Inserting Multiple Edges into a Planar Graph

Let G be a connected planar (but not yet embedded) graph and F a set of additional edges not in G. The multiple edge insertion problem (MEI) asks for a drawing of G+F with the minimum number of pairwise edge crossings, such that the subdrawing of G is plane. An optimal solution to this problem is known to approximate the crossing number of the graph G+F. Finding an exact solution to MEI is NP-hard for general F, but linear time solvable for the special case of |F|=1 [Gutwenger et al, SODA 2001/Algorithmica] and polynomial time solvable when all of F are incident to a new vertex [Chimani et al, SODA 2009]. The complexity for general F but with constant k=|F| was open, but algorithms both with relative and absolute approximation guarantees have been presented [Chuzhoy et al, SODA 2011], [Chimani-Hlineny, ICALP 2011]. We show that the problem is fixed parameter tractable (FPT) in k for biconnected G, or if the cut vertices of G have bounded degrees. We give the first exact algorithm for this problem; it requires only O(|V(G)|) time for any constant k

On the Number of Edges of Fan-Crossing Free Graphs

A graph drawn in the plane with n vertices is k-fan-crossing free for k > 1 if there are no k+1 edges $g,e_1,...e_k$, such that $e_1,e_2,...e_k$ have a common endpoint and $g$ crosses all $e_i$. We prove a tight bound of 4n-8 on the maximum number of edges of a 2-fan-crossing free graph, and a tight 4n-9 bound for a straight-edge drawing. For k > 2, we prove an upper bound of 3(k-1)(n-2) edges. We also discuss generalizations to monotone graph properties