Maker-Breaker domination number

The Maker-Breaker domination game is played on a graph $G$ by Dominator and Staller. The players alternatively select a vertex of $G$ that was not yet chosen in the course of the game. Dominator wins if at some point the vertices he has chosen form a dominating set. Staller wins if Dominator cannot form a dominating set. In this paper we introduce the Maker-Breaker domination number $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ of $G$ as the minimum number of moves of Dominator to win the game provided that he has a winning strategy and is the first to play. If Staller plays first, then the corresponding invariant is denoted $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Comparing the two invariants it turns out that they behave much differently than the related game domination numbers. The invariant $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ is also compared with the domination number. Using the Erd\H{o}s-Selfridge Criterion a large class of graphs $G$ is found for which $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G) > \gamma(G)$ holds. Residual graphs are introduced and used to bound/determine $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(G)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(G)$. Using residual graphs, $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}(T)$ and $\gamma_{{\rm MB}}'(T)$ are determined for an arbitrary tree. The invariants are also obtained for cycles and bounded for union of graphs. A list of open problems and directions for further investigations is given.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Game Total Domination Critical Graphs

In the total domination game played on a graph $G$, players Dominator and Staller alternately select vertices of $G$, as long as possible, such that each vertex chosen increases the number of vertices totally dominated. Dominator (Staller) wishes to minimize (maximize) the number of vertices selected. The game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$, of $G$ is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and both players play optimally. If a vertex $v$ of $G$ is declared to be already totally dominated, then we denote this graph by $G|v$. In this paper the total domination game critical graphs are introduced as the graphs $G$ for which $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G|v) < \gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$ holds for every vertex $v$ in $G$. If $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) = k$, then $G$ is called $k$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical. It is proved that the cycle $C_n$ is $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}$-critical if and only if $n\pmod 6 \in \{0,1,3\}$ and that the path $P_n$ is $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}$-critical if and only if $n\pmod 6\in \{2,4\}$. $2$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical and $3$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical graphs are also characterized as well as $3$-$\gamma_{\rm tg}$-critical joins of graphs

Cutting Lemma and Union Lemma for the Domination Game

Two new techniques are introduced into the theory of the domination game. The cutting lemma bounds the game domination number of a partially dominated graph with the game domination number of suitably modified partially dominated graph. The union lemma bounds the S-game domination number of a disjoint union of paths using appropriate weighting functions. Using these tools a conjecture asserting that the so-called three legged spiders are game domination critical graphs is proved. An extended cutting lemma is also derived and all game domination critical trees on 18, 19, and 20 vertices are listed

On the game total domination number

The total domination game is a two-person competitive optimization game, where the players, Dominator and Staller, alternately select vertices of an isolate-free graph $G$. Each vertex chosen must strictly increase the number of vertices totally dominated. This process eventually produces a total dominating set of $G$. Dominator wishes to minimize the number of vertices chosen in the game, while Staller wishes to maximize it. The game total domination number of $G$, $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}(G)$, is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and both players play optimally. Recently, Henning, Klav\v{z}ar, and Rall proved that $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}(G) \le \frac{4}{5}n$ holds for every graph $G$ which is given on $n$ vertices such that every component of it is of order at least $3$; they also conjectured that the sharp upper bound would be $\frac{3}{4}n$. Here, we prove that $\gamma_{{\rm tg}}(G)\le \frac{11}{14}n$ holds for every $G$ which contains no isolated vertices or isolated edges.Comment: 11 page

The variety of domination games

Domination game [SIAM J.\ Discrete Math.\ 24 (2010) 979--991] and total domination game [Graphs Combin.\ 31 (2015) 1453--1462] are by now well established games played on graphs by two players, named Dominator and Staller. In this paper, Z-domination game, L-domination game, and LL-domination game are introduced as natural companions of the standard domination games. Versions of the Continuation Principle are proved for the new games. It is proved that in each of these games the outcome of the game, which is a corresponding graph invariant, differs by at most one depending whether Dominator or Staller starts the game. The hierarchy of the five domination games is established. The invariants are also bounded with respect to the (total) domination number and to the order of a graph. Values of the three new invariants are determined for paths up to a small constant independent from the length of a path. Several open problems and a conjecture are listed. The latter asserts that the L-domination game number is not greater than $6/7$ of the order of a graph.Comment: 21 page

