Structural Parameterization for Graph Deletion Problems over Data Streams

Abstract

The study of parameterized streaming complexity on graph problems was initiated by Fafianie et al. (MFCS'14) and Chitnis et al. (SODA'15 and SODA'16). Simply put, the main goal is to design streaming algorithms for parameterized problems such that $O\left(f(k)\log^{O(1)}n\right)$ space is enough, where $f$ is an arbitrary computable function depending only on the parameter $k$. However, in the past few years, very few positive results have been established. Most of the graph problems that do have streaming algorithms of the above nature are ones where localized checking is required, like Vertex Cover or Maximum Matching parameterized by the size $k$ of the solution we are seeking. Many important parameterized problems that form the backbone of traditional parameterized complexity are known to require $\Omega(n)$ bits for any streaming algorithm; e.g., Feedback Vertex Set, Even/Odd Cycle Transversal, Triangle Deletion or the more general ${\cal F}$-Subgraph Deletion when parameterized by solution size $k$. Our main conceptual contribution is to overcome the obstacles to efficient parameterized streaming algorithms by utilizing the power of parameterization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in parameterized streaming complexity that considers structural parameters instead of the solution size as a parameter. We focus on the vertex cover size $K$ as the parameter for the parameterized graph deletion problems we consider. At the same time, most of the previous work in parameterized streaming complexity was restricted to the EA (edge arrival) or DEA (dynamic edge arrival) models. In this work, we consider the above mentioned graph deletion problems in the four most well-studied streaming models, i.e., the EA, DEA, VA (vertex arrival) and AL (adjacency list) models.