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We construct a hereditary class of triangle-free graphs with unbounded chromatic number, in which every non-trivial graph either contains a pair of non-adjacent twins or has an edgeless vertex cutset of size at most two. This answers in the negative a question of Chudnovsky, Penev, Scott, and Trotignon. The class is the hereditary closure of a family of (triangle-free) twincut graphs $G_1, G_2, \ldots$ such that $G_k$ has chromatic number $k$. We also show that every twincut graph is edge-critical.

We show that every graph with twin-width $t$ has chromatic number $O(\omega ^{k_t})$ for some integer $k_t$, where $\omega$ denotes the clique number. This extends a quasi-polynomial bound from Pilipczuk and Soko{\l}owski and generalizes a result for bounded clique-width graphs by Bonamy and Pilipczuk. The proof uses the main ideas of the quasi-polynomial approach, with a different treatment of the decomposition tree. In particular, we identify two types of extensions of a class of graphs: the delayed-extension (which preserves polynomial $\chi$-boundedness) and the right-extension (which preserves polynomial $\chi$-boundedness under bounded twin-width condition). Our main result is that every bounded twin-width graph is a delayed extension of simpler classes of graphs, each expressed as a bounded union of right extensions of lower twin-width graphs.

Dallard, Milani\v{c}, and \v{S}torgel [arXiv '22] ask if for every class excluding a fixed planar graph $H$ as an induced minor, Maximum Independent Set can be solved in polynomial time, and show that this is indeed the case when $H$ is any planar complete bipartite graph, or the 5-vertex clique minus one edge, or minus two disjoint edges. A positive answer would constitute a far-reaching generalization of the state-of-the-art, when we currently do not know if a polynomial-time algorithm exists when $H$ is the 7-vertex path. Relaxing tractability to the existence of a quasipolynomial-time algorithm, we know substantially more. Indeed, quasipolynomial-time algorithms were recently obtained for the $t$-vertex cycle, $C_t$ [Gartland et al., STOC '21] and the disjoint union of $t$ triangles, $tC_3$ [Bonamy et al., SODA '23]. We give, for every integer $t$, a polynomial-time algorithm running in $n^{O(t^5)}$ when $H$ is the friendship graph $K_1 + tK_2$ ($t$ disjoint edges plus a vertex fully adjacent to them), and a quasipolynomial-time algorithm running in $n^{O(t^2 \log n)+t^{O(1)}}$ when $H$ is $tC_3 \uplus C_4$ (the disjoint union of $t$ triangles and a 4-vertex cycle). The former extends a classical result on graphs excluding $tK_2$ as an induced subgraph [Alekseev, DAM '07], while the latter extends Bonamy et al.'s result., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures

The dichromatic number of an oriented graph is the minimum size of a partition of its vertices into acyclic induced subdigraphs. We prove that oriented graphs with no induced directed path on six vertices and no triangle have bounded dichromatic number. This is one (small) step towards the general conjecture asserting that for every oriented tree T and every integer k, any oriented graph that does not contain an induced copy of T nor a clique of size k has dichromatic number at most some function of k and T .

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: 10 pages, 1 figure

The independent set reconfiguration problem asks whether one can transform one given independent set of a graph into another, by changing vertices one by one in such a way the intermediate sets remain independent. Extremal problems on independent sets are widely studied: for example, it is well known that an $n$-vertex graph has at most $3^{n/3}$ maximum independent sets (and this is tight). This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of maximum possible length of a shortest reconfiguration sequence for independent sets of size $k$ among all $n$-vertex graphs. We give a tight bound for $k=2$. We also provide a subquadratic upper bound (using the hypergraph removal lemma) as well as an almost tight construction for $k=3$. We generalize our results for larger values of $k$ by proving an $n^{2\lfloor k/3 \rfloor}$ lower bound.

We show that every graph with twin-width $t$ has chromatic number $O(ω^{k_t})$ for some integer $k_t$, where $ω$ denotes the clique number. This extends a quasi-polynomial bound from Pilipczuk and Sokołowski and generalizes a result for bounded clique-width graphs by Bonamy and Pilipczuk. The proof uses the main ideas of the quasi-polynomial approach, with a different treatment of the decomposition tree. In particular, we identify two types of extensions of a class of graphs: the delayed-extension (which preserves polynomial $χ$-boundedness) and the right-extension (which preserves polynomial $χ$-boundedness under bounded twin-width condition). Our main result is that every bounded twin-width graph is a delayed extension of simpler classes of graphs, each expressed as a bounded union of right extensions of lower twin-width graphs.

