24 research outputs found
Linear rank-width and linear clique-width of trees
We show that for every forest T the linear rank-width of T is equal to the path-width of T, and the linear clique-width of T equals the path-width of T plus two, provided that T contains a path of length three. It follows that both linear rank-width and linear clique-width of forests can be computed in linear time. Using our characterization of linear rank-width of forests, we determine the set of minimal excluded acyclic vertex-minors for the class of graphs of linear rank-width at most k
FPT is Characterized by Useful Obstruction Sets
Many graph problems were first shown to be fixed-parameter tractable using
the results of Robertson and Seymour on graph minors. We show that the
combination of finite, computable, obstruction sets and efficient order tests
is not just one way of obtaining strongly uniform FPT algorithms, but that all
of FPT may be captured in this way. Our new characterization of FPT has a
strong connection to the theory of kernelization, as we prove that problems
with polynomial kernels can be characterized by obstruction sets whose elements
have polynomial size. Consequently we investigate the interplay between the
sizes of problem kernels and the sizes of the elements of such obstruction
sets, obtaining several examples of how results in one area yield new insights
in the other. We show how exponential-size minor-minimal obstructions for
pathwidth k form the crucial ingredient in a novel OR-cross-composition for
k-Pathwidth, complementing the trivial AND-composition that is known for this
problem. In the other direction, we show that OR-cross-compositions into a
parameterized problem can be used to rule out the existence of efficiently
generated quasi-orders on its instances that characterize the NO-instances by
polynomial-size obstructions.Comment: Extended abstract with appendix, as accepted to WG 201
Connected Search for a Lazy Robber
The node search game against a lazy (or, respectively, agile) invisible robber has been introduced as a search-game analogue of the treewidth parameter (and, respectively, pathwidth). In the connected variants of the above two games, we additionally demand that, at each moment of the search, the clean territories are connected. The connected search game against an agile and invisible robber has been extensively examined. The monotone variant (where we also demand that the clean territories are progressively increasing) of this game, corresponds to the graph parameter of connected pathwidth. It is known that the price of connectivty to search for an agile robber is bounded by 2, that is the connected pathwidth of a graph is at most twice (plus some constant) its pathwidth. In this paper, we investigate the connected search game against a lazy robber. A lazy robber moves only when the searchers' strategy threatens the location that he currently occupies. We introduce two alternative graph-theoretic formulations of this game, one in terms of connected tree decompositions, and one in terms of (connected) layouts, leading to the graph parameter of connected treewidth. We observe that connected treewidth parameter is closed under contractions and prove that for every k >= 2, the set of contraction obstructions of the class of graphs with connected treewidth at most k is infinite. Our main result is a complete characterization of the obstruction set for k=2. One may observe that, so far, only a few complete obstruction sets are explicitly known for contraction closed graph classes. We finally show that, in contrast to the agile robber game, the price of connectivity is unbounded
Lean Tree-Cut Decompositions: Obstructions and Algorithms
The notion of tree-cut width has been introduced by Wollan in [The structure of graphs not admitting a fixed immersion, Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 110:47 - 66, 2015]. It is defined via tree-cut decompositions, which are tree-like decompositions that highlight small (edge) cuts in a graph. In that sense, tree-cut decompositions can be seen as an edge-version of tree-decompositions and have algorithmic applications on problems that remain intractable on graphs of bounded treewidth. In this paper, we prove that every graph admits an optimal tree-cut decomposition that satisfies a certain Menger-like condition similar to that of the lean tree decompositions of Thomas [A Menger-like property of tree-width: The finite case, Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 48(1):67 - 76, 1990]. This allows us to give, for every k in N, an upper-bound on the number immersion-minimal graphs of tree-cut width k. Our results imply the constructive existence of a linear FPT-algorithm for tree-cut width
Obstructions for Matroids of Path-Width at most k and Graphs of Linear Rank-Width at most k
International audienceEvery minor-closed class of matroids of bounded branch-width can be characterized by a minimal list of excluded minors, but unlike graphs, this list could be infinite in general. However, for each fixed finite field , the list contains only finitely many -representable matroids, due to the well-quasi-ordering of -representable matroids of bounded branch-width under taking matroid minors [J. F. Geelen, A. M. H. Gerards, and G. Whittle (2002)]. But this proof is non-constructive and does not provide any algorithm for computing these -representable excluded minors in general. We consider the class of matroids of path-width at most for fixed . We prove that for a finite field , every -representable excluded minor for the class of matroids of path-width at most~ has at most elements. We can therefore compute, for any integer and a fixed finite field , the set of -representable excluded minors for the class of matroids of path-width , and this gives as a corollary a polynomial-time algorithm for checking whether the path-width of an -represented matroid is at most . We also prove that every excluded pivot-minor for the class of graphs having linear rank-width at most has at most vertices, which also results in a similar algorithmic consequence for linear rank-width of graphs
Combining Treewidth and Backdoors for CSP
We show that CSP is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the treewidth of a backdoor into any tractable CSP problem over a finite constraint language. This result combines the two prominent approaches for achieving tractability for CSP: (i) structural restrictions on the interaction between the variables and the constraints and (ii) language restrictions on the relations that can be used inside the constraints. Apart from defining the notion of backdoor-treewidth and showing how backdoors of small treewidth can be used to efficiently solve CSP, our main technical contribution is a fixed-parameter algorithm that finds a backdoor of small treewidth
Cutwidth: obstructions and algorithmic aspects
Cutwidth is one of the classic layout parameters for graphs. It measures how
well one can order the vertices of a graph in a linear manner, so that the
maximum number of edges between any prefix and its complement suffix is
minimized. As graphs of cutwidth at most are closed under taking
immersions, the results of Robertson and Seymour imply that there is a finite
list of minimal immersion obstructions for admitting a cut layout of width at
most . We prove that every minimal immersion obstruction for cutwidth at
most has size at most .
