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We give a new, direct proof of the tetrachotomy classification for the model-checking problem of positive equality-free logic parameterised by the model. The four complexity classes are Logspace, NP-complete, co-NP-complete and Pspace-complete. The previous proof of this result relied on notions from universal algebra and core-like structures called U-X-cores. This new proof uses only relations, and works for infinite structures also in the distinction between Logspace and NP-hard under Turing reductions. For finite domains, the membership in NP and co-NP follows from a simple argument, which breaks down already over an infinite set with a binary relation. We develop some interesting new algorithms to solve NP and co-NP membership for a variety of infinite structures. We begin with those first-order definable in (Q;=), the so-called equality languages, then move to those first-order definable in (Q;<), the so-called temporal languages. However, it is first-order expansions of the Random Graph (V,E) that provide the most interesting examples. In all of these cases, the derived classification is a tetrachotomy between Logspace, NP-complete, co-NP-complete and Pspace-complete.

A recent paper describes a framework for studying the computational complexity of graph problems on monotone classes, that is those omitting a set of graphs as a subgraph. If the problems lie in the framework, and many do, then the computational complexity can be described for all monotone classes defined by a finite set of omitted subgraphs. It is known that certain homomorphism problems, e.g. $C_5$-Colouring, do not sit in the framework. By contrast, we show that the more general problem of Graph Homomorphism does sit in the framework. The original framework had examples where hard versus easy were NP-complete versus P, or at least quadratic versus almost linear. We give the first example of a problem in the framework such that hardness is in the polynomial hierarchy above NP. Considering a variant of the colouring game as studied by Bodlaender, we show that with the restriction of bounded alternation, the list version of this problem is contained in the framework. The hard cases are $\Pi_{2k}^\mathrm{P}$-complete and the easy cases are in P. The cases in P comprise those classes for which the pathwidth is bounded. Bodlaender explains that Sequential $3$-Colouring Construction Game is in P on classes with bounded vertex separation number, which coincides with bounded pathwidth on unordered graphs. However, these graphs are ordered with a playing order for the two players, which corresponds to a prefix pattern in a quantified formula. We prove that Sequential $3$-Colouring Construction Game is Pspace-complete on some class of bounded pathwidth, using a celebrated result of Atserias and Oliva. We consider several locally constrained variants of the homomorphism problem. Like $C_5$-Colouring, none of these is in the framework. However, when we consider the bounded-degree restrictions, we prove that each of these problems is in our framework.

We study Steiner Forest on $H$-subgraph-free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain some fixed graph $H$ as a (not necessarily induced) subgraph. We are motivated by a recent framework that completely characterizes the complexity of many problems on $H$-subgraph-free graphs. However, in contrast to e.g. the related Steiner Tree problem, Steiner Forest falls outside this framework. Hence, the complexity of Steiner Forest on $H$-subgraph-free graphs remained tantalizingly open. In this paper, we make significant progress towards determining the complexity of Steiner Forest on $H$-subgraph-free graphs. Our main results are four novel polynomial-time algorithms for different excluded graphs $H$ that are central to further understand its complexity. Along the way, we study the complexity of Steiner Forest for graphs with a small $c$-deletion set, that is, a small set $S$ of vertices such that each component of $G-S$ has size at most $c$. Using this parameter, we give two noteworthy algorithms that we later employ as subroutines. First, we prove Steiner Forest is FPT parameterized by $|S|$ when $c=1$ (i.e. the vertex cover number). Second, we prove Steiner Forest is polynomial-time solvable for graphs with a 2-deletion set of size at most 2. The latter result is tight, as the problem is NP-complete for graphs with a 3-deletion set of size 2.

For any finite set $\mathcal{H} = \{H_1,\ldots,H_p\}$ of graphs, a graph is $\mathcal{H}$-subgraph-free if it does not contain any of $H_1,\ldots,H_p$ as a subgraph. In recent work, meta-classifications have been studied: these show that if graph problems satisfy certain prescribed conditions, their complexity is determined on classes of $\mathcal{H}$-subgraph-free graphs. We continue this work and focus on problems that have polynomial-time solutions on classes that have bounded treewidth or maximum degree at most~$3$ and examine their complexity on $H$-subgraph-free graph classes where $H$ is a connected graph. With this approach, we obtain comprehensive classifications for (Independent) Feedback Vertex Set, Connected Vertex Cover, Colouring and Matching Cut. This resolves a number of open problems. We highlight that, to establish that Independent Feedback Vertex Set belongs to this collection of problems, we first show that it can be solved in polynomial time on graphs of maximum degree $3$. We demonstrate that, with the exception of the complete graph on four vertices, each graph in this class has a minimum size feedback vertex set that is also an independent set.