We continue developing the theory around the twin-width of totally ordered binary structures (or equivalently, matrices over a finite alphabet), initiated in the previous paper of the series. We first introduce the notion of parity and linear minors of a matrix, which consists of iteratively replacing consecutive rows or consecutive columns with a linear combination of them. We show that a matrix class (i.e., a set of matrices closed under taking submatrices) has bounded twin-width if and only if its linear-minor closure does not contain all matrices. We observe that the fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm for first-order model checking on structures given with an O(1)-sequence (certificate of bounded twin-width) and the fact that first-order transductions of bounded twin-width classes have bounded twin-width, both established in Twin-width I, extend to first-order logic with modular counting quantifiers. We make explicit a win-win argument obtained as a by-product of Twin-width IV, and somewhat similar to bidimensionality, that we call rank-bidimensionality. This generalizes the seminal work of Guillemot and Marx [SODA '14], which builds on the Marcus-Tardos theorem [JCTA '04]. It works on general matrices (not only on classes of bounded twin-width) and, for example, yields FPT algorithms deciding if a small matrix is a parity or a linear minor of another matrix given in input, or exactly computing the grid or mixed number of a given matrix (i.e., the maximum integer k such that the row set and the column set of the matrix can be partitioned into k intervals, with each of the k² defined cells containing a non-zero entry, or two distinct rows and two distinct columns, respectively). Armed with the above-mentioned extension to modular counting, we show that the twin-width of the product of two conformal matrices A, B (i.e., whose dimensions are such that AB is defined) over a finite field is bounded by a function of the twin-width of A, of B, and of the size of the field. Furthermore, if A and B are n × n matrices of twin-width d over F_q, we show that AB can be computed in time O_{d,q}(n² log n). We finally present an ad hoc algorithm to efficiently multiply two matrices of bounded twin-width, with a single-exponential dependence in the twin-width bound. More precisely, pipelined to observations and results of Pilipczuk et al. [STACS '22], we obtain the following. If the inputs are given in a compact tree-like form (witnessing twin-width at most d), called twin-decomposition of width d, then two n × n matrices A, B over F₂ can be multiplied in time 4^{d+o(d)}n, in the sense that a twin-decomposition of their product AB, with width 2^{d+o(d)}, is output within that time, and each entry of AB can be queried in time O_d(log log n). Furthermore, for every ε > 0, the query time can be brought to constant time O(1/ε) if the running time is increased to near-linear 4^{d+o(d)}n^{1+ε}. Notably, the running time is sublinear (essentially square root) in the number of (non-zero) entries., LIPIcs, Vol. 254, 40th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2023), pages 15:1-15:16

We introduce the notion of delineation. A graph class C is said delineated by twin-width (or simply, delineated) if for every hereditary closure D of a subclass of C, it holds that D has bounded twin-width if and only if D is monadically dependent. An effective strengthening of delineation for a class C implies that tractable FO model checking on C is perfectly understood: On hereditary closures of subclasses D of C, FO model checking on D is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) exactly when D has bounded twin-width. Ordered graphs [BGOdMSTT, STOC '22] and permutation graphs [BKTW, JACM '22] are effectively delineated, while subcubic graphs are not. On the one hand, we prove that interval graphs, and even, rooted directed path graphs are delineated. On the other hand, we observe or show that segment graphs, directed path graphs (with arbitrarily many roots), and visibility graphs of simple polygons are not delineated. In an effort to draw the delineation frontier between interval graphs (that are delineated) and axis-parallel two-lengthed segment graphs (that are not), we investigate the twin-width of restricted segment intersection classes. It was known that (triangle-free) pure axis-parallel unit segment graphs have unbounded twin-width [BGKTW, SODA '21]. We show that K_{t,t}-free segment graphs, and axis-parallel H_t-free unit segment graphs have bounded twin-width, where H_t is the half-graph or ladder of height t. In contrast, axis-parallel H₄-free two-lengthed segment graphs have unbounded twin-width. We leave as an open question whether unit segment graphs are delineated. More broadly, we explore which structures (large bicliques, half-graphs, or independent sets) are responsible for making the twin-width large on the main classes of intersection and visibility graphs. Our new results, combined with the FPT algorithm for first-order model checking on graphs given with O(1)-sequences [BKTW, JACM '22], give rise to a variety of algorithmic win-win arguments. They all fall in the same framework: If p is an FO definable graph parameter that effectively functionally upperbounds twin-width on a class C, then p(G) ⩾ k can be decided in FPT time f(k) ⋅ |V(G)|^O(1). For instance, we readily derive FPT algorithms for k-Ladder on visibility graphs of 1.5D terrains, and k-Independent Set on visibility graphs of simple polygons. This showcases that the theory of twin-width can serve outside of classes of bounded twin-width., LIPIcs, Vol. 249, 17th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2022), pages 9:1-9:18

We characterise the classes of tournaments with tractable first-order model checking. For every hereditary class of tournaments $\mathcal T$, first-order model checking either is fixed parameter tractable, or is AW$[*]$-hard. This dichotomy coincides with the fact that $\mathcal T$ has either bounded or unbounded twin-width, and that the growth of $\mathcal T$ is either at most exponential or at least factorial. From the model-theoretic point of view, we show that NIP classes of tournaments coincide with bounded twin-width. Twin-width is also characterised by three infinite families of obstructions: $\mathcal T$ has bounded twin-width if and only if it excludes one tournament from each family. This generalises results of Bonnet et al. on ordered graphs. The key for these results is a polynomial time algorithm which takes as input a tournament $T$ and compute a linear order $, 28 pages, 5 figures

We establish a list of characterizations of bounded twin-width for hereditary, totally ordered binary structures. This has several consequences. First, it allows us to show that a (hereditary) class of matrices over a finite alphabet either contains at least $n!$ matrices of size $n \times n$, or at most $c^n$ for some constant $c$. This generalizes the celebrated Stanley-Wilf conjecture/Marcus-Tardos theorem from permutation classes to any matrix class over a finite alphabet, answers our small conjecture [SODA '21] in the case of ordered graphs, and with more work, settles a question first asked by Balogh, Bollob\'as, and Morris [Eur. J. Comb. '06] on the growth of hereditary classes of ordered graphs. Second, it gives a fixed-parameter approximation algorithm for twin-width on ordered graphs. Third, it yields a full classification of fixed-parameter tractable first-order model checking on hereditary classes of ordered binary structures. Fourth, it provides a model-theoretic characterization of classes with bounded twin-width., Comment: 53 pages, 18 figures

Twin-width is a recently introduced graph parameter with applications in algorithmics, combinatorics, and finite model theory. For graphs of bounded degree, finiteness of twin-width is preserved by quasi-isometry. Thus, through Cayley graphs, it defines a group invariant. We prove that groups which are abelian, hyperbolic, ordered, solvable, or with polynomial growth, have finite twin-width. Twin-width can be characterised by excluding patterns in the self-action by product of the group elements. Based on this characterisation, we propose a strengthening called uniform twin-width, which is stable under constructions such as group extensions, direct products, and direct limits. The existence of finitely generated groups with infinite twin-width is not immediate. We construct one using a result of Osajda on embeddings of graphs into groups. This implies the existence of a class of finite graphs with unbounded twin-width but containing $2^{O(n)} \cdot n!$ graphs on vertex set $\{1,\dots,n\}$, settling a question asked in a previous work., 33 pages, 7 figures

The dichromatic number of an oriented graph is the minimum size of a partition of its vertices into acyclic induced subdigraphs. We prove that oriented graphs with no induced directed path on six vertices and no triangle have bounded dichromatic number. This is one (small) step towards the general conjecture asserting that for every oriented tree T and every integer k, any oriented graph that does not contain an induced copy of T nor a clique of size k has dichromatic number at most some function of k and T., Comment: 9 pages. Thie version corrects some mistakes on page 2 in the introduction, we were incorrectly citing some of the previous papers on the topic

A graph is $O_k$-free if it does not contain $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint and non-adjacent cycles. We show that Maximum Independent Set and 3-Coloring in $O_k$-free graphs can be solved in quasi-polynomial time. As a main technical result, we establish that "sparse" (here, not containing large complete bipartite graphs as subgraphs) $O_k$-free graphs have treewidth (even, feedback vertex set number) at most logarithmic in the number of vertices. This is proven sharp as there is an infinite family of $O_2$-free graphs without $K_{3,3}$-subgraph and whose treewidth is (at least) logarithmic. Other consequences include that most of the central NP-complete problems (such as Maximum Independent Set, Minimum Vertex Cover, Minimum Dominating Set, Minimum Coloring) can be solved in polynomial time in sparse $O_k$-free graphs, and that deciding the $O_k$-freeness of sparse graphs is polynomial time solvable., Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures. v4: updated intro

We provide a $O(k^2 \mathrm{log} k)$ vertex kernel for cograph edge editing. This improves a cubic kernel found by Guillemot, Havet, Paul and Perez [1] which involved four reduction rules. We generalize one of their rules, based on packing of induced paths of length four, by introducing t-modules, which are modules up to t edge modifications. The key fact is that large t-modules cannot be edited more than t times, and this allows to obtain a near quadratic kernel. The extra $\mathrm{log} k$ factor seems tricky to remove as it is necessary in the combinatorial lemma on trees which is central in our proof. Nevertheless, we think that a quadratic bound should be reachable.

