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A Hamiltonian path (cycle) in a graph is a path (cycle, respectively) which passes through all of its vertices. The problems of deciding the existence of a Hamiltonian cycle (path) in an input graph are well known to be NP-complete, and restricted classes of graphs which allow for their polynomial-time solutions are intensively investigated. Until very recently the complexity was open even for graphs of independence number at most 3. So far unpublished result of Jedli\v{c}kov\'{a} and Kratochv\'{\i}l [arXiv:2309.09228] shows that for every integer $k$, Hamiltonian path and cycle are polynomial-time solvable in graphs of independence number bounded by $k$. As a companion structural result, we determine explicit obstacles for the existence of a Hamiltonian path for small values of $k$, namely for graphs of independence number 2, 3, and 4. Identifying these obstacles in an input graph yields alternative polynomial-time algorithms for Hamiltonian path and cycle with no large hidden multiplicative constants., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2309.09228

We study a model of machine teaching where the teacher mapping is constructed from a size function on both concepts and examples. The main question in machine teaching is the minimum number of examples needed for any concept, the so-called teaching dimension. A recent paper [7] conjectured that the worst case for this model, as a function of the size of the concept class, occurs when the consistency matrix contains the binary representations of numbers from zero and up. In this paper we prove their conjecture. The result can be seen as a generalization of a theorem resolving the edge isoperimetry problem for hypercubes [12], and our proof is based on a lemma of [10]., Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure

A Hamiltonian path (a Hamiltonian cycle) in a graph is a path (a cycle, respectively) that traverses all of its vertices. The problems of deciding their existence in an input graph are well-known to be NP-complete, in fact, they belong to the first problems shown to be computationally hard when the theory of NP-completeness was being developed. A lot of research has been devoted to the complexity of Hamiltonian path and Hamiltonian cycle problems for special graph classes, yet only a handful of positive results are known. The complexities of both of these problems have been open even for $4K_1$-free graphs, i.e., graphs of independence number at most $3$. We answer this question in the general setting of graphs of bounded independence number. We also consider a newly introduced problem called \emph{Hamiltonian-$\ell$-Linkage} which is related to the notions of a path cover and of a linkage in a graph. This problem asks if given $\ell$ pairs of vertices in an input graph can be connected by disjoint paths that altogether traverse all vertices of the graph. For $\ell=1$, Hamiltonian-1-Linkage asks for existence of a Hamiltonian path connecting a given pair of vertices. Our main result reads that for every pair of integers $k$ and $\ell$, the Hamiltonian-$\ell$-Linkage problem is polynomial time solvable for graphs of independence number not exceeding $k$.

Given a straight-line drawing of a graph, a segment is a maximal set of edges that form a line segment. Given a planar graph $G$, the segment number of $G$ is the minimum number of segments that can be achieved by any planar straight-line drawing of $G$. The line cover number of $G$ is the minimum number of lines that support all the edges of a planar straight-line drawing of $G$. Computing the segment number or the line cover number of a planar graph is $\exists\mathbb{R}$-complete and, thus, NP-hard. We study the problem of computing the segment number from the perspective of parameterized complexity. We show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to each of the following parameters: the vertex cover number, the segment number, and the line cover number. We also consider colored versions of the segment and the line cover number., Comment: The conference version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 31st International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2023)

We study the following problem: Given a set $S$ of $n$ points in the plane, how many edge-disjoint plane straight-line spanning paths of $S$ can one draw? A well known result is that when the $n$ points are in convex position, $\lfloor n/2\rfloor$ such paths always exist, but when the points of $S$ are in general position the only known construction gives rise to two edge-disjoint plane straight-line spanning paths. In this paper, we show that for any set $S$ of at least ten points, no three of which are collinear, one can draw at least three edge-disjoint plane straight-line spanning paths of~$S$. Our proof is based on a structural theorem on halving lines of point configurations and a strengthening of the theorem about two spanning paths, which we find interesting in its own right: if $S$ has at least six points, and we prescribe any two points on the boundary of its convex hull, then the set contains two edge-disjoint plane spanning paths starting at the prescribed points., Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 31st International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2023)

