752 research outputs found
Are there any good digraph width measures?
Several different measures for digraph width have appeared in the last few
years. However, none of them shares all the "nice" properties of treewidth:
First, being \emph{algorithmically useful} i.e. admitting polynomial-time
algorithms for all \MS1-definable problems on digraphs of bounded width. And,
second, having nice \emph{structural properties} i.e. being monotone under
taking subdigraphs and some form of arc contractions. As for the former,
(undirected) \MS1 seems to be the least common denominator of all reasonably
expressive logical languages on digraphs that can speak about the edge/arc
relation on the vertex set.The latter property is a necessary condition for a
width measure to be characterizable by some version of the cops-and-robber game
characterizing the ordinary treewidth. Our main result is that \emph{any
reasonable} algorithmically useful and structurally nice digraph measure cannot
be substantially different from the treewidth of the underlying undirected
graph. Moreover, we introduce \emph{directed topological minors} and argue that
they are the weakest useful notion of minors for digraphs
Zero forcing number: Results for computation and comparison with other graph parameters
The zero forcing number of a graph is the minimum size of a zero forcing set. This parameter is useful in the minimum rank/maximum nullity problem, as it gives an upper bound to the maximum nullity. Results for determining graphs with extreme zero forcing numbers, for determining the zero forcing number of a graph with a cut-vertex, and for determining the zero forcing number of unicyclic graphs are presented. The zero forcing number is compared to the path cover number and the maximum nullity with equality of zero forcing number and path cover number shown for all cacti and equality of zero forcing number and maximum nullity shown for a subset of cacti
Are there any good digraph width measures?
Many width measures for directed graphs have been proposed in the last few years in pursuit of generalizing (the notion of) treewidth to directed graphs. However, none of these measures possesses, at the same time, the major properties of treewidth, namely, 1. being algorithmically useful , that is, admitting polynomial-time algorithms for a large class of problems on digraphs of bounded width (e.g. the problems definable in MSO1MSO1); 2. having nice structural properties such as being (at least nearly) monotone under taking subdigraphs and some form of arc contractions (property closely related to characterizability by particular cops-and-robber games). We investigate the question whether the search for directed treewidth counterparts has been unsuccessful by accident, or whether it has been doomed to fail from the beginning. Our main result states that any reasonable width measure for directed graphs which satisfies the two properties above must necessarily be similar to treewidth of the underlying undirected graph
Primer for the algebraic geometry of sandpiles
The Abelian Sandpile Model (ASM) is a game played on a graph realizing the
dynamics implicit in the discrete Laplacian matrix of the graph. The purpose of
this primer is to apply the theory of lattice ideals from algebraic geometry to
the Laplacian matrix, drawing out connections with the ASM. An extended summary
of the ASM and of the required algebraic geometry is provided. New results
include a characterization of graphs whose Laplacian lattice ideals are
complete intersection ideals; a new construction of arithmetically Gorenstein
ideals; a generalization to directed multigraphs of a duality theorem between
elements of the sandpile group of a graph and the graph's superstable
configurations (parking functions); and a characterization of the top Betti
number of the minimal free resolution of the Laplacian lattice ideal as the
number of elements of the sandpile group of least degree. A characterization of
all the Betti numbers is conjectured.Comment: 45 pages, 14 figures. v2: corrected typo
Linear kernels for outbranching problems in sparse digraphs
In the -Leaf Out-Branching and -Internal Out-Branching problems we are
given a directed graph with a designated root and a nonnegative integer
. The question is to determine the existence of an outbranching rooted at
that has at least leaves, or at least internal vertices,
respectively. Both these problems were intensively studied from the points of
view of parameterized complexity and kernelization, and in particular for both
of them kernels with vertices are known on general graphs. In this
work we show that -Leaf Out-Branching admits a kernel with vertices
on -minor-free graphs, for any fixed family of graphs
, whereas -Internal Out-Branching admits a kernel with
vertices on any graph class of bounded expansion.Comment: Extended abstract accepted for IPEC'15, 27 page
The multivariate signed Bollobas-Riordan polynomial
We generalise the signed Bollobas-Riordan polynomial of S. Chmutov and I. Pak
[Moscow Math. J. 7 (2007), no. 3, 409-418] to a multivariate signed polynomial
Z and study its properties. We prove the invariance of Z under the recently
defined partial duality of S. Chmutov [J. Combinatorial Theory, Ser. B, 99 (3):
617-638, 2009] and show that the duality transformation of the multivariate
Tutte polynomial is a direct consequence of it.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures. Published version: a section added about the
quasi-tree expansion of the multivariate Bollobas-Riordan polynomia
- …