Simultaneous Representation of Proper and Unit Interval Graphs

In a confluence of combinatorics and geometry, simultaneous representations provide a way to realize combinatorial objects that share common structure. A standard case in the study of simultaneous representations is the sunflower case where all objects share the same common structure. While the recognition problem for general simultaneous interval graphs - the simultaneous version of arguably one of the most well-studied graph classes - is NP-complete, the complexity of the sunflower case for three or more simultaneous interval graphs is currently open. In this work we settle this question for proper interval graphs. We give an algorithm to recognize simultaneous proper interval graphs in linear time in the sunflower case where we allow any number of simultaneous graphs. Simultaneous unit interval graphs are much more "rigid" and therefore have less freedom in their representation. We show they can be recognized in time O(|V|*|E|) for any number of simultaneous graphs in the sunflower case where G=(V,E) is the union of the simultaneous graphs. We further show that both recognition problems are in general NP-complete if the number of simultaneous graphs is not fixed. The restriction to the sunflower case is in this sense necessary

On the threshold-width of graphs

The GG-width of a class of graphs GG is defined as follows. A graph G has GG-width k if there are k independent sets N1,...,Nk in G such that G can be embedded into a graph H in GG such that for every edge e in H which is not an edge in G, there exists an i such that both endpoints of e are in Ni. For the class TH of threshold graphs we show that TH-width is NP-complete and we present fixed-parameter algorithms. We also show that for each k, graphs of TH-width at most k are characterized by a finite collection of forbidden induced subgraphs

On decision and optimization (k,l)-graph sandwich problems

AbstractA graph G is (k,l) if its vertex set can be partitioned into at most k independent sets and l cliques. The (k,l)-Graph Sandwich Problem asks, given two graphs G1=(V,E1) and G2=(V,E2), whether there exists a graph G=(V,E) such that E1⊆E⊆E2 and G is (k,l). In this paper, we prove that the (k,l)-Graph Sandwich Problem is NP-complete for the cases k=1 and l=2; k=2 and l=1; or k=l=2. This completely classifies the complexity of the (k,l)-Graph Sandwich Problem as follows: the problem is NP-complete, if k+l>2; the problem is polynomial otherwise. We consider the degree Δ constraint subproblem and completely classify the problem as follows: the problem is polynomial, for k⩽2 or Δ⩽3; the problem is NP-complete otherwise. In addition, we propose two optimization versions of graph sandwich problem for a property Π: MAX-Π-GSP and MIN-Π-GSP. We prove that MIN-(2,1)-GSP is a Max-SNP-hard problem, i.e., there is a positive constant ε, such that the existence of an ε-approximative algorithm for MIN-(2,1)-GSP implies P=NP

Hardness of Approximation for H-Free Edge Modification Problems

The H-free Edge Deletion problem asks, for a given graph G and integer k, whether it is possible to delete at most k edges from G to make it H-free, that is, not containing H as an induced subgraph. The H-free Edge Completion problem is defined similarly, but we add edges instead of deleting them. The study of these two problem families has recently been the subject of intensive studies from the point of view of parameterized complexity and kernelization. In particular, it was shown that the problems do not admit polynomial kernels (under plausible complexity assumptions) for almost all graphs H, with several important exceptions occurring when the class of H-free graphs exhibits some structural properties. In this work we complement the parameterized study of edge modification problems to H-free graphs by considering their approximability. We prove that whenever H is 3-connected and has at least two non-edges, then both H-free Edge Deletion and H-free Edge Completion are very hard to approximate: they do not admit poly(OPT)-approximation in polynomial time, unless P=NP, or even in time subexponential in OPT, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. The assumption of the existence of two non-edges appears to be important: we show that whenever H is a complete graph without one edge, then H-free Edge Deletion is tightly connected to the minhorn problem, whose approximability is still open. Finally, in an attempt to extend our hardness results beyond 3-connected graphs, we consider the cases of H being a path or a cycle, and we achieve an almost complete dichotomy there

Tree-visibility orders

AbstractWe introduce a new class of partially ordered sets, called tree-visibility orders, containing interval orders, duals of generalized interval orders and height one orders. We give a characterization of tree-visibility orders by an infinite family of minimal forbidden suborders. Furthermore, we present an efficient recognition algorithm for tree-visibility orders

Unique perfect phylogeny is NP-hard

We answer, in the affirmative, the following question proposed by Mike Steel as a $100 challenge: "Is the following problem NP-hard? Given a ternary phylogenetic X-tree T and a collection Q of quartet subtrees on X, is T the only tree that displays Q ?