Reconfiguring k-Path Vertex Covers

A vertex subset I of a graph G is called a k-path vertex cover if every path on k vertices in G contains at least one vertex from I. The K-PATH VERTEX COVER RECONFIGURATION (K-PVCR) problem asks if one can transform one k-path vertex cover into another via a sequence of k-path vertex covers where each intermediate member is obtained from its predecessor by applying a given reconfiguration rule exactly once. We investigate the computational complexity of K-PVCR from the viewpoint of graph classes under the well-known reconfiguration rules: TS, TJ, and TAR. The problem for k=2, known as the VERTEX COVER RECONFIGURATION (VCR) problem, has been well-studied in the literature. We show that certain known hardness results for VCR on different graph classes can be extended for K-PVCR. In particular, we prove a complexity dichotomy for K-PVCR on general graphs: on those whose maximum degree is three (and even planar), the problem is PSPACE-complete, while on those whose maximum degree is two (i.e., paths and cycles), the problem can be solved in polynomial time. Additionally, we also design polynomial-time algorithms for K-PVCR on trees under each of TJ and TAR. Moreover, on paths, cycles, and trees, we describe how one can construct a reconfiguration sequence between two given k-path vertex covers in a yes-instance. In particular, on paths, our constructed reconfiguration sequence is shortest

Reconfiguring k-path vertex covers

A vertex subset $I$ of a graph $G$ is called a $k$-path vertex cover if every path on $k$ vertices in $G$ contains at least one vertex from $I$. The \textsc{$k$-Path Vertex Cover Reconfiguration ($k$-PVCR)} problem asks if one can transform one $k$-path vertex cover into another via a sequence of $k$-path vertex covers where each intermediate member is obtained from its predecessor by applying a given reconfiguration rule exactly once. We investigate the computational complexity of \textsc{$k$-PVCR} from the viewpoint of graph classes under the well-known reconfiguration rules: $\mathsf{TS}$, $\mathsf{TJ}$, and $\mathsf{TAR}$. The problem for $k=2$, known as the \textsc{Vertex Cover Reconfiguration (VCR)} problem, has been well-studied in the literature. We show that certain known hardness results for \textsc{VCR} on different graph classes including planar graphs, bounded bandwidth graphs, chordal graphs, and bipartite graphs, can be extended for \textsc{$k$-PVCR}. In particular, we prove a complexity dichotomy for \textsc{$k$-PVCR} on general graphs: on those whose maximum degree is $3$ (and even planar), the problem is $\mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete, while on those whose maximum degree is $2$ (i.e., paths and cycles), the problem can be solved in polynomial time. Additionally, we also design polynomial-time algorithms for \textsc{$k$-PVCR} on trees under each of $\mathsf{TJ}$ and $\mathsf{TAR}$. Moreover, on paths, cycles, and trees, we describe how one can construct a reconfiguration sequence between two given $k$-path vertex covers in a yes-instance. In particular, on paths, our constructed reconfiguration sequence is shortest.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, to appear in WALCOM 202

Distributed Vertex Cover Reconfiguration

Reconfiguration schedules, i.e., sequences that gradually transform one solution of a problem to another while always maintaining feasibility, have been extensively studied. Most research has dealt with the decision problem of whether a reconfiguration schedule exists, and the complexity of finding one. A prime example is the reconfiguration of vertex covers. We initiate the study of batched vertex cover reconfiguration, which allows to reconfigure multiple vertices concurrently while requiring that any adversarial reconfiguration order within a batch maintains feasibility. The latter provides robustness, e.g., if the simultaneous reconfiguration of a batch cannot be guaranteed. The quality of a schedule is measured by the number of batches until all nodes are reconfigured, and its cost, i.e., the maximum size of an intermediate vertex cover. To set a baseline for batch reconfiguration, we show that for graphs belonging to one of the classes {{cycles, trees, forests, chordal, cactus, even-hole-free, claw-free}}, there are schedules that use O(?^{-1}) batches and incur only a 1+? multiplicative increase in cost over the best sequential schedules. Our main contribution is to compute such batch schedules in a distributed setting O(?^{-1} {log^*} n) rounds, which we also show to be tight. Further, we show that once we step out of these graph classes we face a very different situation. There are graph classes on which no efficient distributed algorithm can obtain the best (or almost best) existing schedule. Moreover, there are classes of bounded degree graphs which do not admit any reconfiguration schedules without incurring a large multiplicative increase in the cost at all