For a fixed set ${\cal H}$ of graphs, a graph $G$ is ${\cal H}$-subgraph-free if $G$ does not contain any $H \in {\cal H}$ as a (not necessarily induced) subgraph. A recently proposed framework gives a complete classification on ${\cal H}$-subgraph-free graphs (for finite sets ${\cal H}$) for problems that are solvable in polynomial time on graph classes of bounded treewidth, NP-complete on subcubic graphs, and whose NP-hardness is preserved under edge subdivision. While a lot of problems satisfy these conditions, there are also many problems that do not satisfy all three conditions and for which the complexity in ${\cal H}$-subgraph-free graphs is unknown. We study problems for which only the first two conditions of the framework hold (they are solvable in polynomial time on classes of bounded treewidth and NP-complete on subcubic graphs, but NP-hardness is not preserved under edge subdivision). In particular, we make inroads into the classification of the complexity of four such problems: Hamilton Cycle, $k$-Induced Disjoint Paths, $C_5$-Colouring and Star $3$-Colouring. Although we do not complete the classifications, we show that the boundary between polynomial time and NP-complete differs among our problems and also from problems that do satisfy all three conditions of the framework, in particular when we forbid certain subdivisions of the ``H''-graph (the graph that looks like the letter ``H''). Hence, we exhibit a rich complexity landscape among problems for ${\cal H}$-subgraph-free graph classes.

For any particular class of graphs, algorithms for computational problems restricted to the class often rely on structural properties that depend on the specific problem at hand. This begs the question if a large set of such results can be explained by some common problem conditions. We propose such conditions for $HH$-subgraph-free graphs. For a set of graphs $HH$, a graph $G$ is $HH$-subgraph-free if $G$ does not contain any of graph from $H$ as a subgraph. Our conditions are easy to state. A graph problem must be efficiently solvable on graphs of bounded treewidth, computationally hard on subcubic graphs, and computational hardness must be preserved under edge subdivision of subcubic graphs. Our meta-classification says that if a graph problem satisfies all three conditions, then for every finite set $HH$, it is ``efficiently solvable'' on $HH$-subgraph-free graphs if $HH$ contains a disjoint union of one or more paths and subdivided claws, and is ``computationally hard'' otherwise. We illustrate the broad applicability of our meta-classification by obtaining a dichotomy between polynomial-time solvability and NP-completeness for many well-known partitioning, covering and packing problems, network design problems and width parameter problems. For other problems, we obtain a dichotomy between almost-linear-time solvability and having no subquadratic-time algorithm (conditioned on some hardness hypotheses). The proposed framework thus gives a simple pathway to determine the complexity of graph problems on $HH$-subgraph-free graphs. This is confirmed even more by the fact that along the way, we uncover and resolve several open questions from the literature.

We show that Edge Multiway Cut (also called Multiterminal Cut) and Node Multiway Cut are NP-complete on graphs of maximum degree $3$ (also known as subcubic graphs). This improves on a previous degree bound of $11$. Our NP-completeness result holds even for subcubic graphs that are planar., Comment: Appeared in Proceedings of SWAT 2024

We study the complexity of infinite-domain constraint satisfaction problems: our basic setting is that a complexity classification for the CSPs of first-order expansions of a structure $\mathfrak A$ can be transferred to a classification of the CSPs of first-order expansions of another structure $\mathfrak B$. We exploit a product of structures (the algebraic product) that corresponds to the product of the respective polymorphism clones and present a complete complexity classification of the CSPs for first-order expansions of the $n$-fold algebraic power of $(\mathbb{Q};<)$. This is proved by various algebraic and logical methods in combination with knowledge of the polymorphisms of the tractable first-order expansions of $(\mathbb{Q};<)$ and explicit descriptions of the expressible relations in terms of syntactically restricted first-order formulas. By combining our classification result with general classification transfer techniques, we obtain surprisingly strong new classification results for highly relevant formalisms such as Allen's Interval Algebra, the $n$-dimensional Block Algebra, and the Cardinal Direction Calculus, even if higher-arity relations are allowed. Our results confirm the infinite-domain tractability conjecture for classes of structures that have been difficult to analyse with older methods. For the special case of structures with binary signatures, the results can be substantially strengthened and tightly connected to Ord-Horn formulas; this solves several longstanding open problems from the AI literature.

Paths $P^1,\ldots,P^k$ in a graph $G=(V,E)$ are mutually induced if any two distinct $P^i$ and $P^j$ have neither common vertices nor adjacent vertices. For a fixed integer $k$, the $k$-Induced Disjoint Paths problem is to decide if a graph $G$ with $k$ pairs of specified vertices $(s_i,t_i)$ contains $k$ mutually induced paths $P^i$ such that each $P^i$ starts from $s_i$ and ends at $t_i$. Whereas the non-induced version is well-known to be polynomial-time solvable for every fixed integer $k$, a classical result from the literature states that even $2$-Induced Disjoint Paths is NP-complete. We prove new complexity results for $k$-Induced Disjoint Paths if the input is restricted to $H$-free graphs, that is, graphs without a fixed graph $H$ as an induced subgraph. We compare our results with a complexity dichotomy for Induced Disjoint Paths, the variant where $k$ is part of the input.

Paths $P_1,\ldots, P_k$ in a graph $G=(V,E)$ are mutually induced if any two distinct $P_i$ and $P_j$ have neither common vertices nor adjacent vertices. The Induced Disjoint Paths problem is to decide if a graph $G$ with $k$ pairs of specified vertices $(s_i,t_i)$ contains $k$ mutually induced paths $P_i$ such that each $P_i$ starts from $s_i$ and ends at $t_i$. This is a classical graph problem that is NP-complete even for $k=2$. We introduce a natural generalization, Induced Disjoint Connected Subgraphs: instead of connecting pairs of terminals, we must connect sets of terminals. We give almost-complete dichotomies of the computational complexity of both problems for H-free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain some fixed graph H as an induced subgraph. Finally, we give a complete classification of the complexity of the second problem if the number k of terminal sets is fixed, that is, not part of the input.

For a fixed integer, the $k$-Colouring problem is to decide if the vertices of a graph can be coloured with at most $k$ colours for an integer $k$, such that no two adjacent vertices are coloured alike. A graph $G$ is $H$-free if $G$ does not contain $H$ as an induced subgraph. It is known that for all $k\geq 3$, the $k$-Colouring problem is NP-complete for $H$-free graphs if $H$ contains an induced claw or cycle. The case where $H$ contains a cycle follows from the known result that the problem is NP-complete even for graphs of arbitrarily large fixed girth. We examine to what extent the situation may change if in addition the input graph has bounded diameter.

Let A be an idempotent algebra on a finite domain. By mediating between results of Chen and Zhuk, we argue that if A satisfies the polynomially generated powers property (PGP) and B is a constraint language invariant under A (that is, in Inv(A)), then QCSP(B) is in NP. In doing this we study the special forms of PGP, switchability and collapsibility, in detail, both algebraically and logically, addressing various questions such as decidability on the way. We then prove a complexity-theoretic converse in the case of infinite constraint languages encoded in propositional logic, that if Inv(A) satisfies the exponentially generated powers property (EGP), then QCSP(Inv(A)) is co-NP-hard. Since Zhuk proved that only PGP and EGP are possible, we derive a full dichotomy for the QCSP, justifying what we term the Revised Chen Conjecture. This result becomes more significant now the original Chen Conjecture is known to be false. Switchability was introduced by Chen as a generalisation of the already-known collapsibility. For three-element domain algebras A that are switchable and omit a G-set, we prove that, for every finite subset D of Inv(A), Pol(D) is collapsible. The significance of this is that, for QCSP on finite structures (over a three-element domain), all QCSP tractability (in P) explained by switchability is already explained by collapsibility., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1701.04086, arXiv:1501.04558, arXiv:1510.06298

The well-known Disjoint Paths problem is to decide if a graph contains k pairwise disjoint paths, each connecting a different terminal pair from a set of k distinct pairs. We determine, with an exception of two cases, the complexity of the Disjoint Paths problem for $H$-free graphs. If $k$ is fixed, we obtain the $k$-Disjoint Paths problem, which is known to be polynomial-time solvable on the class of all graphs for every $k \geq 1$. The latter does no longer hold if we need to connect vertices from terminal sets instead of terminal pairs. We completely classify the complexity of $k$-Disjoint Connected Subgraphs for $H$-free graphs, and give the same almost-complete classification for Disjoint Connected Subgraphs for $H$-free graphs as for Disjoint Paths.

