arXiv subjects

Florent Foucaud

Publications and source records attributed to Florent Foucaud.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Bounds and extremal graphs for total dominating identifying codes

An identifying code $C$ of a graph $G$ is a dominating set of $G$ such that any two distinct vertices of $G$ have distinct closed neighbourhoods within $C$. The smallest size of an identifying code of $G$ is denoted $γ^{\text{ID}}(G)$. When every vertex of $G$ also has a neighbour in $C$, it is said to be a total dominating identifying code of $G$, and the smallest size of a total dominating identifying code of $G$ is denoted by $γ_t^{\text{ID}}(G)$. Extending similar characterizations for identifying codes from the literature, we characterize those graphs $G$ of order $n$ with $γ_t^{\text{ID}}(G)=n$ (the only such connected graph is $P_3$) and $γ_t^{\text{ID}}(G)=n-1$ (such graphs either satisfy $γ^{\text{ID}}(G)=n-1$ or are built from certain such graphs by adding a set of universal vertices, to each of which a private leaf is attached). Then, using bounds from the literature, we remark that any (open and closed) twin-free tree of order $n$ has a total dominating identifying code of size at most $\frac{3n}{4}$. This bound is tight, and we characterize the trees reaching it. Moreover, by a new proof, we show that this bound actually holds for the larger class of all twin-free graphs of girth at least 5. The cycle $C_8$ also attains this bound. We also provide a generalized bound for all graphs of girth at least 5 (possibly with twins). Finally, we relate $γ_t^{\text{ID}}(G)$ to the related parameter $γ^{\text{ID}}(G)$ as well as the location-domination number of $G$ and its variants, providing bounds that are either tight or almost tight.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

Complexity of conjunctive regular path query homomorphisms

A graph database is a digraph whose arcs are labeled with symbols from a fixed alphabet. A regular graph pattern (RGP) is a digraph whose edges are labeled with regular expressions over the alphabet. RGPs model navigational queries for graph databases called conjunctive regular path queries (CRPQs). A match of a CRPQ in the database is witnessed by a special navigational homomorphism of the corresponding RGP to the database. We study the complexity of deciding the existence of a homomorphism between two RGPs. Such homomorphisms model a strong type of containment between the two corresponding CRPQs. We show that this problem can be solved by an EXPTIME algorithm (while general query containmement in this context is EXPSPACE-complete). We also study the problem for restricted RGPs over a unary alphabet, that arise from some applications like XPath or SPARQL. For this case, homomorphism-based CRPQ containment is in NP. We prove that certain interesting cases are in fact polynomial-time solvable.

cs.DB↗

arXiv2023

On graphs coverable by k shortest paths

We show that if the edges or vertices of an undirected graph $G$ can be covered by $k$ shortest paths, then the pathwidth of $G$ is upper-bounded by a single-exponential function of $k$. As a corollary, we prove that the problem Isometric Path Cover with Terminals (which, given a graph $G$ and a set of $k$ pairs of vertices called terminals, asks whether $G$ can be covered by $k$ shortest paths, each joining a pair of terminals) is FPT with respect to the number of terminals. The same holds for the similar problem Strong Geodetic Set with Terminals (which, given a graph $G$ and a set of $k$ terminals, asks whether there exist $\binom{k}{2}$ shortest paths covering $G$, each joining a distinct pair of terminals). Moreover, this implies that the related problems Isometric Path Cover and Strong Geodetic Set (defined similarly but where the set of terminals is not part of the input) are in XP with respect to parameter $k$.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2022

Complexity and Approximation for Discriminating and Identifying Code Problems in Geometric Setups

