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For a fixed finite collection of graphs F, the F-M-DELETION problem is as follows: given an n-vertex input graph G, find the minimum number of vertices that intersect all minor models in G of the graphs in F. by Courcelle's Theorem, this problem can be solved in time fF(tw) - n°(1), where tw is the treewidth of G for some function ƒ depending on F. In a recent series of articles, we have initiated the program of optimizing asymptotically the function ff. Here we provide an algorithm showing that fF(tw) = 2° (tw.log tw) for every collection F. Prior to this work, the best known function ƒ was double- exponential in tw. In particular, our algorithm vastly extends the results of Jansen, Lokshtanov, and Saurabh [Proc. of the 25th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA), SIAM, 2014, pp. 1802-1811] for the particular case F = {K5, K3,3} and of Kociumaka and Pilipczuk [Algorithmica, 81 (2019), pp. 3655-3691] for graphs of bounded genus, and answers an open problem posed by Cygan et al. [Inform. Comput., 256 (2017), pp. 62-82]. We combine several ingredients such as the machinery of boundaried graphs in dynamic programming via representatives, the Flat Wall Theorem, bidimensionality, the irrelevant vertex technique, treewidth modulators, and protrusion replacement. Together with our previous results providing single-exponential algorithms for particular collections F [J. Baste, I. Sau, and D. M. Thilikos, Theoret. Comput. Sci., 814 (2020), pp. 135-152] and general lower bounds [J. Baste, I. Sau, and D. M. Thilikos, J. Comput. Syst. Sci., 109 (2020), pp. 56-77], our algorithm yields the following complexity dichotomy when F = {H} contains a single connected graph H, assuming the Exponential Time Hypothesis: ƒH(tw) = 2Θ(tw) if H is a contraction of the chair or the banner, and fH(tw) = 2Θ(tw-log tw) otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a graph G, we define bcg (G) as the minimum k for which G can be contracted to the uniformly triangulated grid Γ k . A graph class G has the SQGC property if every graph G ∈ G has treewidth O (bcg (G) c) for some 1 ≤ c < 2 . The SQGC property is important for algorithm design as it defines the applicability horizon of a series of meta-algorithmic results, in the framework of bidimensionality theory, related to fast parameterized algorithms, kernelization, and approximation schemes. These results apply to a wide family of problems, namely problems that are contraction-bidimensional. Our main combinatorial result reveals a wide family of graph classes that satisfy the SQGC property. This family includes, in particular, bounded-degree string graphs. This considerably extends the applicability of bidimensionality theory for contraction bidimensional problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Reload cost in a graph refers to the cost that occurs while traversing a vertex via two of its incident edges. This cost is uniquely determined by the colors of the two edges. This concept has various applications in transportation networks, communication networks, and energy distribution networks. Various problems using this model are defined and studied in the literature. The problem of finding a spanning tree whose diameter with respect to the reload costs is smallest possible, the problems of finding a path, trail or walk with minimum total reload cost between two given vertices, problems about finding a proper edge coloring of a graph such that the total reload cost is minimized, the problem of finding a spanning tree such that the sum of the reload costs of all paths between all pairs of vertices is minimized, and the problem of finding a set of cycles of minimum reload cost, that cover all the vertices of a graph, are examples of such problems. In this work we focus on the last problem. Noting that a cycle cover of a graph is a 2-factor of it, we generalize the problem to the problem of finding an r-factor of minimum reload cost of an edge colored graph. We prove several NP-hardness results for special cases of the problem. Namely, bounded degree graphs, planar graphs, bounded total cost, and bounded number of distinct costs. For the special case of r = 2, our results imply an improved NP-hardness result. On the positive side, we present a polynomial-time solvable special case which provides a tight boundary between the polynomial and hard cases in terms of r and the maximum degree of the graph. We then investigate the parameterized complexity of the problem, prove W[1]-hardness results and present an FPT-algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a finite collection of graphs F, the F-M-DELETION problem consists in, given a graph G and an integer k, deciding whether there exists S ⊆ V (G) with |S| ≤ k such that G\S does not contain any of the graphs in F as a minor. We are interested in the parameterized complexity of F-M-Deletion when the parameter is the treewidth of G, denoted by tw. Our objective is to determine, for a fixed F, the smallest function fF such that F-M-DELETION can be solved in time fF(tw) . nO(1) on n-vertex graphs. We prove that fF(tw) = 2²O(tw.logtw) for every collection F, that fF(tw) = 2O(tw.log tw) if F contains a planar graph, and that fF(tw) = 2O(tw) if in addition the input graph G is planar or embedded in a surface. We also consider the version of the problem where the graphs in F are forbidden as topological minors, called F-TM-Deletion. We prove similar results for this problem, except that in the last two algorithms, instead of requiring F to contain a planar graph, we need it to contain a subcubic planar graph. This is the first of a series of articles on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the minimum diameter spanning tree problem under the reload cost model (Diameter‐Tree for short) introduced by Wirth and Steffan. 