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We present a 1.8334-approximation algorithm for Vertex Cover on string graphs given with a representation, which takes polynomial time in the size of the representation; the exact approximation factor is $11/6$. Recently, the barrier of 2 was broken by Lokshtanov et al. [SoGC '24] with a 1.9999-approximation algorithm. Thus we increase by three orders of magnitude the distance of the approximation ratio to the trivial bound of 2. Our algorithm is very simple. The intricacies reside in its analysis, where we mainly establish that string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 11 are 8-colorable. Previously, Chudnovsky, Scott, and Seymour [JCTB '21] showed that string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 7 are 80-colorable, and string graphs without odd cycles of length at most 5 have bounded chromatic number., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

We study the complexity of the valued constraint satisfaction problem (VCSP) for every valued structure with the domain ${\mathbb Q}$ that is preserved by all order-preserving bijections. Such VCSPs will be called temporal, in analogy to the (classical) constraint satisfaction problem: a relational structure is preserved by all order-preserving bijections if and only if all its relations have a first-order definition in $({\mathbb Q};<)$, and the CSPs for such structures are called temporal CSPs. Many optimization problems that have been studied intensively in the literature can be phrased as a temporal VCSP. We prove that a temporal VCSP is in P, or NP-complete. Our analysis uses the concept of fractional polymorphisms; this is the first dichotomy result for VCSPs over infinite domains which is complete in the sense that it treats all valued structures with a given automorphism group.

A graph class admits an implicit representation if, for every positive integer $n$, its $n$-vertex graphs have a $O(\log n)$-bit (adjacency) labeling scheme, i.e., their vertices can be labeled by binary strings of length $O(\log n)$ such that the presence of an edge between any pair of vertices can be deduced solely from their labels. The famous Implicit Graph Conjecture posited that every hereditary (i.e., closed under taking induced subgraphs) factorial (i.e., containing $2^{O(n \log n)}$ $n$-vertex graphs) class admits an implicit representation. The conjecture was recently refuted [Hatami and Hatami, FOCS '22], and does not even hold among monotone (i.e., closed under taking subgraphs) factorial classes [Bonnet et al., ICALP '24]. However, monotone small (i.e., containing at most $n! c^n$ many $n$-vertex graphs for some constant $c$) classes do admit implicit representations. This motivates the Small Implicit Graph Conjecture: Every hereditary small class admits an $O(\log n)$-bit labeling scheme. We provide evidence supporting the Small Implicit Graph Conjecture. First, we show that every small weakly sparse (i.e., excluding some fixed bipartite complete graph as a subgraph) class has an implicit representation. This is a consequence of the following fact of independent interest proved in the paper: Every weakly sparse small class has bounded expansion (hence, in particular, bounded degeneracy). Second, we show that every hereditary small class admits an $O(\log^3 n)$-bit labeling scheme, which provides a substantial improvement of the best-known polynomial upper bound of $n^{1-\varepsilon}$ on the size of adjacency labeling schemes for such classes. This is a consequence of another fact of independent interest proved in the paper: Every small class has neighborhood complexity $O(n \log n)$.

Building on Whitney's classical method of triangulating smooth manifolds, we show that every compact $d$-dimensional smooth manifold admits a triangulation with dual graph of twin-width at most $d^{O(d)}$. In particular, it follows that every compact 3-manifold has a triangulation with dual graph of bounded twin-width. This is in sharp contrast to the case of treewidth, where for any natural number $n$ there exists a closed 3-manifold such that every triangulation thereof has dual graph with treewidth at least $n$. To establish this result, we bound the twin-width of the incidence graph of the $d$-skeleton of the second barycentric subdivision of the $2d$-dimensional hypercubic honeycomb. We also show that every compact, piecewise-linear (hence smooth) $d$-dimensional manifold has triangulations where the dual graph has an arbitrarily large twin-width., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

We present a simple, self-contained, linear reduction from 3-SAT to Treewidth. Specifically, it shows that 1.00005-approximating Treewidth is NP-hard, and solving Treewidth exactly requires $2^{\Omega(n)}$ time, unless the Exponential-Time Hypothesis fails. We further derive, under the latter assumption, that there is some constant $\delta > 1$ such that $\delta$-approximating Treewidth requires time $2^{n^{1-o(1)}}$., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure

Motivated by an induced counterpart of treewidth sparsifiers (i.e., sparse subgraphs keeping the treewidth large) provided by the celebrated Grid Minor theorem of Robertson and Seymour [JCTB '86] or by a classic result of Chekuri and Chuzhoy [SODA '15], we show that for any natural numbers $t$ and $w$, and real $\varepsilon > 0$, there is an integer $W := W(t,w,\varepsilon)$ such that every graph with treewidth at least $W$ and no $K_{t,t}$ subgraph admits a 2-connected $n$-vertex induced subgraph with treewidth at least $w$ and at most $(1+\varepsilon)n$ edges. The induced subgraph is either a subdivided wall, or its line graph, or a spanning supergraph of a subdivided biclique. This in particular extends a result of Weissauer [JCTB '19] that graphs of large treewidth have a large biclique subgraph or a long induced cycle., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures

