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In 1980, Burr conjectured that every directed graph with chromatic number $2k-2$ contains any oriented tree of order $k$ as a subdigraph. Burr showed that chromatic number $(k-1)^2$ suffices, which was improved in 2013 to $\frac{k^2}{2} - \frac{k}{2} + 1$ by Addario-Berry et al. We give the first subquadratic bound for Burr's conjecture, by showing that every directed graph with chromatic number $8\sqrt{\frac{2}{15}} k \sqrt{k} + O(k)$ contains any oriented tree of order $k$. Moreover, we provide improved bounds of $\sqrt{\frac{4}{3}} k \sqrt{k}+O(k)$ for arborescences, and $(b-1)(k-3)+3$ for paths on $b$ blocks, with $b\ge 2$., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

The support of a flow $x$ in a network is the subdigraph induced by the arcs $uv$ for which $x(uv)>0$. We discuss a number of results on flows in networks where we put certain restrictions on structure of the support of the flow. Many of these problems are NP-hard because they generalize linkage problems for digraphs. For example deciding whether a network ${\cal N}=(D,s,t,c)$ has a maximum flow $x$ such that the maximum out-degree of the support $D_x$ of $x$ is at most 2 is NP-complete as it contains the 2-linkage problem as a very special case. Another problem which is NP-complete for the same reason is that of computing the maximum flow we can send from $s$ to $t$ along $p$ paths (called a maximum {\bf $p$-path-flow}) in ${\cal N}$. Baier et al. (2005) gave a polynomial time algorithm which finds a $p$-path-flow $x$ whose value is at least $\frac{2}{3}$ of the value of a optimum $p$-path-flow when $p\in \{2,3\}$, and at least $\frac{1}{2}$ when $p\geq 4$. When $p=2$, they show that this is best possible unless P=NP. We show for each $p\geq 2$ that the value of a maximum $p$-path-flow cannot be approximated by any ratio larger than $\frac{9}{11}$, unless P=NP. We also consider a variant of the problem where the $p$ paths must be disjoint. For this problem, we give an algorithm which gets within a factor $\frac{1}{H(p)}$ of the optimum solution, where $H(p)$ is the $p$'th harmonic number ($H(p) \sim \ln(p)$). We show that in the case where the network is acyclic, we can find such a maximum $p$-path-flow in polynomial time for every $p$. We determine the complexity of a number of related problems concerning the structure of flows. For the special case of acyclic digraphs, some of the results we obtain are in some sense best possible., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures

The dichromatic number of a digraph is the minimum integer $k$ such that it admits a $k$-dicolouring, i.e. a partition of its vertices into $k$ acyclic subdigraphs. We say that a digraph $D$ is a super-orientation of an undirected graph $G$ if $G$ is the underlying graph of $D$. If $D$ does not contain any pair of symmetric arcs, we just say that $D$ is an orientation of $G$. In this work, we give both lower and upper bounds on the dichromatic number of super-orientations of chordal graphs. We also show a family of orientations of cographs for which the dichromatic number is equal to the clique number of the underlying graph., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures

We show that every graph $G$ of maximum degree $\Delta$ and sufficiently large order has a vertex cutset $S$ of order at most $\Delta$ that induces a subgraph $G[S]$ of maximum degree at most $\Delta-3$. For $\Delta\in \{ 4,5\}$, we refine this result by considering also the average degree of $G[S]$. If $G$ has no $K_{r,r}$ subgraph, then we show the existence of a vertex cutset that induces a subgraph of maximum degree at most $\left(1-\frac{1}{{r\choose 2}}\right)\Delta+O(1)$.

In a directed graph $D$ on vertex set $v_1,\dots ,v_n$, a \emph{forward arc} is an arc $v_iv_j$ where $i0$ such that one can always find an enumeration realizing $c.|R|$ forward connected pairs $\{x_i,y_i\}$ (in either direction)., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

We introduce a new kernelization tool, called rainbow matching technique}, that is appropriate for the design of polynomial kernels for packing problems and their hitting counterparts. Our technique capitalizes on the powerful combinatorial results of [Graf, Harris, Haxell, SODA 2021]. We apply the rainbow matching technique on four (di)graph packing or hitting problems, namely the Triangle-Packing in Tournament problem (TPT), where we ask for a packing of $k$ directed triangles in a tournament, Directed Feedback Vertex Set in Tournament problem (FVST), where we ask for a (hitting) set of at most $k$ vertices which intersects all triangles of a tournament, the Induced 2-Path-Packing (IPP) where we ask for a packing of $k$ induced paths of length two in a graph and Induced 2-Path Hitting Set problem (IPHS), where we ask for a (hitting) set of at most $k$ vertices which intersects all induced paths of length two in a graph. The existence of a sub-quadratic kernels for these problems was proven for the first time in [Fomin, Le, Lokshtanov, Saurabh, Thomass\'e, Zehavi. ACM Trans. Algorithms, 2019], where they gave a kernel of $O(k^{3/2})$ vertices for the two first problems and $O(k^{5/3})$ vertices for the two last. In the same paper it was questioned whether these bounds can be (optimally) improved to linear ones. Motivated by this question, we apply the rainbow matching technique and prove that TPT and FVST admit (almost linear) kernels of $k^{1+\frac{O(1)}{\sqrt{\log{k}}}}$ vertices and that IPP and IPHS admit kernels of $O(k)$ vertices., Comment: Accepted to SODA 2023

A classical result of Erd\H{o}s and Gallai determines the maximum size $m(n,\nu)$ of a graph $G$ of order $n$ and matching number $\nu n$. We show that $G$ has factorially many maximum matchings provided that its size is sufficiently close to $m(n,\nu)$.

Let $K$ be a complete graph of order $n$. For $d\in (0,1)$, let $c$ be a $\pm 1$-edge labeling of $K$ such that there are $d{n\choose 2}$ edges with label $+1$, and let $G$ be a spanning subgraph of $K$ of maximum degree at most $\Delta$. We prove the existence of an isomorphic copy $G'$ of $G$ in $K$ such that the number of edges with label $+1$ in $G'$ is at least $\left(c_{d,\Delta}-O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\right)m(G)$, where $c_{d,\Delta}=d+\Omega\left(\frac{1}{\Delta}\right)$ for fixed $d$, that is, this number visibly deviates from its expected value when considering a uniformly random copy of $G$ in $K$. For $d=\frac{1}{2}$, and $\Delta\leq 2$, we present more detailed results.

We study three problems introduced by Bang-Jensen and Yeo [Theor. Comput. Sci. 2015] and by Bang-Jensen, Havet, and Yeo [Discret. Appl. Math. 2016] about finding disjoint "balanced" spanning rooted substructures in graphs and digraphs, which generalize classic packing problems. Namely, given a positive integer $k$, a digraph $D=(V,A)$, and a root $r \in V$, we consider the problem of finding two arc-disjoint $k$-safe spanning $r$-arborescences and the problem of finding two arc-disjoint $(r,k)$-flow branchings. We show that both these problems are FPT with parameter $k$, improving on existing XP algorithms. The latter of these results answers a question of Bang-Jensen, Havet, and Yeo [Discret. Appl. Math. 2016]. Further, given an integer $k$, a graph $G=(V,E)$, and $r \in V$, we consider the problem of finding two arc-disjoint $(r,k)$-safe spanning trees. We show that this problem is also FPT with parameter $k$, again improving on a previous XP algorithm. Our main technical contribution is to prove that the existence of such spanning substructures is equivalent to the existence of substructures with size and maximum (out-)degree both bounded by a (linear or quadratic) function of $k$, which may be of independent interest., Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure

Let $D$ be a $k$-regular bipartite tournament on $n$ vertices. We show that, for every $p$ with $2 \le p \le n/2-2$, $D$ has a cycle $C$ of length $2p$ such that $D \setminus C$ is hamiltonian unless $D$ is isomorphic to the special digraph $F_{4k}$. This statement was conjectured by Manoussakis, Song and Zhang [K. Zhang, Y. Manoussakis, and Z. Song. Complementary cycles containing a fixed arc in diregular bipartite tournaments. Discrete Mathematics, 133(1-3):325--328,1994]. In the same paper, the conjecture was proved for $p=2$ and more recently Bai, Li and He gave a proof for $p=3$ [Y. Bai, H. Li, and W. He. Complementary cycles in regular bipartite tournaments. Discrete Mathematics, 333:14--27, 2014]., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures

A set $S$ of vertices of a graph $G$ is exponentially independent if, for every vertex $u$ in $S$, $$\sum\limits_{v\in S\setminus \{ u\}}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}<1,$$ where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the distance between $u$ and $v$ in the graph $G-(S\setminus \{ u,v\})$. The exponential independence number $\alpha_e(G)$ of $G$ is the maximum order of an exponentially independent set in $G$. In the present paper we present several bounds on this parameter and highlight some of the many related open problems. In particular, we prove that subcubic graphs of order $n$ have exponentially independent sets of order $\Omega(n/\log^2(n))$, that the infinite cubic tree has no exponentially independent set of positive density, and that subcubic trees of order $n$ have exponentially independent sets of order $(n+3)/4$.

A subgraph H= (V, F) of a graph G= (V,E) is non-separating if G-F, that is, the graph obtained from G by deleting the edges in F, is connected. Analogously we say that a subdigraph X= (V,B) of a digraph D= (V,A) is non-separating if D-B is strongly connected. We study non-separating spanning trees and out-branchings in digraphs of independence number 2. Our main results are that every 2-arc-strong digraph D of independence number alpha(D) = 2 and minimum in-degree at least 5 and every 2-arc-strong oriented graph with alpha(D) = 2 and minimum in-degree at least 3 has a non-separating out-branching and minimum in-degree 2 is not enough. We also prove a number of other results, including that every 2-arc-strong digraph D with alpha(D)<=2 and at least 14 vertices has a non-separating spanning tree and that every graph G with delta(G)>=4 and alpha(G) = 2 has a non-separating hamiltonian path.

We prove that every digraph of independence number at most 2 and arc-connectivity at least 2 has an out-branching $B^+$ and an in-branching $B^-$ which are arc-disjoint (we call such branchings good pair). This is best possible in terms of the arc-connectivity as there are infinitely many strong digraphs with independence number 2 and arbitrarily high minimum in-and out-degrees that have good no pair. The result settles a conjecture by Thomassen for digraphs of independence number 2. We prove that every digraph on at most 6 vertices and arc-connectivity at least 2 has a good pair and give an example of a 2-arc-strong digraph $D$ on 10 vertices with independence number 4 that has no good pair. We also show that there are infinitely many digraphs with independence number 7 and arc-connectivity 2 that have no good pair. Finally we pose a number of open problems.

A knot in a directed graph $G$ is a strongly connected subgraph $Q$ of $G$ with at least two vertices, such that no vertex in $V(Q)$ is an in-neighbor of a vertex in $V(G)\setminus V(Q)$. Knots are important graph structures, because they characterize the existence of deadlocks in a classical distributed computation model, the so-called OR-model. Deadlock detection is correlated with the recognition of knot-free graphs as well as deadlock resolution is closely related to the {\sc Knot-Free Vertex Deletion (KFVD)} problem, which consists of determining whether an input graph $G$ has a subset $S \subseteq V(G)$ of size at most $k$ such that $G[V\setminus S]$ contains no knot. In this paper we focus on graph width measure parameterizations for {\sc KFVD}. First, we show that: (i) {\sc KFVD} parameterized by the size of the solution $k$ is W[1]-hard even when $p$, the length of a longest directed path of the input graph, as well as $\kappa$, its Kenny-width, are bounded by constants, and we remark that {\sc KFVD} is para-NP-hard even considering many directed width measures as parameters, but in FPT when parameterized by clique-width; (ii) {\sc KFVD} can be solved in time $2^{O(tw)}\times n$, but assuming ETH it cannot be solved in $2^{o(tw)}\times n^{O(1)}$, where $tw$ is the treewidth of the underlying undirected graph. Finally, since the size of a minimum directed feedback vertex set ($dfv$) is an upper bound for the size of a minimum knot-free vertex deletion set, we investigate parameterization by $dfv$ and we show that (iii) {\sc KFVD} can be solved in FPT-time parameterized by either $dfv+\kappa$ or $dfv+p$; and it admits a Turing kernel by the distance to a DAG having an Hamiltonian path., Comment: An extended abstract of this paper was published in IPEC 2019

Wiener index, defined as the sum of distances between all unordered pairs of vertices, is one of the most popular molecular descriptors. It is well known that among 2-vertex connected graphs on $n\ge 3$ vertices, the cycle $C_n$ attains the maximum value of Wiener index. We show that the second maximum graph is obtained from $C_n$ by introducing a new edge that connects two vertices at distance two on the cycle if $n\ne 6$. If $n\ge 11$, the third maximum graph is obtained from a $4$-cycle by connecting opposite vertices by a path of length $n-3$. We completely describe also the situation for $n\le 10$.

The Wiener index (the distance) of a connected graph is the sum of distances between all pairs of vertices. In this paper, we study the maximum possible value of this invariant among graphs on $n$ vertices with fixed number of blocks $p$. It is known that among graphs on $n$ vertices that have just one block, the $n$-cycle has the largest Wiener index. And the $n$-path, which has $n-1$ blocks, has the maximum Wiener index in the class of graphs on $n$ vertices. We show that among all graphs on $n$ vertices which have $p\ge 2$ blocks, the maximum Wiener index is attained by a graph composed of two cycles joined by a path (here we admit that one or both cycles can be replaced by a single edge, as in the case $p=n-1$ for example).

An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $\alpha_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. It is known that $\alpha(G)\leq \alpha_b(G)\leq 4\alpha(G)$ for every connected graph $G$, where $\alpha(G)$ is the independence number of $G$. If $G$ has girth $g$ and minimum degree $\delta$, we show that $\alpha_b(G)\leq 2\alpha(G)$ provided that $g\geq 6$ and $\delta\geq 3$ or that $g\geq 4$ and $\delta\geq 5$. Furthermore, we show that, for every positive integer $k$, there is a connected graph $G$ of girth at least $k$ and minimum degree at least $k$ such that $\alpha_b(G)\geq 2\left(1-\frac{1}{k}\right)\alpha(G)$. Our results imply that lower bounds on the girth and the minimum degree of a connected graph $G$ can lower the fraction $\frac{\alpha_b(G)}{\alpha(G)}$ from $4$ below $2$, but not any further.

An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $\alpha_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. Clearly, $\alpha_b(G)$ is at least the independence number $\alpha(G)$ for every connected graph $G$. Our main result implies $\alpha_b(G)\leq 4\alpha(G)$. We prove a tight inequality and characterize all extremal graphs.

An independent broadcast on a connected graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{N}_0$ such that, for every vertex $x$ of $G$, the value $f(x)$ is at most the eccentricity of $x$ in $G$, and $f(x)>0$ implies that $f(y)=0$ for every vertex $y$ of $G$ within distance at most $f(x)$ from $x$. The broadcast independence number $\alpha_b(G)$ of $G$ is the largest weight $\sum\limits_{x\in V(G)}f(x)$ of an independent broadcast $f$ on $G$. We describe an efficient algorithm that determines the broadcast independence number of a given tree. Furthermore, we show NP-hardness of the broadcast independence number for planar graphs of maximum degree four, and hardness of approximation for general graphs. Our results solve problems posed by Dunbar, Erwin, Haynes, Hedetniemi, and Hedetniemi (2006), Hedetniemi (2006), and Ahmane, Bouchemakh, Sopena (2018).

Given a tournament $T$, the problem MaxCT consists of finding a maximum (arc-disjoint) cycle packing of $T$. In the same way, MaxTT corresponds to the specific case where the collection of cycles are triangles (i.e. directed 3-cycles). Although MaxCT can be seen as the LP dual of minimum feedback arc set in tournaments which have been widely studied, surprisingly no algorithmic results seem to exist concerning the former. In this paper, we prove the NP-hardness of both MaxCT and MaxTT. We also show that deciding if a tournament has a cycle packing and a feedback arc set with the same size is an NP-complete problem. In light of this, we show that MaxTT admits a vertex linear-kernel when parameterized with the size of the solution. Finally, we provide polynomial algorithms for MaxTT and MaxCT when the tournament is sparse, that is when it admits a FAS which is a matching., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

For a graph $G$ and an integer-valued threshold function $\tau$ on its vertex set, a dynamic monopoly is a set of vertices of $G$ such that iteratively adding to it vertices $u$ of $G$ that have at least $\tau(u)$ neighbors in it eventually yields the vertex set of $G$. We show that the problem of finding a dynamic monopoly of minimum order can be solved in polynomial time for interval graphs with bounded threshold functions, but is NP-hard for chordal graphs allowing unbounded threshold functions.