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 degree Δ of the input graph. We prove that Diameter‐Tree is para‐NP‐hard for any combination of two of these three parameters, and that it is FPT parameterized by the three of them. We also prove that the problem can be solved in polynomial time on cactus graphs. This result is somehow surprising since we prove Diameter‐Tree to be NP‐hard on graphs of treewidth two, which is best possible as the problem can be trivially solved on forests. When the reload costs satisfy the triangle inequality, Wirth and Steffan proved that the problem can be solved in polynomial time on graphs with Δ = 3, and Galbiati proved that it is NP‐hard if Δ = 4. Our results show, in particular, that without the requirement of the triangle inequality, the problem is NP‐hard if Δ = 3, which is also best possible. Finally, in the case where the reload costs are polynomially bounded by the size of the input graph, we prove that Diameter‐Tree is in XP and W[1]‐hard parameterized by the treewidth plus Δ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Golumbic, Hirst, and Lewenstein define a matching in a simple, finite, and undirected graph G to be uniquely restricted if no other matching covers exactly the same set of vertices. We consider uniquely restricted edge‐colorings of G, defined as partitions of its edge set into uniquely restricted matchings, and study the uniquely restricted chromatic index χ′ur(G) of G, defined as the minimum number of uniquely restricted matchings required for such a partition. For every graph G, χ′(G)≤a′(G)≤χ′ur(G)≤χ′s(G), where χ′(G) is the classical chromatic index, a′(G) the acyclic chromatic index, and χ′s(G) the strong chromatic index of G. While Vizing's famous theorem states that χ′(G) is either the maximum degree Δ(G) of G or Δ(G)+1, two famous open conjectures due to Alon, Sudakov, and Zaks, and to Erdős and Nešetřil concern upper bounds on a′(G) and χ′s(G) in terms of Δ(G). Since χ′ur(G) is sandwiched between these two parameters, studying upper bounds in terms of Δ(G) is a natural problem. We show that χ′ur(G)≤Δ(G)2 with equality if and only if some component of G is KΔ(G),Δ(G). If G is connected, bipartite, and distinct from KΔ(G),Δ(G), and Δ(G) is at least 4, then, adapting Lovász's elegant proof of Brooks' theorem, we show that χ′ur(G)≤Δ(G)2−Δ(G). Our proofs are constructive and yield efficient algorithms to determine the corresponding edge‐colorings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For two integers r, ℓ ≥ 0, a graph G = ( V, E) is an ( r, ℓ)-graph if V can be partitioned into r independent sets and ℓ cliques. In the parameterized ( r, ℓ)- Vertex Deletion problem, given a graph G and an integer k, one has to decide whether at most k vertices can be removed from G to obtain an ( r, ℓ)-graph. This problem is NP-hard if r + ℓ ≥ 1 and encompasses several relevant problems such as Vertex Cover and Odd Cycle Transversal. The parameterized complexity of ( r, ℓ)- Vertex Deletion was known for all values of ( r, ℓ) except for (2,1), (1,2), and (2,2). We prove that each of these three cases is FPT and, furthermore, solvable in single-exponential time, which is asymptotically optimal in terms of k. We consider as well the version of ( r, ℓ)- Vertex Deletion where the set of vertices to be removed has to induce an independent set, and provide also a parameterized complexity dichotomy for this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In phylogenetics, a central problem is to infer the evolutionary relationships between a set of species X; these relationships are often depicted via a phylogenetic tree-a tree having its leaves labeled bijectively by elements of X and without degree-2 nodes-called the 'species tree.' One common approach for reconstructing a species tree consists in first constructing several phylogenetic trees from primary data (e.g., DNA sequences originating from some species in X), and then constructing a single phylogenetic tree maximizing the 'concordance' with the input trees. The obtained tree is our estimation of the species tree and, when the input trees are defined on overlapping-but not identical-sets of labels, is called 'supertree.' In this paper, we focus on two problems that are central when combining phylogenetic trees into a supertree: the compatibility and the strict compatibility problems for unrooted phylogenetic trees. These problems are strongly related, respectively, to the notions of 'containing as a minor' and 'containing as a topological minor' in the graph community. Both problems are known to be fixed parameter tractable in the number of input trees k, by using their expressibility in monadic second-order logic and a reduction to graphs of bounded treewidth. Motivated by the fact that the dependency on k of these algorithms is prohibitively large, we give the first explicit dynamic programming algorithms for solving these problems, both running in time $$2^{O(k^2)} \cdot n$$ , where n is the total size of the input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A matching in a graph is uniquely restricted if no other matching covers exactly the same set of vertices. This notion was defined by Golumbic, Hirst, and Lewenstein and studied in a number of articles. Our contribution is twofold. We provide approximation algorithms for computing a uniquely restricted matching of maximum size in some bipartite graphs. In particular, we achieve a ratio of 5/9 for subcubic bipartite graphs, improving over a 1/2-approximation algorithm proposed by Mishra. Furthermore, we study the uniquely restricted chromatic index of a graph, defined as the minimum number of uniquely restricted matchings into which its edge set can be partitioned. We provide tight upper bounds in terms of the maximum degree and characterize all extremal graphs. Our constructive proofs yield efficient algorithms to determine the corresponding edge colorings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let be the number of labeled graphs on n vertices and treewidth at most k (equivalently, the number of labeled partial k-trees). We show that ]> ]> k > 1 ]> ]> ]> c > 0 ]> ]> ]> ( log k ) n ]> . The upper bound is a direct consequence of the well-known formula for the number of labeled k-trees, while the lower bound is obtained from an explicit construction. It follows from this construction that both bounds also apply to graphs of pathwidth and proper-pathwidth at most k. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we study the d-Hitting Set and Feedback Vertex Set problems through the paradigm of finding diverse collections of r solutions of size at most k each, which has recently been introduced to the field of parameterized complexity. This paradigm is aimed at addressing the loss of important side information which typically occurs during the abstraction process that models real-world problems as computational problems. We use two measures for the diversity of such a collection: the sum of all pairwise Hamming distances, and the minimum pairwise Hamming distance. We show that both problems are fixed-parameter tractable in k + r for both diversity measures. A key ingredient in our algorithms is a (problem independent) network flow formulation that, given a set of 'base' solutions, computes a maximally diverse collection of solutions. We believe that this could be of independent interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]