We recently introduced the graph invariant twin-width, and showed that first-order model checking can be solved in time $f(d,k)n$ for $n$-vertex graphs given with a witness that the twin-width is at most $d$, called $d$-contraction sequence or $d$-sequence, and formulas of size $k$ [Bonnet et al., FOCS '20]. The inevitable price to pay for such a general result is that $f$ is a tower of exponentials of height roughly $k$. In this paper, we show that algorithms based on twin-width need not be impractical. We present $2^{O(k)}n$-time algorithms for $k$-Independent Set, $r$-Scattered Set, $k$-Clique, and $k$-Dominating Set when an $O(1)$-sequence is provided. We further show how to solve weighted $k$-Independent Set, Subgraph Isomorphism, and Induced Subgraph Isomorphism, in time $2^{O(k \log k)}n$. These algorithms are based on a dynamic programming scheme following the sequence of contractions forward. We then show a second algorithmic use of the contraction sequence, by starting at its end and rewinding it. As an example, we establish that bounded twin-width classes are $χ$-bounded. This significantly extends the $χ$-boundedness of bounded rank-width classes, and does so with a very concise proof. The third algorithmic use of twin-width builds on the second one. Playing the contraction sequence backward, we show that bounded twin-width graphs can be edge-partitioned into a linear number of bicliques, such that both sides of the bicliques are on consecutive vertices, in a fixed vertex ordering. Given that biclique edge-partition, we show how to solve the unweighted Single-Source Shortest Paths and hence All-Pairs Shortest Paths in sublinear time $O(n \log n)$ and time $O(n^2 \log n)$, respectively. Finally we show that Min Dominating Set and related problems have constant integrality gaps on bounded twin-width classes, thereby getting constant approximations on these classes.
We study the existence of polynomial kernels, for parameterized problems without a polynomial kernel on general graphs, when restricted to graphs of bounded twin-width. Our main result is that a polynomial kernel for $k$-Dominating Set on graphs of twin-width at most 4 would contradict a standard complexity-theoretic assumption. The reduction is quite involved, especially to get the twin-width upper bound down to 4, and can be tweaked to work for Connected $k$-Dominating Set and Total $k$-Dominating Set (albeit with a worse upper bound on the twin-width). The $k$-Independent Set problem admits…
We strengthen a result by Laskar and Lyle (Discrete Appl. Math. (2009), 330-338) by proving that it is NP-complete to decide whether a bipartite planar graph can be partitioned into three independent dominating sets. In contrast, we show that this is always possible for every maximal outerplanar graph with at least three vertices. Moreover, we extend their previous result by proving that deciding whether a bipartite graph can be partitioned into $k$ independent dominating sets is NP-complete for every $k \geq 3$. We also strengthen a result by Henning et al. (Discrete Math. (2009), 6451-6458) …
A dominating set $S$ of graph $G$ is called an $r$-grouped dominating set if $S$ can be partitioned into $S_1,S_2,\ldots,S_k$ such that the size of each unit $S_i$ is $r$ and the subgraph of $G$ induced by $S_i$ is connected. The concept of $r$-grouped dominating sets generalizes several well-studied variants of dominating sets with requirements for connected component sizes, such as the ordinary dominating sets ($r=1$), paired dominating sets ($r=2$), and connected dominating sets ($r$ is arbitrary and $k=1$). In this paper, we investigate the computational complexity of $r$-Grouped Dominatin…
For any $\varepsilon > 0$, we give a polynomial-time $n^\varepsilon$-approximation algorithm for Max Independent Set in graphs of bounded twin-width given with an $O(1)$-sequence. This result is derived from the following time-approximation trade-off: We establish an $O(1)^{2^q-1}$-approximation algorithm running in time $\exp(O_q(n^{2^{-q}}))$, for every integer $q \geqslant 0$. Guided by the same framework, we obtain similar approximation algorithms for Min Coloring and Max Induced Matching. In general graphs, all these problems are known to be highly inapproximable: for any $\varepsilon > 0…
Many hard graph problems can be solved efficiently when restricted to graphs of bounded treewidth, and more generally to graphs of bounded clique-width. But there is a price to be paid for this generality, exemplified by the four problems MaxCut, Graph Coloring, Hamiltonian Cycle and Edge Dominating Set that are all FPT parameterized by treewidth but none of which can be FPT parameterized by clique-width unless FPT = W[1], as shown by Fomin et al [7, 8]. We therefore seek a structural graph parameter that shares some of the generality of clique-width without paying this price. Based on splits,…
Independent Set Hardness in Graphs of Bounded Twin-Width and Low-Radius Merge-Width
Univ Lyon, CNRS, ENS de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, LIP UMR5668（里昂大学、法国国家科学研究中心、里昂高等师范学院、克洛德·贝尔纳里昂第一大学、LIP实验室）；Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw（华沙大学信息学研究所）
We obtain a number of lower bounds on the running time of algorithms solving problems on graphs of bounded treewidth. We prove the results under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis of Impagliazzo and Paturi. In particular, assuming that SAT cannot be solved in (2-ε)^{n}m^{O(1)} time, we show that for any e > 0; {\sc Independent Set} cannot be solved in (2-e)^{tw(G)}|V(G)|^{O(1)} time, {\sc Dominating Set} cannot be solved in (3-e)^{tw(G)}|V(G)|^{O(1)} time, {\sc Max Cut} cannot be solved in (2-e)^{tw(G)}|V(G)|^{O(1)} time, {\sc Odd Cycle Transversal} cannot be solved in (3-e)^{tw(G)}|V(G)|^…
In this paper we focus on problems which do not admit a constant-factor approximation in polynomial time and explore how quickly their approximability improves as the allowed running time is gradually increased from polynomial to (sub-)exponential. We tackle a number of problems: For Min Independent Dominating Set, Max Induced Path, Forest and Tree, for any $r(n)$, a simple, known scheme gives an approximation ratio of $r$ in time roughly $r^{n/r}$. We show that, for most values of $r$, if this running time could be significantly improved the ETH would fail. For Max Minimal Vertex Cover we giv…
The field of exact exponential time algorithms for NP-hard problems has thrived over the last decade. While exhaustive search remains asymptotically the fastest known algorithm for some basic problems, difficult and non-trivial exponential time algorithms have been found for a myriad of problems, including Graph Coloring, Hamiltonian Path, Dominating Set and 3-CNF-Sat. In some instances, improving these algorithms further seems to be out of reach. The CNF-Sat problem is the canonical example of a problem for which the trivial exhaustive search algorithm runs in time O(2^n), where n is the numb…