We recently introduced the notion of twin-width, a novel graph invariant, and showed that first-order model checking can be solved in time f(d,k)n for n-vertex graphs given with a witness that the twin-width is at most d, called d-contraction sequence or d-sequence, and formulas of size k [Bonnet et al., FOCS '20]. The inevitable price to pay for such a general result is that f is a tower of exponentials of height roughly k. In this paper, we show that algorithms based on twin-width need not be impractical. We present 2^{O(k)}n-time algorithms for k-Independent Set, r-Scattered Set, k-Clique, and k-Dominating Set when an O(1)-sequence of the graph is given in input. We further show how to solve the weighted version of k-Independent Set, Subgraph Isomorphism, and Induced Subgraph Isomorphism, in the slightly worse running time 2^{O(k log k)}n. Up to logarithmic factors in the exponent, all these running times are optimal, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. Like our FO model checking algorithm, these new algorithms are based on a dynamic programming scheme following the sequence of contractions forward. We then show a second algorithmic use of the contraction sequence, by starting at its end and rewinding it. As an example of such a reverse scheme, we present a polynomial-time algorithm that properly colors the vertices of a graph with relatively few colors, thereby establishing that bounded twin-width classes are χ-bounded. This significantly extends the χ-boundedness of bounded rank-width classes, and does so with a very concise proof. It readily yields a constant approximation for Max Independent Set on K_t-free graphs of bounded twin-width, and a 2^{O(OPT)}-approximation for Min Coloring on bounded twin-width graphs. We further observe that a constant approximation for Max Independent Set on bounded twin-width graphs (but arbitrarily large clique number) would actually imply a PTAS. The third algorithmic use of twin-width builds on the second one. Playing the contraction sequence backward, we show that bounded twin-width graphs can be edge-partitioned into a linear number of bicliques, such that both sides of the bicliques are on consecutive vertices, in a fixed vertex ordering. This property is trivially shared with graphs of bounded average degree. Given that biclique edge-partition, we show how to solve the unweighted Single-Source Shortest Paths and hence All-Pairs Shortest Paths in time O(n log n) and time O(n² log n), respectively. In sharp contrast, even Diameter does not admit a truly subquadratic algorithm on bounded twin-width graphs, unless the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. The fourth algorithmic use of twin-width builds on the so-called versatile tree of contractions [Bonnet et al., SODA '21], a branching and more robust witness of low twin-width. We present constant-approximation algorithms for Min Dominating Set and related problems, on bounded twin-width graphs, by showing that the integrality gap is constant. This is done by going down the versatile tree and stopping accordingly to a problem-dependent criterion. At the reached node, a greedy approach yields the desired approximation., LIPIcs, Vol. 198, 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021), pages 35:1-35:20

Inspired by a width invariant on permutations defined by Guillemot and Marx, Bonnet, Kim, Thomass\'e, and Watrigant introduced the twin-width of graphs, which is a parameter describing its structural complexity. This invariant has been further extended to binary structures, in several (basically equivalent) ways. We prove that a class of binary relational structures (that is: edge-colored partially directed graphs) has bounded twin-width if and only if it is a first-order transduction of a~proper permutation class. As a by-product, we show that every class with bounded twin-width contains at most $2^{O(n)}$ pairwise non-isomorphic $n$-vertex graphs.

International audience; Let T be a triangulation of an orientable surface Σ of genus g. A cycle C of T is splitting if it cuts Σ into two noncontractible parts Σ 1 and Σ 2 , with respective genus 0 < g 1 ≤ g 2. The splitting cycle C is called balanced if g 1 ≥ g 2 − 1. The complexity of computing a balanced splitting cycle in a given triangulation is open, but seems difficult even for complete triangulations. Our main result in this paper is to show that one can rule out in polynomial time the existence of a balanced splitting cycle when the triangulation is ε-far to have one. Implementing this algorithm, we show that large Ringel and Youngs triangulations (for instance on 22.363 vertices) have no balanced splitting cycle, the only limitation being the size of the input rather than the computation time.

International audience; Maximum Independent Set (MIS for short) is in general graphs the paradigmatic W [1]-hard problem. In stark contrast, polynomial-time algorithms are known when the inputs are restricted to structured graph classes such as, for instance, perfect graphs (which includes bipartite graphs, chordal graphs, co-graphs, etc.) or claw-free graphs. In this paper, we introduce some variants of co-graphs with parameterized noise, that is, graphs that can be made into disjoint unions or complete sums by the removal of a certain number of vertices and the addition/deletion of a certain number of edges per incident vertex, both controlled by the parameter. We give a series of FPT Turing-reductions on these classes and use them to make some progress on the parameterized complexity of MIS in H-free graphs. We show that for every fixed t 1, MIS is FPT in P (1, t, t, t)-free graphs, where P (1, t, t, t) is the graph obtained by substituting all the vertices of a four-vertex path but one end of the path by cliques of size t. We also provide randomized FPT algorithms in dart-free graphs and in cricket-free graphs. This settles the FPT/W[1]-hard dichotomy for five-vertex graphs H. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Graph algorithms analysis; Theory of computation → Fixed parameter tractability

A \emph{hole} in a graph is an induced cycle with at least 4 vertices. A graph is \emph{even-hole-free} if it does not contain a hole on an even number of vertices. A \emph{pyramid} is a graph made of three chordless paths $P_1 = a \dots b_1$, $P_2 = a \dots b_2$, $P_3 = a \dots b_3$ of length at least~1, two of which have length at least 2, vertex-disjoint except at $a$, and such that $b_1b_2b_3$ is a triangle and no edges exist between the paths except those of the triangle and the three edges incident with $a$. We give a polynomial time algorithm to compute a maximum weighted independent set in a even-hole-free graph that contains no pyramid as an induced subgraph. Our result is based on a decomposition theorem and on bounding the number of minimal separators. All our results hold for a slightly larger class of graphs, the class of (square, prism, pyramid, theta, even wheel)-free graphs.

