4 research outputs found
On Symbolic Ultrametrics, Cotree Representations, and Cograph Edge Decompositions and Partitions
Symbolic ultrametrics define edge-colored complete graphs K_n and yield a
simple tree representation of K_n. We discuss, under which conditions this idea
can be generalized to find a symbolic ultrametric that, in addition,
distinguishes between edges and non-edges of arbitrary graphs G=(V,E) and thus,
yielding a simple tree representation of G. We prove that such a symbolic
ultrametric can only be defined for G if and only if G is a so-called cograph.
A cograph is uniquely determined by a so-called cotree. As not all graphs are
cographs, we ask, furthermore, what is the minimum number of cotrees needed to
represent the topology of G. The latter problem is equivalent to find an
optimal cograph edge k-decomposition {E_1,...,E_k} of E so that each subgraph
(V,E_i) of G is a cograph. An upper bound for the integer k is derived and it
is shown that determining whether a graph has a cograph 2-decomposition, resp.,
2-partition is NP-complete
Vertex-Coloring with Star-Defects
Defective coloring is a variant of traditional vertex-coloring, according to
which adjacent vertices are allowed to have the same color, as long as the
monochromatic components induced by the corresponding edges have a certain
structure. Due to its important applications, as for example in the
bipartisation of graphs, this type of coloring has been extensively studied,
mainly with respect to the size, degree, and acyclicity of the monochromatic
components.
In this paper we focus on defective colorings in which the monochromatic
components are acyclic and have small diameter, namely, they form stars. For
outerplanar graphs, we give a linear-time algorithm to decide if such a
defective coloring exists with two colors and, in the positive case, to
construct one. Also, we prove that an outerpath (i.e., an outerplanar graph
whose weak-dual is a path) always admits such a two-coloring. Finally, we
present NP-completeness results for non-planar and planar graphs of bounded
degree for the cases of two and three colors