本文研究参数化Max Min FVS问题，提出基于树宽的DP算法并推广已有顶点覆盖相关算法，证明两类算法的最优性，同时纠正已有FPT分支算法的错误，给出复杂度更优的分支算法。
摘要：
给定图$G$和整数$k$，Max Min FVS（最大最小反馈顶点集）问题旨在判断是否存在一个大小至少为$k$的极小顶点集，删除该顶点集可破坏图中所有环。本文针对该问题参数化复杂度的结构参数与自然参数两类维度，提出多项改进现有最优结果的结论。\n 首先，本文采用标准动态规划（DP）技术，提出了时间复杂度为$\textrm{tw}^{O(\textrm{tw})}n^{O(1)}$的算法，其中$\textrm{tw}$、$\textrm{vc}$分别表示输入图的树宽和顶点覆盖数，该算法大幅推广了Gaikwad等人近期提出的时间复杂度为$\textrm{vc}^{O(\textrm{vc})}n^{O(1)}$的算法。随后本文证明，上述两种算法在本质上已是最优，因为若存在$\textrm{vc}^{o(\textrm{vc})}n^{O(1)}$的算法，将推翻指数时间假设（ETH）。\n 针对自然参数$k$，Gaikwad等人近期的工作声称提出了复杂度为$10^k n^{O(1)}$的固定参数可解（FPT）分支算法。本文指出该算法存在错误，并提出了一种复杂度为$9.34^k n^{O(1)}$的分支算法。
英文摘要：
Given a graph $G$ and an integer $k$, Max Min FVS asks whether there exists a minimal set of vertices of size at least $k$ whose deletion destroys all cycles. We present several results that improve upon the state of the art of the parameterized complexity of this problem with respect to both structural and natural parameters.
Using standard DP techniques, we first present an algorithm of time $\textrm{tw}^{O(\textrm{tw})}n^{O(1)}$, significantly generalizing a recent algorithm of Gaikwad et al. of time $\textrm{vc}^{O(\textrm{vc})}n^{O(1)}$, where $\textrm{tw}, \textrm{vc}$ denote the input graph's treewidth and vertex cover respectively. Subsequently, we show that both of these algorithms are essentially optimal, since a $\textrm{vc}^{o(\textrm{vc})}n^{O(1)}$ algorithm would refute the ETH.
With respect to the natural parameter $k$, the aforementioned recent work by Gaikwad et al. claimed an FPT branching algorithm with complexity $10^k n^{O(1)}$. We point out that this algorithm is incorrect and present a branching algorithm of complexity $9.34^k n^{O(1)}$.
The Maximum Agreement Forest problem has been extensively studied in phylogenetics. Most previous work is on two binary phylogenetic trees. In this paper, we study a generalized version of the problem: the Maximum Agreement Forest problem on multiple rooted multifurcating phylogenetic trees, from the perspective of fixed-parameter algorithms. By taking advantage of a new branch-and-bound strategy, two parameterized algorithms, with running times $O(2.42^k m^3 n^4)$ and $O(2.74^k m^3 n^5)$, respectively, are presented for the hard version and the soft version of the problem, which correspond to…
Given an edge-weighted graph $G$ on $n$ nodes, the NP-hard Max-Cut problem asks for a node bipartition such that the sum of edge weights joining the different partitions is maximized. We propose a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm parameterized by the number $k$ of crossings in a given drawing of $G$. Our algorithm achieves a running time of $O(2^k \cdot p(n + k))$, where $p$ is the polynomial running time for planar Max-Cut. The only previously known similar algorithm [8] is restricted to 1-planar graphs (i.e., at most one crossing per edge) and its dependency on $k$ is of order $3^k$ . A d…
The parameterized complexity of problems is often studied with respect to the size of their optimal solutions. However, for a maximization problem, the size of the optimal solution can be very large, rendering algorithms parameterized by it inefficient. Therefore, we suggest to study the parameterized complexity of maximization problems with respect to the size of the optimal solutions to their minimization versions. We examine this suggestion by considering the Maximal Minimal Vertex Cover (MMVC) problem, whose minimization version, Vertex Cover, is one of the most studied problems in the fie…