A $(\delta\geq k_1,\delta\geq k_2)$-partition of a graph $G$ is a vertex-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ of $G$ satisfying that $\delta(G[V_i])\geq k_i$ for $i=1,2$. We determine, for all positive integers $k_1,k_2$, the complexity of deciding whether a given graph has a $(\delta\geq k_1,\delta\geq k_2)$-partition. We also address the problem of finding a function $g(k_1,k_2)$ such that the $(\delta\geq k_1,\delta\geq k_2)$-partition problem is ${\cal NP}$-complete for the class of graphs of minimum degree less than $g(k_1,k_2)$ and polynomial for all graphs with minimum degree at least $g(k_1,k_2)$. We prove that $g(1,k)=k$ for $k\ge 3$, that $g(2,2)=3$ and that $g(2,3)$, if it exists, has value 4 or 5., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

The famous K\H{o}nig-Egerv\'ary theorem is equivalent to the statement that the matching number equals the vertex cover number for every induced subgraph of some graph if and only if that graph is bipartite. Inspired by this result, we consider the set ${\cal G}_k$ of all graphs such that, for every induced subgraph, the maximum number of disjoint paths of order $k$ equals the minimum order of a set of vertices intersecting all paths of order $k$. For $k\in \{ 3,4\}$, we give complete structural descriptions of the graphs in ${\cal G}_k$. Furthermore, for odd $k$, we give a complete structural description of the graphs in ${\cal G}_k$ that contain no cycle of order less than $k$. For these graph classes, our results yield efficient recognition algorithms as well as efficient algorithms that determine maximum sets of disjoint paths of order $k$ and minimum sets of vertices intersecting all paths of order $k$.

For a given $2$-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ of the vertices of a (di)graph $G$, we study properties of the spanning bipartite subdigraph $B_G(V_1,V_2)$ of $G$ induced by those arcs/edges that have one end in each $V_i$. We determine, for all pairs of non-negative integers $k_1,k_2$, the complexity of deciding whether $G$ has a 2-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ such that each vertex in $V_i$ has at least $k_i$ (out-)neighbours in $V_{3-i}$. We prove that it is ${\cal NP}$-complete to decide whether a digraph $D$ has a 2-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ such that each vertex in $V_1$ has an out-neighbour in $V_2$ and each vertex in $V_2$ has an in-neighbour in $V_1$. The problem becomes polynomially solvable if we require $D$ to be strongly connected. We give a characterisation, based on the so-called strong component digraph of a non-strong digraph of the structure of ${\cal NP}$-complete instances in terms of their strong component digraph. When we want higher in-degree or out-degree to/from the other set the problem becomes ${\cal NP}$-complete even for strong digraphs. A further result is that it is ${\cal NP}$-complete to decide whether a given digraph $D$ has a $2$-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ such that $B_D(V_1,V_2)$ is strongly connected. This holds even if we require the input to be a highly connected eulerian digraph., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures

Let $k$ be a fixed integer. We determine the complexity of finding a $p$-partition $(V_1, \dots, V_p)$ of the vertex set of a given digraph such that the maximum out-degree of each of the digraphs induced by $V_i$, ($1\leq i\leq p$) is at least $k$ smaller than the maximum out-degree of $D$. We show that this problem is polynomial-time solvable when $p\geq 2k$ and ${\cal NP}$-complete otherwise. The result for $k=1$ and $p=2$ answers a question posed in \cite{bangTCS636}. We also determine, for all fixed non-negative integers $k_1,k_2,p$, the complexity of deciding whether a given digraph of maximum out-degree $p$ has a $2$-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ such that the digraph induced by $V_i$ has maximum out-degree at most $k_i$ for $i\in [2]$. It follows from this characterization that the problem of deciding whether a digraph has a 2-partition $(V_1,V_2)$ such that each vertex $v\in V_i$ has at least as many neighbours in the set $V_{3-i}$ as in $V_i$, for $i=1,2$ is ${\cal NP}$-complete. This solves a problem from \cite{kreutzerEJC24} on majority colourings., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure

Given a tournament T and a positive integer k, the C_3-Pakcing-T problem asks if there exists a least k (vertex-)disjoint directed 3-cycles in T. This is the dual problem in tournaments of the classical minimal feedback vertex set problem. Surprisingly C_3-Pakcing-T did not receive a lot of attention in the literature. We show that it does not admit a PTAS unless P=NP, even if we restrict the considered instances to sparse tournaments, that is tournaments with a feedback arc set (FAS) being a matching. Focusing on sparse tournaments we provide a (1+6/(c-1)) approximation algorithm for sparse tournaments having a linear representation where all the backward arcs have "length" at least c. Concerning kernelization, we show that C_3-Pakcing-T admits a kernel with O(m) vertices, where m is the size of a given feedback arc set. In particular, we derive a O(k) vertices kernel for C_3-Pakcing-T when restricted to sparse instances. On the negative size, we show that C_3-Pakcing-T does not admit a kernel of (total bit) size O(k^{2-\epsilon}) unless NP is a subset of coNP / Poly. The existence of a kernel in O(k) vertices for C_3-Pakcing-T remains an open question.

We study vertex colourings of digraphs so that no out-neighbourhood is monochromatic and call such a colouring an {\bf out-colouring}. The problem of deciding whether a given digraph has an out-colouring with only two colours (called a 2-out-colouring) is ${\cal NP}$-complete. We show that for every choice of positive integers $r,k$ there exists a $k$-strong bipartite tournament which needs at least $r$ colours in every out-colouring. Our main results are on tournaments and semicomplete digraphs. We prove that, except for the Paley tournament $P_7$, every strong semicomplete digraph of minimum out-degree at least 3 has a 2-out-colouring. Furthermore, we show that every semicomplete digraph on at least 7 vertices has a 2-out-colouring if and only if it has a {\bf balanced} such colouring, that is, the difference between the number of vertices that receive colour 1 and colour 2 is at most one. In the second half of the paper we consider the generalization of 2-out-colourings to vertex partitions $(V_1,V_2)$ of a digraph $D$ so that each of the three digraphs induced by respectively, the vertices of $V_1$, the vertices of $V_2$ and all arcs between $V_1$ and $V_2$ have minimum out-degree $k$ for a prescribed integer $k\geq 1$. Using probabilistic arguments we prove that there exists an absolute positive constant $c$ so that every semicomplete digraph of minimum out-degree at least $2k+c\sqrt{k}$ has such a partition. This is tight up to the value of $c$.

We show the hardness of the geodetic hull number for chordal graphs.

For a degree sequence $d:d_1\geq \cdots \geq d_n$, we consider the smallest chromatic number $\chi_{\min}(d)$ and the largest chromatic number $\chi_{\max}(d)$ among all graphs with degree sequence $d$. We show that if $d_n\geq 1$, then $\chi_{\min}(d)\leq \max\left\{ 3,d_1-\frac{n+1}{4d_1}+4\right\}$, and, if $\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{4}}-\frac{1}{2}>d_1\geq d_n\geq 1$, then $\chi_{\max}(d)=\max\limits_{i\in [n]}\min\left\{ i,d_i+1\right\}$. For a given degree sequence $d$ with bounded entries, we show that $\chi_{\min}(d)$, $\chi_{\max}(d)$, and also the smallest independence number $\alpha_{\min}(d)$ among all graphs with degree sequence $d$, can be determined in polynomial time.

An antidirected trail in a digraph is a trail (a walk with no arc repeated) in which the arcs alternate between forward and backward arcs. An antidirected path is an antidirected trail where no vertex is repeated. We show that it is NP-complete to decide whether two vertices $x,y$ in a digraph are connected by an antidirected path, while one can decide in linear time whether they are connected by an antidirected trail. A digraph $D$ is antistrong if it contains an antidirected $(x,y)$-trail starting and ending with a forward arc for every choice of $x,y\in V(D)$. We show that antistrong connectivity can be decided in linear time. We discuss relations between antistrong connectivity and other properties of a digraph and show that the arc-minimal antistrong spanning subgraphs of a digraph are the bases of a matroid on its arc-set. We show that one can determine in polynomial time the minimum number of new arcs whose addition to $D$ makes the resulting digraph the arc-disjoint union of $k$ antistrong digraphs. In particular, we determine the minimum number of new arcs which need to be added to a digraph to make it antistrong. We use results from matroid theory to characterize graphs which have an antistrong orientation and give a polynomial time algorithm for constructing such an orientation when it exists. This immediately gives analogous results for graphs which have a connected bipartite 2-detachment. Finally, we study arc-decompositions of antistrong digraphs and pose several problems and conjectures.

