3,668 research outputs found
The Complexity of Change
Many combinatorial problems can be formulated as "Can I transform
configuration 1 into configuration 2, if certain transformations only are
allowed?". An example of such a question is: given two k-colourings of a graph,
can I transform the first k-colouring into the second one, by recolouring one
vertex at a time, and always maintaining a proper k-colouring? Another example
is: given two solutions of a SAT-instance, can I transform the first solution
into the second one, by changing the truth value one variable at a time, and
always maintaining a solution of the SAT-instance? Other examples can be found
in many classical puzzles, such as the 15-Puzzle and Rubik's Cube.
In this survey we shall give an overview of some older and more recent work
on this type of problem. The emphasis will be on the computational complexity
of the problems: how hard is it to decide if a certain transformation is
possible or not?Comment: 28 pages, 6 figure
Negative association in uniform forests and connected graphs
We consider three probability measures on subsets of edges of a given finite
graph , namely those which govern, respectively, a uniform forest, a uniform
spanning tree, and a uniform connected subgraph. A conjecture concerning the
negative association of two edges is reviewed for a uniform forest, and a
related conjecture is posed for a uniform connected subgraph. The former
conjecture is verified numerically for all graphs having eight or fewer
vertices, or having nine vertices and no more than eighteen edges, using a
certain computer algorithm which is summarised in this paper. Negative
association is known already to be valid for a uniform spanning tree. The three
cases of uniform forest, uniform spanning tree, and uniform connected subgraph
are special cases of a more general conjecture arising from the random-cluster
model of statistical mechanics.Comment: With minor correction
On the tractability of some natural packing, covering and partitioning problems
In this paper we fix 7 types of undirected graphs: paths, paths with
prescribed endvertices, circuits, forests, spanning trees, (not necessarily
spanning) trees and cuts. Given an undirected graph and two "object
types" and chosen from the alternatives above, we
consider the following questions. \textbf{Packing problem:} can we find an
object of type and one of type in the edge set of
, so that they are edge-disjoint? \textbf{Partitioning problem:} can we
partition into an object of type and one of type ?
\textbf{Covering problem:} can we cover with an object of type
, and an object of type ? This framework includes 44
natural graph theoretic questions. Some of these problems were well-known
before, for example covering the edge-set of a graph with two spanning trees,
or finding an - path and an - path that are
edge-disjoint. However, many others were not, for example can we find an
- path and a spanning tree that are
edge-disjoint? Most of these previously unknown problems turned out to be
NP-complete, many of them even in planar graphs. This paper determines the
status of these 44 problems. For the NP-complete problems we also investigate
the planar version, for the polynomial problems we consider the matroidal
generalization (wherever this makes sense)
A general framework for coloring problems: old results, new results, and open problems
In this survey paper we present a general framework for coloring problems that was introduced in a joint paper which the author presented at WG2003. We show how a number of different types of coloring problems, most of which have been motivated from frequency assignment, fit into this framework. We give a survey of the existing results, mainly based on and strongly biased by joint work of the author with several different groups of coauthors, include some new results, and discuss several open problems for each of the variants
An extensive English language bibliography on graph theory and its applications
Bibliography on graph theory and its application
Track Layouts of Graphs
A \emph{-track layout} of a graph consists of a (proper) vertex
-colouring of , a total order of each vertex colour class, and a
(non-proper) edge -colouring such that between each pair of colour classes
no two monochromatic edges cross. This structure has recently arisen in the
study of three-dimensional graph drawings. This paper presents the beginnings
of a theory of track layouts. First we determine the maximum number of edges in
a -track layout, and show how to colour the edges given fixed linear
orderings of the vertex colour classes. We then describe methods for the
manipulation of track layouts. For example, we show how to decrease the number
of edge colours in a track layout at the expense of increasing the number of
tracks, and vice versa. We then study the relationship between track layouts
and other models of graph layout, namely stack and queue layouts, and geometric
thickness. One of our principle results is that the queue-number and
track-number of a graph are tied, in the sense that one is bounded by a
function of the other. As corollaries we prove that acyclic chromatic number is
bounded by both queue-number and stack-number. Finally we consider track
layouts of planar graphs. While it is an open problem whether planar graphs
have bounded track-number, we prove bounds on the track-number of outerplanar
graphs, and give the best known lower bound on the track-number of planar
graphs.Comment: The paper is submitted for publication. Preliminary draft appeared as
Technical Report TR-2003-07, School of Computer Science, Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canad
Flat Foldings of Plane Graphs with Prescribed Angles and Edge Lengths
When can a plane graph with prescribed edge lengths and prescribed angles
(from among \}) be folded flat to lie in an
infinitesimally thin line, without crossings? This problem generalizes the
classic theory of single-vertex flat origami with prescribed mountain-valley
assignment, which corresponds to the case of a cycle graph. We characterize
such flat-foldable plane graphs by two obviously necessary but also sufficient
conditions, proving a conjecture made in 2001: the angles at each vertex should
sum to , and every face of the graph must itself be flat foldable.
This characterization leads to a linear-time algorithm for testing flat
foldability of plane graphs with prescribed edge lengths and angles, and a
polynomial-time algorithm for counting the number of distinct folded states.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure
Graph Treewidth and Geometric Thickness Parameters
Consider a drawing of a graph in the plane such that crossing edges are
coloured differently. The minimum number of colours, taken over all drawings of
, is the classical graph parameter "thickness". By restricting the edges to
be straight, we obtain the "geometric thickness". By further restricting the
vertices to be in convex position, we obtain the "book thickness". This paper
studies the relationship between these parameters and treewidth.
Our first main result states that for graphs of treewidth , the maximum
thickness and the maximum geometric thickness both equal .
This says that the lower bound for thickness can be matched by an upper bound,
even in the more restrictive geometric setting. Our second main result states
that for graphs of treewidth , the maximum book thickness equals if and equals if . This refutes a conjecture of Ganley and
Heath [Discrete Appl. Math. 109(3):215-221, 2001]. Analogous results are proved
for outerthickness, arboricity, and star-arboricity.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the "Proceedings of
the 13th International Symposium on Graph Drawing" (GD '05), Lecture Notes in
Computer Science 3843:129-140, Springer, 2006. The full version was published
in Discrete & Computational Geometry 37(4):641-670, 2007. That version
contained a false conjecture, which is corrected on page 26 of this versio
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