This paper deals with the problem of finding, for a given graph and a given
natural number k, a subgraph of k nodes with a maximum number of edges. This
problem is known as the k-cluster problem and it is NP-hard on general graphs
as well as on chordal graphs. In this paper, it is shown that the k-cluster
problem is solvable in polynomial time on interval graphs. In particular, we
present two polynomial time algorithms for the class of proper interval graphs
and the class of general interval graphs, respectively. Both algorithms are
based on a matrix representation for interval graphs. In contrast to
representations used in most of the previous work, this matrix representation
does not make use of the maximal cliques in the investigated graph.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
