The Partial Visibility Representation Extension Problem

For a graph $G$, a function $\psi$ is called a \emph{bar visibility representation} of $G$ when for each vertex $v \in V(G)$, $\psi(v)$ is a horizontal line segment (\emph{bar}) and $uv \in E(G)$ iff there is an unobstructed, vertical, $\varepsilon$-wide line of sight between $\psi(u)$ and $\psi(v)$. Graphs admitting such representations are well understood (via simple characterizations) and recognizable in linear time. For a directed graph $G$, a bar visibility representation $\psi$ of $G$, additionally, puts the bar $\psi(u)$ strictly below the bar $\psi(v)$ for each directed edge $(u,v)$ of $G$. We study a generalization of the recognition problem where a function $\psi'$ defined on a subset $V'$ of $V(G)$ is given and the question is whether there is a bar visibility representation $\psi$ of $G$ with $\psi(v) = \psi'(v)$ for every $v \in V'$. We show that for undirected graphs this problem together with closely related problems are \NP-complete, but for certain cases involving directed graphs it is solvable in polynomial time.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Sink-Stable Sets of Digraphs

We introduce the notion of sink-stable sets of a digraph and prove a min-max formula for the maximum cardinality of the union of k sink-stable sets. The results imply a recent min-max theorem of Abeledo and Atkinson on the Clar number of bipartite plane graphs and a sharpening of Minty's coloring theorem. We also exhibit a link to min-max results of Bessy and Thomasse and of Sebo on cyclic stable sets

Hardness and Approximation of Octilinear Steiner Trees

Given a point set K of terminals in the plane, the octilinear Steiner tree problem is to find a shortest tree that interconnects all terminals and edges run either in horizontal, vertical, or 45° diagonal direction. This problem is fundamental for the novel octilinear routing paradigm in VLSI design, the so-called X-architecture. As the related rectilinear and the Euclidian Steiner tree problem are well-known to be NP-hard, the same was widely believed for the octilinear Steiner tree problem but left open for quite some time. In this paper, we prove the NP-completeness of the decision version of the octilinear Steiner tree problem. We also show how to reduce the octilinear Steiner tree problem to the Steiner tree problem in graphs of polynomial size with the following approximation guarantee. We construct a graph of size O(n^2/epsilon^2) which contains a (1+epsilon)-approximation of a minimum octilinear Steiner tree for every epsilon > 0 and n = |K|. Hence, we can apply any k-approximation algorithm for the Steiner tree problem in graphs (the currently best known bound is k=1.55) and achieve an (k+epsilon)-approximation bound for the octilinear Steiner tree problem. This approximation guarantee also holds for the more difficult case where the Steiner tree has to avoid blockages (obstacles bounded by octilinear polygons)

Cubulations, immersions, mappability and a problem of Habegger

The aim of this paper (inspired from a problem of Habegger) is to describe the set of cubical decompositions of compact manifolds mod out by a set of combinatorial moves analogous to the bistellar moves considered by Pachner, which we call bubble moves. One constructs a surjection from this set onto the the bordism group of codimension one immersions in the manifold. The connected sums of manifolds and immersions induce multiplicative structures which are respected by this surjection. We prove that those cubulations which map combinatorially into the standard decomposition of ${\bf R}^n$ for large enough $n$ (called mappable), are equivalent. Finally we classify the cubulations of the 2-sphere.Comment: Revised version, Ann.Sci.Ecole Norm. Sup. (to appear

Chromatic roots are dense in the whole complex plane

I show that the zeros of the chromatic polynomials P-G(q) for the generalized theta graphs Theta((s.p)) are taken together, dense in the whole complex plane with the possible exception of the disc \q - l\ < l. The same holds for their dichromatic polynomials (alias Tutte polynomials, alias Potts-model partition functions) Z(G)(q,upsilon) outside the disc \q + upsilon\ < \upsilon\. An immediate corollary is that the chromatic roots of not-necessarily-planar graphs are dense in the whole complex plane. The main technical tool in the proof of these results is the Beraha-Kahane-Weiss theorem oil the limit sets of zeros for certain sequences of analytic functions, for which I give a new and simpler proof

On the barrier-resilience of arrangements of ray-sensors

Given an arrangement A of n sensors and two points s and t in the plane, the barrier resilience of A with respect to s and t is the minimum number of sensors whose removal permits a path from s to t such that the path does not intersect the coverage region of any sensor in A. When the surveillance domain is the entire plane and sensor coverage regions are unit line segments, even with restricted orientations, the problem of determining the barrier resilience is known to be NP-hard. On the other hand, if sensor coverage regions are arbitrary lines, the problem has a trivial linear time solution. In this paper, we give an O(n2m) time algorithm for computing the barrier resilience when each sensor coverage region is an arbitrary ray, where m is the number of sensor intersections.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad