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Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science |
vol. 24, no. 1
1. Defective Coloring on Classes of Perfect Graphs
In Defective Coloring we are given a graph $G$ and two integers $\chi_d$, $\Delta^*$ and are asked if we can $\chi_d$-color $G$ so that the maximum degree induced by any color class is at most $\Delta^*$. We show that this natural generalization of Coloring is much harder on several basic graph classes. In particular, we show that it is NP-hard on split graphs, even when one of the two parameters $\chi_d$, $\Delta^*$ is set to the smallest possible fixed value that does not trivialize the problem ($\chi_d = 2$ or $\Delta^* = 1$). Together with a simple treewidth-based DP algorithm this completely determines the complexity of the problem also on chordal graphs. We then consider the case of cographs and show that, somewhat surprisingly, Defective Coloring turns out to be one of the few natural problems which are NP-hard on this class. We complement this negative result by showing that Defective Coloring is in P for cographs if either $\chi_d$ or $\Delta^*$ is fixed; that it is in P for trivially perfect graphs; and that it admits a sub-exponential time algorithm for cographs when both $\chi_d$ and $\Delta^*$ are unbounded.
Section:
Discrete Algorithms
2. Freezing, Bounded-Change and Convergent Cellular Automata
This paper studies three classes of cellular automata from a computational point of view: freezing cellular automata where the state of a cell can only decrease according to some order on states, cellular automata where each cell only makes a bounded number of state changes in any orbit, and finally cellular automata where each orbit converges to some fixed point. Many examples studied in the literature fit into these definitions, in particular the works on cristal growth started by S. Ulam in the 60s. The central question addressed here is how the computational power and computational hardness of basic properties is affected by the constraints of convergence, bounded number of change, or local decreasing of states in each cell. By studying various benchmark problems (short-term prediction, long term reachability, limits) and considering various complexity measures and scales (LOGSPACE vs. PTIME, communication complexity, Turing computability and arithmetical hierarchy) we give a rich and nuanced answer: the overall computational complexity of such cellular automata depends on the class considered (among the three above), the dimension, and the precise problem studied. In particular, we show that all settings can achieve universality in the sense of Blondel-Delvenne-K\r{u}rka, although short term predictability varies from NLOGSPACE to P-complete. Besides, the computability of limit configurations starting from computable initial configurations separates bounded-change from […]
Section:
Automata, Logic and Semantics
3. An explicit construction of graphs of bounded degree that are far from being Hamiltonian
Hamiltonian cycles in graphs were first studied in the 1850s. Since then, an impressive amount of research has been dedicated to identifying classes of graphs that allow Hamiltonian cycles, and to related questions. The corresponding decision problem, that asks whether a given graph is Hamiltonian (i.\,e.\ admits a Hamiltonian cycle), is one of Karp's famous NP-complete problems. In this paper we study graphs of bounded degree that are \emph{far} from being Hamiltonian, where a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices is \emph{far} from being Hamiltonian, if modifying a constant fraction of $n$ edges is necessary to make $G$ Hamiltonian. We give an explicit deterministic construction of a class of graphs of bounded degree that are locally Hamiltonian, but (globally) far from being Hamiltonian. Here, \emph{locally Hamiltonian} means that every subgraph induced by the neighbourhood of a small vertex set appears in some Hamiltonian graph. More precisely, we obtain graphs which differ in $\Theta(n)$ edges from any Hamiltonian graph, but non-Hamiltonicity cannot be detected in the neighbourhood of $o(n)$ vertices. Our class of graphs yields a class of hard instances for one-sided error property testers with linear query complexity. It is known that any property tester (even with two-sided error) requires a linear number of queries to test Hamiltonicity (Yoshida, Ito, 2010). This is proved via a randomised construction of hard instances. In contrast, our construction is deterministic. So far only […]
Section:
Graph Theory
4. Further enumeration results concerning a recent equivalence of restricted inversion sequences
Let asc and desc denote respectively the statistics recording the number of ascents or descents in a sequence having non-negative integer entries. In a recent paper by Andrews and Chern, it was shown that the distribution of asc on the inversion sequence avoidance class $I_n(\geq,\neq,>)$ is the same as that of $n-1-\text{asc}$ on the class $I_n(>,\neq,\geq)$, which confirmed an earlier conjecture of Lin. In this paper, we consider some further enumerative aspects related to this equivalence and, as a consequence, provide an alternative proof of the conjecture. In particular, we find recurrence relations for the joint distribution on $I_n(\geq,\neq,>)$ of asc and desc along with two other parameters, and do the same for $n-1-\text{asc}$ and desc on $I_n(>,\neq,\geq)$. By employing a functional equation approach together with the kernel method, we are able to compute explicitly the generating function for both of the aforementioned joint distributions, which extends (and provides a new proof of) the recent result $|I_n(\geq,\neq,>)|=|I_n(>,\neq,\geq)|$. In both cases, an algorithm is formulated for computing the generating function of the asc distribution on members of each respective class having a fixed number of descents.
Section:
Combinatorics
5. Open-independent, open-locating-dominating sets: structural aspects of some classes of graphs
Let $G=(V(G),E(G))$ be a finite simple undirected graph with vertex set $V(G)$, edge set $E(G)$ and vertex subset $S\subseteq V(G)$. $S$ is termed \emph{open-dominating} if every vertex of $G$ has at least one neighbor in $S$, and \emph{open-independent, open-locating-dominating} (an $OLD_{oind}$-set for short) if no two vertices in $G$ have the same set of neighbors in $S$, and each vertex in $S$ is open-dominated exactly once by $S$. The problem of deciding whether or not $G$ has an $OLD_{oind}$-set has important applications that have been reported elsewhere. As the problem is known to be $\mathcal{NP}$-complete, it appears to be notoriously difficult as we show that its complexity remains the same even for just planar bipartite graphs of maximum degree five and girth six, and also for planar subcubic graphs of girth nine. Also, we present characterizations of both $P_4$-tidy graphs and the complementary prisms of cographs that have an $OLD_{oind}$-set.
Section:
Graph Theory
6. Constant Congestion Brambles
A bramble in an undirected graph $G$ is a family of connected subgraphs of $G$ such that for every two subgraphs $H_1$ and $H_2$ in the bramble either $V(H_1) \cap V(H_2) \neq \emptyset$ or there is an edge of $G$ with one endpoint in $V(H_1)$ and the second endpoint in $V(H_2)$. The order of the bramble is the minimum size of a vertex set that intersects all elements of a bramble. Brambles are objects dual to treewidth: As shown by Seymour and Thomas, the maximum order of a bramble in an undirected graph $G$ equals one plus the treewidth of $G$. However, as shown by Grohe and Marx, brambles of high order may necessarily be of exponential size: In a constant-degree $n$-vertex expander a bramble of order $\Omega(n^{1/2+\delta})$ requires size exponential in $\Omega(n^{2\delta})$ for any fixed $\delta \in (0,\frac{1}{2}]$. On the other hand, the combination of results of Grohe and Marx and Chekuri and Chuzhoy shows that a graph of treewidth $k$ admits a bramble of order $\widetilde{\Omega}(k^{1/2})$ and size $\widetilde{\mathcal{O}}(k^{3/2})$. ($\widetilde{\Omega}$ and $\widetilde{\mathcal{O}}$ hide polylogarithmic factors and divisors, respectively.) In this note, we first sharpen the second bound by proving that every graph $G$ of treewidth at least $k$ contains a bramble of order $\widetilde{\Omega}(k^{1/2})$ and congestion $2$, i.e., every vertex of $G$ is contained in at most two elements of the bramble (thus the bramble is of size linear in its order). Second, we […]
Section:
Graph Theory
7. Leaf multiplicity in a Bienaymé-Galton-Watson tree
This note defines a notion of multiplicity for nodes in a rooted tree and presents an asymptotic calculation of the maximum multiplicity over all leaves in a Bienaymé-Galton-Watson tree with critical offspring distribution $\xi$, conditioned on the tree being of size $n$. In particular, we show that if $S_n$ is the maximum multiplicity in a conditional Bienaymé-Galton-Watson tree, then $S_n = \Omega(\log n)$ asymptotically in probability and under the further assumption that ${\bf E}\{2^\xi\} < \infty$, we have $S_n = O(\log n)$ asymptotically in probability as well. Explicit formulas are given for the constants in both bounds. We conclude by discussing links with an alternate definition of multiplicity that arises in the root-estimation problem.
Section:
Analysis of Algorithms
8. Efficient recurrence for the enumeration of permutations with fixed pinnacle set
Initiated by Davis, Nelson, Petersen and Tenner (2018), the enumerative study of pinnacle sets of permutations has attracted a fair amount of attention recently. In this article, we provide a recurrence that can be used to compute efficiently the number $|\mathfrak{S}_n(P)|$ of permutations of size $n$ with a given pinnacle set $P$, with arithmetic complexity $O(k^4 + k\log n)$ for $P$ of size $k$. A symbolic expression can also be computed in this way for pinnacle sets of fixed size. A weighted sum $q_n(P)$ of $|\mathfrak{S}_n(P)|$ proposed in Davis, Nelson, Petersen and Tenner (2018) seems to have a simple form, and a conjectural form is given recently by Flaque, Novelli and Thibon (2021+). We settle the problem by providing and proving an alternative form of $q_n(P)$, which has a strong combinatorial flavor. We also study admissible orderings of a given pinnacle set, first considered by Rusu (2020) and characterized by Rusu and Tenner (2021), and we give an efficient algorithm for their counting.
Section:
Combinatorics
9. On the Connectivity of Token Graphs of Trees
Let $k$ and $n$ be integers such that $1\leq k \leq n-1$, and let $G$ be a simple graph of order $n$. The $k$-token graph $F_k(G)$ of $G$ is the graph whose vertices are the $k$-subsets of $V(G)$, where two vertices are adjacent in $F_k(G)$ whenever their symmetric difference is an edge of $G$. In this paper we show that if $G$ is a tree, then the connectivity of $F_k(G)$ is equal to the minimum degree of $F_k(G)$.
Section:
Graph Theory
10. Determining Number of Kneser Graphs: Exact Values and Improved Bounds
The determining number of a graph $G = (V,E)$ is the minimum cardinality of a set $S\subseteq V$ such that pointwise stabilizer of $S$ under the action of $Aut(G)$ is trivial. In this paper, we provide some improved upper and lower bounds on the determining number of Kneser graphs. Moreover, we provide the exact value of the determining number for some subfamilies of Kneser graphs.
Section:
Graph Theory
11. Restricted generating trees for weak orderings
Motivated by the study of pattern avoidance in the context of permutations and ordered partitions, we consider the enumeration of weak-ordering chains obtained as leaves of certain restricted rooted trees. A tree of order $n$ is generated by inserting a new variable into each node at every step. A node becomes a leaf either after $n$ steps or when a certain stopping condition is met. In this paper we focus on conditions of size 2 ($x=y$, $x<y$, or $x\le y$) and several conditions of size 3. Some of the cases considered here lead to the study of descent statistics of certain `almost' pattern-avoiding permutations.
Section:
Combinatorics
12. On the Erdős-Pósa property for immersions and topological minors in tournaments
We consider the Erdős-Pósa property for immersions and topological minors in tournaments. We prove that for every simple digraph $H$, $k\in \mathbb{N}$, and tournament $T$, the following statements hold: (i) If in $T$ one cannot find $k$ arc-disjoint immersion copies of $H$, then there exists a set of $\mathcal{O}_H(k^3)$ arcs that intersects all immersion copies of $H$ in $T$. (ii) If in $T$ one cannot find $k$ vertex-disjoint topological minor copies of $H$, then there exists a set of $\mathcal{O}_H(k\log k)$ vertices that intersects all topological minor copies of $H$ in $T$. This improves the results of Raymond [DMTCS '18], who proved similar statements under the assumption that $H$ is strongly connected.
Section:
Graph Theory
13. Notes on Equitable Partitions into Matching Forests in Mixed Graphs and into $b$-branchings in Digraphs
An equitable partition into branchings in a digraph is a partition of the arc set into branchings such that the sizes of any two branchings differ at most by one. For a digraph whose arc set can be partitioned into $k$ branchings, there always exists an equitable partition into $k$ branchings. In this paper, we present two extensions of equitable partitions into branchings in digraphs: those into matching forests in mixed graphs; and into $b$-branchings in digraphs. For matching forests, Király and Yokoi (2022) considered a tricriteria equitability based on the sizes of the matching forest, and the matching and branching therein. In contrast to this, we introduce a single-criterion equitability based on the number of covered vertices, which is plausible in the light of the delta-matroid structure of matching forests. While the existence of this equitable partition can be derived from a lemma in Király and Yokoi, we present its direct and simpler proof. For $b$-branchings, we define an equitability notion based on the size of the $b$-branching and the indegrees of all vertices, and prove that an equitable partition always exists. We then derive the integer decomposition property of the associated polytopes.
Section:
Graph Theory
14. On the connectivity of the disjointness graph of segments of point sets in general position in the plane
Let $P$ be a set of $n\geq 3$ points in general position in the plane. The edge disjointness graph $D(P)$ of $P$ is the graph whose vertices are all the closed straight line segments with endpoints in $P$, two of which are adjacent in $D(P)$ if and only if they are disjoint. We show that the connectivity of $D(P)$ is at least $\binom{\lfloor\frac{n-2}{2}\rfloor}{2}+\binom{\lceil\frac{n-2}{2}\rceil}{2}$, and that this bound is tight for each $n\geq 3$.
Section:
Combinatorics
15. Domination in Knödel Graphs
Given a graph and an integer $k$, it is an NP-complete problem to decide whether there is a dominating set of size at most $k$. In this paper we study this problem for the Knödel Graph on $n$ vertices using elementary number theory techniques. In particular, we show an explicit upper bound for the domination number of the Knödel Graph on $n$ vertices any time that we can find a prime number $p$ dividing $n$ for which $2$ is a primitive root.
Section:
Graph Theory
16. Down-step statistics in generalized Dyck paths
The number of down-steps between pairs of up-steps in $k_t$-Dyck paths, a generalization of Dyck paths consisting of steps $\{(1, k), (1, -1)\}$ such that the path stays (weakly) above the line $y=-t$, is studied. Results are proved bijectively and by means of generating functions, and lead to several interesting identities as well as links to other combinatorial structures. In particular, there is a connection between $k_t$-Dyck paths and perforation patterns for punctured convolutional codes (binary matrices) used in coding theory. Surprisingly, upon restriction to usual Dyck paths this yields a new combinatorial interpretation of Catalan numbers.
Section:
Combinatorics
17. Separating layered treewidth and row treewidth
Layered treewidth and row treewidth are recently introduced graph parameters that have been key ingredients in the solution of several well-known open problems. It follows from the definitions that the layered treewidth of a graph is at most its row treewidth plus 1. Moreover, a minor-closed class has bounded layered treewidth if and only if it has bounded row treewidth. However, it has been open whether row treewidth is bounded by a function of layered treewidth. This paper answers this question in the negative. In particular, for every integer $k$ we describe a graph with layered treewidth 1 and row treewidth $k$. We also prove an analogous result for layered pathwidth and row pathwidth.
Section:
Graph Theory
18. The Neighborhood Polynomial of Chordal Graphs
We study the neighborhood polynomial and the complexity of its computation for chordal graphs. The neighborhood polynomial of a graph is the generating function of subsets of its vertices that have a common neighbor. We introduce a parameter for chordal graphs called anchor width and an algorithm to compute the neighborhood polynomial which runs in polynomial time if the anchor width is polynomially bounded. The anchor width is the maximal number of different sub-cliques of a clique which appear as a common neighborhood. Furthermore we study the anchor width for chordal graphs and some subclasses such as chordal comparability graphs and chordal graphs with bounded leafage. the leafage of a chordal graphs is the minimum number of leaves in the host tree of a subtree representation. We show that the anchor width of a chordal graph is at most $n^{\ell}$ where $\ell$ denotes the leafage. This shows that for some subclasses computing the neighborhood polynomial is possible in polynomial time while it is NP-hard for general chordal graphs.
Section:
Graph Theory
19. Maker-Breaker total domination game on cubic graphs
We study Maker--Breaker total domination game played by two players, Dominator and Staller, on the connected cubic graphs. Staller (playing the role of Maker) wins if she manages to claim an open neighbourhood of a vertex. Dominator wins otherwise (i.e.\ if he can claim a total dominating set of a graph). For certain graphs on $n\geq 6$ vertices, we give the characterization on those which are Dominator's win and those which are Staller's win.
Section:
Graph Theory
20. Non-monotone target sets for threshold values restricted to $0$, $1$, and the vertex degree
We consider a non-monotone activation process $(X_t)_{t\in\{ 0,1,2,\ldots\}}$ on a graph $G$, where $X_0\subseteq V(G)$, $X_t=\{ u\in V(G):|N_G(u)\cap X_{t-1}|\geq \tau(u)\}$ for every positive integer $t$, and $\tau:V(G)\to \mathbb{Z}$ is a threshold function. The set $X_0$ is a so-called non-monotone target set for $(G,\tau)$ if there is some $t_0$ such that $X_t=V(G)$ for every $t\geq t_0$. Ben-Zwi, Hermelin, Lokshtanov, and Newman [Discrete Optimization 8 (2011) 87-96] asked whether a target set of minimum order can be determined efficiently if $G$ is a tree. We answer their question in the affirmative for threshold functions $\tau$ satisfying $\tau(u)\in \{ 0,1,d_G(u)\}$ for every vertex~$u$. For such restricted threshold functions, we give a characterization of target sets that allows to show that the minimum target set problem remains NP-hard for planar graphs of maximum degree $3$ but is efficiently solvable for graphs of bounded treewidth.
Section:
Graph Theory
21. Asymptotically sharpening the $s$-Hamiltonian index bound
For a non-negative integer $s\le |V(G)|-3$, a graph $G$ is $s$-Hamiltonian if the removal of any $k\le s$ vertices results in a Hamiltonian graph. Given a connected simple graph $G$ that is not isomorphic to a path, a cycle, or a $K_{1,3}$, let $\delta(G)$ denote the minimum degree of $G$, let $h_s(G)$ denote the smallest integer $i$ such that the iterated line graph $L^{i}(G)$ is $s$-Hamiltonian, and let $\ell(G)$ denote the length of the longest non-closed path $P$ in which all internal vertices have degree 2 such that $P$ is not both of length 2 and in a $K_3$. For a simple graph $G$, we establish better upper bounds for $h_s(G)$ as follows. \begin{equation*} h_s(G)\le \left\{ \begin{aligned} & \ell(G)+1, &&\mbox{ if }\delta(G)\le 2 \mbox{ and }s=0;\\ & \widetilde d(G)+2+\lceil \lg (s+1)\rceil, &&\mbox{ if }\delta(G)\le 2 \mbox{ and }s\ge 1;\\ & 2+\left\lceil\lg\frac{s+1}{\delta(G)-2}\right\rceil, && \mbox{ if } 3\le\delta(G)\le s+2;\\ & 2, &&{\rm otherwise}, \end{aligned} \right. \end{equation*} where $\widetilde d(G)$ is the smallest integer $i$ such that $\delta(L^i(G))\ge 3$. Consequently, when $s \ge 6$, this new upper bound for the $s$-hamiltonian index implies that $h_s(G) = o(\ell(G)+s+1)$ as $s \to \infty$. This sharpens the result, $h_s(G)\le\ell(G)+s+1$, obtained by Zhang et al. in [Discrete Math., 308 (2008) 4779-4785].
Section:
Graph Theory
22. Positional Marked Patterns in Permutations
We define and study positional marked patterns, permutations $\tau$ where one of elements in $\tau$ is underlined. Given a permutation $\sigma$, we say that $\sigma$ has a $\tau$-match at position $i$ if $\tau$ occurs in $\sigma$ in such a way that $\sigma_i$ plays the role of the underlined element in the occurrence. We let $pmp_\tau(\sigma)$ denote the number of positions $i$ which $\sigma$ has a $\tau$-match. This defines a new class of statistics on permutations, where we study such statistics and prove a number of results. In particular, we prove that two positional marked patterns $1\underline{2}3$ and $1\underline{3}2$ give rise to two statistics that have the same distribution. The equidistibution phenomenon also occurs in other several collections of patterns like $\left \{1\underline{2}3 , 1\underline{3}2 \right \}$, and $\left \{ 1\underline234, 1\underline243, \underline2134, \underline2 1 4 3 \right \}$, as well as two positional marked patterns of any length $n$: $\left \{ 1\underline 2\tau , \underline 21\tau \right \}$.
Section:
Combinatorics
23. Tuza's Conjecture for Threshold Graphs
Tuza famously conjectured in 1981 that in a graph without k+1 edge-disjoint triangles, it suffices to delete at most 2k edges to obtain a triangle-free graph. The conjecture holds for graphs with small treewidth or small maximum average degree, including planar graphs. However, for dense graphs that are neither cliques nor 4-colorable, only asymptotic results are known. Here, we confirm the conjecture for threshold graphs, i.e. graphs that are both split graphs and cographs, and for co-chain graphs with both sides of the same size divisible by 4.
Section:
Graph Theory
24. Automatic sequences: from rational bases to trees
The $n$th term of an automatic sequence is the output of a deterministic finite automaton fed with the representation of $n$ in a suitable numeration system. In this paper, instead of considering automatic sequences built on a numeration system with a regular numeration language, we consider those built on languages associated with trees having periodic labeled signatures and, in particular, rational base numeration systems. We obtain two main characterizations of these sequences. The first one is concerned with $r$-block substitutions where $r$ morphisms are applied periodically. In particular, we provide examples of such sequences that are not morphic. The second characterization involves the factors, or subtrees of finite height, of the tree associated with the numeration system and decorated by the terms of the sequence.
Section:
Automata, Logic and Semantics