A set $S$ of vertices of a graph is a defensive alliance if, for each element of $S$, the majority of its neighbours is in $S$. We consider the notion of local minimality in this paper. We are interested in locally minimal defensive alliance of maximum size. We also look at connected version of defensive alliance. This problem is known to be NP-hard but its parameterized complexity remains open until now. We enhance our understanding of the problem from the viewpoint of parameterized complexity. The main results of the paper are the following: (1) Locally Minimal Defensive Alliance is NP-compl…
A blocking set in a graph $G$ is a subset of vertices that intersects every maximum independent set of $G$. Let ${\sf mmbs}(G)$ be the size of a maximum (inclusion-wise) minimal blocking set of $G$. This parameter has recently played an important role in the kernelization of Vertex Cover parameterized by the distance to a graph class ${\cal F}$. Indeed, it turns out that the existence of a polynomial kernel for this problem is closely related to the property that ${\sf mmbs}({\cal F})=\sup_{G \in {\cal F}}{\sf mmbs}(G)$ is bounded by a constant, and thus several recent results focused on deter…
We study the optimization version of constraint satisfaction problems (Max-CSPs) in the framework of parameterized complexity; the goal is to compute the maximum fraction of constraints that can be satisfied simultaneously. In standard CSPs, we want to decide whether this fraction equals one. The parameters we investigate are structural measures, such as the treewidth or the clique-width of the variable-constraint incidence graph of the CSP instance. We consider Max-CSPs with the constraint types AND, OR, PARITY, and MAJORITY, and with various parameters k, and we attempt to fully classify the…
A defensive alliance in an undirected graph $G=(V,E)$ is a non-empty set of vertices $S$ satisfying the condition that every vertex $v\in S$ has at least as many neighbours (including itself) in $S$ as it has in $V\setminus S$. We consider the notion of global minimality in this paper. We are interested in globally minimal defensive alliance of maximum size. This problem is known to be NP-hard but its parameterized complexity remains open until now. We enhance our understanding of the problem from the viewpoint of parameterized complexity by showing that the Globally Minimal Defensive Alliance…
We study the boundary of tractability for the Max-Cut problem in graphs. Our main result shows that Max-Cut above the Edwards-Erdős bound is fixed-parameter tractable: we give an algorithm that for any connected graph with n vertices and m edges finds a cut of size m/2 + (n-1)/4 + k in time 2^O(k)n^4, or decides that no such cut exists. This answers a long-standing open question from parameterized complexity that has been posed several times over the past 15 years. Our algorithm is asymptotically optimal, under the Exponential Time Hypothesis, and is strengthened by a polynomial-time computabl…
In this paper we investigate the parameterized complexity of the Maximum-Duo Preservation String Mapping Problem, the complementary of the Minimum Common String Partition Problem. We show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the number k of conserved duos, by first giving a parameterized algorithm based on the color-coding technique and then presenting a reduction to a kernel of size O(k^6 ).