We introduce a dense counterpart of graph degeneracy, which extends the recently-proposed invariant symmetric difference. We say that a graph has sd-degeneracy (for symmetric-difference degeneracy) at most $d$ if it admits an elimination order of its vertices where a vertex $u$ can be removed whenever it has a $d$-twin, i.e., another vertex $v$ such that at most $d$ vertices outside $\{u,v\}$ are neighbors of exactly one of $u, v$. The family of graph classes of bounded sd-degeneracy is a superset of that of graph classes of bounded degeneracy or of bounded flip-width, and more generally, of bounded symmetric difference. Unlike most graph parameters, sd-degeneracy is not hereditary: it may be strictly smaller on a graph than on some of its induced subgraphs. In particular, every $n$-vertex graph is an induced subgraph of some $O(n^2)$-vertex graph of sd-degeneracy 1. In spite of this and the breadth of classes of bounded sd-degeneracy, we devise $\tilde{O}(\sqrt n)$-bit adjacency labeling schemes for them, which are optimal up to the hidden polylogarithmic factor. This is attained on some even more general classes, consisting of graphs $G$ whose vertices bijectively map to the leaves of a tree $T$, where transversal edges and anti-edges added to $T$ define the edge set of $G$. We call such graph representations signed tree models as they extend the so-called tree models (or twin-decompositions) developed in the context of twin-width, by adding transversal anti-edges. While computing the degeneracy of an input graph can be done in linear time, we show that deciding whether its symmetric difference is at most 8 is co-NP-complete, and whether its sd-degeneracy is at most 1 is NP-complete., Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures

In 1972, Mader showed that every graph without a 3-connected subgraph is 4-degenerate and thus 5-colorable}. We show that the number 5 of colors can be replaced by 4, which is best possible., Comment: 13 pages

A graph $G$ contains a graph $H$ as an induced minor if $H$ can be obtained from $G$ after vertex deletions and edge contractions. We show that for every $k$-vertex planar graph $H$, every graph $G$ excluding $H$ as an induced minor and $K_{t,t}$ as a subgraph has treewidth at most $\Delta(G)^{f(k,t)}$ where $\Delta(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of $G$. Without requiring the absence of a $K_{t,t}$ subgraph, Korhonen [JCTB '23] has shown the upper bound of $k^{O(1)} 2^{\Delta(G)^5}$ whose dependence in $\Delta(G)$ is exponential. Our result partially answers a question of Chudnovsky [Dagstuhl seminar '23] asking whether the treewidth of graphs with $\Delta(G)=O(\log{|V(G)|})$ excluding both a $k$-vertex planar graph as an induced minor and the biclique $K_{t,t}$ as a subgraph is in $O_{k,t}(\log |V(G)|)$. We confirm that the treewidth is in this case polylogarithmic in $|V(G)|$., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure

A class of graphs admits an adjacency labeling scheme of size $b(n)$, if the vertices in each of its $n$-vertex graphs can be assigned binary strings (called labels) of length $b(n)$ so that the adjacency of two vertices can be determined solely from their labels. We give tight bounds on the size of adjacency labels for every family of monotone (i.e., subgraph-closed) classes with a well-behaved growth function between $2^{O(n \log n)}$ and $2^{O(n^{2-\delta})}$ for any $\delta > 0$. Specifically, we show that for any function $f: \mathbb N \to \mathbb R$ satisfying $\log n \leqslant f(n) \leqslant n^{1-\delta}$ for any fixed $\delta > 0$, and some~sub-multiplicativity condition, there are monotone graph classes with growth $2^{O(nf(n))}$ that do not admit adjacency labels of size at most $f(n) \log n$. On the other hand, any such class does admit adjacency labels of size $O(f(n)\log n)$. Surprisingly this tight bound is a $\Theta(\log n)$ factor away from the information-theoretic bound of $\Omega(f(n))$. The special case when $f = \log$ implies that the recently-refuted Implicit Graph Conjecture [Hatami and Hatami, FOCS 2022] also fails within monotone classes. We further show that the Implicit Graph Conjecture holds for all monotone \emph{small} classes. In other words, any monotone class with growth rate at most $n!\,c^n$ for some constant $c>0$, admits adjacency labels of information-theoretic order optimal size. In fact, we show a more general result that is of independent interest: any monotone small class of graphs has bounded degeneracy.We conjecture that the Implicit Graph Conjecture holds for all hereditary small classes., Comment: New result added (monotone small classes have bounded degeneracy - thus an implicit representation). 22 pages, 1 figure

We show that for any permutation $\pi$ there exists an integer $k_{\pi}$ such that every permutation avoiding $\pi$ as a pattern is a product of at most $k_{\pi}$ separable permutations. In other words, every strict class $\mathcal C$ of permutations is contained in a bounded power of the class of separable permutations. This factorisation can be computed in linear time, for any fixed $\pi$. The central tool for our result is a notion of width of permutations, introduced by Guillemot and Marx [SODA '14] to efficiently detect patterns, and later generalised to graphs and matrices under the name of twin-width. Specifically, our factorisation is inspired by the decomposition used in the recent result that graphs with bounded twin-width are polynomially $\chi$-bounded. As an application, we show that there is a fixed class $\mathcal C$ of graphs of bounded twin-width such that every class of bounded twin-width is a first-order transduction of $\mathcal C$., Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures

We show that for any natural number $s$, there is a constant $\gamma$ and a subgraph-closed class having, for any natural $n$, at most $\gamma^n$ graphs on $n$ vertices up to isomorphism, but no adjacency labeling scheme with labels of size at most $s \log n$. In other words, for every $s$, there is a small (even tiny) monotone class without universal graphs of size $n^s$. Prior to this result, it was not excluded that every small class has an almost linear universal graph, or equivalently a labeling scheme with labels of size $(1+o(1))\log n$. The existence of such a labeling scheme, a scaled-down version of the recently disproved Implicit Graph Conjecture, was repeatedly raised [Gavoille and Labourel, ESA '07; Dujmovi\'{c} et al., JACM '21; Bonamy et al., SIDMA '22; Bonnet et al., Comb. Theory '22]. Furthermore, our small monotone classes have unbounded twin-width, thus simultaneously disprove the already-refuted Small conjecture; but this time with a self-contained proof, not relying on elaborate group-theoretic constructions., Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, shortened abstract, corrected graphics

We introduce a new parameter, called stretch-width, that we show sits strictly between clique-width and twin-width. Unlike the reduced parameters [BKW '22], planar graphs and polynomial subdivisions do not have bounded stretch-width. This leaves open the possibility of efficient algorithms for a broad fragment of problems within Monadic Second-Order (MSO) logic on graphs of bounded stretch-width. In this direction, we prove that graphs of bounded maximum degree and bounded stretch-width have at most logarithmic treewidth. As a consequence, in classes of bounded stretch-width, Maximum Independent Set can be solved in subexponential time $2^{O(n^{4/5} \log n)}$ on $n$-vertex graphs, and, if further the maximum degree is bounded, Existential Counting Modal Logic [Pilipczuk '11] can be model-checked in polynomial time. We also give a polynomial-time $O(\text{OPT}^2)$-approximation for the stretch-width of symmetric $0,1$-matrices or ordered graphs. Somewhat unexpectedly, we prove that exponential subdivisions of bounded-degree graphs have bounded stretch-width. This allows to complement the logarithmic upper bound of treewidth with a matching lower bound. We leave as open the existence of an efficient approximation algorithm for the stretch-width of unordered graphs, if the exponential subdivisions of all graphs have bounded stretch-width, and if graphs of bounded stretch-width have logarithmic clique-width (or rank-width)., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures

We construct a hereditary class of triangle-free graphs with unbounded chromatic number, in which every non-trivial graph either contains a pair of non-adjacent twins or has an edgeless vertex cutset of size at most two. This answers in the negative a question of Chudnovsky, Penev, Scott, and Trotignon. The class is the hereditary closure of a family of (triangle-free) twincut graphs $G_1, G_2, \ldots$ such that $G_k$ has chromatic number $k$. We also show that every twincut graph is edge-critical.

A perfect matching cut is a perfect matching that is also a cutset, or equivalently a perfect matching containing an even number of edges on every cycle. The corresponding algorithmic problem, Perfect Matching Cut, is known to be NP-complete in subcubic bipartite graphs [Le & Telle, TCS '22] but its complexity was open in planar graphs and in cubic graphs. We settle both questions at once by showing that Perfect Matching Cut is NP-complete in 3-connected cubic bipartite planar graphs or Barnette graphs. Prior to our work, among problems whose input is solely an undirected graph, only Distance-2 4-Coloring was known NP-complete in Barnette graphs. Notably, Hamiltonian Cycle would only join this private club if Barnette's conjecture were refuted., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures

Dallard, Milani\v{c}, and \v{S}torgel [arXiv '22] ask if for every class excluding a fixed planar graph $H$ as an induced minor, Maximum Independent Set can be solved in polynomial time, and show that this is indeed the case when $H$ is any planar complete bipartite graph, or the 5-vertex clique minus one edge, or minus two disjoint edges. A positive answer would constitute a far-reaching generalization of the state-of-the-art, when we currently do not know if a polynomial-time algorithm exists when $H$ is the 7-vertex path. Relaxing tractability to the existence of a quasipolynomial-time algorithm, we know substantially more. Indeed, quasipolynomial-time algorithms were recently obtained for the $t$-vertex cycle, $C_t$ [Gartland et al., STOC '21] and the disjoint union of $t$ triangles, $tC_3$ [Bonamy et al., SODA '23]. We give, for every integer $t$, a polynomial-time algorithm running in $n^{O(t^5)}$ when $H$ is the friendship graph $K_1 + tK_2$ ($t$ disjoint edges plus a vertex fully adjacent to them), and a quasipolynomial-time algorithm running in $n^{O(t^2 \log n)+t^{O(1)}}$ when $H$ is $tC_3 \uplus C_4$ (the disjoint union of $t$ triangles and a 4-vertex cycle). The former extends a classical result on graphs excluding $tK_2$ as an induced subgraph [Alekseev, DAM '07], while the latter extends Bonamy et al.'s result., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures

In this paper, we give a very simple proof that Treewidth is NP-complete; this proof also shows NP-completeness on the class of co-bipartite graphs. We then improve the result by Bodlaender and Thilikos from 1997 that Treewidth is NP-complete on graphs with maximum degree at most 9, by showing that Treewidth is NP-complete on cubic graphs.

