extremely large - every quantifier alternation requires a
power set construction for the automaton. Here, the required space can become a
problem in practical applications.
In this paper, we present a novel, direct approach based on model checking
games, which avoids the expensive power set construction. Experiments with an
implementation are promising, and we can solve problems on graphs where the
automata-theoretic approach fails in practice.Comment: submitte
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