The notion of graph covers is a discretization of covering spaces introduced and deeply studied in topology. In discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science, they have attained a lot of attention from both the structural and complexity perspectives. Nonetheless, disconnected graphs were usually omitted from the considerations with the explanation that it is sufficient to understand coverings of the connected components of the target graph by components of the source one. However, different (but equivalent) versions of the definition of covers of connected graphs generalize to non-equivalent definitions for disconnected graphs. The aim of this paper is to summarize this issue and to compare three different approaches to covers of disconnected graphs: 1) locally bijective homomorphisms, 2) globally surjective locally bijective homomorphisms (which we call \emph{surjective covers}), and 3) locally bijective homomorphisms which cover every vertex the same number of times (which we call \emph{equitable covers}). The standpoint of our comparison is the complexity of deciding if an input graph covers a fixed target graph. We show that both surjective and equitable covers satisfy what certainly is a natural and welcome property: covering a disconnected graph is polynomial-time decidable if such it is for every connected component of the graph, and it is NP-complete if it is NP-complete for at least one of its components. We further argue that the third variant, equitable covers, is the most natural one, namely when considering covers of colored graphs. Moreover, the complexity of surjective and equitable covers differ from the fixed parameter complexity point of view. In line with the current trends in topological graph theory, as well as its applications in mathematical physics, we consider graphs in a very general sense[...], Comment: full version

In 1992 Bir\'{o}, Hujter and Tuza introduced, for every fixed connected graph $H$, the class of $H$-graphs, defined as the intersection graphs of connected subgraphs of some subdivision of $H$. Recently, quite a lot of research has been devoted to understanding the tractability border for various computational problems, such as recognition or isomorphism testing, in classes of $H$-graphs for different graphs $H$. In this work we undertake this research topic, focusing on the recognition problem. Chaplick, T\"{o}pfer, Voborn\'{\i}k, and Zeman showed, for every fixed tree $T$, a polynomial-time algorithm recognizing $T$-graphs. Tucker showed a polynomial time algorithm recognizing $K_3$-graphs (circular-arc graphs). On the other hand, Chaplick at al. showed that recognition of $H$-graphs is $NP$-hard if $H$ contains two different cycles sharing an edge. The main two results of this work narrow the gap between the $NP$-hard and $P$ cases of $H$-graphs recognition. First, we show that recognition of $H$-graphs is $NP$-hard when $H$ contains two different cycles. On the other hand, we show a polynomial-time algorithm recognizing $L$-graphs, where $L$ is a graph containing a cycle and an edge attached to it ($L$-graphs are called lollipop graphs). Our work leaves open the recognition problems of $M$-graphs for every unicyclic graph $M$ different from a cycle and a lollipop. Other results of this work, which shed some light on the cases that remain open, are as follows. Firstly, the recognition of $M$-graphs, where $M$ is a fixed unicyclic graph, admits a polynomial time algorithm if we restrict the input to graphs containing particular holes (hence recognition of $M$-graphs is probably most difficult for chordal graphs). Secondly, the recognition of medusa graphs, which are defined as the union of $M$-graphs, where $M$ runs over all unicyclic graphs, is $NP$-complete.

In line with the recent development in topological graph theory, we are considering undirected graphs that are allowed to contain {\em multiple edges}, {\em loops}, and {\em semi-edges}. A graph is called {\em simple} if it contains no semi-edges, no loops, and no multiple edges. A graph covering projection, also known as a locally bijective homomorphism, is a mapping between vertices and edges of two graphs which preserves incidences and which is a local bijection on the edge-neighborhood of every vertex. This notion stems from topological graph theory, but has also found applications in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. It has been known that for every fixed simple regular graph $H$ of valency greater than 2, deciding if an input graph covers $H$ is NP-complete. Graphs with semi-edges have been considered in this context only recently and only partial results on the complexity of covering such graphs are known so far. In this paper we consider the list version of the problem, called \textsc{List-$H$-Cover}, where the vertices and edges of the input graph come with lists of admissible targets. Our main result reads that the \textsc{List-$H$-Cover} problem is NP-complete for every regular graph $H$ of valency greater than 2 which contains at least one semi-simple vertex (i.e., a vertex which is incident with no loops, with no multiple edges and with at most one semi-edge). Using this result we show the NP-co/polytime dichotomy for the computational complexity of \textsc{ List-$H$-Cover} for cubic graphs., Comment: full version, submited to a journal