The Max-Cut problem is known to be NP-hard on general graphs, while it can be solved in polynomial time on planar graphs. In this paper, we present a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm for the problem on `almost' planar graphs: Given an $n$-vertex graph and its drawing with $k$ crossings, our algorithm runs in time $O(2^k(n+k)^{3/2} \log (n + k))$. Previously, Dahn, Kriege and Mutzel (IWOCA 2018) obtained an algorithm that, given an $n$-vertex graph and its $1$-planar drawing with $k$ crossings, runs in time $O(3^k n^{3/2} \log n)$. Our result simultaneously improves the running time and remo…
We study two variants of \textsc{Maximum Cut}, which we call \textsc{Connected Maximum Cut} and \textsc{Maximum Minimal Cut}, in this paper. In these problems, given an unweighted graph, the goal is to compute a maximum cut satisfying some connectivity requirements. Both problems are known to be NP-complete even on planar graphs whereas \textsc{Maximum Cut} on planar graphs is solvable in polynomial time. We first show that these problems are NP-complete even on planar bipartite graphs and split graphs. Then we give parameterized algorithms using graph parameters such as clique-width, tree-wid…
In an edge-colored graph, the cost incurred at a vertex on a path when two incident edges with different colors are traversed is called reload or changeover cost. The "Minimum Changeover Cost Arborescence" (MINCCA) problem consists in finding an arborescence with a given root vertex such that the total changeover cost of the internal vertices is minimized. It has been recently proved by Gözüpek et al. [TCS 2016] that the problem is FPT when parameterized by the treewidth and the maximum degree of the input graph. In this article we present the following results for the MINCCA problem: - the pr…
We consider constraint satisfaction problems parameterized above or below tight bounds. One example is MaxSat parameterized above $m/2$: given a CNF formula $F$ with $m$ clauses, decide whether there is a truth assignment that satisfies at least $m/2+k$ clauses, where $k$ is the parameter. Among other problems we deal with are MaxLin2-AA (given a system of linear equations over $\mathbb{F}_2$ in which each equation has a positive integral weight, decide whether there is an assignment to the variables that satisfies equations of total weight at least $W/2+k$, where $W$ is the total weight of al…
In the parameterized problem \textsc{MaxLin2-AA}[$k$], we are given a system with variables $x_1,...,x_n$ consisting of equations of the form $\prod_{i \in I}x_i = b$, where $x_i,b \in \{-1, 1\}$ and $I\subseteq [n],$ each equation has a positive integral weight, and we are to decide whether it is possible to simultaneously satisfy equations of total weight at least $W/2+k$, where $W$ is the total weight of all equations and $k$ is the parameter (if $k=0$, the possibility is assured). We show that \textsc{MaxLin2-AA}[$k$] has a kernel with at most $O(k^2\log k)$ variables and can be solved in …
In this paper we study a maximization version of the classical Feedback Vertex Set (FVS) problem, namely, the Max Min FVS problem, in the realm of parameterized complexity. In this problem, given an undirected graph $G$, a positive integer $k$, the question is to check whether $G$ has a minimal feedback vertex set of size at least $k$. We obtain following results for Max Min FVS. 1) We first design a fixed parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm for Max Min FVS running in time $10^kn^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$. 2) Next, we consider the problem parameterized by the vertex cover number of the input graph (de…
In the problem {\sc Min-DESC}, we are given a digraph $D$ and an integer $k$, and asked if there exists a set $A'$ of at most $k$ arcs in $D$, such that if we remove the arcs of $A'$, in the resulting digraph every strong component is Eulerian. {\sc Min-DESC} is NP-hard; Cechlárová and Schlotter (IPEC 2010) asked if the problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by $k$. We consider the subproblem of{\sc Min-DESC} when $D$ is a tournament. We show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to $k$.
The metric dimension of a graph is the size of the smallest set of vertices whose distances distinguish all pairs of vertices in the graph. We show that this graph invariant may be calculated by an algorithm whose running time is linear in the input graph size, added to a function of the largest possible number of leaves in a spanning tree of the graph.