A natural way of increasing our understanding of NP-complete graph problems is to restrict the input to a special graph class. Classes of $H$-free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain some graph $H$ as an induced subgraph, have proven to be an ideal testbed for such a complexity study. However, if the forbidden graph $H$ contains a cycle or claw, then these problems often stay NP-complete. A recent complexity study on the $k$-Colouring problem shows that we may still obtain tractable results if we also bound the diameter of the $H$-free input graph. We continue this line of research by initiating a complexity study on the impact of bounding the diameter for a variety of classical vertex partitioning problems restricted to $H$-free graphs. We prove that bounding the diameter does not help for Independent Set, but leads to new tractable cases for problems closely related to 3-Colouring. That is, we show that Near-Bipartiteness, Independent Feedback Vertex Set, Independent Odd Cycle Transversal, Acyclic 3-Colouring and Star 3-Colouring are all polynomial-time solvable for chair-free graphs of bounded diameter. To obtain these results we exploit a new structural property of 3-colourable chair-free graphs.

We give a complexity dichotomy for the Quantified Constraint Satisfaction Problem QCSP(H) when H is a reflexive tournament. It is well-known that reflexive tournaments can be split into a sequence of strongly connected components H_1,...,H_n so that there exists an edge from every vertex of H_i to every vertex of H_j if and only if i

We examine the effect of bounding the diameter for well-studied variants of the Colouring problem. A colouring is acyclic, star, or injective if any two colour classes induce a forest, star forest or disjoint union of vertices and edges, respectively. The corresponding decision problems are Acyclic Colouring, Star Colouring and Injective Colouring. The last problem is also known as $L(1,1)$-Labelling and we also consider the framework of $L(a,b)$-Labelling. We prove a number of (almost-)complete complexity classifications. In particular, we show that for graphs of diameter at most $d$, Acyclic $3$-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable if $d\leq 2$ but NP-complete if $d\geq 4$, and Star $3$-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable if $d\leq 3$ but NP-complete for $d\geq 8$. As far as we are aware, Star $3$-Colouring is the first problem that exhibits a complexity jump for some $d\geq 3$. Our third main result is that $L(1,2)$-Labelling is NP-complete for graphs of diameter $2$; we relate the latter problem to a special case of Hamiltonian Path.

We prove that QCSP$(\mathbb{N};x=y\rightarrow y=z)$ is PSpace-complete, settling a question open for more than ten years. This completes the complexity classification for the QCSP over equality languages as a trichotomy between Logspace, NP-complete and PSpace-complete. We additionally settle the classification for bounded alternation QCSP$(\Gamma)$, for $\Gamma$ an equality language. Such problems are either in Logspace, NP-complete, co-NP-complete or rise in complexity in the Polynomial Hierarchy.

We study the algebraic properties of binary relations whose underlying digraph is smooth, that is has no source or sink. Such objects have been studied as surjective hyper-operations (shops) on the corresponding vertex set, and as binary relations that are defined everywhere and whose inverse is also defined everywhere. In the latter formulation, they have been called multipermutations. We study the lattice structure of sets (monoids) of multipermutations over an n-element domain. Through a Galois connection, these monoids form the algebraic counterparts to sets of relations closed under definability in positive first-order logic without equality. The first side of this Galois connection has been elaborated previously, we show the other side here. We study the property of inverse on multipermutations and how it connects our monoids to groups. We use our results to give a simple dichotomy theorem for the evaluation problem of positive first-order logic without equality on the class of structures whose preserving multipermutations form a monoid closed under inverse. These problems turn out either to be in Logspace or to be Pspace-complete. We go on to study the monoid of all multipermutations on an n-element domain, under usual composition of relations. We characterise its Green relations, regular elements and show that it does not admit a generating set that is polynomial on n.

Stabbing Planes (also known as Branch and Cut) is a proof system introduced very recently which, informally speaking, extends the DPLL method by branching on integer linear inequalities instead of single variables. The techniques known so far to prove size and depth lower bounds for Stabbing Planes are generalizations of those used for the Cutting Planes proof system. For size lower bounds these are established by monotone circuit arguments, while for depth these are found via communication complexity and protection. As such these bounds apply for lifted versions of combinatorial statements. Rank lower bounds for Cutting Planes are also obtained by geometric arguments called protection lemmas. In this work we introduce two new geometric approaches to prove size/depth lower bounds in Stabbing Planes working for any formula: (1) the antichain method, relying on Sperner's Theorem and (2) the covering method which uses results on essential coverings of the boolean cube by linear polynomials, which in turn relies on Alon's combinatorial Nullenstellensatz. We demonstrate their use on classes of combinatorial principles such as the Pigeonhole principle, the Tseitin contradictions and the Linear Ordering Principle. By the first method we prove almost linear size lower bounds and optimal logarithmic depth lower bounds for the Pigeonhole principle and analogous lower bounds for the Tseitin contradictions over the complete graph and for the Linear Ordering Principle. By the covering method we obtain a superlinear size lower bound and a logarithmic depth lower bound for Stabbing Planes proof of Tseitin contradictions over a grid graph.

For $k\geq 1$, a $k$-colouring $c$ of $G$ is a mapping from $V(G)$ to $\{1,2,\ldots,k\}$ such that $c(u)\neq c(v)$ for any two non-adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$. The $k$-Colouring problem is to decide if a graph $G$ has a $k$-colouring. For a family of graphs ${\cal H}$, a graph $G$ is ${\cal H}$-free if $G$ does not contain any graph from ${\cal H}$ as an induced subgraph. Let $C_s$ be the $s$-vertex cycle. In previous work (MFCS 2019) we examined the effect of bounding the diameter on the complexity of $3$-Colouring for $(C_3,\ldots,C_s)$-free graphs and $H$-free graphs where $H$ is some polyad. Here, we prove for certain small values of $s$ that $3$-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable for $C_s$-free graphs of diameter $2$ and $(C_4,C_s)$-free graphs of diameter $2$. In fact, our results hold for the more general problem List $3$-Colouring. We complement these results with some hardness result for diameter $4$.

A graph class is hereditary if it is closed under vertex deletion. We give examples of NP-hard, PSPACE-complete and NEXPTIME-complete problems that become constant-time solvable for every hereditary graph class that is not equal to the class of all graphs.

We consider the L(p,q)-Edge-Labelling problem, which is the edge variant of the well-known L(p,q)-Labelling problem. So far, the complexity of this problem was only partially classified. We complete this study for all nonnegative p and q, by showing that, whenever (p,q) is not (0,0), L(p,q)-Edge-Labelling problem is NP-complete. We do this by proving that for all nonnegative p and q, except p=q=0, there exists an integer k so that L(p,q)-Edge-k-Labelling is NP-complete.

A (proper) colouring is acyclic, star, or injective if any two colour classes induce a forest, star forest or disjoint union of vertices and edges, respectively. Hence, every injective colouring is a star colouring and every star colouring is an acyclic colouring. The corresponding decision problems are Acyclic Colouring, Star Colouring and Injective Colouring (the last problem is also known as $L(1,1)$-Labelling). A classical complexity result on Colouring is a well-known dichotomy for $H$-free graphs (a graph is $H$-free if it does not contain $H$ as an induced subgraph). In contrast, there is no systematic study into the computational complexity of Acyclic Colouring, Star Colouring and Injective Colouring despite numerous algorithmic and structural results that have appeared over the years. We perform such a study and give almost complete complexity classifications for Acyclic Colouring, Star Colouring and Injective Colouring on $H$-free graphs (for each of the problems, we have one open case). Moreover, we give full complexity classifications if the number of colours $k$ is fixed, that is, not part of the input. From our study it follows that for fixed $k$ the three problems behave in the same way, but this is no longer true if $k$ is part of the input. To obtain several of our results we prove stronger complexity results that in particular involve the girth of a graph and the class of line graphs of multigraphs., Comment: Extended abstracts appeared / will appear at ESA 2020 and CSR 2021

We consider Proof Complexity in light of the unusual binary encoding of certain combinatorial principles. We contrast this Proof Complexity with the normal unary encoding in several refutation systems, based on Resolution and Integer Linear Programming. Please consult the article for the full abstract., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1809.02843, arXiv:1911.00403

We consider the Sherali-Adams (SA) refutation system together with the unusual binary encoding of certain combinatorial principles. For the unary encoding of the Pigeonhole Principle and the Least Number Principle, it is known that linear rank is required for refutations in SA, although both admit refutations of polynomial size. We prove that the binary encoding of the Pigeonhole Principle requires exponentially-sized SA refutations, whereas the binary encoding of the Least Number Principle admits logarithmic rank, polynomially-sized SA refutations. We continue by considering a refutation system between SA and Lasserre (Sum-of-Squares). In this system, the Least Number Principle requires linear rank while the Pigeonhole Principle becomes constant rank.