We initiate the study of computational complexity of graph coverings, aka locally bijective graph homomorphisms, for {\em graphs with semi-edges}. The notion of graph covering is a discretization of coverings between surfaces or topological spaces, a notion well known and deeply studied in classical topology. Graph covers have found applications in discrete mathematics for constructing highly symmetric graphs, and in computer science in the theory of local computations. In 1991, Abello et al. asked for a classification of the computational complexity of deciding if an input graph covers a fixed target graph, in the ordinary setting (of graphs with only edges). Although many general results are known, the full classification is still open. In spite of that, we propose to study the more general case of covering graphs composed of normal edges (including multiedges and loops) and so-called semi-edges. Semi-edges are becoming increasingly popular in modern topological graph theory, as well as in mathematical physics. They also naturally occur in the local computation setting, since they are lifted to matchings in the covering graph. We show that the presence of semi-edges makes the covering problem considerably harder; e.g., it is no longer sufficient to specify the vertex mapping induced by the covering, but one necessarily has to deal with the edge mapping as well. We show some solvable cases, and completely characterize the complexity of the already very nontrivial problem of covering one- and two-vertex (multi)graphs with semi-edges. Our NP-hardness results are proven for simple input graphs, and in the case of regular two-vertex target graphs, even for bipartite ones. This provides a strengthening of previously known results for covering graphs without semi-edges, and may contribute to better understanding of this notion and its complexity.

Interval graphs, intersection graphs of segments on a real line (intervals), play a key role in the study of algorithms and special structural properties. Unit interval graphs, their proper subclass, where each interval has a unit length, has also been extensively studied. We study mixed unit interval graphs---a generalization of unit interval graphs where each interval has still a unit length, but intervals of more than one type (open, closed, semi-closed) are allowed. This small modification captures a much richer class of graphs. In particular, mixed unit interval graphs are not claw-free, compared to unit interval graphs. Heggernes, Meister, and Papadopoulos defined a representation of unit interval graphs called the bubble model which turned out to be useful in algorithm design. We extend this model to the class of mixed unit interval graphs and demonstrate the advantages of this generalized model by providing a subexponential-time algorithm for solving the MaxCut problem on mixed unit interval graphs. In addition, we derive a polynomial-time algorithm for certain subclasses of mixed unit interval graphs. We point out a substantial mistake in the proof of the polynomiality of the MaxCut problem on unit interval graphs by Boyaci, Ekim, and Shalom (2017). Hence, the time complexity of this problem on unit interval graphs remains open. We further provide a better algorithmic upper-bound on the clique-width of mixed unit interval graphs. Clique-width is one of the most general structural graph parameters, where a large group of natural problems is still solvable in the tractable time when an efficient representation is given. Unfortunately, the exact computation of the clique-width representation is \NP-hard. Therefore, good upper-bounds on clique-width are highly appreciated, in particular, when such a bound is algorithmic., Comment: Accepted to Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2020), 25 pages, 4 figures

We initiate the study of the vertex-ply of straight-line drawings, as a relaxation of the recently introduced ply number. Consider the disks centered at each vertex with radius equal to half the length of the longest edge incident to the vertex. The vertex-ply of a drawing is determined by the vertex covered by the maximum number of disks. The main motivation for considering this relaxation is to relate the concept of ply to proximity drawings. In fact, if we interpret the set of disks as proximity regions, a drawing with vertex-ply number 1 can be seen as a weak proximity drawing, which we call empty-ply drawing. We show non-trivial relationships between the ply number and the vertex-ply number. Then, we focus on empty-ply drawings, proving some properties and studying what classes of graphs admit such drawings. Finally, we prove a lower bound on the ply and the vertex-ply of planar drawings., Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017)

Inferring model parameters from experimental data is a grand challenge in many sciences, including cosmology. This often relies critically on high fidelity numerical simulations, which are prohibitively computationally expensive. The application of deep learning techniques to generative modeling is renewing interest in using high dimensional density estimators as computationally inexpensive emulators of fully-fledged simulations. These generative models have the potential to make a dramatic shift in the field of scientific simulations, but for that shift to happen we need to study the performance of such generators in the precision regime needed for science applications. To this end, in this work we apply Generative Adversarial Networks to the problem of generating weak lensing convergence maps. We show that our generator network produces maps that are described by, with high statistical confidence, the same summary statistics as the fully simulated maps., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

