The Partial Visibility Representation Extension Problem

Abstract

For a graph $G$, a function $ψ$ is called a \emph{bar visibility representation} of $G$ when for each vertex $v \in V(G)$, $ψ(v)$ is a horizontal line segment (\emph{bar}) and $uv \in E(G)$ iff there is an unobstructed, vertical, $\varepsilon$-wide line of sight between $ψ(u)$ and $ψ(v)$. Graphs admitting such representations are well understood (via simple characterizations) and recognizable in linear time. For a directed graph $G$, a bar visibility representation $ψ$ of $G$, additionally, puts the bar $ψ(u)$ strictly below the bar $ψ(v)$ for each directed edge $(u,v)$ of $G$. We study a generalization of the recognition problem where a function $ψ'$ defined on a subset $V'$ of $V(G)$ is given and the question is whether there is a bar visibility representation $ψ$ of $G$ with $ψ(v) = ψ'(v)$ for every $v \in V'$. We show that for undirected graphs this problem together with closely related problems are \NP-complete, but for certain cases involving directed graphs it is solvable in polynomial time.