Scaling algorithms for approximate and exact maximum weight matching

The {\em maximum cardinality} and {\em maximum weight matching} problems can be solved in time $\tilde{O}(m\sqrt{n})$, a bound that has resisted improvement despite decades of research. (Here $m$ and $n$ are the number of edges and vertices.) In this article we demonstrate that this "$m\sqrt{n}$ barrier" is extremely fragile, in the following sense. For any $\epsilon>0$, we give an algorithm that computes a $(1-\epsilon)$-approximate maximum weight matching in $O(m\epsilon^{-1}\log\epsilon^{-1})$ time, that is, optimal {\em linear time} for any fixed $\epsilon$. Our algorithm is dramatically simpler than the best exact maximum weight matching algorithms on general graphs and should be appealing in all applications that can tolerate a negligible relative error. Our second contribution is a new {\em exact} maximum weight matching algorithm for integer-weighted bipartite graphs that runs in time $O(m\sqrt{n}\log N)$. This improves on the $O(Nm\sqrt{n})$-time and $O(m\sqrt{n}\log(nN))$-time algorithms known since the mid 1980s, for $1\ll \log N \ll \log n$. Here $N$ is the maximum integer edge weight

Complexity of the Game Domination Problem

The game domination number is a graph invariant that arises from a game, which is related to graph domination in a similar way as the game chromatic number is related to graph coloring. In this paper we show that verifying whether the game domination number of a graph is bounded by a given integer is PSPACE-complete. This contrasts the situation of the game coloring problem whose complexity is still unknown.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Progress Towards the Total Domination Game 34\frac{3}{4}-Conjecture

In this paper, we continue the study of the total domination game in graphs introduced in [Graphs Combin. 31(5) (2015), 1453--1462], where the players Dominator and Staller alternately select vertices of $G$. Each vertex chosen must strictly increase the number of vertices totally dominated, where a vertex totally dominates another vertex if they are neighbors. This process eventually produces a total dominating set $S$ of $G$ in which every vertex is totally dominated by a vertex in $S$. Dominator wishes to minimize the number of vertices chosen, while Staller wishes to maximize it. The game total domination number, $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G)$, of $G$ is the number of vertices chosen when Dominator starts the game and both players play optimally. Henning, Klav\v{z}ar and Rall [Combinatorica, to appear] posted the $\frac{3}{4}$-Game Total Domination Conjecture that states that if $G$ is a graph on $n$ vertices in which every component contains at least three vertices, then $\gamma_{\rm tg}(G) \le \frac{3}{4}n$. In this paper, we prove this conjecture over the class of graphs $G$ that satisfy both the condition that the degree sum of adjacent vertices in $G$ is at least $4$ and the condition that no two vertices of degree $1$ are at distance $4$ apart in $G$. In particular, we prove that by adopting a greedy strategy, Dominator can complete the total domination game played in a graph with minimum degree at least $2$ in at most $3n/4$ moves.Comment: 14 page

Domination game and minimal edge cuts

In this paper a relationship is established between the domination game and minimal edge cuts. It is proved that the game domination number of a connected graph can be bounded above in terms of the size of minimal edge cuts. In particular, if $C$ a minimum edge cut of a connected graph $G$, then $\gamma_g(G) \le \gamma_g(G\setminus C) + 2\kappa'(G)$. Double-Staller graphs are introduced in order to show that this upper bound can be attained for graphs with a bridge. The obtained results are used to extend the family of known traceable graphs whose game domination numbers are at most one-half their order. Along the way two technical lemmas, which seem to be generally applicable for the study of the domination game, are proved.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Maker-Breaker total domination game

Maker-Breaker total domination game in graphs is introduced as a natural counterpart to the Maker-Breaker domination game recently studied by Duch\^ene, Gledel, Parreau, and Renault. Both games are instances of the combinatorial Maker-Breaker games. The Maker-Breaker total domination game is played on a graph $G$ by two players who alternately take turns choosing vertices of $G$. The first player, Dominator, selects a vertex in order to totally dominate $G$ while the other player, Staller, forbids a vertex to Dominator in order to prevent him to reach his goal. It is shown that there are infinitely many connected cubic graphs in which Staller wins and that no minimum degree condition is sufficient to guarantee that Dominator wins when Staller starts the game. An amalgamation lemma is established and used to determine the outcome of the game played on grids. Cacti are also classified with respect to the outcome of the game. A connection between the game and hypergraphs is established. It is proved that the game is PSPACE-complete on split and bipartite graphs. Several problems and questions are also posed.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure