Independent Set Reconfiguration in Cographs

We study the following independent set reconfiguration problem, called TAR-Reachability: given two independent sets $I$ and $J$ of a graph $G$, both of size at least $k$, is it possible to transform $I$ into $J$ by adding and removing vertices one-by-one, while maintaining an independent set of size at least $k$ throughout? This problem is known to be PSPACE-hard in general. For the case that $G$ is a cograph (i.e. $P_4$-free graph) on $n$ vertices, we show that it can be solved in time $O(n^2)$, and that the length of a shortest reconfiguration sequence from $I$ to $J$ is bounded by $4n-2k$, if such a sequence exists. More generally, we show that if $X$ is a graph class for which (i) TAR-Reachability can be solved efficiently, (ii) maximum independent sets can be computed efficiently, and which satisfies a certain additional property, then the problem can be solved efficiently for any graph that can be obtained from a collection of graphs in $X$ using disjoint union and complete join operations. Chordal graphs are given as an example of such a class $X$

On The Complexity of Distance-dd Independent Set Reconfiguration

For a fixed positive integer $d \geq 2$, a distance-$d$ independent set (D$d$IS) of a graph is a vertex subset whose distance between any two members is at least $d$. Imagine that there is a token placed on each member of a D$d$IS. Two D$d$ISs are adjacent under Token Sliding ($\mathsf{TS}$) if one can be obtained from the other by moving a token from one vertex to one of its unoccupied adjacent vertices. Under Token Jumping ($\mathsf{TJ}$), the target vertex needs not to be adjacent to the original one. The Distance-$d$ Independent Set Reconfiguration (D$d$ISR) problem under $\mathsf{TS}/\mathsf{TJ}$ asks if there is a corresponding sequence of adjacent D$d$ISs that transforms one given D$d$IS into another. The problem for $d = 2$, also known as the Independent Set Reconfiguration problem, has been well-studied in the literature and its computational complexity on several graph classes has been known. In this paper, we study the computational complexity of D$d$ISR on different graphs under $\mathsf{TS}$ and $\mathsf{TJ}$ for any fixed $d \geq 3$. On chordal graphs, we show that D$d$ISR under $\mathsf{TJ}$ is in $\mathtt{P}$ when $d$ is even and $\mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete when $d$ is odd. On split graphs, there is an interesting complexity dichotomy: D$d$ISR is $\mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete for $d = 2$ but in $\mathtt{P}$ for $d=3$ under $\mathsf{TS}$, while under $\mathsf{TJ}$ it is in $\mathtt{P}$ for $d = 2$ but $\mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete for $d = 3$. Additionally, certain well-known hardness results for $d = 2$ on general graphs, perfect graphs, planar graphs of maximum degree three and bounded bandwidth can be extended for $d \geq 3$.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, minor revision, to appear in WALCOM 202

On The Complexity of Distance-dd Independent Set Reconfiguration

This PDF is not the same as the Accepted Paper for 'WALCOM 2023'.For a fixed positive integer $d geq 2$, a distance-$d$ independent set (D$d$IS) of a graph is a vertex subset whose distance between any two members is at least $d$. Imagine that there is a token placed on each member of a D$d$IS. Two D$d$ISs are adjacent under Token Sliding ($mathsf{TS}$) if one can be obtained from the other by moving a token from one vertex to one of its unoccupied adjacent vertices. Under Token Jumping ($mathsf{TJ}$), the target vertex needs not to be adjacent to the original one. The Distance-$d$ Independent Set Reconfiguration (D$d$ISR) problem under $mathsf{TS}/mathsf{TJ}$ asks if there is a corresponding sequence of adjacent D$d$ISs that transforms one given D$d$IS into another. The problem for $d = 2$, also known as the Independent Set Reconfiguration problem, has been well-studied in the literature and its computational complexity on several graph classes has been known. In this paper, we study the computational complexity of D$d$ISR on different graphs under $mathsf{TS}$ and $mathsf{TJ}$ for any fixed $d geq 3$. On chordal graphs, we show that D$d$ISR under $mathsf{TJ}$ is in $mathtt{P}$ when $d$ is even and $mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete when $d$ is odd. On split graphs, there is an interesting complexity dichotomy: D$d$ISR is $mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete for $d = 2$ but in $mathtt{P}$ for $d=3$ under $mathsf{TS}$, while under $mathsf{TJ}$ it is in $mathtt{P}$ for $d = 2$ but $mathtt{PSPACE}$-complete for $d = 3$. Additionally, certain well-known hardness results for $d = 2$ on general graphs, perfect graphs, planar graphs of maximum degeree three and bounded bandwidth can be extended for $d geq 3$

Fixed-Parameter Tractability of Token Jumping on Planar Graphs

Suppose that we are given two independent sets $I_0$ and $I_r$ of a graph such that $|I_0| = |I_r|$, and imagine that a token is placed on each vertex in $I_0$. The token jumping problem is to determine whether there exists a sequence of independent sets which transforms $I_0$ into $I_r$ so that each independent set in the sequence results from the previous one by moving exactly one token to another vertex. This problem is known to be PSPACE-complete even for planar graphs of maximum degree three, and W[1]-hard for general graphs when parameterized by the number of tokens. In this paper, we present a fixed-parameter algorithm for the token jumping problem on planar graphs, where the parameter is only the number of tokens. Furthermore, the algorithm can be modified so that it finds a shortest sequence for a yes-instance. The same scheme of the algorithms can be applied to a wider class of graphs, $K_{3,t}$-free graphs for any fixed integer $t \ge 3$, and it yields fixed-parameter algorithms

Galactic Token Sliding

International audienc

Shortest Dominating Set Reconfiguration under Token Sliding

In this paper, we present novel algorithms that efficiently compute a shortest reconfiguration sequence between two given dominating sets in trees and interval graphs under the Token Sliding model. In this problem, a graph is provided along with its two dominating sets, which can be imagined as tokens placed on vertices. The objective is to find a shortest sequence of dominating sets that transforms one set into the other, with each set in the sequence resulting from sliding a single token in the previous set. While identifying any sequence has been well studied, our work presents the first polynomial algorithms for this optimization variant in the context of dominating sets.Comment: To appear at FCT 2023 (Fundamentals of Computation Theory

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