Motivated by a graph theoretic process intended to measure the speed of the spread of contagion in a graph, Bonato, Janssen, and Roshanbin [Burning a Graph as a Model of Social Contagion, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 8882 (2014) 13-22] define the burning number $b(G)$ of a graph $G$ as the smallest integer $k$ for which there are vertices $x_1,\ldots,x_k$ such that for every vertex $u$ of $G$, there is some $i\in \{ 1,\ldots,k\}$ with ${\rm dist}_G(u,x_i)\leq k-i$, and ${\rm dist}_G(x_i,x_j)\geq j-i$ for every $i,j\in \{ 1,\ldots,k\}$. For a connected graph $G$ of order $n$, they prove that $b(G)\leq 2\left\lceil\sqrt{n}\right\rceil-1$, and conjecture $b(G)\leq \left\lceil\sqrt{n}\right\rceil$. We show that $b(G)\leq \sqrt{\frac{32}{19}\cdot \frac{n}{1-\epsilon}}+\sqrt{\frac{27}{19\epsilon}}$ and $b(G)\leq \sqrt{\frac{12n}{7}}+3\approx 1.309 \sqrt{n}+3$ for every connected graph $G$ of order $n$ and every $0<\epsilon<1$. For a tree $T$ of order $n$ with $n_2$ vertices of degree $2$, and $n_{\geq 3}$ vertices of degree at least $3$, we show $b(T)\leq \left\lceil\sqrt{(n+n_2)+\frac{1}{4}}+\frac{1}{2}\right\rceil$ and $b(T)\leq \left\lceil\sqrt{n}\right\rceil+n_{\geq 3}$. Furthermore, we characterize the binary trees of depth $r$ that have burning number $r+1$.

As a natural variant of domination in graphs, Dankelmann et al. [Domination with exponential decay, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 5877-5883] introduce exponential domination, where vertices are considered to have some dominating power that decreases exponentially with the distance, and the dominated vertices have to accumulate a sufficient amount of this power emanating from the dominating vertices. More precisely, if $S$ is a set of vertices of a graph $G$, then $S$ is an exponential dominating set of $G$ if $\sum\limits_{v\in S}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}\geq 1$ for every vertex $u$ in $V(G)\setminus S$, where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the distance between $u\in V(G)\setminus S$ and $v\in S$ in the graph $G-(S\setminus \{ v\})$. The exponential domination number $\gamma_e(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum order of an exponential dominating set of $G$. In the present paper we study exponential domination in subcubic graphs. Our results are as follows: If $G$ is a connected subcubic graph of order $n(G)$, then $$\frac{n(G)}{6\log_2(n(G)+2)+4}\leq \gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{1}{3}(n(G)+2).$$ For every $\epsilon>0$, there is some $g$ such that $\gamma_e(G)\leq \epsilon n(G)$ for every cubic graph $G$ of girth at least $g$. For every $0<\alpha<\frac{2}{3\ln(2)}$, there are infinitely many cubic graphs $G$ with $\gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{3n(G)}{\ln(n(G))^{\alpha}}$. If $T$ is a subcubic tree, then $\gamma_e(T)\geq \frac{1}{6}(n(T)+2).$ For a given subcubic tree, $\gamma_e(T)$ can be determined in polynomial time. The minimum exponential dominating set problem is APX-hard for subcubic graphs.

As a natural variant of domination in graphs, Dankelmann et al. [Domination with exponential decay, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 5877-5883] introduce exponential domination, where vertices are considered to have some dominating power that decreases exponentially with the distance, and the dominated vertices have to accumulate a sufficient amount of this power emanating from the dominating vertices. More precisely, if $S$ is a set of vertices of a graph $G$, then $S$ is an exponential dominating set of $G$ if $\sum\limits_{v\in S}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}\geq 1$ for every vertex $u$ in $V(G)\setminus S$, where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the distance between $u\in V(G)\setminus S$ and $v\in S$ in the graph $G-(S\setminus \{ v\})$. The exponential domination number $\gamma_e(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum order of an exponential dominating set of $G$. Dankelmann et al. show $$\frac{1}{4}({\rm d}+2)\leq \gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{2}{5}(n+2)$$ for a connected graph $G$ of order $n$ and diameter ${\rm d}$. We provide further bounds and in particular strengthen their upper bound. Specifically, for a connected graph $G$ of order $n$, maximum degree $\Delta$ at least $3$, radius ${\rm r}$ at least $1$, we show \begin{eqnarray*} \gamma_e(G) & \geq & \left(\frac{n}{13(\Delta-1)^2}\right)^{\frac{\log_2(\Delta-1)+1}{\log_2^2(\Delta-1)+\log_2(\Delta-1)+1}},\\[3mm] \gamma_e(G) & \leq & 2^{2{\rm r}-2}\mbox{, and }\\[3mm] \gamma_e(G) & \leq & \frac{43}{108}(n+2). \end{eqnarray*}