We study geometric variations of the discriminating code problem. In the \emph{discrete version} of the problem, a finite set of points $P$ and a finite set of objects $S$ are given in $\mathbb{R}^d$. The objective is to choose a subset $S^* \subseteq S$ of minimum cardinality such that for each point $p_i \in P$, the subset $S_i^* \subseteq S^*$ covering $p_i$ satisfies $S_i^*\neq \emptyset$, and each pair $p_i,p_j \in P$, $i \neq j$, we have $S_i^* \neq S_j^*$. In the \emph{continuous version} of the problem, the solution set $S^*$ can be chosen freely among a (potentially infinite) class of allowed geometric objects. In the 1-dimensional case ($d=1$), the points in $P$ are placed on a horizontal line $L$, and the objects in $S$ are finite-length line segments aligned with $L$ (called intervals). We show that the discrete version of this problem is NP-complete. This is somewhat surprising as the continuous version is known to be polynomial-time solvable. Still, for the 1-dimensional discrete version, we design a polynomial-time $2$-approximation algorithm. We also design a PTAS for both discrete and continuous versions in one dimension, for the restriction where the intervals are all required to have the same length. We then study the 2-dimensional case ($d=2$) for axis-parallel unit square objects. We show that both continuous and discrete versions are NP-complete, and design polynomial-time approximation algorithms that produce $(16\cdot OPT+1)$-approximate and $(64\cdot OPT+1)$-approximate solutions respectively, using rounding of suitably defined integer linear programming problems. We show that the identifying code problem for axis-parallel unit square intersection graphs (in $d=2$) can be solved in the same manner as for the discrete version of the discriminating code problem for unit square objects.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2022

The RED-BLUE SEPARATION problem on graphs

We introduce the Red-Blue Separation problem on graphs, where we are given a graph $G=(V,E)$ whose vertices are colored either red or blue, and we want to select a (small) subset $S \subseteq V$, called red-blue separating set, such that for every red-blue pair of vertices, there is a vertex $s \in S$ whose closed neighborhood contains exactly one of the two vertices of the pair. We study the computational complexity of Red-Blue Separation, in which one asks whether a given red-blue colored graph has a red-blue separating set of size at most a given integer. We prove that the problem is NP-complete even for restricted graph classes. We also show that it is always approximable in polynomial time within a factor of $2\ln n$, where $n$ is the input graph's order. In contrast, for triangle-free graphs and for graphs of bounded maximum degree, we show that Red-Blue Separation is solvable in polynomial time when the size of the smaller color class is bounded by a constant. However, on general graphs, we show that the problem is $W[2]$-hard even when parameterized by the solution size plus the size of the smaller color class. We also consider the problem Max Red-Blue Separation where the coloring is not part of the input. Here, given an input graph $G$, we want to determine the smallest integer $k$ such that, for every possible red-blue coloring of $G$, there is a red-blue separating set of size at most $k$. We derive tight bounds on the cardinality of an optimal solution of Max Red-Blue Separation, showing that it can range from logarithmic in the graph order, up to the order minus one. We also give bounds with respect to related parameters. For trees however we prove an upper bound of two-thirds the order. We then show that Max Red-Blue Separation is NP-hard, even for graphs of bounded maximum degree, but can be approximated in polynomial time within a factor of $O(\ln^2 n)$.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2022

Revisiting and improving upper bounds for identifying codes

An identifying code $C$ of a graph $G$ is a dominating set of $G$ such that any two distinct vertices of $G$ have distinct closed neighbourhoods within $C$. These codes have been widely studied for over two decades. We give an improvement over all the best known upper bounds, some of which have stood for over 20 years, for identifying codes in trees, proving the upper bound of $(n+\ell)/2$, where $n$ is the order and $\ell$ is the number of leaves (pendant vertices) of the graph. In addition to being an improvement in size, the new upper bound is also an improvement in generality, as it actually holds for bipartite graphs having no twins (pairs of vertices with the same closed or open neighbourhood) of degree 2 or greater. We also show that the bound is tight for an infinite class of graphs and that there are several structurally different families of trees attaining the bound. We then use our bound to derive a tight upper bound of $2n/3$ for twin-free bipartite graphs of order $n$, and characterize the extremal examples, as $2$-corona graphs of bipartite graphs. This is best possible, as there exist twin-free graphs, and trees with twins, that need $n-1$ vertices in any of their identifying codes. We also generalize the existing upper bound of $5n/7$ for graphs of order $n$ and girth at least 5 when there are no leaves, to the upper bound $\frac{5n+2\ell}{7}$ when leaves are allowed. This is tight for the $7$-cycle $C_7$ and for all stars.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Monitoring the edges of a graph using distances

