Minimal Disconnected Cuts in Planar Graphs

The problem of finding a disconnected cut in a graph is NP-hard in general but polynomial-time solvable on planar graphs. The problem of finding a minimal disconnected cut is also NP-hard but its computational complexity was not known for planar graphs. We show that it is polynomial-time solvable on 3-connected planar graphs but NP-hard for 2-connected planar graphs. Our technique for the first result is based on a structural characterization of minimal disconnected cuts in 3-connected inline image-free-minor graphs and on solving a topological minor problem in the dual. In addition we show that the problem of finding a minimal connected cut of size at least 3 is NP-hard for 2-connected apex graphs. Finally, we relax the notion of minimality and prove that the problem of finding a so-called semi-minimal disconnected cut is still polynomial-time solvable on planar graphs

Minimal disconnected cuts in planar graphs

The problem of finding a disconnected cut in a graph is NP-hard in general but polynomial-time solvable on planar graphs. The problem of finding a minimal disconnected cut is also NP-hard but its computational complexity is not known for planar graphs. We show that it is polynomial-time solvable on 3-connected planar graphs but NP-hard for 2-connected planar graphs. Our technique for the first result is based on a structural characterization of minimal disconnected cuts in 3-connected K 3,3 -free-minor graphs and on solving a topological minor problem in the dual. We show that the latter problem can be solved in polynomial-time even on general graphs. In addition we show that the problem of finding a minimal connected cut of size at least 3 is NP-hard for 2-connected apex graphs

String Breaking from Ladder Diagrams in SYM Theory

The AdS/CFT correspondence establishes a string representation for Wilson loops in N=4 SYM theory at large N and large 't Hooft coupling. One of the clearest manifestations of the stringy behaviour in Wilson loop correlators is the string-breaking phase transition. It is shown that resummation of planar diagrams without internal vertices predicts the strong-coupling phase transtion in exactly the same setting in which it arises from the string representation.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures; v2: misprint in eq. (3.9) corrected; v4: treatment of inhomogeneous term in the Dyson equation modifie

Beyond Outerplanarity

We study straight-line drawings of graphs where the vertices are placed in convex position in the plane, i.e., convex drawings. We consider two families of graph classes with nice convex drawings: outer $k$-planar graphs, where each edge is crossed by at most $k$ other edges; and, outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs where no $k$ edges can mutually cross. We show that the outer $k$-planar graphs are $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+1)$-degenerate, and consequently that every outer $k$-planar graph can be $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+2)$-colored, and this bound is tight. We further show that every outer $k$-planar graph has a balanced separator of size $O(k)$. This implies that every outer $k$-planar graph has treewidth $O(k)$. For fixed $k$, these small balanced separators allow us to obtain a simple quasi-polynomial time algorithm to test whether a given graph is outer $k$-planar, i.e., none of these recognition problems are NP-complete unless ETH fails. For the outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs we prove that, unlike other beyond-planar graph classes, every edge-maximal $n$-vertex outer $k$-quasi planar graph has the same number of edges, namely $2(k-1)n - \binom{2k-1}{2}$. We also construct planar 3-trees that are not outer $3$-quasi-planar. Finally, we restrict outer $k$-planar and outer $k$-quasi-planar drawings to \emph{closed} drawings, where the vertex sequence on the boundary is a cycle in the graph. For each $k$, we express closed outer $k$-planarity and \emph{closed outer $k$-quasi-planarity} in extended monadic second-order logic. Thus, closed outer $k$-planarity is linear-time testable by Courcelle's Theorem.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017

Infinite matroids in graphs

It has recently been shown that infinite matroids can be axiomatized in a way that is very similar to finite matroids and permits duality. This was previously thought impossible, since finitary infinite matroids must have non-finitary duals. In this paper we illustrate the new theory by exhibiting its implications for the cycle and bond matroids of infinite graphs. We also describe their algebraic cycle matroids, those whose circuits are the finite cycles and double rays, and determine their duals. Finally, we give a sufficient condition for a matroid to be representable in a sense adapted to infinite matroids. Which graphic matroids are representable in this sense remains an open question.Comment: Figure correcte

A Polynomial-time Algorithm for Outerplanar Diameter Improvement

The Outerplanar Diameter Improvement problem asks, given a graph $G$ and an integer $D$, whether it is possible to add edges to $G$ in a way that the resulting graph is outerplanar and has diameter at most $D$. We provide a dynamic programming algorithm that solves this problem in polynomial time. Outerplanar Diameter Improvement demonstrates several structural analogues to the celebrated and challenging Planar Diameter Improvement problem, where the resulting graph should, instead, be planar. The complexity status of this latter problem is open.Comment: 24 page