On Universal Point Sets for Planar Graphs

A set P of points in R^2 is n-universal, if every planar graph on n vertices admits a plane straight-line embedding on P. Answering a question by Kobourov, we show that there is no n-universal point set of size n, for any n>=15. Conversely, we use a computer program to show that there exist universal point sets for all n<=10 and to enumerate all corresponding order types. Finally, we describe a collection G of 7'393 planar graphs on 35 vertices that do not admit a simultaneous geometric embedding without mapping, that is, no set of 35 points in the plane supports a plane straight-line embedding of all graphs in G.Comment: Fixed incorrect numbers of universal point sets in the last par

Drawing Arrangement Graphs In Small Grids, Or How To Play Planarity

We describe a linear-time algorithm that finds a planar drawing of every graph of a simple line or pseudoline arrangement within a grid of area O(n^{7/6}). No known input causes our algorithm to use area \Omega(n^{1+\epsilon}) for any \epsilon>0; finding such an input would represent significant progress on the famous k-set problem from discrete geometry. Drawing line arrangement graphs is the main task in the Planarity puzzle.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. To appear at 21st Int. Symp. Graph Drawing, Bordeaux, 201

Small Superpatterns for Dominance Drawing

We exploit the connection between dominance drawings of directed acyclic graphs and permutations, in both directions, to provide improved bounds on the size of universal point sets for certain types of dominance drawing and on superpatterns for certain natural classes of permutations. In particular we show that there exist universal point sets for dominance drawings of the Hasse diagrams of width-two partial orders of size O(n^{3/2}), universal point sets for dominance drawings of st-outerplanar graphs of size O(n\log n), and universal point sets for dominance drawings of directed trees of size O(n^2). We show that 321-avoiding permutations have superpatterns of size O(n^{3/2}), riffle permutations (321-, 2143-, and 2413-avoiding permutations) have superpatterns of size O(n), and the concatenations of sequences of riffles and their inverses have superpatterns of size O(n\log n). Our analysis includes a calculation of the leading constants in these bounds.Comment: ANALCO 2014, This version fixes an error in the leading constant of the 321-superpattern siz

A Universal Point Set for 2-Outerplanar Graphs

A point set $S \subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$ is universal for a class $\cal G$ if every graph of ${\cal G}$ has a planar straight-line embedding on $S$. It is well-known that the integer grid is a quadratic-size universal point set for planar graphs, while the existence of a sub-quadratic universal point set for them is one of the most fascinating open problems in Graph Drawing. Motivated by the fact that outerplanarity is a key property for the existence of small universal point sets, we study 2-outerplanar graphs and provide for them a universal point set of size $O(n \log n)$.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, conference version at GD 201

Superpatterns and Universal Point Sets

An old open problem in graph drawing asks for the size of a universal point set, a set of points that can be used as vertices for straight-line drawings of all n-vertex planar graphs. We connect this problem to the theory of permutation patterns, where another open problem concerns the size of superpatterns, permutations that contain all patterns of a given size. We generalize superpatterns to classes of permutations determined by forbidden patterns, and we construct superpatterns of size n^2/4 + Theta(n) for the 213-avoiding permutations, half the size of known superpatterns for unconstrained permutations. We use our superpatterns to construct universal point sets of size n^2/4 - Theta(n), smaller than the previous bound by a 9/16 factor. We prove that every proper subclass of the 213-avoiding permutations has superpatterns of size O(n log^O(1) n), which we use to prove that the planar graphs of bounded pathwidth have near-linear universal point sets.Comment: GD 2013 special issue of JGA

On 1-bend Upward Point-set Embeddings of stst-digraphs

We study the upward point-set embeddability of digraphs on one-sided convex point sets with at most 1 bend per edge. We provide an algorithm to compute a 1-bend upward point-set embedding of outerplanar $st$-digraphs on arbitrary one-sided convex point sets. We complement this result by proving that for every $n \geq 18$ there exists a $2$-outerplanar $st$-digraph $G$ with $n$ vertices and a one-sided convex point set $S$ so that $G$ does not admit a 1-bend upward point-set embedding on $S$