In this work, we initiate a thorough study of parameterized graph optimization problems in the distributed setting. In a parameterized problem, an algorithm decides whether a solution of size bounded by a \emph{parameter} $k$ exists and if so, it finds one. We study fundamental problems, including Minimum Vertex Cover (MVC), Maximum Independent Set (MaxIS), Maximum Matching (MaxM), and many others, in both the LOCAL and CONGEST distributed computation models. We present lower bounds for the round complexity of solving parameterized problems in both models, together with optimal and near-optima…
Poljak and Turzík (Discrete Math. 1986) introduced the notion of λ-extendible properties of graphs as a generalization of the property of being bipartite. They showed that for any 0<λ<1 and λ-extendible property Π, any connected graph G on n vertices and m edges contains a subgraph H \in Π with at least λm+ (1-λ)/2 (n-1) edges. The property of being bipartite is 1/2-extendible, and thus this bound generalizes the Edwards-Erdős bound for Max-Cut. We define a variant, namely strong λ-extendibility, to which the bound applies. For a strongly λ-extendible graph property Π, we define the parameteri…
We consider two matrix completion problems, in which we are given a matrix with missing entries and the task is to complete the matrix in a way that (1) minimizes the rank, or (2) minimizes the number of distinct rows. We study the parameterized complexity of the two aforementioned problems with respect to several parameters of interest, including the minimum number of matrix rows, columns, and rows plus columns needed to cover all missing entries. We obtain new algorithmic results showing that, for the bounded domain case, both problems are fixed-parameter tractable with respect to all aforem…
We consider graphs without loops or parallel edges in which every edge is assigned + or -. Such a signed graph is balanced if its vertex set can be partitioned into parts $V_1$ and $V_2$ such that all edges between vertices in the same part have sign + and all edges between vertices of different parts have sign $-$ (one of the parts may be empty). It is well-known that every connected signed graph with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges has a balanced subgraph with at least $\frac{m}{2} + \frac{n-1}{4}$ edges and this bound is tight. We consider the following parameterized problem: given a connected s…
Deletion problems are those where given a graph $G$ and a graph property $π$, the goal is to find a subset of edges such that after its removal the graph $G$ will satisfy the property $π$. Typically, we want to minimize the number of elements removed. In fair deletion problems we change the objective: we minimize the maximum number of deletions in a neighborhood of a single vertex. We study the parameterized complexity of fair deletion problems with respect to the structural parameters of the tree-width, the path-width, the size of a minimum feedback vertex set, the neighborhood diversity, and…
We show that a graph with $n$ vertices and vertex cover of size $k$ has at most $4^k + n$ potential maximal cliques. We also show that for each positive integer $k$, there exists a graph with vertex cover of size $k$, $O(k^2)$ vertices, and $Ω(4^k)$ potential maximal cliques. Our results extend the results of Fomin, Liedloff, Montealegre, and Todinca [Algorithmica, 80(4):1146--1169, 2018], who proved an upper bound of $poly(n) 4^k$, but left the lower bound as an open problem.
An $(r, \ell)$-partition of a graph $G$ is a partition of its vertex set into $r$ independent sets and $\ell$ cliques. A graph is $(r, \ell)$ if it admits an $(r, \ell)$-partition. A graph is well-covered if every maximal independent set is also maximum. A graph is $(r,\ell)$-well-covered if it is both $(r,\ell)$ and well-covered. In this paper we consider two different decision problems. In the $(r,\ell)$-Well-Covered Graph problem ($(r,\ell)$WCG for short), we are given a graph $G$, and the question is whether $G$ is an $(r,\ell)$-well-covered graph. In the Well-Covered $(r,\ell)$-Graph prob…
The Minimum Fill-in problem is to decide if a graph can be triangulated by adding at most k edges. Kaplan, Shamir, and Tarjan [FOCS 1994] have shown that the problem is solvable in time O(2^(O(k)) + k2 * nm) on graphs with n vertices and m edges and thus is fixed parameter tractable. Here, we give the first subexponential parameterized algorithm solving Minimum Fill-in in time O(2^(O(\sqrt{k} log k)) + k2 * nm). This substantially lower the complexity of the problem. Techniques developed for Minimum Fill-in can be used to obtain subexponential parameterized algorithms for several related probl…
For every fixed integer $k \geq 1$, we prove that $k$-Edge Colouring is fixed-parameter-tractable when parameterized by the number of vertices of maximum degree.
