Tiziana Calamoneri ; Manuel Lafond ; Angelo Monti ; Blerina Sinaimeri - On Generalizations of Pairwise Compatibility Graphs

dmtcs:12295 - Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science, October 6, 2024, vol. 26:3 - https://doi.org/10.46298/dmtcs.12295
On Generalizations of Pairwise Compatibility GraphsArticle

Authors: Tiziana Calamoneri ; Manuel Lafond ; Angelo Monti ; Blerina Sinaimeri

    A graph $G$ is a pairwise compatibility graph (PCG) if there exists an edge-weighted tree and an interval $I$, such that each leaf of the tree is a vertex of the graph, and there is an edge $\{ x, y \}$ in $G$ if and only if the weight of the path in the tree connecting $x$ and $y$ lies within the interval $I$. Originating in phylogenetics, PCGs are closely connected to important graph classes like leaf-powers and multi-threshold graphs, widely applied in bioinformatics, especially in understanding evolutionary processes. In this paper we introduce two natural generalizations of the PCG class, namely $k$-OR-PCG and $k$-AND-PCG, which are the classes of graphs that can be expressed as union and intersection, respectively, of $k$ PCGs. These classes can be also described using the concepts of the covering number and the intersection dimension of a graph in relation to the PCG class. We investigate how the classes of OR-PCG and AND-PCG are related to PCGs, $k$-interval-PCGs and other graph classes known in the literature. In particular, we provide upper bounds on the minimum $k$ for which an arbitrary graph $G$ belongs to $k$-interval-PCGs, $k$-OR-PCG or $k$-AND-PCG classes. For particular graph classes we improve these general bounds. Moreover, we show that, for every integer $k$, there exists a bipartite graph that is not in the $k$-interval-PCGs class, proving that there is no finite $k$ for which the $k$-interval-PCG class contains all the graphs. This answers an open question of Ahmed and Rahman from 2017. Finally, using a Ramsey theory argument, we show that for any $k$, there exists graphs that are not in $k$-AND-PCG, and graphs that are not in $k$-OR-PCG.


    Volume: vol. 26:3
    Section: Graph Theory
    Published on: October 6, 2024
    Accepted on: September 10, 2024
    Submitted on: September 19, 2023
    Keywords: Mathematics - Combinatorics,Computer Science - Discrete Mathematics

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