We introduce a new graph-theoretic concept in the area of network monitoring. A set $M$ of vertices of a graph $G$ is a \emph{distance-edge-monitoring set} if for every edge $e$ of $G$, there is a vertex $x$ of $M$ and a vertex $y$ of $G$ such that $e$ belongs to all shortest paths between $x$ and $y$. We denote by $dem(G)$ the smallest size of such a set in $G$. The vertices of $M$ represent distance probes in a network modeled by $G$; when the edge $e$ fails, the distance from $x$ to $y$ increases, and thus we are able to detect the failure. It turns out that not only we can detect it, but we can even correctly locate the failing edge. In this paper, we initiate the study of this new concept. We show that for a nontrivial connected graph $G$ of order $n$, $1\leq dem(G)\leq n-1$ with $dem(G)=1$ if and only if $G$ is a tree, and $dem(G)=n-1$ if and only if it is a complete graph. We compute the exact value of $dem$ for grids, hypercubes, and complete bipartite graphs. Then, we relate $dem$ to other standard graph parameters. We show that $demG)$ is lower-bounded by the arboricity of the graph, and upper-bounded by its vertex cover number. It is also upper-bounded by twice its feedback edge set number. Moreover, we characterize connected graphs $G$ with $dem(G)=2$. Then, we show that determining $dem(G)$ for an input graph $G$ is an NP-complete problem, even for apex graphs. There exists a polynomial-time logarithmic-factor approximation algorithm, however it is NP-hard to compute an asymptotically better approximation, even for bipartite graphs of small diameter and for bipartite subcubic graphs. For such instances, the problem is also unlikey to be fixed parameter tractable when parameterized by the solution size.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2022

Smallest $C_{2l+1}$-critical graphs of odd-girth $2k+1$

Given a graph $H$, a graph $G$ is called $H$-critical if $G$ does not admit a homomorphism to $H$, but any proper subgraph of $G$ does. Observe that $K_{k-1}$-critical graphs are the standard $k$-(colour)-critical graphs. We consider questions of extremal nature previously studied for $k$-critical graphs and generalize them to $H$-critical graphs. After complete graphs, the next natural case to consider for $H$ is that of the odd-cycles. Thus, given integers $\ell$ and $k$, $\ell\geq k$, we ask: what is the smallest order of a $C_{2\ell +1}$-critical graph of odd-girth at least $2k+1$? Denoting this value by $η(k,C_{2\ell+1})$, we show that $η(k,C_{2\ell+1})=4k$ for $1\leq\ell\leq k\leq\frac{3\ell+i-3}{2}$ ($2k=i\bmod 3$) and that $η(3,C_5)=15$. The latter means that a smallest graph of odd-girth~$7$ not admitting a homomorphism to the $5$-cycle is of order~$15$. Computational work shows that there are exactly eleven such graphs on $15$~vertices of which only two are $C_5$-critical.

math.CO↗

arXiv2022

Graph modification for edge-coloured and signed graph homomorphism problems: parameterized and classical complexity

We study the complexity of graph modification problems with respect to homomorphism-based colouring properties of edge-coloured graphs. A homomorphism from edge-coloured graph $G$ to edge-coloured graph $H$ is a vertex-mapping from $G$ to $H$ that preserves adjacencies and edge-colours. We consider the property of having a homomorphism to a fixed edge-coloured graph $H$. The question we are interested in is: given an edge-coloured graph $G$, can we perform $k$ graph operations so that the resulting graph admits a homomorphism to $H$? The operations we consider are vertex-deletion, edge-deletion and switching (an operation that permutes the colours of the edges incident to a given vertex). Switching plays an important role in the theory of signed graphs, that are 2-edge-coloured graphs whose colours are the signs $+$ and $-$. We denote the corresponding problems (parameterized by $k$) by VD-$H$-COLOURING, ED-$H$-COLOURING and SW-$H$-COLOURING. These problems generalise $H$-COLOURING (to decide if an input graph admits a homomorphism to a fixed target $H$). Our main focus is when $H$ is an edge-coloured graph with at most two vertices, a case that is already interesting as it includes problems such as VERTEX COVER, ODD CYCLE RANSVERSAL and EDGE BIPARTIZATION. For such a graph $H$, we give a P/NP-c complexity dichotomy for VD-$H$-COLOURING, ED-$H$-COLOURING and SW-$H$-COLOURING. We then address their parameterized complexity. We show that VD-$H$-COLOURING and ED-$H$-COLOURING for all such $H$ are FPT. In contrast, already for some $H$ of order 3, unless P=NP, none of the three problems is in XP, since 3-COLOURING is NP-c. We show that SW-$H$-COLOURING is different: there are three 2-edge-coloured graphs $H$ of order 2 for which SW-$H$-COLOURING is W-hard, and assuming the ETH, admits no algorithm in time $f(k)n^{o(k)}$. For the other cases, SW-$H$-COLOURING is FPT.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2021