We give a surprising classification for the computational complexity of the Quantified Constraint Satisfaction Problem over a constraint language $\Gamma$, QCSP$(\Gamma)$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite language over $3$ elements which contains all constants. In particular, such problems are either in P, NP-complete, co-NP-complete or PSpace-complete. Our classification refutes the hitherto widely-believed Chen Conjecture. Additionally, we show that already on a 4-element domain there exists a constraint language $\Gamma$ such that QCSP$(\Gamma)$ is DP-complete (from Boolean Hierarchy), and on a 10-element domain there exists a constraint language giving the complexity class $\Theta_{2}^{P}$. Meanwhile, we prove the Chen Conjecture for finite conservative languages $\Gamma$. If the polymorphism clone of $\Gamma$ has the polynomially generated powers (PGP) property then QCSP$(\Gamma)$ is in NP. Otherwise, the polymorphism clone of $\Gamma$ has the exponentially generated powers (EGP) property and QCSP$(\Gamma)$ is PSpace-complete., Comment: Lemma 17 was retracted and the boundary between co-NP-complete and PSpace-complete has shifted

We investigate the size complexity of proofs in $Res(s)$ -- an extension of Resolution working on $s$-DNFs instead of clauses -- for families of contradictions given in the {\em unusual binary} encoding. A motivation of our work is size lower bounds of refutations in Resolution for families of contradictions in the usual unary encoding. Our main interest is the $k$-Clique Principle, whose Resolution complexity is still unknown. Our main result is a $n^{\Omega(k)}$ lower bound for the size of refutations of the binary $k$-Clique Principle in $Res(\lfloor \frac{1}{2}\log \log n\rfloor)$. This improves the result of Lauria, Pudl\'ak et al. [24] who proved the lower bound for Resolution, that is $Res(1)$. Our second lower bound proves that in $RES(s)$ for $s\leq \log^{\frac{1}{2-\epsilon}}(n)$, the shortest proofs of the $BinPHP^m_n$, requires size $2^{n^{1-\delta}}$, for any $\delta>0$. Furthermore we prove that $BinPHP^m_n$ can be refuted in size $2^{\Theta(n)}$ in treelike $Res(1)$, contrasting with the unary case, where $PHP^m_n$ requires treelike $RES(1)$ \ refutations of size $2^{\Omega(n \log n)}$ [9,16]. Furthermore we study under what conditions the complexity of refutations in Resolution will not increase significantly (more than a polynomial factor) when shifting between the unary encoding and the binary encoding. We show that this is true, from unary to binary, for propositional encodings of principles expressible as a $\Pi_2$-formula and involving {\em total variable comparisons}. We then show that this is true, from binary to unary, when one considers the \emph{functional unary encoding}. Finally we prove that the binary encoding of the general Ordering principle $OP$ -- with no total ordering constraints -- is polynomially provable in Resolution.

We study the Constraint Satisfaction Problem CSP(A), where A is first-order definable in (Z;+,1) and contains +. We prove such problems are either in P or NP-complete., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of MFCS 2018

We study formalisms for temporal and spatial reasoning in the modern context of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). We show how questions on the complexity of their subclasses can be solved using existing results via the powerful use of primitive positive (pp) interpretations and pp-homotopy. We demonstrate the methodology by giving a full complexity classification of all constraint languages that are first-order definable in Allen's Interval Algebra and contain the basic relations (s) and (f). In the case of the Rectangle Algebra we answer in the affirmative the old open question as to whether ORD-Horn is a maximally tractable subset among the (disjunctive, binary) relations. We then generalise our results for the Rectangle Algebra to the r-dimensional Block Algebra.

