Interdiction Problems on Planar Graphs

Interdiction problems are leader-follower games in which the leader is allowed to delete a certain number of edges from the graph in order to maximally impede the follower, who is trying to solve an optimization problem on the impeded graph. We introduce approximation algorithms and strong NP-completeness results for interdiction problems on planar graphs. We give a multiplicative $(1 + \epsilon)$-approximation for the maximum matching interdiction problem on weighted planar graphs. The algorithm runs in pseudo-polynomial time for each fixed $\epsilon > 0$. We also show that weighted maximum matching interdiction, budget-constrained flow improvement, directed shortest path interdiction, and minimum perfect matching interdiction are strongly NP-complete on planar graphs. To our knowledge, our budget-constrained flow improvement result is the first planar NP-completeness proof that uses a one-vertex crossing gadget.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Extended abstract in APPROX-RANDOM 201

On the diameter of random planar graphs

We show that the diameter D(G_n) of a random labelled connected planar graph with n vertices is equal to n^{1/4+o(1)}, in probability. More precisely there exists a constant c>0 such that the probability that D(G_n) lies in the interval (n^{1/4-\epsilon},n^{1/4+\epsilon}) is greater than 1-\exp(-n^{c\epsilon}) for {\epsilon} small enough and n>n_0(\epsilon). We prove similar statements for 2-connected and 3-connected planar graphs and maps.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

A Variant of the Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem

We study a natural extension of the Maximum Weight Independent Set Problem (MWIS), one of the most studied optimization problems in Graph algorithms. We are given a graph $G=(V,E)$, a weight function $w: V \rightarrow \mathbb{R^+}$, a budget function $b: V \rightarrow \mathbb{Z^+}$, and a positive integer $B$. The weight (resp. budget) of a subset of vertices is the sum of weights (resp. budgets) of the vertices in the subset. A $k$-budgeted independent set in $G$ is a subset of vertices, such that no pair of vertices in that subset are adjacent, and the budget of the subset is at most $k$. The goal is to find a $B$-budgeted independent set in $G$ such that its weight is maximum among all the $B$-budgeted independent sets in $G$. We refer to this problem as MWBIS. Being a generalization of MWIS, MWBIS also has several applications in Scheduling, Wireless networks and so on. Due to the hardness results implied from MWIS, we study the MWBIS problem in several special classes of graphs. We design exact algorithms for trees, forests, cycle graphs, and interval graphs. In unweighted case we design an approximation algorithm for $d+1$-claw free graphs whose approximation ratio ($d$) is competitive with the approximation ratio ($\frac{d}{2}$) of MWIS (unweighted). Furthermore, we extend Baker's technique \cite{Baker83} to get a PTAS for MWBIS in planar graphs.Comment: 18 page

Random planar maps and graphs with minimum degree two and three

We find precise asymptotic estimates for the number of planar maps and graphs with a condition on the minimum degree, and properties of random graphs from these classes. In particular we show that the size of the largest tree attached to the core of a random planar graph is of order c log(n) for an explicit constant c. These results provide new information on the structure of random planar graphs.Comment: 32 page