Extended Double Covers and Homomorphism Bounds of Signed Graphs

A \emph{signed graph} $(G, σ)$ is a graph $G$ together with an assignment $σ:E(G) \rightarrow \{+,-\}$. The notion of homomorphisms of signed graphs is a relatively new development which allows to strengthen the connection between the theories of minors and colorings of graphs. Following this thread of thoughts, we investigate this connection through the notion of Extended Double Covers of signed graphs, which was recently introduced by Naserasr, Sopena and Zaslavsky. More precisely, we say that a signed graph $(B, π)$ is planar-complete if any planar signed graph $(G, σ)$ which verifies the conditions of a basic no-homomorphism lemma with respect to $(B,π)$ admits a homomorphism to $(B, π)$. Our conjecture then is that: if $(B, π)$ is a connected signed graph with no positive odd closed walk which is planar-complete, then its Extended Double Cover ${\rm EDC}(B,π)$ is also planar-complete. We observe that this conjecture largely extends the Four-Color Theorem and is strongly connected to a number of conjectures in extension of this famous theorem. A given (signed) graph $(B,π)$ \emph{bounds} a class of (signed) graphs if every (signed) graph in the class admits a homomorphism to $(B,π)$. In this work, and in support of our conjecture, we prove it for the subclass of signed $K_4$-minor free graphs. Inspired by this development, we then investigate the problem of finding optimal homomorphism bounds for subclasses of signed $K_4$-minor-free graphs with restrictions on their girth and we present nearly optimal solutions. Our work furthermore leads to the development of weighted signed graphs.

math.CO↗

arXiv2021

Characterizing extremal graphs for open neighbourhood location-domination

An open neighbourhood locating-dominating set is a set $S$ of vertices of a graph $G$ such that each vertex of $G$ has a neighbour in $S$, and for any two vertices $u,v$ of $G$, there is at least one vertex in $S$ that is a neighbour of exactly one of $u$ and $v$. We characterize those graphs whose only open neighbourhood locating-dominating set is the whole set of vertices. More precisely, we prove that these graphs are exactly the graphs all whose connected components are half-graphs (a half-graph is a special bipartite graph with both parts of the same size, where each part can be ordered so that the open neighbourhoods of consecutive vertices differ by exactly one vertex). This corrects a wrong characterization from the literature.

math.CO↗

arXiv2021

Complexity and algorithms for injective edge-coloring in graphs

An injective $k$-edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors, i.e. integers in $\{1, \ldots , k\}$, to the edges of $G$ such that any two edges each incident with one distinct endpoint of a third edge, receive distinct colors. The problem of determining whether such a $k$-coloring exists is called k-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING. We show that 3-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING is NP-complete, even for triangle-free cubic graphs, planar subcubic graphs of arbitrarily large girth, and planar bipartite subcubic graphs of girth~6. 4-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING remains NP-complete for cubic graphs. For any $k\geq 45$, we show that k-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING remains NP-complete even for graphs of maximum degree at most $5\sqrt{3k}$. In contrast with these negative results, we show that \InjPbName{k} is linear-time solvable on graphs of bounded treewidth. Moreover, we show that all planar bipartite subcubic graphs of girth at least~16 are injectively $3$-edge-colorable. In addition, any graph of maximum degree at most $\sqrt{k/2}$ is injectively $k$-edge-colorable.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2021