We propose an Eulerian thermodynamically compatible model for ideal plasticity of crystalline solids treated as a material flow through an adjustable crystal lattice space. The model is based on the additive splitting of the velocity gradient into the crystal lattice part and the plastic part. The approach extends a Gibbs-potential-based formulation developed by Rajagopal and Srinivasa for obtaining the response functions for elasto-visco-plastic crystals. The framework makes constitutive assumptions for two scalar functions: the Gibbs potential and the rate of dissipation. The constitutive equations relating the stress to kinematical quantities is then determined using the condition that the rate of dissipation is maximal providing that the relevant constraints are met. The proposed model is applied to three-dimensional micropillar compression, and its features, both on the level of modelling and computer simulations, are discussed and compared to relevant studies.

A graph $G$ covers a graph $H$ if there exists a locally bijective homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. We deal with regular covers where this homomorphism is prescribed by the action of a semiregular subgroup of $\textrm{Aut}(G)$. We study computational aspects of regular covers that have not been addressed before. The decision problem RegularCover asks for given graphs $G$ and $H$ whether $G$ regularly covers $H$. When $|H|=1$, this problem becomes Cayley graph recognition for which the complexity is still unresolved. Another special case arises for $|G| = |H|$ when it becomes the graph isomorphism problem. Our main result is an involved FPT algorithm solving RegularCover for planar inputs $G$ in time $O^*(2^{e(H)/2})$ where $e(H)$ denotes the number of edges of $H$. The algorithm is based on dynamic programming and employs theoretical results proved in a related structural paper. Further, when $G$ is 3-connected, $H$ is 2-connected or the ratio $|G|/|H|$ is an odd integer, we can solve the problem RegularCover in polynomial time. In comparison, B\'ilka et al. (2011) proved that testing general graph covers is NP-complete for planar inputs $G$ when $H$ is a small fixed graph such as $K_4$ or $K_5$., Comment: The journal version of the second part of arXiv:1402.3774. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1402.3774

We introduce and study the $\textit{OrthoSEFE}-k$ problem: Given $k$ planar graphs each with maximum degree 4 and the same vertex set, do they admit an OrthoSEFE, that is, is there an assignment of the vertices to grid points and of the edges to paths on the grid such that the same edges in distinct graphs are assigned the same path and such that the assignment induces a planar orthogonal drawing of each of the $k$ graphs? We show that the problem is NP-complete for $k \geq 3$ even if the shared graph is a Hamiltonian cycle and has sunflower intersection and for $k \geq 2$ even if the shared graph consists of a cycle and of isolated vertices. Whereas the problem is polynomial-time solvable for $k=2$ when the union graph has maximum degree five and the shared graph is biconnected. Further, when the shared graph is biconnected and has sunflower intersection, we show that every positive instance has an OrthoSEFE with at most three bends per edge., Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016)

The cop number of a graph $G$ is the smallest $k$ such that $k$ cops win the game of cops and robber on $G$. We investigate the maximum cop number of geometric intersection graphs, which are graphs whose vertices are represented by geometric shapes and edges by their intersections. We establish the following dichotomy for previously studied classes of intersection graphs: The intersection graphs of arc-connected sets in the plane (called string graphs) have cop number at most 15, and more generally, the intersection graphs of arc-connected subsets of a surface have cop number at most $10g+15$ in case of orientable surface of genus $g$, and at most $10g'+15$ in case of non-orientable surface of Euler genus $g'$. For more restricted classes of intersection graphs, we obtain better bounds: the maximum cop number of interval filament graphs is two, and the maximum cop number of outer-string graphs is between 3 and 4. The intersection graphs of disconnected 2-dimensional sets or of 3-dimensional sets have unbounded cop number even in very restricted settings. For instance, we show that the cop number is unbounded on intersection graphs of two-element subsets of a line, as well as on intersection graphs of 3-dimensional unit balls, of 3-dimensional unit cubes or of 3-dimensional axis-aligned unit segments.

