686 research outputs found
Hitting forbidden minors: Approximation and Kernelization
We study a general class of problems called F-deletion problems. In an
F-deletion problem, we are asked whether a subset of at most vertices can
be deleted from a graph such that the resulting graph does not contain as a
minor any graph from the family F of forbidden minors.
We obtain a number of algorithmic results on the F-deletion problem when F
contains a planar graph. We give (1) a linear vertex kernel on graphs excluding
-claw , the star with leves, as an induced subgraph, where
is a fixed integer. (2) an approximation algorithm achieving an approximation
ratio of , where is the size of an optimal solution on
general undirected graphs. Finally, we obtain polynomial kernels for the case
when F contains graph as a minor for a fixed integer . The graph
consists of two vertices connected by parallel edges. Even
though this may appear to be a very restricted class of problems it already
encompasses well-studied problems such as {\sc Vertex Cover}, {\sc Feedback
Vertex Set} and Diamond Hitting Set. The generic kernelization algorithm is
based on a non-trivial application of protrusion techniques, previously used
only for problems on topological graph classes
Forbidden minors characterization of partial 3-trees
AbstractA k-tree is formed from a k-complete graph by recursively adding a vertex adjacent to all vertices in an existing k-complete subgraph. The many applications of partial k-trees (subgraphs of k-trees) have motivated their study from both the algorithmic and theoretical points of view. In this paper we characterize the class of partial 3-trees by its set of four minimal forbidden minors (H is a minor of G if H can be obtained from G by a finite sequence of edge-extraction and edge-contradiction operations.
FPT is Characterized by Useful Obstruction Sets
Many graph problems were first shown to be fixed-parameter tractable using
the results of Robertson and Seymour on graph minors. We show that the
combination of finite, computable, obstruction sets and efficient order tests
is not just one way of obtaining strongly uniform FPT algorithms, but that all
of FPT may be captured in this way. Our new characterization of FPT has a
strong connection to the theory of kernelization, as we prove that problems
with polynomial kernels can be characterized by obstruction sets whose elements
have polynomial size. Consequently we investigate the interplay between the
sizes of problem kernels and the sizes of the elements of such obstruction
sets, obtaining several examples of how results in one area yield new insights
in the other. We show how exponential-size minor-minimal obstructions for
pathwidth k form the crucial ingredient in a novel OR-cross-composition for
k-Pathwidth, complementing the trivial AND-composition that is known for this
problem. In the other direction, we show that OR-cross-compositions into a
parameterized problem can be used to rule out the existence of efficiently
generated quasi-orders on its instances that characterize the NO-instances by
polynomial-size obstructions.Comment: Extended abstract with appendix, as accepted to WG 201
Finding Cycles and Trees in Sublinear Time
We present sublinear-time (randomized) algorithms for finding simple cycles
of length at least and tree-minors in bounded-degree graphs. The
complexity of these algorithms is related to the distance of the graph from
being -minor-free (resp., free from having the corresponding tree-minor).
In particular, if the graph is far (i.e., -far) {from} being
cycle-free, i.e. if one has to delete a constant fraction of edges to make it
cycle-free, then the algorithm finds a cycle of polylogarithmic length in time
\tildeO(\sqrt{N}), where denotes the number of vertices. This time
complexity is optimal up to polylogarithmic factors.
The foregoing results are the outcome of our study of the complexity of {\em
one-sided error} property testing algorithms in the bounded-degree graphs
model. For example, we show that cycle-freeness of -vertex graphs can be
tested with one-sided error within time complexity
\tildeO(\poly(1/\e)\cdot\sqrt{N}). This matches the known
query lower bound, and contrasts with the fact that any minor-free property
admits a {\em two-sided error} tester of query complexity that only depends on
the proximity parameter \e. For any constant , we extend this result
to testing whether the input graph has a simple cycle of length at least .
On the other hand, for any fixed tree , we show that -minor-freeness has
a one-sided error tester of query complexity that only depends on the proximity
parameter \e.
Our algorithm for finding cycles in bounded-degree graphs extends to general
graphs, where distances are measured with respect to the actual number of
edges. Such an extension is not possible with respect to finding tree-minors in
complexity.Comment: Keywords: Sublinear-Time Algorithms, Property Testing, Bounded-Degree
Graphs, One-Sided vs Two-Sided Error Probability Updated versio
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