We give essentially tight bounds for, $\nu(d,k)$, the maximum number of distinct neighbourhoods on a set $X$ of $k$ vertices in a graph with twin-width at most~$d$. Using the celebrated Marcus-Tardos theorem, two independent works [Bonnet et al., Algorithmica '22; Przybyszewski '22] have shown the upper bound $\nu(d,k) \leqslant \exp(\exp(O(d)))k$, with a double-exponential dependence in the twin-width. The work of [Gajarsky et al., ICALP '22], using the framework of local types, implies the existence of a single-exponential bound (without explicitly stating such a bound). We give such an explicit bound, and prove that it is essentially tight. Indeed, we give a short self-contained proof that for every $d$ and $k$ $$\nu(d,k) \leqslant (d+2)2^{d+1}k = 2^{d+\log d+\Theta(1)}k,$$ and build a bipartite graph implying $\nu(d,k) \geqslant 2^{d+\log d+\Theta(1)}k$, in the regime when $k$ is large enough compared to~$d$.

We continue developing the theory around the twin-width of totally ordered binary structures, initiated in the previous paper of the series. We first introduce the notion of parity and linear minors of a matrix, which consists of iteratively replacing consecutive rows or consecutive columns with a linear combination of them. We show that a matrix class has bounded twin-width if and only if its linear-minor closure does not contain all matrices. We observe that the fixed-parameter tractable algorithm for first-order model checking on structures given with an $O(1)$-sequence (certificate of bounded twin-width) and the fact that first-order transductions of bounded twin-width classes have bounded twin-width, both established in Twin-width I, extend to first-order logic with modular counting quantifiers. We make explicit a win-win argument obtained as a by-product of Twin-width IV, and somewhat similar to bidimensionality, that we call rank-bidimensionality. Armed with the above-mentioned extension to modular counting, we show that the twin-width of the product of two conformal matrices $A, B$ over a finite field is bounded by a function of the twin-width of $A$, of $B$, and of the size of the field. Furthermore, if $A$ and $B$ are $n \times n$ matrices of twin-width $d$ over $\mathbb F_q$, we show that $AB$ can be computed in time $O_{d,q}(n^2 \log n)$. We finally present an ad hoc algorithm to efficiently multiply two matrices of bounded twin-width, with a single-exponential dependence in the twin-width bound: If the inputs are given in a compact tree-like form, called twin-decomposition (of width $d$), then two $n \times n$ matrices $A, B$ over $\mathbb F_2$, a twin-decomposition of $AB$ with width $2^{d+o(d)}$ can be computed in time $4^{d+o(d)}n$ (resp. $4^{d+o(d)}n^{1+\varepsilon}$), and entries queried in doubly-logarithmic (resp. constant) time., Comment: 45 pages, 9 figures

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 $\varepsilon > 0$, a polynomial-time $n^{1-\varepsilon}$-approximation for any of them would imply that P$=$NP [Hastad, FOCS '96; Zuckerman, ToC '07; Chalermsook et al., SODA '13]. We generalize the algorithms for Max Independent Set and Max Induced Matching to the independent (induced) packing of any fixed connected graph $H$. In contrast, we show that such approximation guarantees on graphs of bounded twin-width given with an $O(1)$-sequence are very unlikely for Min Independent Dominating Set, and somewhat unlikely for Longest Path and Longest Induced Path. Regarding the existence of better approximation algorithms, there is a (very) light evidence that the obtained approximation factor of $n^\varepsilon$ for Max Independent Set may be best possible. This is the first in-depth study of the approximability of problems in graphs of bounded twin-width. Prior to this paper, essentially the only such result was a~polynomial-time $O(1)$-approximation algorithm for Min Dominating Set [Bonnet et al., ICALP '21]., Comment: 32 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

A graph is $\mathcal{O}_k$-free if it does not contain $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint and non-adjacent cycles. We prove that "sparse" (here, not containing large complete bipartite graphs as subgraphs) $\mathcal{O}_k$-free graphs have treewidth (even, feedback vertex set number) at most logarithmic in the number of vertices. This is optimal, as there is an infinite family of $\mathcal{O}_2$-free graphs without $K_{2,3}$ as a subgraph and whose treewidth is (at least) logarithmic. Using our result, we show that Maximum Independent Set and 3-Coloring in $\mathcal{O}_k$-free graphs can be solved in quasi-polynomial time. Other consequences include that most of the central NP-complete problems (such as Maximum Independent Set, Minimum Vertex Cover, Minimum Dominating Set, Minimum Coloring) can be solved in polynomial time in sparse $\mathcal{O}_k$-free graphs, and that deciding the $\mathcal{O}_k$-freeness of sparse graphs is polynomial time solvable., Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures. v5: revised version

Twin-width is a recently introduced graph parameter with applications in algorithmics, combinatorics, and finite model theory. For graphs of bounded degree, finiteness of twin-width is preserved by quasi-isometry. Thus, through Cayley graphs, it defines a group invariant. We prove that groups which are abelian, hyperbolic, ordered, solvable, or with polynomial growth, have finite twin-width. Twin-width can be characterised by excluding patterns in the self-action by product of the group elements. Based on this characterisation, we propose a strengthening called uniform twin-width, which is stable under constructions such as group extensions, direct products, and direct limits. The existence of finitely generated groups with infinite twin-width is not immediate. We construct one using a result of Osajda on embeddings of graphs into groups. This implies the existence of a class of finite graphs with unbounded twin-width but containing $2^{O(n)} \cdot n!$ graphs on vertex set $\{1,\dots,n\}$, settling a question asked in a previous work., Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures

For any small positive real $\varepsilon$ and integer $t > \frac{1}{\varepsilon}$, we build a graph with a vertex deletion set of size $t$ to a tree, and twin-width greater than $2^{(1-\varepsilon) t}$. In particular, this shows that the twin-width is sometimes exponential in the treewidth, in the so-called oriented twin-width and grid number, and that adding an apex may multiply the twin-width by at least $2-\varepsilon$. Except for the one in oriented twin-width, these lower bounds are essentially tight., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

We introduce the notion of delineation. A graph class $\mathcal C$ is said delineated if for every hereditary closure $\mathcal D$ of a subclass of $\mathcal C$, it holds that $\mathcal D$ has bounded twin-width if and only if $\mathcal D$ is monadically dependent. An effective strengthening of delineation for a class $\mathcal C$ implies that tractable FO model checking on $\mathcal C$ is perfectly understood: On hereditary closures $\mathcal D$ of subclasses of $\mathcal C$, FO model checking is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) exactly when $\mathcal D$ has bounded twin-width. Ordered graphs [BGOdMSTT, STOC '22] and permutation graphs [BKTW, JACM '22] are effectively delineated, while subcubic graphs are not. On the one hand, we prove that interval graphs, and even, rooted directed path graphs are delineated. On the other hand, we show that segment graphs, directed path graphs, and visibility graphs of simple polygons are not delineated. In an effort to draw the delineation frontier between interval graphs (that are delineated) and axis-parallel two-lengthed segment graphs (that are not), we investigate the twin-width of restricted segment intersection classes. It was known that (triangle-free) pure axis-parallel unit segment graphs have unbounded twin-width [BGKTW, SODA '21]. We show that $K_{t,t}$-free segment graphs, and axis-parallel $H_t$-free unit segment graphs have bounded twin-width, where $H_t$ is the half-graph or ladder of height $t$. In contrast, axis-parallel $H_4$-free two-lengthed segment graphs have unbounded twin-width. Our new results, combined with the known FPT algorithm for FO model checking on graphs given with $O(1)$-sequences, lead to win-win arguments. For instance, we derive FPT algorithms for $k$-Ladder on visibility graphs of 1.5D terrains, and $k$-Independent Set on visibility graphs of simple polygons., Comment: 51 pages, 19 figures

We present a fixed-parameter tractable algorithm for first-order model checking on interpretations of graph classes with bounded local cliquewidth. Notably, this includes interpretations of planar graphs, and more generally, of classes of bounded genus. To obtain this result we develop a new tool which works in a very general setting of dependent classes and which we believe can be an important ingredient in achieving similar results in the future., Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures

In a reduction sequence of a graph, vertices are successively identified until the graph has one vertex. At each step, when identifying $u$ and $v$, each edge incident to exactly one of $u$ and $v$ is coloured red. Bonnet, Kim, Thomass\'e and Watrigant [J. ACM 2022] defined the twin-width of a graph $G$ to be the minimum integer $k$ such that there is a reduction sequence of $G$ in which every red graph has maximum degree at most $k$. For any graph parameter $f$, we define the reduced $f$ of a graph $G$ to be the minimum integer $k$ such that there is a reduction sequence of $G$ in which every red graph has $f$ at most $k$. Our focus is on graph classes with bounded reduced bandwidth, which implies and is stronger than bounded twin-width (reduced maximum degree). We show that every proper minor-closed class has bounded reduced bandwidth, which is qualitatively stronger than an analogous result of Bonnet et al.\ for bounded twin-width. In many instances, we also make quantitative improvements. For example, all previous upper bounds on the twin-width of planar graphs were at least $2^{1000}$. We show that planar graphs have reduced bandwidth at most $466$ and twin-width at most $583$. Our bounds for graphs of Euler genus $\gamma$ are $O(\gamma)$. Lastly, we show that fixed powers of graphs in a proper minor-closed class have bounded reduced bandwidth (irrespective of the degree of the vertices). In particular, we show that map graphs of Euler genus $\gamma$ have reduced bandwidth $O(\gamma^4)$. Lastly, we separate twin-width and reduced bandwidth by showing that any infinite class of expanders excluding a fixed complete bipartite subgraph has unbounded reduced bandwidth, while there are bounded-degree expanders with twin-width at most 6., Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures

We show that determining if an $n$-vertex graph has twin-width at most 4 is NP-complete, and requires time $2^{\Omega(n/\log n)}$ unless the Exponential-Time Hypothesis fails. Along the way, we give an elementary proof that $n$-vertex graphs subdivided at least $2 \log n$ times have twin-width at most 4. We also show how to encode trigraphs $H$ (2-edge colored graphs involved in the definition of twin-width) into graphs $G$, in the sense that every $d$-sequence (sequence of vertex contractions witnessing that the twin-width is at most $d$) of $G$ inevitably creates $H$ as an induced subtrigraph, whereas there exists a partial $d$-sequence that actually goes from $G$ to $H$. We believe that these facts and their proofs can be of independent interest., Comment: 30 pages, 17 figures