Seidel's switching is a graph operation which makes a given vertex adjacent to precisely those vertices to which it was non-adjacent before, while keeping the rest of the graph unchanged. Two graphs are called switching-equivalent if one can be made isomorphic to the other one by a sequence of switches. Jel\'inkov\'a et al. [DMTCS 13, no. 2, 2011] presented a proof that it is NP-complete to decide if the input graph can be switched to contain at most a given number of edges. There turns out to be a flaw in their proof. We present a correct proof. Furthermore, we prove that the problem remains NP-complete even when restricted to graphs whose density is bounded from above by an arbitrary fixed constant. This partially answers a question of Matou\v{s}ek and Wagner [Discrete Comput. Geom. 52, no. 1, 2014]., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. An extended abstract submitted to COCOON 2016

We study computational complexity of the class of distance-constrained graph labeling problems from the fixed parameter tractability point of view. The parameters studied are neighborhood diversity and clique width. We rephrase the distance constrained graph labeling problem as a specific uniform variant of the Channel Assignment problem and show that this problem is fixed parameter tractable when parameterized by the neighborhood diversity together with the largest weight. Consequently, every $L(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_k)$-labeling problem is FPT when parameterized by the neighborhood diversity, the maximum $p_i$ and $k.$ Our results yield also FPT algorithms for all $L(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_k)$-labeling problems when parameterized by the size of a minimum vertex cover, answering an open question of Fiala et al.: Parameterized complexity of coloring problems: Treewidth versus vertex cover. The same consequence applies on Channel Assignment when the maximum weight is additionally included among the parameters. Finally, we show that the uniform variant of the Channel Assignment problem becomes NP-complete when generalized to graphs of bounded clique width., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figers

A graph $G$ covers a graph $H$ if there exists a locally bijective homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. We deal with regular coverings in which this homomorphism is prescribed by an action of a semiregular subgroup $\Gamma$ of $\textrm{Aut}(G)$; so $H \cong G / \Gamma$. In this paper, we study the behaviour of regular graph covering with respect to 1-cuts and 2-cuts in $G$. We describe reductions which produce a series of graphs $G = G_0,\dots,G_r$ such that $G_{i+1}$ is created from $G_i$ by replacing certain inclusion minimal subgraphs with colored edges. The process ends with a primitive graph $G_r$ which is either 3-connected, or a cycle, or $K_2$. This reduction can be viewed as a non-trivial modification of reductions of Mac Lane (1937), Trachtenbrot (1958), Tutte (1966), Hopcroft and Tarjan (1973), Cuningham and Edmonds (1980), Walsh (1982), and others. A novel feature of our approach is that in each step all essential information about symmetries of $G$ are preserved. A regular covering projection $G_0\to H_0$ induces regular covering projections $G_i \to H_i$ where $H_i$ is the $i$-th quotient reduction of $H_0$. This property allows to construct all possible quotients $H_0$ of $G_0$ from the possible quotients $H_r$ of $G_r$. By applying this method to planar graphs, we give a proof of Negami's Theorem (1988). Our structural results are also used in subsequent papers for regular covering testing when $G$ is a planar graph and for an inductive characterization of the automorphism groups of planar graphs (see Babai (1973) as well)., Comment: The journal version of the first part of arXiv:1402.3774

Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful cosmological probe, with non--Gaussian features potentially containing the majority of the information. We examine constraints on the parameter triplet $(\Omega_m,w,\sigma_8)$ from non-Gaussian features of the weak lensing convergence field, including a set of moments (up to $4^{\rm th}$ order) and Minkowski functionals, using publicly available data from the 154deg$^2$ CFHTLenS survey. We utilize a suite of ray--tracing N-body simulations spanning 91 points in $(\Omega_m,w,\sigma_8)$ parameter space, replicating the galaxy sky positions, redshifts and shape noise in the CFHTLenS catalogs. We then build an emulator that interpolates the simulated descriptors as a function of $(\Omega_m,w,\sigma_8)$, and use it to compute the likelihood function and parameter constraints. We employ a principal component analysis to reduce dimensionality and to help stabilize the constraints with respect to the number of bins used to construct each statistic. Using the full set of statistics, we find $\Sigma_8\equiv\sigma_8(\Omega_m/0.27)^{0.55}=0.75\pm0.04$ (68% C.L.), in agreement with previous values. We find that constraints on the $(\Omega_m,\sigma_8)$ doublet from the Minkowski functionals suffer a strong bias. However, high-order moments break the $(\Omega_m,\sigma_8)$ degeneracy and provide a tight constraint on these parameters with no apparent bias. The main contribution comes from quartic moments of derivatives., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables

We describe the missing class of the hierarchy of mixed unit interval graphs, generated by the intersection graphs of closed, open and one type of half-open intervals of the real line. This class lies strictly between unit interval graphs and mixed unit interval graphs. We give a complete characterization of this new class, as well as quadratic-time algorithms that recognize graphs from this class and produce a corresponding interval representation if one exists. We also mention that the work in arXiv:1405.4247 directly extends to provide a quadratic-time algorithm to recognize the class of mixed unit interval graphs., Comment: 17 pages, 36 figures (three not numbered). v1 Accepted in the TAMC 2015 conference. The recognition algorithm is faster in v2. One graph was not listed in Theorem 7 of v1 of this paper v3 provides a proposition to recognize the mixed unit interval graphs in quadratic time. v4 is a lot clearer

Lensing peaks have been proposed as a useful statistic, containing cosmological information from non-Gaussianities that is inaccessible from traditional two-point statistics such as the power spectrum or two-point correlation functions. Here we examine constraints on cosmological parameters from weak lensing peak counts, using the publicly available data from the 154 deg$^2$ CFHTLenS survey. We utilize a new suite of ray-tracing N-body simulations on a grid of 91 cosmological models, covering broad ranges of the three parameters $\Omega_m$, $\sigma_8$, and $w$, and replicating the Galaxy sky positions, redshifts, and shape noise in the CFHTLenS observations. We then build an emulator that interpolates the power spectrum and the peak counts to an accuracy of $\leq 5\%$, and compute the likelihood in the three-dimensional parameter space ($\Omega_m$, $\sigma_8$, $w$) from both observables. We find that constraints from peak counts are comparable to those from the power spectrum, and somewhat tighter when different smoothing scales are combined. Neither observable can constrain $w$ without external data. When the power spectrum and peak counts are combined, the area of the error "banana'' in the ($\Omega_m$, $\sigma_8$) plane reduces by a factor of $\approx2$, compared to using the power spectrum alone. For a flat $\Lambda$ cold dark matter model, combining both statistics, we obtain the constraint $\sigma_8(\Omega_m/0.27)^{0.63}=0.85\substack{+0.03 \\ -0.03}$., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. The manuscript has been revised and matches published version

We study the {\sc Clique} problem in classes of intersection graphs of convex sets in the plane. The problem is known to be NP-complete in convex-set intersection graphs and straight-line-segment intersection graphs, but solvable in polynomial time in intersection graphs of homothetic triangles. We extend the latter result by showing that for every convex polygon $P$ with sides parallel to $k$ directions, every $n$-vertex graph which is an intersection graph of homothetic copies of $P$ contains at most $n^{k}$ inclusion-wise maximal cliques. We actually prove this result for a more general class of graphs, the so called $k_{\text{DIR}}-\text{CONV}$, which are intersection graphs of convex polygons whose sides are parallel to some fixed $k$ directions. Moreover, we provide some lower bounds on the numbers of maximal cliques, discuss the complexity of recognizing these classes of graphs and present a relationship with other classes of convex-set intersection graphs. Finally, we generalize the upper bound on the number of maximal cliques to intersection graphs of higher-dimensional convex polytopes in Euclidean space.

The statistics of shear peaks have been shown to provide valuable cosmological information beyond the power spectrum, and will be an important constraint of models of cosmology with the large survey areas provided by forthcoming astronomical surveys. Surveys include masked areas due to bright stars, bad pixels etc, which must be accounted for in producing constraints on cosmology from shear maps. We advocate a forward-modeling approach, where the impact of masking (and other survey artifacts) are accounted for in the theoretical prediction of cosmological parameters, rather than removed from survey data. We use masks based on the Deep Lens Survey, and explore the impact of up to 37% of the survey area being masked on LSST and DES-scale surveys. By reconstructing maps of aperture mass, the masking effect is smoothed out, resulting in up to 14% smaller statistical uncertainties compared to simply reducing the survey area by the masked area. We show that, even in the presence of large survey masks, the bias in cosmological parameter estimation produced in the forward-modeling process is ~1%, dominated by bias caused by limited simulation volume. We also explore how this potential bias scales with survey area and find that small survey areas are more significantly impacted by the differences in cosmological structure in the data and simulated volumes, due to cosmic variance., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted ApJ