Exact square coloring of subcubic planar graphs

We study the exact square chromatic number of subcubic planar graphs. An exact square coloring of a graph G is a vertex-coloring in which any two vertices at distance exactly 2 receive distinct colors. The smallest number of colors used in such a coloring of G is its exact square chromatic number, denoted $χ^{\sharp 2}(G)$. This notion is related to other types of distance-based colorings, as well as to injective coloring. Indeed, for triangle-free graphs, exact square coloring and injective coloring coincide. We prove tight bounds on special subclasses of planar graphs: subcubic bipartite planar graphs and subcubic K 4-minor-free graphs have exact square chromatic number at most 4. We then turn our attention to the class of fullerene graphs, which are cubic planar graphs with face sizes 5 and 6. We characterize fullerene graphs with exact square chromatic number 3. Furthermore, supporting a conjecture of Chen, Hahn, Raspaud and Wang (that all subcubic planar graphs are injectively 5-colorable) we prove that any induced subgraph of a fullerene graph has exact square chromatic number at most 5. This is done by first proving that a minimum counterexample has to be on at most 80 vertices and then computationally verifying the claim for all such graphs.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2020

Domination and location in twin-free digraphs

A dominating set $D$ in a digraph is a set of vertices such that every vertex is either in $D$ or has an in-neighbour in $D$. A dominating set $D$ of a digraph is locating-dominating if every vertex not in $D$ has a unique set of in-neighbours within $D$. The location-domination number $γ_L(G)$ of a digraph $G$ is the smallest size of a locating-dominating set of $G$. We investigate upper bounds on $γ_L(G)$ in terms of the order of $G$. We characterize those digraphs with location-domination number equal to the order or the order minus one. Such digraphs always have many twins: vertices with the same (open or closed) in-neighbourhoods. Thus, we investigate the value of $γ_L(G)$ in the absence of twins and give a general method for constructing small locating-dominating sets by the means of special dominating sets. In this way, we show that for every twin-free digraph $G$ of order $n$, $γ_L(G)\leq\frac{4n}{5}$ holds, and there exist twin-free digraphs $G$ with $γ_L(G)=\frac{2(n-2)}{3}$. If moreover $G$ is a tournament or is acyclic, the bound is improved to $γ_L(G)\leq\lceil\frac{n}{2}\rceil$, which is tight in both cases.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

On the complexity of Broadcast Domination and Multipacking in digraphs

We study the complexity of the two dual covering and packing distance-based problems Broadcast Domination and Multipacking in digraphs. A dominating broadcast of a digraph $D$ is a function $f:V(D)\to\mathbb{N}$ such that for each vertex $v$ of $D$, there exists a vertex $t$ with $f(t)>0$ having a directed path to $v$ of length at most $f(t)$. The cost of $f$ is the sum of $f(v)$ over all vertices $v$. A multipacking is a set $S$ of vertices of $D$ such that for each vertex $v$ of $D$ and for every integer $d$, there are at most $d$ vertices from $S$ within directed distance at most $d$ from $v$. The maximum size of a multipacking of $D$ is a lower bound to the minimum cost of a dominating broadcast of $D$. Let Broadcast Domination denote the problem of deciding whether a given digraph $D$ has a dominating broadcast of cost at most $k$, and Multipacking the problem of deciding whether $D$ has a multipacking of size at least $k$. It is known that Broadcast Domination is polynomial-time solvable for the class of all undirected graphs (that is, symmetric digraphs), while polynomial-time algorithms for Multipacking are known only for a few classes of undirected graphs. We prove that Broadcast Domination and Multipacking are both NP-complete for digraphs, even for planar layered acyclic digraphs of small maximum degree. Moreover, when parameterized by the solution cost/solution size, we show that the problems are W-hard. We also show that Broadcast Domination is FPT on acyclic digraphs, and that it does not admit a polynomial kernel for such inputs, unless the polynomial hierarchy collapses to its third level. In addition, we show that both problems are FPT when parameterized by the solution cost/solution size together with the maximum out-degree, and as well, by the vertex cover number. Finally, we give for both problems polynomial-time algorithms for some subclasses of acyclic digraphs.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Hardness and approximation for the geodetic set problem in some graph classes