A contraction sequence of a graph consists of iteratively merging two of its vertices until only one vertex remains. The recently introduced twin-width graph invariant is based on contraction sequences. More precisely, if one puts red edges between two vertices representing non-homogeneous subsets, the twin-width is the minimum integer $d$ such that a contraction sequence keeps red degree at most $d$. By changing the condition imposed on the trigraphs (i.e., graphs with some edges being red) and possibly slightly tweaking the notion of contractions, we show how to characterize the well-established bounded rank-width, tree-width, linear rank-width, path-width, and proper minor-closed classes by means of contraction sequences. As an application we give a transparent alternative proof of the celebrated Courcelle's theorem (actually of its generalization by Courcelle, Makowsky, and Rotics), that MSO$_2$ (resp. MSO$_1$) model checking on graphs with bounded tree-width (resp. bounded rank-width) is fixed-parameter tractable in the size of the input sentence. We then explore new avenues along the general theme of contraction sequences both in order to refine the landscape between bounded tree-width and bounded twin-width (via spanning twin-width) and to capture more general classes than bounded twin-width. To this end, we define an oriented version of twin-width, where appearing red edges are oriented away from the newly contracted vertex, and the mere red out-degree should remain bounded. Surprisingly, classes of bounded oriented twin-width coincide with those of bounded twin-width. Finally we examine, from an algorithmic standpoint, the concept of partial contraction sequences, where, instead of terminating on a single-vertex graph, the sequence ends when reaching a particular target class., Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures

A (unit) disk graph is the intersection graph of closed (unit) disks in the plane. Almost three decades ago, an elegant polynomial-time algorithm was found for \textsc{Maximum Clique} on unit disk graphs [Clark, Colbourn, Johnson; Discrete Mathematics '90]. Since then, it has been an intriguing open question whether or not tractability can be extended to general disk graphs. We show that the disjoint union of two odd cycles is never the complement of a disk graph nor of a unit (3-dimensional) ball graph. From that fact and existing results, we derive a simple QPTAS and a subexponential algorithm running in time $2^{\tilde{O}(n^{2/3})}$ for \textsc{Maximum Clique} on disk and unit ball graphs. We then obtain a randomized EPTAS for computing the independence number on graphs having no disjoint union of two odd cycles as an induced subgraph, bounded VC-dimension, and linear independence number. This, in combination with our structural results, yields a randomized EPTAS for \textsc{Max Clique} on disk and unit ball graphs. \textsc{Max Clique} on unit ball graphs is equivalent to finding, given a collection of points in $\mathbb R^3$, a maximum subset of points with diameter at most some fixed value. In stark contrast, \textsc{Maximum Clique} on ball graphs and unit $4$-dimensional ball graphs, as well as intersection graphs of filled ellipses (even close to unit disks) or filled triangles is unlikely to have such algorithms. Indeed, we show that, for all those problems, there is a constant ratio of approximation which cannot be attained even in time $2^{n^{1-\varepsilon}}$, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1712.05010, arXiv:1803.01822

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 the same lower bound by a much simpler argument, previously observed [ICALP '21], which extends to $k$-Independent Dominating Set, $k$-Path, $k$-Induced Path, $k$-Induced Matching, etc. On the positive side, we obtain a simple quadratic vertex kernel for Connected $k$-Vertex Cover and Capacitated $k$-Vertex Cover on graphs of bounded twin-width. Interestingly the kernel applies to graphs of Vapnik-Chervonenkis density 1, and does not require a witness sequence. We also present a more intricate $O(k^{1.5})$ vertex kernel for Connected $k$-Vertex Cover. Finally we show that deciding if a graph has twin-width at most 1 can be done in polynomial time, and observe that most optimization/decision graph problems can be solved in polynomial time on graphs of twin-width at most 1., Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures

Inspired by a width invariant on permutations defined by Guillemot and Marx, Bonnet, Kim, Thomass\'e, and Watrigant introduced the twin-width of graphs, which is a parameter describing its structural complexity. This invariant has been further extended to binary structures, in several (basically equivalent) ways. We prove that a class of binary relational structures (that is: edge-colored partially directed graphs) has bounded twin-width if and only if it is a first-order transduction of a~proper permutation class. As a by-product, we show that every class with bounded twin-width contains at most $2^{O(n)}$ pairwise non-isomorphic $n$-vertex graphs.