Residual errors in shear measurements, after corrections for instrument systematics and atmospheric effects, can impact cosmological parameters derived from weak lensing observations. Here we combine convergence maps from our suite of ray-tracing simulations with random realizations of spurious shear. This allows us to quantify the errors and biases of the triplet $(\Omega_m,w,\sigma_8)$ derived from the power spectrum (PS), as well as from three different sets of non-Gaussian statistics of the lensing convergence field: Minkowski functionals (MF), low--order moments (LM), and peak counts (PK). Our main results are: (i) We find an order of magnitude smaller biases from the PS than in previous work. (ii) The PS and LM yield biases much smaller than the morphological statistics (MF, PK). (iii) For strictly Gaussian spurious shear with integrated amplitude as low as its current estimate of $\sigma^2_{sys}\approx 10^{-7}$, biases from the PS and LM would be unimportant even for a survey with the statistical power of LSST. However, we find that for surveys larger than $\approx 100$ deg$^2$, non-Gaussianity in the noise (not included in our analysis) will likely be important and must be quantified to assess the biases. (iv) The morphological statistics (MF,PK) introduce important biases even for Gaussian noise, which must be corrected in large surveys. The biases are in different directions in $(\Omega_m,w,\sigma_8)$ parameter space, allowing self-calibration by combining multiple statistics. Our results warrant follow-up studies with more extensive lensing simulations and more accurate spurious shear estimates., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables

Motivated by finding planar embeddings that lead to drawings with favorable aesthetics, we study the problems MINMAXFACE and UNIFORMFACES of embedding a given biconnected multi-graph such that the largest face is as small as possible and such that all faces have the same size, respectively. We prove a complexity dichotomy for MINMAXFACE and show that deciding whether the maximum is at most $k$ is polynomial-time solvable for $k \leq 4$ and NP-complete for $k \geq 5$. Further, we give a 6-approximation for minimizing the maximum face in a planar embedding. For UNIFORMFACES, we show that the problem is NP-complete for odd $k \geq 7$ and even $k \geq 10$. Moreover, we characterize the biconnected planar multi-graphs admitting 3- and 4-uniform embeddings (in a $k$-uniform embedding all faces have size $k$) and give an efficient algorithm for testing the existence of a 6-uniform embedding., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, extended version of 'Planar Embeddings with Small and Uniform Faces' (The 25th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation, 2014)

A graph $G$ covers a graph $H$ if there exists a locally bijective homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. We deal with regular covers in which this locally bijective homomorphism is prescribed by an action of a subgroup of ${\rm Aut}(G)$. Regular covers have many applications in constructions and studies of big objects all over mathematics and computer science. We study computational aspects of regular covers that have not been addressed before. The decision problem RegularCover asks for two given graphs $G$ and $H$ whether $G$ regularly covers $H$. When $|H|=1$, this problem becomes Cayley graph recognition for which the complexity is still unresolved. Another special case arises for $|G| = |H|$ when it becomes the graph isomorphism problem. Therefore, we restrict ourselves to graph classes with polynomially solvable graph isomorphism. Inspired by Negami, we apply the structural results used by Babai in the 1970's to study automorphism groups of graphs. Our main result is the following FPT meta-algorithm: Let $\cal C$ be a class of graphs such that the structure of automorphism groups of 3-connected graphs in $\cal C$ is simple. Then we can solve RegularCover for $\cal C$-inputs $G$ in time $O^*(2^{e(H)/2})$ where $e(H)$ denotes the number of the edges of $H$. As one example of $\cal C$, this meta-algorithm applies to planar graphs. In comparison, testing general graph covers is known to be NP-complete for planar inputs $G$ even for small fixed graphs $H$ such as $K_4$ or $K_5$. Most of our results also apply to general graphs, in particular the complete structural understanding of regular covers for 2-cuts., Comment: The conference version accepted to ICALP 2014