In this paper, we study the computational complexity of finding the \emph{geodetic number} of graphs. A set of vertices $S$ of a graph $G$ is a \emph{geodetic set} if any vertex of $G$ lies in some shortest path between some pair of vertices from $S$. The \textsc{Minimum Geodetic Set (MGS)} problem is to find a geodetic set with minimum cardinality. In this paper, we prove that solving the \textsc{MGS} problem is NP-hard on planar graphs with a maximum degree six and line graphs. We also show that unless $P=NP$, there is no polynomial time algorithm to solve the \textsc{MGS} problem with sublogarithmic approximation factor (in terms of the number of vertices) even on graphs with diameter $2$. On the positive side, we give an $O\left(\sqrt[3]{n}\log n\right)$-approximation algorithm for the \textsc{MGS} problem on general graphs of order $n$. We also give a $3$-approximation algorithm for the \textsc{MGS} problem on the family of solid grid graphs which is a subclass of planar graphs.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2019

Complexity of planar signed graph homomorphisms to cycles

We study homomorphism problems of signed graphs. A signed graph is an undirected graph where each edge is given a sign, positive or negative. An important concept for signed graphs is the operation of switching at a vertex, which is to change the sign of each incident edge. A homomorphism of a graph is a vertex-mapping that preserves the adjacencies; in the case of signed graphs, we also preserve the edge-signs. Special homomorphisms of signed graphs, called s-homomorphisms, have been studied. In an s-homomorphism, we allow, before the mapping, to perform any number of switchings on the source signed graph. This concept has been extensively studied, and a full complexity classification (polynomial or NP-complete) for s-homomorphism to a fixed target signed graph has recently been obtained. Such a dichotomy is not known when we restrict the input graph to be planar (not even for non-signed graph homomorphisms). We show that deciding whether a (non-signed) planar graph admits a homomorphism to the square $C_t^2$ of a cycle with $t\ge 6$, or to the circular clique $K_{4t/(2t-1)}$ with $t\ge2$, are NP-complete problems. We use these results to show that deciding whether a planar signed graph admits an s-homomorphism to an unbalanced even cycle is NP-complete. (A cycle is unbalanced if it has an odd number of negative edges). We deduce a complete complexity dichotomy for the planar s-homomorphism problem with any signed cycle as a target. We also study further restrictions involving the maximum degree and the girth of the input signed graph. We prove that planar s-homomorphism problems to signed cycles remain NP-complete even for inputs of maximum degree~$3$ (except for the case of unbalanced $4$-cycles, for which we show this for maximum degree~$4$). We also show that for a given integer $g$, the problem for signed bipartite planar inputs of girth $g$ is either trivial or NP-complete.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Broadcast domination and multipacking: bounds and the integrality gap

The dual concepts of coverings and packings are well studied in graph theory. Coverings of graphs with balls of radius one and packings of vertices with pairwise distances at least two are the well-known concepts of domination and independence, respectively. In 2001, Erwin introduced \emph{broadcast domination} in graphs, a covering problem using balls of various radii, where the cost of a ball is its radius. The minimum cost of a dominating broadcast in a graph $G$ is denoted by $γ_b(G)$. The dual (in the sense of linear programming) of broadcast domination is \emph{multipacking}: a multipacking is a set $P \subseteq V(G)$ such that for any vertex $v$ and any positive integer $r$, the ball of radius $r$ around $v$ contains at most $r$ vertices of $P$. The maximum size of a multipacking in a graph $G$ is denoted by $mp(G)$. Naturally, $mp(G) \leq γ_b(G)$. Hartnell and Mynhardt proved that $γ_b(G) \leq 3 mp(G) - 2$ (whenever $mp(G)\geq 2$). In this paper, we show that $γ_b(G) \leq 2mp(G) + 3$. Moreover, we conjecture that this can be improved to $γ_b(G) \leq 2mp(G)$ (which would be sharp).

math.CO↗