The complexity of dominating set reconfiguration

Suppose that we are given two dominating sets $D_s$ and $D_t$ of a graph $G$ whose cardinalities are at most a given threshold $k$. Then, we are asked whether there exists a sequence of dominating sets of $G$ between $D_s$ and $D_t$ such that each dominating set in the sequence is of cardinality at most $k$ and can be obtained from the previous one by either adding or deleting exactly one vertex. This problem is known to be PSPACE-complete in general. In this paper, we study the complexity of this decision problem from the viewpoint of graph classes. We first prove that the problem remains PSPACE-complete even for planar graphs, bounded bandwidth graphs, split graphs, and bipartite graphs. We then give a general scheme to construct linear-time algorithms and show that the problem can be solved in linear time for cographs, trees, and interval graphs. Furthermore, for these tractable cases, we can obtain a desired sequence such that the number of additions and deletions is bounded by $O(n)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the input graph

Token Jumping in minor-closed classes

Given two $k$-independent sets $I$ and $J$ of a graph $G$, one can ask if it is possible to transform the one into the other in such a way that, at any step, we replace one vertex of the current independent set by another while keeping the property of being independent. Deciding this problem, known as the Token Jumping (TJ) reconfiguration problem, is PSPACE-complete even on planar graphs. Ito et al. proved in 2014 that the problem is FPT parameterized by $k$ if the input graph is $K_{3,\ell}$-free. We prove that the result of Ito et al. can be extended to any $K_{\ell,\ell}$-free graphs. In other words, if $G$ is a $K_{\ell,\ell}$-free graph, then it is possible to decide in FPT-time if $I$ can be transformed into $J$. As a by product, the TJ-reconfiguration problem is FPT in many well-known classes of graphs such as any minor-free class

Reconfiguration in bounded bandwidth and treedepth

We show that several reconfiguration problems known to be PSPACE-complete remain so even when limited to graphs of bounded bandwidth. The essential step is noticing the similarity to very limited string rewriting systems, whose ability to directly simulate Turing Machines is classically known. This resolves a question posed open in [Bonsma P., 2012]. On the other hand, we show that a large class of reconfiguration problems becomes tractable on graphs of bounded treedepth, and that this result is in some sense tight.Comment: 14 page

Reconfiguring Graph Homomorphisms on the Sphere

Given a loop-free graph $H$, the reconfiguration problem for homomorphisms to $H$ (also called $H$-colourings) asks: given two $H$-colourings $f$ of $g$ of a graph $G$, is it possible to transform $f$ into $g$ by a sequence of single-vertex colour changes such that every intermediate mapping is an $H$-colouring? This problem is known to be polynomial-time solvable for a wide variety of graphs $H$ (e.g. all $C_4$-free graphs) but only a handful of hard cases are known. We prove that this problem is PSPACE-complete whenever $H$ is a $K_{2,3}$-free quadrangulation of the $2$-sphere (equivalently, the plane) which is not a $4$-cycle. From this result, we deduce an analogous statement for non-bipartite $K_{2,3}$-free quadrangulations of the projective plane. This include several interesting classes of graphs, such as odd wheels, for which the complexity was known, and $4$-chromatic generalized Mycielski graphs, for which it was not. If we instead consider graphs $G$ and $H$ with loops on every vertex (i.e. reflexive graphs), then the reconfiguration problem is defined in a similar way except that a vertex can only change its colour to a neighbour of its current colour. In this setting, we use similar ideas to show that the reconfiguration problem for $H$-colourings is PSPACE-complete whenever $H$ is a reflexive $K_{4}$-free triangulation of the $2$-sphere which is not a reflexive triangle. This proof applies more generally to reflexive graphs which, roughly speaking, resemble a triangulation locally around a particular vertex. This provides the first graphs for which $H$-Recolouring is known to be PSPACE-complete for reflexive instances.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

The Complexity of Rerouting Shortest Paths

The Shortest Path Reconfiguration problem has as input a graph G (with unit edge lengths) with vertices s and t, and two shortest st-paths P and Q. The question is whether there exists a sequence of shortest st-paths that starts with P and ends with Q, such that subsequent paths differ in only one vertex. This is called a rerouting sequence. This problem is shown to be PSPACE-complete. For claw-free graphs and chordal graphs, it is shown that the problem can be solved in polynomial time, and that shortest rerouting sequences have linear length. For these classes, it is also shown that deciding whether a rerouting sequence exists between all pairs of shortest st-paths can be done in polynomial time. Finally, a polynomial time algorithm for counting the number of isolated paths is given.Comment: The results on claw-free graphs, chordal graphs and isolated paths have been added in version 2 (april 2012). Version 1 (September 2010) only contained the PSPACE-hardness result. (Version 2 has been submitted.