A disconnected cut of a connected graph is a vertex cut that itself also induces a disconnected subgraph. The decision problem whether a graph has a disconnected cut is called Disconnected Cut. This problem is closely related to several homomorphism and contraction problems, and fits in an extensive line of research on vertex cuts with additional properties. It is known that Disconnected Cut is NP-hard on general graphs, while polynomial-time algorithms are known for several graph classes. However, the complexity of the problem on claw-free graphs remained an open question. Its connection to the complexity of the problem to contract a claw-free graph to the 4-vertex cycle $C_4$ led Ito et al. (TCS 2011) to explicitly ask to resolve this open question. We prove that Disconnected Cut is polynomial-time solvable on claw-free graphs, answering the question of Ito et al. The centerpiece of our result is a novel decomposition theorem for claw-free graphs of diameter 2, which we believe is of independent interest and expands the research line initiated by Chudnovsky and Seymour (JCTB 2007-2012) and Hermelin et al. (ICALP 2011). On our way to exploit this decomposition theorem, we characterize how disconnected cuts interact with certain cobipartite subgraphs, and prove two further novel algorithmic results, namely Disconnected Cut is polynomial-time solvable on circular-arc graphs and line graphs.

The Surjective H-Colouring problem is to test if a given graph allows a vertex-surjective homomorphism to a fixed graph H. The complexity of this problem has been well studied for undirected (partially) reflexive graphs. We introduce endo-triviality, the property of a structure that all of its endomorphisms that do not have range of size 1 are automorphisms, as a means to obtain complexity-theoretic classifications of Surjective H-Colouring in the case of reflexive digraphs. Chen [2014] proved, in the setting of constraint satisfaction problems, that Surjective H-Colouring is NP-complete if H has the property that all of its polymorphisms are essentially unary. We give the first concrete application of his result by showing that every endo-trivial reflexive digraph H has this property. We then use the concept of endo-triviality to prove, as our main result, a dichotomy for Surjective H-Colouring when H is a reflexive tournament: if H is transitive, then Surjective H-Colouring is in NL, otherwise it is NP-complete. By combining this result with some known and new results we obtain a complexity classification for Surjective H-Colouring when H is a partially reflexive digraph of size at most 3.

Let A be an idempotent algebra on a finite domain. We combine results of Chen, Zhuk and Carvalho et al. to argue that if A satisfies the polynomially generated powers property (PGP), then QCSP(Inv(A)) is in NP. We then use the result of Zhuk to prove a converse, that if QCSP(Inv(A)) satisfies the exponentially generated powers property (EGP), then QCSP(Inv(A)) is co-NP-hard. Since Zhuk proved that only PGP and EGP are possible, we derive a full dichotomy for the QCSP, justifying the moral correctness of what we term the Chen Conjecture. We examine in closer detail the situation for domains of size three. Over any finite domain, the only type of PGP that can occur is switchability. Switchability was introduced by Chen as a generalisation of the already-known Collapsibility. For three-element domain algebras A that are Switchable, we prove that for every finite subset Delta of Inv(A), Pol(Delta) is Collapsible. The significance of this is that, for QCSP on finite structures (over three-element domain), all QCSP tractability explained by Switchability is already explained by Collapsibility. Finally, we present a three-element domain complexity classification vignette, using known as well as derived results.

Let A be an idempotent algebra on a finite domain. We combine results of Chen 2008 and Zhuk 2015 to argue that if Inv(A) satisfies the polynomially generated powers property (PGP), then QCSP(Inv(A)) is in NP. We then use the result of Zhuk to prove a converse, that if Inv(A) satisfies the exponentially generated powers property (EGP), then QCSP(Inv(A)) is co-NP-hard. Since Zhuk proved that only PGP and EGP are possible, we derive a full dichotomy for the QCSP, justifying the moral correctness of what we term the Chen Conjecture.

For $n\geq 3$, let $(H_n, E)$ denote the $n$-th Henson graph, i.e., the unique countable homogeneous graph with exactly those finite graphs as induced subgraphs that do not embed the complete graph on $n$ vertices. We show that for all structures $\Gamma$ with domain $H_n$ whose relations are first-order definable in $(H_n,E)$ the constraint satisfaction problem for $\Gamma$ is either in P or is NP-complete. We moreover show a similar complexity dichotomy for all structures whose relations are first-order definable in a homogeneous graph whose reflexive closure is an equivalence relation. Together with earlier results, in particular for the random graph, this completes the complexity classification of constraint satisfaction problems of structures first-order definable in countably infinite homogeneous graphs: all such problems are either in P or NP-complete., Comment: 41 pages