The weak lensing power spectrum is a powerful tool to probe cosmological parameters. Additionally, lensing peak counts contain cosmological information beyond the power spectrum. Both of these statistics can be affected by the preferential selection of source galaxies in patches of the sky with high magnification, as well as by the dilution in the source galaxy surface density in such regions. If not accounted for, these biases introduce systematic errors for cosmological measurements. Here we quantify these systematic errors, using convergence maps from a suite of ray-tracing N-body simulations. At the cut-off magnitude m of on-going and planned major weak lensing surveys, the logarithmic slope of the cumulative number counts s = dlog[n(>m)]/dlog(m) is in the range 0.1 < s < 0.5. At s = 0.2, expected in the I band for LSST, the inferred values of Omega_m, w and sigma_8 are biased by many sigma (where sigma denotes the marginalized error) and therefore the biases will need to be carefully modeled. We also find that the parameters are biased differently in the (Omega_m, w, sigma_8) parameter space when the power spectrum and when the peak counts are used. In particular, w derived from the power spectrum is less affected than w derived from peak counts, while the opposite is true for the best-constrained combination of [sigma_8 Omega_m^gamma] (with gamma=0.62 from the power spectrum and gamma = 0.48 from peak counts). This suggests that the combination of the power spectrum and peak counts can help mitigate the impact of magnification and size biases., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures

We compare the efficiency of moments and Minkowski functionals (MFs) in constraining the subset of cosmological parameters (Omega_m,w,sigma_8) using simulated weak lensing convergence maps. We study an analytic perturbative expansion of the MFs in terms of the moments of the convergence field and of its spatial derivatives. We show that this perturbation series breaks down on smoothing scales below 5', while it shows a good degree of convergence on larger scales (15'). Most of the cosmological distinguishing power is lost when the maps are smoothed on these larger scales. We also show that, on scales comparable to 1', where the perturbation series does not converge, cosmological constraints obtained from the MFs are approximately 1.5-2 times better than the ones obtained from the first few moments of the convergence distribution --- provided that the latter include spatial information, either from moments of gradients, or by combining multiple smoothing scales. Including either a set of these moments or the MFs can significantly tighten constraints on cosmological parameters, compared to the conventional method of using the power spectrum alone., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables

Interval graphs are intersection graphs of closed intervals of the real-line. The well-known computational problem, called recognition, asks whether an input graph $G$ can be represented by closed intervals, i.e., whether $G$ is an interval graph. There are several linear-time algorithms known for recognizing interval graphs, the oldest one is by Booth and Lueker [J. Comput. System Sci., 13 (1976)] based on PQ-trees. In this paper, we study a generalization of recognition, called partial representation extension. The input of this problem consists of a graph $G$ with a partial representation $\cal R'$ fixing the positions of some intervals. The problem asks whether it is possible to place the remaining interval and create an interval representation $\cal R$ of the entire graph $G$ extending $\cal R'$. We generalize the characterization of interval graphs by Fulkerson and Gross [Pac. J. Math., 15 (1965)] to extendible partial representations. Using it, we give a linear-time algorithm for partial representation extension based on a reordering problem of PQ-trees.

In this paper, we consider the \emph{firefighter problem} on a graph $G=(V,E)$ that is either finite or infinite. Suppose that a fire breaks out at a given vertex $v \in V$. In each subsequent time unit, a firefighter protects one vertex which is not yet on fire, and then the fire spreads to all unprotected neighbors of the vertices on fire. The objective of the firefighter is to save as many vertices as possible (if $G$ is finite) or to stop the fire from spreading (for an infinite case). The surviving rate $\rho(G)$ of a finite graph $G$ is defined as the expected percentage of vertices that can be saved when a fire breaks out at a vertex of $G$ that is selected uniformly random. For a finite square grid $P_n \square P_n$, we show that $5/8 + o(1) \le \rho(P_n \square P_n) \le 67243/105300 + o(1)$ (leaving the gap smaller than 0.014) and conjecture that the surviving rate is asymptotic to 5/8. We define the surviving rate for infinite graphs and prove it to be 1/4 for the infinite square grid, even in the case of finitely many initial fires. For the infinite hexagonal grid we provide a winning strategy if two additional vertices can be protected at any point of the process, and we conjecture that the firefighter has no strategy to stop the fire without additional help. We also show how the speed of the spreading fire can be reduced by a constant factor.