The NP-hard Minimum Common String Partition problem asks whether two strings $x$ and $y$ can each be partitioned into at most $k$ substrings, called blocks, such that both partitions use exactly the same blocks in a different order. We present the first fixed-parameter algorithm for Minimum Common String Partition using only parameter $k$.
The problem MaxLin2 can be stated as follows. We are given a system $S$ of $m$ equations in variables $x_1,...,x_n$, where each equation is $\sum_{i \in I_j}x_i = b_j$ is assigned a positive integral weight $w_j$ and $x_i,b_j \in \mathbb{F}_2$, $I_j \subseteq \{1,2,...,n\}$ for $j=1,...,m$. We are required to find an assignment of values to the variables in order to maximize the total weight of the satisfied equations. Let $W$ be the total weight of all equations in $S$. We consider the following parameterized version of MaxLin2: decide whether there is an assignment satisfying equations of to…
Given a graph $G=(V,E)$ and an integer $k$, the Minimum Membership Dominating Set (MMDS) problem seeks to find a dominating set $S \subseteq V$ of $G$ such that for each $v \in V$, $|N[v] \cap S|$ is at most $k$. We investigate the parameterized complexity of the problem and obtain the following results about MMDS: W[1]-hardness of the problem parameterized by the pathwidth (and thus, treewidth) of the input graph. W[1]-hardness parameterized by $k$ on split graphs. An algorithm running in time $2^{\mathcal{O}(\textbf{vc})} |V|^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$, where $\textbf{vc}$ is the size of a minimum-si…
Given an undirected graph $G$ and integers $c$ and $k$, the Maximum Edge-Colorable Subgraph problem asks whether we can delete at most $k$ edges in $G$ to obtain a graph that has a proper edge coloring with at most $c$ colors. We show that Maximum Edge-Colorable Subgraph admits, for every fixed $c$, a linear-size problem kernel when parameterized by the edge deletion distance of $G$ to a graph with maximum degree $c-1$. This parameterization measures the distance to instances that, due to Vizing's famous theorem, are trivial yes-instances. For $c\le 4$, we also provide a linear-size kernel for…
We study the parameterized complexity of interdiction problems in graphs. For an optimization problem on graphs, one can formulate an interdiction problem as a game consisting of two players, namely, an interdictor and an evader, who compete on an objective with opposing interests. In edge interdiction problems, every edge of the input graph has an interdiction cost associated with it and the interdictor interdicts the graph by modifying the edges in the graph, and the number of such modifications is constrained by the interdictor's budget. The evader then solves the given optimization problem…
For many constraint satisfaction problems, the algorithm which chooses a random assignment achieves the best possible approximation ratio. For instance, a simple random assignment for {\sc Max-E3-Sat} allows 7/8-approximation and for every $\eps >0$ there is no polynomial-time ($7/8+\eps$)-approximation unless P=NP. Another example is the {\sc Permutation CSP} of bounded arity. Given the expected fraction $ρ$ of the constraints satisfied by a random assignment (i.e. permutation), there is no $(ρ+\eps)$-approximation algorithm for every $\eps >0$, assuming the Unique Games Conjecture (UGC). In …
We study the minimum diameter spanning tree problem under the reload cost model (DIAMETER-TREE for short) introduced by Wirth and Steffan (2001). In this problem, given an undirected edge-colored graph $G$, reload costs on a path arise at a node where the path uses consecutive edges of different colors. The objective is to find a spanning tree of $G$ of minimum diameter with respect to the reload costs. We initiate a systematic study of the parameterized complexity of the DIAMETER-TREE problem by considering the following parameters: the cost of a solution, and the treewidth and the maximum de…
Given a graph G, a q-open neighborhood conflict-free coloring or q-ONCF-coloring is a vertex coloring $c:V(G) \rightarrow \{1,2,\ldots,q\}$ such that for each vertex $v \in V(G)$ there is a vertex in $N(v)$ that is uniquely colored from the rest of the vertices in $N(v)$. When we replace $N(v)$ by the closed neighborhood $N[v]$, then we call such a coloring a q-closed neighborhood conflict-free coloring or simply q-CNCF-coloring. In this paper, we study the NP-hard decision questions of whether for a constant q an input graph has a q-ONCF-coloring or a q-CNCF-coloring. We will study these two …
