k-colored kernels

We study $k$-colored kernels in $m$-colored digraphs. An $m$-colored digraph $D$ has $k$-colored kernel if there exists a subset $K$ of its vertices such that (i) from every vertex $v\notin K$ there exists an at most $k$-colored directed path from $v$ to a vertex of $K$ and (ii) for every $u,v\in K$ there does not exist an at most $k$-colored directed path between them. In this paper, we prove that for every integer $k\geq 2$ there exists a $(k+1)$-colored digraph $D$ without $k$-colored kernel and if every directed cycle of an $m$-colored digraph is monochromatic, then it has a $k$-colored kernel for every positive integer $k.$ We obtain the following results for some generalizations of tournaments: (i) $m$-colored quasi-transitive and 3-quasi-transitive digraphs have a $k$% -colored kernel for every $k\geq 3$ and $k\geq 4,$ respectively (we conjecture that every $m$-colored $l$-quasi-transitive digraph has a $k$% -colored kernel for every $k\geq l+1)$, and (ii) $m$-colored locally in-tournament (out-tournament, respectively) digraphs have a $k$-colored kernel provided that every arc belongs to a directed cycle and every directed cycle is at most $k$-colored

Solving the kernel perfect problem by (simple) forbidden subdigraphs for digraphs in some families of generalized tournaments and generalized bipartite tournaments

A digraph such that every proper induced subdigraph has a kernel is said to be \emph{kernel perfect} (KP for short) (\emph{critical kernel imperfect} (CKI for short) resp.) if the digraph has a kernel (does not have a kernel resp.). The unique CKI-tournament is $\overrightarrow{C}_3$ and the unique KP-tournaments are the transitive tournaments, however bipartite tournaments are KP. In this paper we characterize the CKI- and KP-digraphs for the following families of digraphs: locally in-/out-semicomplete, asymmetric arc-locally in-/out-semicomplete, asymmetric $3$-quasi-transitive and asymmetric $3$-anti-quasi-transitive $TT_3$-free and we state that the problem of determining whether a digraph of one of these families is CKI is polynomial, giving a solution to a problem closely related to the following conjecture posted by Bang-Jensen in 1998: the kernel problem is polynomially solvable for locally in-semicomplete digraphs.Comment: 13 pages and 5 figure

Independent sets and non-augmentable paths in arc-locally in-semicomplete digraphs and quasi-arc-transitive digraphs

AbstractA digraph is arc-locally in-semicomplete if for any pair of adjacent vertices x,y, every in-neighbor of x and every in-neighbor of y either are adjacent or are the same vertex. A digraph is quasi-arc-transitive if for any arc xy, every in-neighbor of x and every out-neighbor of y either are adjacent or are the same vertex. Laborde, Payan and Xuong proposed the following conjecture: Every digraph has an independent set intersecting every non-augmentable path (in particular, every longest path). In this paper, we shall prove that this conjecture is true for arc-locally in-semicomplete digraphs and quasi-arc-transitive digraphs

Independent sets and non-augmentable paths in generalizations of tournaments

AbstractWe study different classes of digraphs, which are generalizations of tournaments, to have the property of possessing a maximal independent set intersecting every non-augmentable path (in particular, every longest path). The classes are the arc-local tournament, quasi-transitive, locally in-semicomplete (out-semicomplete), and semicomplete k-partite digraphs. We present results on strongly internally and finally non-augmentable paths as well as a result that relates the degree of vertices and the length of longest paths. A short survey is included in the introduction