As an interesting algorithmic byproduct, we design a new fixed-parameter
algorithm for computing the cutwidth of a graph that runs in time , where is the optimum width and is the number of vertices.
While being slower by a -factor in the exponent than the fastest known
algorithm, given by Thilikos, Bodlaender, and Serna in [Cutwidth I: A linear
time fixed parameter algorithm, J. Algorithms, 56(1):1--24, 2005] and [Cutwidth
II: Algorithms for partial -trees of bounded degree, J. Algorithms,
56(1):25--49, 2005], our algorithm has the advantage of being simpler and
self-contained; arguably, it explains better the combinatorics of optimum-width
layouts
Minor-Obstructions for Apex-Pseudoforests
A graph is called a pseudoforest if none of its connected components contains
more than one cycle. A graph is an apex-pseudoforest if it can become a
pseudoforest by removing one of its vertices. We identify 33 graphs that form
the minor-obstruction set of the class of apex-pseudoforests, i.e., the set of
all minor-minimal graphs that are not apex-pseudoforests
An Upper Bound on the Size of Obstructions for Bounded Linear Rank-Width
We provide a doubly exponential upper bound in on the size of forbidden
pivot-minors for symmetric or skew-symmetric matrices over a fixed finite field
of linear rank-width at most . As a corollary, we obtain a
doubly exponential upper bound in on the size of forbidden vertex-minors
for graphs of linear rank-width at most . This solves an open question
raised by Jeong, Kwon, and Oum [Excluded vertex-minors for graphs of linear
rank-width at most . European J. Combin., 41:242--257, 2014]. We also give a
doubly exponential upper bound in on the size of forbidden minors for
matroids representable over a fixed finite field of path-width at most .
Our basic tool is the pseudo-minor order used by Lagergren [Upper Bounds on
the Size of Obstructions and Interwines, Journal of Combinatorial Theory Series
B, 73:7--40, 1998] to bound the size of forbidden graph minors for bounded
path-width. To adapt this notion into linear rank-width, it is necessary to
well define partial pieces of graphs and merging operations that fit to
pivot-minors. Using the algebraic operations introduced by Courcelle and
Kant\'e, and then extended to (skew-)symmetric matrices by Kant\'e and Rao, we
define boundaried -labelled graphs and prove similar structure theorems for
pivot-minor and linear rank-width.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figur
Preprocessing for Outerplanar Vertex Deletion: An Elementary Kernel of Quartic Size
In the ?-Minor-Free Deletion problem one is given an undirected graph G, an integer k, and the task is to determine whether there exists a vertex set S of size at most k, so that G-S contains no graph from the finite family ? as a minor. It is known that whenever ? contains at least one planar graph, then ?-Minor-Free Deletion admits a polynomial kernel, that is, there is a polynomial-time algorithm that outputs an equivalent instance of size k^{?(1)} [Fomin, Lokshtanov, Misra, Saurabh; FOCS 2012]. However, this result relies on non-constructive arguments based on well-quasi-ordering and does not provide a concrete bound on the kernel size.
We study the Outerplanar Deletion problem, in which we want to remove at most k vertices from a graph to make it outerplanar. This is a special case of ?-Minor-Free Deletion for the family ? = {K?, K_{2,3}}. The class of outerplanar graphs is arguably the simplest class of graphs for which no explicit kernelization size bounds are known. By exploiting the combinatorial properties of outerplanar graphs we present elementary reduction rules decreasing the size of a graph. This yields a constructive kernel with ?(k?) vertices and edges. As a corollary, we derive that any minor-minimal obstruction to having an outerplanar deletion set of size k has ?(k?) vertices and edges