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

New Bounds for the Dichromatic Number of a Digraph

The chromatic number of a graph $G$, denoted by $\chi(G)$, is the minimum $k$ such that $G$ admits a $k$-coloring of its vertex set in such a way that each color class is an independent set (a set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices). The dichromatic number of a digraph $D$, denoted by $\chi_A(D)$, is the minimum $k$ such that $D$ admits a $k$-coloring of its vertex set in such a way that each color class is acyclic. In 1976, Bondy proved that the chromatic number of a digraph $D$ is at most its circumference, the length of a longest cycle. Given a digraph $D$, we will construct three different graphs whose chromatic numbers bound $\chi_A(D)$. Moreover, we prove: i) for integers $k\geq 2$, $s\geq 1$ and $r_1, \ldots, r_s$ with $k\geq r_i\geq 0$ and $r_i\neq 1$ for each $i\in[s]$, that if all cycles in $D$ have length $r$ modulo $k$ for some $r\in\{r_1,\ldots,r_s\}$, then $\chi_A(D)\leq 2s+1$; ii) if $D$ has girth $g$ and there are integers $k$ and $p$, with $k\geq g-1\geq p\geq 1$ such that $D$ contains no cycle of length $r$ modulo $\lceil \frac{k}{p} \rceil p$ for each $r\in \{-p+2,\ldots,0,\ldots,p\}$, then $\chi_A (D)\leq \lceil \frac{k}{p} \rceil$; iii) if $D$ has girth $g$, the length of a shortest cycle, and circumference $c$, then $\chi_A(D)\leq \lceil \frac{c-1}{g-1} \rceil +1$, which improves, substantially, the bound proposed by Bondy. Our results show that if we have more information about the lengths of cycles in a digraph, then we can improve the bounds for the dichromatic number known until now.Comment: 14 page

Kernels in edge-coloured orientations of nearly complete graphs

AbstractWe call the digraph D an orientation of a graph G if D is obtained from G by the orientation of each edge of G in exactly one of the two possible directions. The digraph D is an m-coloured digraph if the arcs of D are coloured with m-colours.Let D be an m-coloured digraph. A directed path (or a directed cycle) is called monochromatic if all of its arcs are coloured alike.A set N⊆V(D) is said to be a kernel by monochromatic paths if it satisfies the two following conditions: (i) for every pair of different vertices u,v∈N there is no monochromatic directed path between them and (ii) for every vertex x∈V(D)-N there is a vertex y∈N such that there is an xy-monochromatic directed path.In this paper we obtain sufficient conditions for an m-coloured orientation of a graph obtained from Kn by deletion of the arcs of K1,r (0⩽r⩽n-1) to have a kernel by monochromatic

Alternating Hamiltonian cycles in 22-edge-colored multigraphs

A path (cycle) in a $2$-edge-colored multigraph is alternating if no two consecutive edges have the same color. The problem of determining the existence of alternating Hamiltonian paths and cycles in $2$-edge-colored multigraphs is an $\mathcal{NP}$-complete problem and it has been studied by several authors. In Bang-Jensen and Gutin's book "Digraphs: Theory, Algorithms and Applications", it is devoted one chapter to survey the last results on this topic. Most results on the existence of alternating Hamiltonian paths and cycles concern on complete and bipartite complete multigraphs and a few ones on multigraphs with high monochromatic degrees or regular monochromatic subgraphs. In this work, we use a different approach imposing local conditions on the multigraphs and it is worthwhile to notice that the class of multigraphs we deal with is much larger than, and includes, complete multigraphs, and we provide a full characterization of this class. Given a $2$-edge-colored multigraph $G$, we say that $G$ is $2$-$\mathcal{M}$-closed (resp. $2$-$\mathcal{NM}$-closed)} if for every monochromatic (resp. non-monochromatic) $2$-path $P=(x_1, x_2, x_3)$, there exists an edge between $x_1$ and $x_3$. In this work we provide the following characterization: A $2$-$\mathcal{M}$-closed multigraph has an alternating Hamiltonian cycle if and only if it is color-connected and it has an alternating cycle factor. Furthermore, we construct an infinite family of $2$-$\mathcal{NM}$-closed graphs, color-connected, with an alternating cycle factor, and with no alternating Hamiltonian cycle.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figure

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

On the existence and number of (k+1)(k+1)-kings in kk-quasi-transitive digraphs

Let $D=(V(D), A(D))$ be a digraph and $k \ge 2$ an integer. We say that $D$ is $k$-quasi-transitive if for every directed path $(v_0, v_1,..., v_k)$ in $D$, then $(v_0, v_k) \in A(D)$ or $(v_k, v_0) \in A(D)$. Clearly, a 2-quasi-transitive digraph is a quasi-transitive digraph in the usual sense. Bang-Jensen and Gutin proved that a quasi-transitive digraph $D$ has a 3-king if and only if $D$ has a unique initial strong component and, if $D$ has a 3-king and the unique initial strong component of $D$ has at least three vertices, then $D$ has at least three 3-kings. In this paper we prove the following generalization: A $k$-quasi-transitive digraph $D$ has a $(k+1)$-king if and only if $D$ has a unique initial strong component, and if $D$ has a $(k+1)$-king then, either all the vertices of the unique initial strong components are $(k+1)$-kings or the number of $(k+1)$-kings in $D$ is at least $(k+2)$.Comment: 17 page

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