This work investigates the parameterized complexity of three related graph modification problems. Given a directed graph, a distinguished vertex, and a positive integer k, Minimum Indegree Deletion asks for a vertex subset of size at most k whose removal makes the distinguished vertex the only vertex with minimum indegree. Minimum Degree Deletion is analogously defined, but deals with undirected graphs. Bounded Degree Deletion is also defined on undirected graphs, but has a positive integer d instead of a distinguished vertex as part of the input. It asks for a vertex subset of size at most k …
Scheduling problems are fundamental in combinatorial optimization. Much work has been done on approximation algorithms for NP-hard cases, but relatively little is known about exact solutions when some part of the input is a fixed parameter. In 2014, Mnich and Wiese initiated a systematic study in this direction. In this paper we continue this study and show that several additional cases of fundamental scheduling problems are fixed parameter tractable for some natural parameters. Our main tool is n-fold integer programming, a recent variable dimension technique which we believe to be highly rel…
We investigate parameterized algorithms for the NP-hard problem Min-Power Asymmetric Connectivity (MinPAC) that has applications in wireless sensor networks. Given a directed arc-weighted graph, MinPAC asks for a strongly connected spanning subgraph minimizing the summed vertex costs. Here, the cost of each vertex is the weight of its heaviest outgoing arc in the chosen subgraph. We present linear-time algorithms for the cases where the number of strongly connected components in a so-called obligatory subgraph or the feedback edge number in the underlying undirected graph is constant. Compleme…
In this paper we give upper bounds on the number of minimal separators and potential maximal cliques of graphs w.r.t. two graph parameters, namely vertex cover ($\operatorname{vc}$) and modular width ($\operatorname{mw}$). We prove that for any graph, the number of minimal separators is $\mathcal{O}^*(3^{\operatorname{vc}})$ and $\mathcal{O}^*(1.6181^{\operatorname{mw}})$, and the number of potential maximal cliques is $\mathcal{O}^*(4^{\operatorname{vc}})$ and $\mathcal{O}^*(1.7347^{\operatorname{mw}})$, and these objects can be listed within the same running times. (The $\mathcal{O}^*$ notat…
Microarrays are research tools used in gene discovery as well as disease and cancer diagnostics. Two prominent but challenging problems related to microarrays are the Border Minimization Problem (BMP) and the Border Minimization Problem with given placement (P-BMP). In this paper we investigate the parameterized complexity of natural variants of BMP and P-BMP under several natural parameters. We show that BMP and P-BMP are in FPT under the following two combinations of parameters: 1) the size of the alphabet (c), the maximum length of a sequence (string) in the input (l) and the number of rows…
In the \textsc{Maximum Degree Contraction} problem, input is a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices, and integers $k, d$, and the objective is to check whether $G$ can be transformed into a graph of maximum degree at most $d$, using at most $k$ edge contractions. A simple brute-force algorithm that checks all possible sets of edges for a solution runs in time $n^{\mathcal{O}(k)}$. As our first result, we prove that this algorithm is asymptotically optimal, upto constants in the exponents, under Exponential Time Hypothesis (Ð). Belmonte, Golovach, van't Hof, and Paulusma studied the problem in the realm o…
The Cluster Editing problem seeks a transformation of a given undirected graph into a disjoint union of cliques via a minimum number of edge additions or deletions. A multi-parameterized version of the problem is studied, featuring a number of input parameters that bound the amount of both edge-additions and deletions per single vertex, as well as the size of a clique-cluster. We show that the problem remains NP-hard even when only one edge can be deleted and at most two edges can be added per vertex. However, the new formulation allows us to solve Cluster Editing (exactly) in polynomial time …