In this paper we consider the Maximum Independent Set problem (MIS) on $B_1$-EPG graphs. EPG (for Edge intersection graphs of Paths on a Grid) was introduced in ~\cite{edgeintersinglebend} as the class of graphs whose vertices can be represented as simple paths on a rectangular grid so that two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding paths share at least one edge of the underlying grid. The restricted class $B_k$-EPG denotes EPG-graphs where every path has at most $k$ bends. The study of MIS on $B_1$-EPG graphs has been initiated in~\cite{wadsMIS} where authors prove that MIS is NP-complete on $B_1$-EPG graphs, and provide a polynomial $4$-approximation. In this article we study the approximability and the fixed parameter tractability of MIS on $B_1$-EPG. We show that there is no PTAS for MIS on $B_1$-EPG unless P$=$NP, even if there is only one shape of path, and even if each path has its vertical part or its horizontal part of length at most $3$. This is optimal, as we show that if all paths have their horizontal part bounded by a constant, then MIS admits a PTAS. Finally, we show that MIS is FPT in the standard parameterization on $B_1$-EPG restricted to only three shapes of path, and $W_1$-hard on $B_2$-EPG. The status for general $B_1$-EPG (with the four shapes) is left open.

Motivated by frequency assignment in office blocks, we study the chromatic number of the adjacency graph of $3$-dimensional parallelepiped arrangements. In the case each parallelepiped is within one floor, a direct application of the Four-Colour Theorem yields that the adjacency graph has chromatic number at most $8$. We provide an example of such an arrangement needing exactly $8$ colours. We also discuss bounds on the chromatic number of the adjacency graph of general arrangements of $3$-dimensional parallelepipeds according to geometrical measures of the parallelepipeds (side length, total surface or volume).

Given a graph G = (V,E) and a positive integer k, the Proper Interval Completion problem asks whether there exists a set F of at most k pairs of (V \times V)\E such that the graph H = (V,E \cup F) is a proper interval graph. The Proper Interval Completion problem finds applications in molecular biology and genomic research. First announced by Kaplan, Tarjan and Shamir in FOCS '94, this problem is known to be FPT, but no polynomial kernel was known to exist. We settle this question by proving that Proper Interval Completion admits a kernel with at most O(k^5) vertices. Moreover, we prove that a related problem, the so-called Bipartite Chain Deletion problem, admits a kernel with at most O(k^2) vertices, completing a previous result of Guo.

A tournament T=(V,A) is a directed graph in which there is exactly one arc between every pair of distinct vertices. Given a digraph on n vertices and an integer parameter k, the Feedback Arc Set problem asks whether the given digraph has a set of k arcs whose removal results in an acyclic digraph. The Feedback Arc Set problem restricted to tournaments is known as the k-Feedback Arc Set in Tournaments (k-FAST) problem. In this paper we obtain a linear vertex kernel for k-FAST. That is, we give a polynomial time algorithm which given an input instance T to k-FAST obtains an equivalent instance T' on O(k) vertices. In fact, given any fixed e>0, the kernelized instance has at most (2+e)k vertices. Our result improves the previous known bound of O(k^2) on the kernel size for k-FAST. Our kernelization algorithm solves the problem on a subclass of tournaments in polynomial time and uses a known polynomial time approximation scheme for k-FAST.

A graph G=(V,E) is a 3-leaf power iff there exists a tree T whose leaves are V and such that (u,v) is an edge iff u and v are at distance at most 3 in T. The 3-leaf power graph edge modification problems, i.e. edition (also known as the closest 3-leaf power), completion and edge-deletion, are FTP when parameterized by the size of the edge set modification. However polynomial kernel was known for none of these three problems. For each of them, we provide cubic kernels that can be computed in linear time for each of these problems. We thereby answer an open problem first mentioned by Dom, Guo, Huffner and Niedermeier (2005)., Comment: Submitted