The Barat-Thomassen conjecture, recently proved in [Bensmail et al.: A proof of the Barat-Thomassen conjecture. J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 124:39-55, 2017.], asserts that for every tree T, there is a constant $c_T$ such that every $c_T$-edge connected graph G with number of edges (size) divisible by the size of T admits an edge partition into copies of T (a T-decomposition). In this paper, we investigate in which case the connectivity requirement can be dropped to a minimum degree condition. For instance, it was shown in [Bensmail et al.: Edge-partitioning a graph into paths: beyond the Barat-Thomassen conjecture. arXiv:1507.08208] that when T is a path with k edges, there is a constant $d_k$ such that every 24-edge connected graph G with size divisible by k and minimum degree $d_k$ has a T-decomposition. We show in this paper that when F is a coprime forest (the sizes of its components being a coprime set of integers), any graph G with sufficiently large minimum degree has an F-decomposition provided that the size of F divides the size of G (no connectivity is required). A natural conjecture asked in [Bensmail et al.: Edge-partitioning a graph into paths: beyond the Barat-Thomassen conjecture. arXiv:1507.08208] asserts that for a fixed tree T, any graph G of size divisible by the size of T with sufficiently high minimum degree has a T-decomposition, provided that G is sufficiently highly connected in terms of the maximal degree of T. The case of maximum degree 2 is answered by paths. We provide a counterexample to this conjecture in the case of maximum degree 3.

In 1985, Mader conjectured the existence of a function f such that every digraph with minimum out-degree at least f (k) contains a subdivision of the transitive tournament of order k. This conjecture is still completely open, as the existence of f (5) remains unknown. In this paper, we show that if D is an oriented path, or an in-arborescence (i.e., a tree with all edges oriented towards the root) or the union of two directed paths from x to y and a directed path from y to x, then every digraph with minimum out-degree large enough contains a subdivision of D. Additionally, we study Mader's conjecture considering another graph parameter. The dichromatic number of a digraph D is the smallest integer k such that D can be partitioned into k acyclic subdigraphs. We show that any digraph with dichromatic number greater than 4 m (n − 1) contains every digraph with n vertices and m arcs as a subdivision.

The Bar\'at-Thomassen conjecture asserts that for every tree $T$ on $m$ edges, there exists a constant $k_T$ such that every $k_T$-edge-connected graph with size divisible by $m$ can be edge-decomposed into copies of $T$. So far this conjecture has only been verified when $T$ is a path or when $T$ has diameter at most 4. Here we prove the full statement of the conjecture., Comment: 16 pages

The Bar\'at-Thomassen conjecture asserts that there is a function $f$ such that for every fixed tree $T$ with $t$ edges, every graph which is $f(t)$-edge-connected with its number of edges divisible by $t$ has a partition of its edges into copies of $T$. This has been proved in the case of paths of length $2^k$ by Thomassen, and recently shown to be true for all paths by Botler, Mota, Oshiro and Wakabayashi. Our goal in this paper is to propose an alternative proof of the path case with a weaker hypothesis: Namely, we prove that there is a function $f$ such that every $24$-edge-connected graph with minimum degree $f(t)$ has an edge-partition into paths of length $t$ whenever $t$ divides the number of edges. We also show that $24$ can be dropped to $4$ when the graph is eulerian.

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph. A $k$-neighborhood in $G$ is a set of vertices consisting of all the vertices at distance at most $k$ from some vertex of $G$. The hypergraph on vertex set $V$ which edge set consists of all the $k$-neighborhoods of $G$ for all $k$ is the neighborhood hypergraph of $G$. Our goal in this paper is to investigate the complexity of a graph in terms of its neighborhoods. Precisely, we define the distance VC-dimension of a graph $G$ as the maximum taken over all induced subgraphs $G'$ of $G$ of the VC-dimension of the neighborhood hypergraph of $G'$. For a class of graphs, having bounded distance VC-dimension both generalizes minor closed classes and graphs with bounded clique-width. Our motivation is a result of Chepoi, Estellon and Vax\`es asserting that every planar graph of diameter $2\ell$ can be covered by a bounded number of balls of radius $\ell$. In fact, they obtained the existence of a function $f$ such that every set $\cal F$ of balls of radius $\ell$ in a planar graph admits a hitting set of size $f(\nu)$ where $\nu$ is the maximum number of pairwise disjoint elements of $\cal F$. Our goal is to generalize the proof of Chepoi, Estellon and Vax\`es with the unique assumption of bounded distance VC-dimension of neighborhoods. In other words, the set of balls of fixed radius in a graph with bounded distance VC-dimension has the Erd\H{o}s-P\'osa property.