In the $k$-Steiner Orientation problem, we are given a mixed graph, that is, with both directed and undirected edges, and a set of $k$ terminal pairs. The goal is to find an orientation of the undirected edges that maximizes the number of terminal pairs for which there is a path from the source to the sink. The problem is known to be W[1]-hard when parameterized by k and hard to approximate up to some constant for FPT algorithms assuming Gap-ETH. On the other hand, no approximation factor better than $O(k)$ is known. We show that $k$-Steiner Orientation is unlikely to admit an approximation al…
We investigate the parameterized complexity of the following edge coloring problem motivated by the problem of channel assignment in wireless networks. For an integer q>1 and a graph G, the goal is to find a coloring of the edges of G with the maximum number of colors such that every vertex of the graph sees at most q colors. This problem is NP-hard for q>1, and has been well-studied from the point of view of approximation. Our main focus is the case when q=2, which is already theoretically intricate and practically relevant. We show fixed-parameter tractable algorithms for both the standard a…
A set $D$ of vertices of a graph is a \emph{defensive alliance} if, for each element of $D$, the majority of its neighbours are in $D$. We consider the notion of local minimality in this paper. We are interested in finding a locally minimal defensive alliance of maximum size. In Locally Minimal Defensive Alliance problem, given an undirected graph $G$, a positive integer $k$, the question is to check whether $G$ has a locally minimal defensive alliance of size at least $k$. This problem is known to be NP-hard, but its parameterized complexity remains open until now. We enhance our understandin…
This work studies the parameterized complexity of finding secluded solutions to classical combinatorial optimization problems on graphs such as finding minimum s-t separators, feedback vertex sets, dominating sets, maximum independent sets, and vertex deletion problems for hereditary graph properties: Herein, one searches not only to minimize or maximize the size of the solution, but also to minimize the size of its neighborhood. This restriction has applications in secure routing and community detection.
A minimum path cover (MPC) of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) $G = (V,E)$ is a minimum-size set of paths that together cover all the vertices of the DAG. Computing an MPC is a basic polynomial problem, dating back to Dilworth's and Fulkerson's results in the 1950s. Since the size $k$ of an MPC (also known as the width) can be small in practical applications, research has also studied algorithms whose running time is parameterized on $k$. We obtain a new MPC parameterized algorithm for DAGs running in time $O(k^2|V| + |E|)$. Our algorithm is the first solving the problem in parameterized linear …
Graph Burning asks, given a graph $G = (V,E)$ and an integer $k$, whether there exists $(b_{0},\dots,b_{k-1}) \in V^{k}$ such that every vertex in $G$ has distance at most $i$ from some $b_{i}$. This problem is known to be NP-complete even on connected caterpillars of maximum degree $3$. We study the parameterized complexity of this problem and answer all questions arose by Kare and Reddy [IWOCA 2019] about parameterized complexity of the problem. We show that the problem is W[2]-complete parameterized by $k$ and that it does no admit a polynomial kernel parameterized by vertex cover number un…
Consider a graph $G = (V,E)$ and a coloring $c$ of vertices with colors from $[\ell]$. A vertex $v$ is said to be happy with respect to $c$ if $c(v) = c(u)$ for all neighbors $u$ of $v$. Further, an edge $(u,v)$ is happy if $c(u) = c(v)$. Given a partial coloring $c$ of $V$, the Maximum Happy Vertex (Edge) problem asks for a total coloring of $V$ extending $c$ to all vertices of $V$ that maximises the number of happy vertices (edges). Both problems are known to be NP-hard in general even when $\ell = 3$, and is polynomially solvable when $\ell = 2$. In [IWOCA 2016] it was shown that both probl…
