On Panchromatic Patterns

Given D and H two digraphs, D is H-coloured iff the arcs of D are coloured with the vertices of H. After defining what do we mean by an H-walk in the coloured D, we characterise those H, which we call panchromatic patterns, for which all D and all H-colourings of D admit a kernel by H-walks. This solves a problem of Arpin and Linek from 2007

A dichotomy for the kernel by HH-walks problem in digraphs

Let $H = (V_H, A_H)$ be a digraph which may contain loops, and let $D = (V_D, A_D)$ be a loopless digraph with a coloring of its arcs $c: A_D \to V_H$. An $H$-walk of $D$ is a walk $(v_0, \dots, v_n)$ of $D$ such that $(c(v_{i-1}, v_i), c(v_i, v_{i+1}))$ is an arc of $H$, for every $1 \le i \le n-1$. For $u, v \in V_D$, we say that $u$ reaches $v$ by $H$-walks if there exists an $H$-walk from $u$ to $v$ in $D$. A subset $S \subseteq V_D$ is a kernel by $H$-walks of $D$ if every vertex in $V_D \setminus S$ reaches by $H$-walks some vertex in $S$, and no vertex in $S$ can reach another vertex in $S$ by $H$-walks. A panchromatic pattern is a digraph $H$ such that every arc-colored digraph $D$ has a kernel by $H$-walks. In this work, we prove that every digraph $H$ is either a panchromatic pattern, or the problem of determining whether an arc-colored digraph $D$ has a kernel by $H$-walks is $NP$-complete.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Panchromatic patterns by paths

Let $H=(V_H,A_H)$ be a digraph, possibly with loops, and let $D=(V_D, A_D)$ be a loopless multidigraph with a colouring of its arcs $c: A_D \rightarrow V_H$. An $H$-path of $D$ is a path $(v_0, \dots, v_n)$ of $D$ such that $(c(v_{i-1}, v_i), c(v_i,v_{i+1}))$ is an arc of $H$ for every $1 \le i \le n-1$. For $u, v \in V_D$, we say that $u$ reaches $v$ by $H$-paths if there exists an $H$-path from $u$ to $v$ in $D$. A subset $S \subseteq V_D$ is $H$-absorbent of $D$ if every vertex in $V_D-S$ reaches by $H$-paths some vertex in $S$, and it is $H$-independent if no vertex in $S$ can reach another (different) vertex in $S$ by $H$-pahts. An $H$-kernel is an independent by $H$-paths and absorbent by $H$-paths subset of $V_D$. We define $\tilde{\mathscr{B}}_1$ as the set of digraphs $H$ such that any $H$-arc-coloured tournament has an $H$-absorbent by paths vertex; the set $\tilde{\mathscr{B}}_2$ consists of the digraphs $H$ such that any $H$-arc-coloured digraph $D$ has an independent, $H$-absorbent by paths set; analogously, the set $\tilde{\mathscr{B}}_3$ is the set of digraphs $H$ such that every $H$-arc-coloured digraph $D$ contains an $H$-kernel by paths. In this work, we present a characterization of $\tilde{\mathscr{B}}_2$, and provide structural properties of the digraphs in $\tilde{\mathscr{B}}_3$ which settle up its characterization except for the analysis of a single digraph on three vertices.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure

H-Kernels by Walks

We prove that, if every cycle of $D$ is an $H$-cycle, then $D$ has an $H$-kernel by walks