Answering a question of Kalai and Meshulam, we prove that graphs without induced cycles of length $3k$ have bounded chromatic number. This implies the very first case of a much broader question asserting that every graph with large chromatic number induces a graph $H$ such that the sum of the Betti numbers of the independence complex of $H$ is also large., 13 pages

Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal conjectured that, for every graph $H$, there exists a constant $c_H$ such that every graph $G$ on $n$ vertices which does not contain any induced copy of $H$ has a clique or a stable set of size $n^{c_H}$. We prove that for every $k$, there exists $c_k>0$ such that every graph $G$ on $n$ vertices not inducing a cycle of length at least $k$ nor its complement contains a clique or a stable set of size $n^{c_k}$., Comment: 6 pages, submitted

International audience; Let G=(V,E) be a graph on n vertices and R be a set of pairs of vertices in V called requests. A multicut is a subset F of E such that every request xy of R is cut by F, i.e. every xy-path of G intersects F. We show that there exists an O(f(k)nc) algorithm which decides if there exists a multicut of size at most k. In other words, the Multicut problem parameterized by the solution size k is Fixed-Parameter Tractable.

International audience; Let G=(V,E) be a graph on n vertices and R be a set of pairs of vertices in V called requests. A multicut is a subset F of E such that every request xy of R is cut by F, i.e. every xy-path of G intersects F. We show that there exists an O(f(k)nc) algorithm which decides if there exists a multicut of size at most k. In other words, the Multicut problem parameterized by the solution size k is Fixed-Parameter Tractable.

We develop a technique that we call Conflict Packing in the context of kernelization, obtaining (and improving) several polynomial kernels for editing problems on dense instances. We apply this technique on several well-studied problems: Feedback Arc Set in (Bipartite) Tournaments, Dense Rooted Triplet Inconsistency and Betweenness in Tournaments. For the former, one is given a (bipartite) tournament $T = (V,A)$ and seeks a set of at most $k$ arcs whose reversal in $T$ results in an acyclic (bipartite) tournament. While a linear vertex-kernel is already known for the first problem, using the Conflict Packing allows us to find a so-called safe partition, the central tool of the kernelization algorithm in, with simpler arguments. For the case of bipartite tournaments, the same technique allows us to obtain a quadratic vertex-kernel. Again, such a kernel was already known to exist, using the concept of so-called bimodules. We believe however that providing an unifying technique to cope with such problems is interesting. Regarding Dense Rooted Triplet Inconsistency, one is given a set of vertices $V$ and a dense collection $\mathcal{R}$ of rooted binary trees over three vertices of $V$ and seeks a rooted tree over $V$ containing all but at most $k$ triplets from $\mathcal{R}$. As a main consequence of our technique, we prove that the Dense Rooted Triplet Inconsistency problem admits a linear vertex-kernel. This result improves the best known bound of $O(k^2)$ vertices for this problem. Finally, we use this technique to obtain a linear vertex-kernel for Betweenness in Tournaments, where one is given a set of vertices $V$ and a dense collection $\mathcal{R}$ of so-called betweenness triplets and seeks a linear ordering of the vertices containing all but at most $k$ triplets from $\mathcal{R}$.

Let f (k) be the smallest integer such that every f (k)-chromatic digraph contains every oriented tree of order k. Burr proved that f (k) ≤ (k − 1)^2 and conjectured f (k) = 2n − 2. In this paper, we give some sufficient conditions for an n-chromatic digraphs to contains some oriented tree. In particular, we show that every acyclic n-chromatic digraph contains every oriented tree of order n. We also show that f (k) ≤ k^2/2 − k/2 + 1. Finally, we consider the existence of antidirected trees in digraphs. We prove that every antidirected tree of order k is containedinevery(5k−9)-chromaticdigraph. Weconjecturethatif|E(D)|>(k−2)|V(D)|,thenthedigraph D contains every antidirected tree of order k. This generalizes Burr's conjecture for antidirected trees and the celebrated Erdo ̋s-So ́s Conjecture. We give some evidences for our conjecture to be true.

In the parameterized problem MaxLin2-AA[$k$], we are given a system with variables x_1,...,x_n consisting of equations of the form Product_{i in I}x_i = b, where x_i,b in {-1, 1} and I is a nonempty subset of {1,...,n}, each equation has a positive integral weight, and we are to decide whether it is possible to simultaneously satisfy equations of total weight at least W/2+k, where W is the total weight of all equations and k is the parameter (if k=0, the possibility is assured). We show that MaxLin2-AA[k] has a kernel with at most O(k^2 log k) variables and can be solved in time 2^{O(k log k)}(nm)^{O(1)}. This solves an open problem of Mahajan et al. (2006). The problem Max-r-Lin2-AA[k,r] is the same as MaxLin2-AA[k] with two differences: each equation has at most r variables and r is the second parameter. We prove a theorem on Max-$r$-Lin2-AA[k,r] which implies that Max-r-Lin2-AA[k,r] has a kernel with at most (2k-1)r variables, improving a number of results including one by Kim and Williams (2010). The theorem also implies a lower bound on the maximum of a function f that maps {-1,1}^n to the set of reals and whose Fourier expansion (which is a multilinear polynomial) is of degree r. We show applicability of the lower bound by giving a new proof of the Edwards-Erdös bound (each connected graph on n vertices and m edges has a bipartite subgraph with at least m/2 +(n-1)/4 edges) and obtaining a generalization.