We establish a list of characterizations of bounded twin-width for hereditary, totally ordered binary structures. This has several consequences. First, it allows us to show that a (hereditary) class of matrices over a finite alphabet either contains at least $n!$ matrices of size $n \times n$, or at most $c^n$ for some constant $c$. This generalizes the celebrated Stanley-Wilf conjecture/Marcus-Tardos theorem from permutation classes to any matrix class over a finite alphabet, answers our small conjecture [SODA '21] in the case of ordered graphs, and with more work, settles a question first asked by Balogh, Bollob\'as, and Morris [Eur. J. Comb. '06] on the growth of hereditary classes of ordered graphs. Second, it gives a fixed-parameter approximation algorithm for twin-width on ordered graphs. Third, it yields a full classification of fixed-parameter tractable first-order model checking on hereditary classes of ordered binary structures. Fourth, it provides a model-theoretic characterization of classes with bounded twin-width., Comment: 53 pages, 18 figures

We show, assuming the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis, that for every $\varepsilon > 0$, approximating undirected unweighted Diameter on $n$-vertex $n^{1+o(1)}$-edge graphs within ratio $7/4 - \varepsilon$ requires $n^{4/3 - o(1)}$ time. This is the first result that conditionally rules out a near-linear time $5/3$-approximation for undirected Diameter., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures

We investigate the parameterized complexity in $a$ and $b$ of determining whether a graph~$G$ has a subset of $a$ vertices and $b$ edges whose removal disconnects $G$, or disconnects two prescribed vertices $s, t \in V(G)$., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We show, assuming the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis, that for every $\varepsilon > 0$, approximating directed Diameter on $m$-arc graphs within ratio $7/4 - \varepsilon$ requires $m^{4/3 - o(1)}$ time. Our construction uses nonnegative edge weights but even holds for sparse digraphs, i.e., for which the number of vertices $n$ and the number of arcs $m$ satisfy $m = n \log^{O(1)} n$. This is the first result that conditionally rules out a near-linear time $5/3$-approximation for Diameter., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, expanded introduction and discussion on follow-up works

The Cut & Count technique and the rank-based approach have lead to single-exponential FPT algorithms parameterized by treewidth, that is, running in time $2^{O(tw)}n^{O(1)}$, for Feedback Vertex Set and connected versions of the classical graph problems (such as Vertex Cover and Dominating Set). We show that Subset Feedback Vertex Set, Subset Odd Cycle Transversal, Restricted Edge-Subset Feedback Edge Set, Node Multiway Cut, and Multiway Cut are unlikely to have such running times. More precisely, we match algorithms running in time $2^{O(tw \log tw)}n^{O(1)}$ with tight lower bounds under the Exponential-Time Hypothesis (ETH), ruling out $2^{o(tw \log tw)}n^{O(1)}$, where $n$ is the number of vertices and $tw$ is the treewidth of the input graph. Our algorithms extend to the weighted case, while our lower bounds also hold for the larger parameter pathwidth and do not require weights. We also show that, in contrast to Odd Cycle Transversal, there is no $2^{o(tw \log tw)}n^{O(1)}$-time algorithm for Even Cycle Transversal under the ETH., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures

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 $\chi$-bounded. This significantly extends the $\chi$-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., Comment: 38 pages, 6 figures. This version contains more results, notably the approximation for Min Dominating Set, and the title has been edited accordingly

The twin-width of a graph $G$ is the minimum integer $d$ such that $G$ has a $d$-contraction sequence, that is, a sequence of $|V(G)|-1$ iterated vertex identifications for which the overall maximum number of red edges incident to a single vertex is at most $d$, where a red edge appears between two sets of identified vertices if they are not homogeneous in $G$. We show that if a graph admits a $d$-contraction sequence, then it also has a linear-arity tree of $f(d)$-contractions, for some function $f$. First this permits to show that every bounded twin-width class is small, i.e., has at most $n!c^n$ graphs labeled by $[n]$, for some constant $c$. This unifies and extends the same result for bounded treewidth graphs [Beineke and Pippert, JCT '69], proper subclasses of permutations graphs [Marcus and Tardos, JCTA '04], and proper minor-free classes [Norine et al., JCTB '06]. The second consequence is an $O(\log n)$-adjacency labeling scheme for bounded twin-width graphs, confirming several cases of the implicit graph conjecture. We then explore the "small conjecture" that, conversely, every small hereditary class has bounded twin-width. Inspired by sorting networks of logarithmic depth, we show that $\log_{\Theta(\log \log d)}n$-subdivisions of $K_n$ (a small class when $d$ is constant) have twin-width at most $d$. We obtain a rather sharp converse with a surprisingly direct proof: the $\log_{d+1}n$-subdivision of $K_n$ has twin-width at least $d$. Secondly graphs with bounded stack or queue number (also small classes) have bounded twin-width. Thirdly we show that cubic expanders obtained by iterated random 2-lifts from $K_4$~[Bilu and Linial, Combinatorica '06] have bounded twin-width, too. We suggest a promising connection between the small conjecture and group theory. Finally we define a robust notion of sparse twin-width and discuss how it compares with other sparse classes., Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures

Inspired by a width invariant defined on permutations by Guillemot and Marx [SODA '14], we introduce the notion of twin-width on graphs and on matrices. Proper minor-closed classes, bounded rank-width graphs, map graphs, $K_t$-free unit $d$-dimensional ball graphs, posets with antichains of bounded size, and proper subclasses of dimension-2 posets all have bounded twin-width. On all these classes (except map graphs without geometric embedding) we show how to compute in polynomial time a sequence of $d$-contractions, witness that the twin-width is at most $d$. We show that FO model checking, that is deciding if a given first-order formula $\phi$ evaluates to true for a given binary structure $G$ on a domain $D$, is FPT in $|\phi|$ on classes of bounded twin-width, provided the witness is given. More precisely, being given a $d$-contraction sequence for $G$, our algorithm runs in time $f(d,|\phi|) \cdot |D|$ where $f$ is a computable but non-elementary function. We also prove that bounded twin-width is preserved by FO interpretations and transductions (allowing operations such as squaring or complementing a graph). This unifies and significantly extends the knowledge on fixed-parameter tractability of FO model checking on non-monotone classes, such as the FPT algorithm on bounded-width posets by Gajarsk\'y et al. [FOCS '15]., Comment: 49 pages, 9 figures

