We consider the worst-case query complexity of some variants of certain \cl{PPAD}-complete search problems. Suppose we are given a graph $G$ and a vertex $s \in V(G)$. We denote the directed graph obtained from $G$ by directing all edges in both directions by $G'$. $D$ is a directed subgraph of $G'$ which is unknown to us, except that it consists of vertex-disjoint directed paths and cycles and one of the paths originates in $s$. Our goal is to find an endvertex of a path by using as few queries as possible. A query specifies a vertex $v\in V(G)$, and the answer is the set of the edges of $D$ incident to $v$, together with their directions. We also show lower bounds for the special case when $D$ consists of a single path. Our proofs use the theory of graph separators. Finally, we consider the case when the graph $G$ is a grid graph. In this case, using the connection with separators, we give asymptotically tight bounds as a function of the size of the grid, if the dimension of the grid is considered as fixed. In order to do this, we prove a separator theorem about grid graphs, which is interesting on its own right.
In a representation of a graph $G$ as an edge intersection graph of paths on a grid (EPG) every vertex of $G$ is represented by a path on a grid and two paths share a grid edge iff the corresponding vertices are adjacent. In a monotonic EPG representation every path on the grid is ascending in both rows and columns. In a (monotonic) $B_k$-EPG representation every path on the grid has at most $k$ bends. The (monotonic) bend number $b(G)$ ($b^m(G)$) of a graph $G$ is the smallest natural number $k$ for which there exists a (monotonic) $B_k$-EPG representation of $G$. In this paper we deal with t…
We are interested in embedding trees T with maximum degree at most four in a rectangular grid, such that the vertices of T correspond to grid points, while edges of T correspond to non-intersecting straight segments of the grid lines. Such embeddings are called straight models. While each edge is represented by a straight segment, a path of T is represented in the model by the union of the segments corresponding to its edges, which may consist of a path in the model having several bends. The aim is to determine a straight model of a given tree T minimizing the maximum number of bends over all …
We consider the firing squad synchronization problems for paths in the two and the three-dimensional grid spaces. Minimal-time solutions of these problems are not known and are unlikely to exist. However, at present we have no proofs of their nonexistence. In this paper we show one result that suggests what type of study is necessary in order to prove their nonexistence.
We show that anagram-free vertex colouring a $2\times n$ square grid requires a number of colours that increases with $n$. This answers an open question in Wilson's thesis and shows that even graphs of pathwidth $2$ do not have anagram-free colourings with a bounded number of colours.
This paper is devoted to Wiener index of directed graphs, more precisely of directed grids. The grid $G_{m,n}$ is the Cartesian product $P_m\Box P_n$ of paths on $m$ and $n$ vertices, and in a particular case when $m=2$, it is a called the ladder graph $L_n$. Kraner Šumenjak et al. proved that the maximum Wiener index of a digraph, which is obtained by orienting the edges of $L_n$, is obtained when all layers isomorphic to one factor are directed paths directed in the same way except one (corresponding to an endvertex of the other factor) which is a directed path directed in the opposite way. …
Let $G=(V(G),E(G))$ be a simple graph. A set $S \subseteq V(G)$ is a strong edge geodetic set if there exists an assignment of exactly one shortest path between each pair of vertices from $S$, such that these shortest paths cover all the edges $E(G)$. The cardinality of a smallest strong edge geodetic set is the strong edge geodetic number $\text{sge}(G)$ of $G$. In this paper, the strong edge geodetic problem is studied on the Cartesian product of two paths. The exact value of the strong edge geodetic number is computed for $P_n \, \square \, P_2$, $P_n \, \square \, P_3$ and $P_n \, \square …
The isometric path cover (partition) problem of a graph is to find a minimum set of isometric paths which cover (partition) the vertex set of the graph. The isometric path cover (partition) number of a graph is the cardinality a minimum isometric path cover (partition). We prove that the isometric path partition problem and the isometric $k$-path partition problem for $k\geq 3$ are NP-complete on general graphs. Fisher and Fitzpatrick \cite{FiFi01} have shown that the isometric path cover number of $(r\times r)$-dimensional grid is $\lceil 2r/3\rceil$. We show that the isometric path cover (pa…
We use a dynamic programming algorithm to establish a lower bound on the domination number of complete grid graphs of the form $C_n\square P_m$, that is, the Cartesian product of a cycle $C_n$ and a path $P_m$, for $m$ and $n$ sufficiently large.
"Eye-Witless", "Haisu" and "Oriental House" are genres of logic puzzles invented by William Hu, and "Detour" is a genre of logic puzzle invented by online user Guowen Zhang. Each of these puzzles revolves around constructing a path or loop through the cells of a grid according to certain constraints given by clues in the grid. We prove that deciding whether a particular puzzle in each of these genres is solvable is NP-complete.
Assume that we embed the path $P_n$ as a subgraph of a $2$-dimensional grid, namely, $P_k \times P_l$. Given such an embedding, we consider the ordered set of subpaths $L_1, L_2, \ldots , L_m$ which are maximal straight segments in the embedding, and such that the end of $L_i$ is the beginning of $L_{i+1}$. Suppose that $L_i\cong P_2$, for some $i$ and that some vertex $u$ of $L_{i-1}$ is at distance $1$ in the grid to a vertex $v$ of $L_{i+1}$. An elementary transformation of the path consists in replacing the edge of $L_i$ by a new edge $uv$. A tree $T$ of order $n$ is said to be a path-like…