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph on $n$ vertices and $R$ be a set of pairs of vertices in $V$ called \emph{requests}. A \emph{multicut} is a subset $F$ of $E$ such that every request $xy$ of $R$ is cut by $F$, \i.e. every $xy$-path of $G$ intersects $F$. We show that there exists an $O(f(k)n^c)$ algorithm which decides if there exists a multicut of size at most $k$. In other words, the \M{} problem parameterized by the solution size $k$ is Fixed-Parameter Tractable. The proof extends to vertex multicuts.

We show that for every connected graph $G$ of diameter $\ge 3$, the graph $G^3$ has average degree $\ge 7/4 \delta(G)$. We also provide an example showing that this bound is best possible. This resolves a question of Hegarty \cite{PH}.

The Vapnik-\v{C}ervonenkis dimension is a complexity measure of set-systems, or hypergraphs. Its application to graphs is usually done by considering the sets of neighborhoods of the vertices (cf. Alon et al. (2006) and Chepoi, Estellon, and Vaxes (2007)), hence providing a set-system. But the graph structure is lost in the process. The aim of this paper is to introduce the notion of paired VC-dimension, a generalization of VC-dimension to set-systems endowed with a graph structure, hence a collection of pairs of subsets. The classical VC-theory is generally used in combinatorics to bound the transversality of a hypergraph in terms of its fractional transversality and its VC-dimension. Similarly, we bound the chromatic number in terms of fractional transversality and paired VC-dimension. This approach turns out to be very useful for a class of problems raised by Erd\H{o}s and Simonovits (1973) asking for H-free graphs with minimum degree at least cn and arbitrarily high chromatic number, where H is a fixed graph and c a positive constant. We show how the usual VC-dimension gives a short proof of the fact that triangle-free graphs with minimum degree at least n/3 have bounded chromatic number, where $n$ is the number of vertices. Using paired VC-dimension, we prove that if the chromatic number of $H$-free graphs with minimum degree at least cn is unbounded for some positive c, then it is unbounded for all c

International audience; A graph parameter $\pi$ has {\it polynomial kernelization} if there exists an algorithm which has input a pair $(G,k)$ where $G$ is a graph of size $n$ and $k$ is an integer and outputs $(G',k')$ where $\pi(G)\leq k$ iff $\pi(G')\leq k'$, and $G'$ has size polynomial in $k$. Moreover the running time of the algorithm is $O(n^c)$ for some constant $c$. Roughly speaking, there exists an efficient preprocess of the instance $(G,k)$ which compress it into a instance of size polynomial in $k$. For example Vertex Cover in graphs can be kernelized to size $2k$, Feedback Vertex Set to size $4k2$, etc. The goal is to find a minimum size kernel. The design of kernelization algorithms heavily relies on combinatorial optimization tools applied to a substructure called {\it crown decomposition}. I will present some algorithms based on matchings, convex embeddings, hypergraphic matroids, $A$-disjoint paths,...

International audience; Branchwidth of Graphs and Matroids were introduced by Robertson and Seymour in their Graph Minor X paper. In 2002, Geelen, Gerards, Robertson and Whittle asked whether the branchwidth of a bridgeless graph is equal to the branchwidth of its cycle matroid. With Frederic Mazoit, we give a positive answer to this question. A straightforward corollary being that the branchwidth of a planar bridgeless graph is equal to the branchwidth of its dual.

International audience; See pdf

International audience; Answering a question Kajitani \emph{et al} and Wiedemann, we prove that if $B_1,\ldots,B_k$ are bases of a matroid of rank~$r$, then the list of $k\cdot r$ elements of these bases has a cyclic ordering in which every cyclic interval of~$r$ elements is a base. The following particular case of this question was already known: If an $n$-vertex graph $G$ is the (edge) union of two spanning trees, the edges of $G$ can be cyclically enumerated in such a way that every cyclic interval of $n-1$ edges is a tree. We therefore extend this result for more than two trees, and for general bases of matroids. Althought this result would suggest the introduction of some stronger exchange axiom (the existence of a linear, instead of cyclic, ordering indeed follows from the usual exchange axiom), it turns out that the proof is based on a fractional approach. Indeed for matroids, the fractional chromatic number is equal to the circular chromatic number. The proof of this result, conjectured by Gonçalves, turns out to be the key of the existence of cyclic orderings. We will conclude this talk by a discussion on open problems in the area, focusing on two conjectures of Rota and Gabow.