We study the approximability of the Maximum Independent Set (MIS) problem in $H$-free graphs (that is, graphs which do not admit $H$ as an induced subgraph). As one motivation we investigate the following conjecture: for every fixed graph $H$, there exists a constant $\delta > 0$ such that MIS can be $n^{1 - \delta}$-approximated in $H$-free graphs, where $n$ denotes the number of vertices of the input graph. We first prove that a constructive version of the celebrated Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture implies ours. We then prove that the set of graphs $H$ satisfying our conjecture is closed under the so-called graph substitution. This, together with the known polynomial-time algorithms for MIS in $H$-free graphs (e.g. $P_6$-free and fork-free graphs), implies that our conjecture holds for many graphs $H$ for which the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture is still open. We then focus on improving the constant $\delta$ for some graph classes: we prove that the classical Local Search algorithm provides an $OPT^{1-\frac{1}{t}}$-approximation in $K_{t,t}$-free graphs (hence a $\sqrt{OPT}$-approximation in $C_4$-free graphs), and, while there is a simple $\sqrt{n}$-approximation in triangle-free graphs, it cannot be improved to $n^{\frac{1}{4}-\varepsilon}$ for any $\varepsilon > 0$ unless $NP \subseteq BPP$. More generally, we show that there is a constant $c$ such that MIS in graphs of girth $\gamma$ cannot be $n^{\frac{c}{\gamma}}$-approximated. Up to a constant factor in the exponent, this matches the ratio of a known approximation algorithm by Monien and Speckenmeyer, and by Murphy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first strong (i.e., $\Omega(n^\delta)$ for some $\delta > 0$) inapproximability result for Maximum Independent Set in a proper hereditary class.

We study the complexity of Maximum Clique in intersection graphs of convex objects in the plane. On the algorithmic side, we extend the polynomial-time algorithm for unit disks [Clark '90, Raghavan and Spinrad '03] to translates of any fixed convex set. We also generalize the efficient polynomial-time approximation scheme (EPTAS) and subexponential algorithm for disks [Bonnet et al. '18, Bonamy et al. '18] to homothets of a fixed centrally symmetric convex set. The main open question on that topic is the complexity of Maximum Clique in disk graphs. It is not known whether this problem is NP-hard. We observe that, so far, all the hardness proofs for Maximum Clique in intersection graph classes $\mathcal I$ follow the same road. They show that, for every graph $G$ of a large-enough class $\mathcal C$, the complement of an even subdivision of $G$ belongs to the intersection class $\mathcal I$. Then they conclude invoking the hardness of Maximum Independent Set on the class $\mathcal C$, and the fact that the even subdivision preserves that hardness. However there is a strong evidence that this approach cannot work for disk graphs [Bonnet et al. '18]. We suggest a new approach, based on a problem that we dub Max Interval Permutation Avoidance, which we prove unlikely to have a subexponential-time approximation scheme. We transfer that hardness to Maximum Clique in intersection graphs of objects which can be either half-planes (or unit disks) or axis-parallel rectangles. That problem is not amenable to the previous approach. We hope that a scaled down (merely NP-hard) variant of Max Interval Permutation Avoidance could help making progress on the disk case, for instance by showing the NP-hardness for (convex) pseudo-disks., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures

The first-fit coloring is a heuristic that assigns to each vertex, arriving in a specified order $\sigma$, the smallest available color. The problem Grundy Coloring asks how many colors are needed for the most adversarial vertex ordering $\sigma$, i.e., the maximum number of colors that the first-fit coloring requires over all possible vertex orderings. Since its inception by Grundy in 1939, Grundy Coloring has been examined for its structural and algorithmic aspects. A brute-force $f(k)n^{2^{k-1}}$-time algorithm for Grundy Coloring on general graphs is not difficult to obtain, where $k$ is the number of colors required by the most adversarial vertex ordering. It was asked several times whether the dependency on $k$ in the exponent of $n$ can be avoided or reduced, and its answer seemed elusive until now. We prove that Grundy Coloring is W[1]-hard and the brute-force algorithm is essentially optimal under the Exponential Time Hypothesis, thus settling this question by the negative. The key ingredient in our W[1]-hardness proof is to use so-called half-graphs as a building block to transmit a color from one vertex to another. Leveraging the half-graphs, we also prove that b-Chromatic Core is W[1]-hard, whose parameterized complexity was posed as an open question by Panolan et al. [JCSS '17]. A natural follow-up question is, how the parameterized complexity changes in the absence of (large) half-graphs. We establish fixed-parameter tractability on $K_{t,t}$-free graphs for b-Chromatic Core and Partial Grundy Coloring, making a step toward answering this question. The key combinatorial lemma underlying the tractability result might be of independent interest., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures