7,005 research outputs found
Beyond Bidimensionality: Parameterized Subexponential Algorithms on Directed Graphs
We develop two different methods to achieve subexponential time parameterized
algorithms for problems on sparse directed graphs. We exemplify our approaches
with two well studied problems.
For the first problem, {\sc -Leaf Out-Branching}, which is to find an
oriented spanning tree with at least leaves, we obtain an algorithm solving
the problem in time on directed graphs
whose underlying undirected graph excludes some fixed graph as a minor. For
the special case when the input directed graph is planar, the running time can
be improved to . The second example is a
generalization of the {\sc Directed Hamiltonian Path} problem, namely {\sc
-Internal Out-Branching}, which is to find an oriented spanning tree with at
least internal vertices. We obtain an algorithm solving the problem in time
on directed graphs whose underlying
undirected graph excludes some fixed apex graph as a minor. Finally, we
observe that for any , the {\sc -Directed Path} problem is
solvable in time , where is some
function of \ve.
Our methods are based on non-trivial combinations of obstruction theorems for
undirected graphs, kernelization, problem specific combinatorial structures and
a layering technique similar to the one employed by Baker to obtain PTAS for
planar graphs
On the Parameterized Intractability of Monadic Second-Order Logic
One of Courcelle's celebrated results states that if C is a class of graphs
of bounded tree-width, then model-checking for monadic second order logic
(MSO_2) is fixed-parameter tractable (fpt) on C by linear time parameterized
algorithms, where the parameter is the tree-width plus the size of the formula.
An immediate question is whether this is best possible or whether the result
can be extended to classes of unbounded tree-width. In this paper we show that
in terms of tree-width, the theorem cannot be extended much further. More
specifically, we show that if C is a class of graphs which is closed under
colourings and satisfies certain constructibility conditions and is such that
the tree-width of C is not bounded by \log^{84} n then MSO_2-model checking is
not fpt unless SAT can be solved in sub-exponential time. If the tree-width of
C is not poly-logarithmically bounded, then MSO_2-model checking is not fpt
unless all problems in the polynomial-time hierarchy can be solved in
sub-exponential time
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