A {\it $(p,1)$-total labelling} of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a total coloring $L$ from $V\cup E$ into $\{0,\dots ,l\}$ such that $|L(v)-L(e)|\geq p$ whenever an edge $e$ is incident to a vertex $v$. The minimum $l$ for which $G$ admits a $(p,1)$-total labelling is denoted by $\lambda_p(G)$. The case $p=1$ corresponds to the usual notion of total colouring, which is NP-hard to calculate even for cubic bipartite graphs~\cite{MDSA94}. We assume $p\geq 2$ in this paper. It is easy to show that $\lambda_p(G)\geq \Delta +p-1$, where $\Delta$ is the maximum degree of $G$. Moreover, when $G$ is bipartite, $\Delta +p$ is an upper bound for $\lambda_p(G)$, leaving only two possible values. In this paper, we completely settle the computational complexity of deciding whether $\lambda_p(G)$ is equal to $\Delta +p-1$ or to $\Delta +p$ when $G$ is bipartite. This is trivial when $\Delta \leq p$, polynomial when $\Delta =3$ and $p=2$, and NP-complete in the remaining cases.

Hoàng-Reed conjecture asserts that every digraph $D$ has a collection $\cal C$ of circuits $C_1,\dots,C_{\delta ^+}$, where $\delta ^+$ is the minimum outdegree of $D$, such that the circuits of $\cal C$ have a forest-like structure. Formally, $|V(C_i)\cap (V(C_1)\cup \dots \cup V(C_{i-1}))|\leq 1$, for all $i=2,\dots ,\delta^+$. We verify this conjecture for the class of tournaments.

Answering a question of Geelen, Gerards, Robertson and Whittle, we prove that the branchwidth of a bridgeless graph is equal to the branch- width of its cycle matroid. Our proof is based on branch-decompositions of hypergraph.

We show that every oriented path of order $n\geq4$ with two blocks is contained in every $n$-chromatic digraph.

We study the approximability of the Maximum Independent Set (MIS) problem in $H$-free graphs (that is, graphs which do not admit $H$ as an induced subgraph). As one motivation we investigate the following conjecture: for every fixed graph $H$, there exists a constant $\delta > 0$ such that MIS can be $n^{1 - \delta}$-approximated in $H$-free graphs, where $n$ denotes the number of vertices of the input graph. We first prove that a constructive version of the celebrated Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture implies ours. We then prove that the set of graphs $H$ satisfying our conjecture is closed under the so-called graph substitution. This, together with the known polynomial-time algorithms for MIS in $H$-free graphs (e.g. $P_6$-free and fork-free graphs), implies that our conjecture holds for many graphs $H$ for which the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture is still open. We then focus on improving the constant $\delta$ for some graph classes: we prove that the classical Local Search algorithm provides an $OPT^{1-\frac{1}{t}}$-approximation in $K_{t,t}$-free graphs (hence a $\sqrt{OPT}$-approximation in $C_4$-free graphs), and, while there is a simple $\sqrt{n}$-approximation in triangle-free graphs, it cannot be improved to $n^{\frac{1}{4}-\varepsilon}$ for any $\varepsilon > 0$ unless $NP \subseteq BPP$. More generally, we show that there is a constant $c$ such that MIS in graphs of girth $\gamma$ cannot be $n^{\frac{c}{\gamma}}$-approximated. Up to a constant factor in the exponent, this matches the ratio of a known approximation algorithm by Monien and Speckenmeyer, and by Murphy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first strong (i.e., $\Omega(n^\delta)$ for some $\delta > 0$) inapproximability result for Maximum Independent Set in a proper hereditary class.

The chromatic number of a digraph $D$ is the minimum number of acyclic subgraphs covering the vertex set of $D$. A tournament $H$ is a hero if every $H$-free tournament $T$ has chromatic number bounded by a function of $H$. Inspired by the celebrated Erd\H{o}s--Hajnal conjecture, Berger et al. fully characterized the class of heroes in 2013. We extend this framework to dense digraphs: A digraph $H$ is a superhero if every $H$-free digraph $D$ has chromatic number bounded by a function of $H$ and $\alpha(D)$, the independence number of the underlying graph of $D$. We prove here that a digraph is a superhero if and only if it is a hero, and hence characterize all superheroes. This answers a question of Aboulker, Charbit and Naserasr., Comment: 27 pages, 0 figure

We investigate the following conjecture of Hehui Wu: for every tournament S, the class of S-free tournaments has bounded domination number. We show that the conjecture is false in general, but true when S is 2-colourable (that is, its vertex set can be partitioned into two transitive sets); the latter follows by a direct application of VC-dimension. Our goal is to go beyond this; we give a non-2-colourable tournament S that satisfies the conjecture. The key ingredient here (perhaps more interesting than the result itself) is that we overcome the unboundedness of the VC-dimension by showing that the set of shattered sets is sparse.

We propose the use of SPQR-trees as a data structure to encode the 3-connected components of a graph and to obtain linear-time recognition algorithms for graph classes structurally characterized by 2-cutset decompositions.

In this paper, we investigate the relation between the (fractional) domination number of a digraph $G$ and the independence number of its underlying graph, denoted by $\alpha(G)$. More precisely, we prove that every digraph $G$ has fractional domination number at most $2\alpha(G)$, and every directed triangle-free digraph $G$ has domination number at most $\alpha(G)\cdot \alpha(G)!$. The first bound is sharp., Comment: 11 pages, no figure