Inverse monoids of partial graph automorphisms

A partial automorphism of a finite graph is an isomorphism between its vertex induced subgraphs. The set of all partial automorphisms of a given finite graph forms an inverse monoid under composition (of partial maps). We describe the algebraic structure of such inverse monoids by the means of the standard tools of inverse semigroup theory, namely Green's relations and some properties of the natural partial order, and give a characterization of inverse monoids which arise as inverse monoids of partial graph automorphisms. We extend our results to digraphs and edge-colored digraphs as well

Model Checking Lower Bounds for Simple Graphs

A well-known result by Frick and Grohe shows that deciding FO logic on trees involves a parameter dependence that is a tower of exponentials. Though this lower bound is tight for Courcelle's theorem, it has been evaded by a series of recent meta-theorems for other graph classes. Here we provide some additional non-elementary lower bound results, which are in some senses stronger. Our goal is to explain common traits in these recent meta-theorems and identify barriers to further progress. More specifically, first, we show that on the class of threshold graphs, and therefore also on any union and complement-closed class, there is no model-checking algorithm with elementary parameter dependence even for FO logic. Second, we show that there is no model-checking algorithm with elementary parameter dependence for MSO logic even restricted to paths (or equivalently to unary strings), unless E=NE. As a corollary, we resolve an open problem on the complexity of MSO model-checking on graphs of bounded max-leaf number. Finally, we look at MSO on the class of colored trees of depth d. We show that, assuming the ETH, for every fixed d>=1 at least d+1 levels of exponentiation are necessary for this problem, thus showing that the (d+1)-fold exponential algorithm recently given by Gajarsk\`{y} and Hlin\u{e}n\`{y} is essentially optimal