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Tractability results for the model checking problem of logics yield powerful algorithmic meta theorems of the form: Every computational problem expressible in a logic $L$ can be solved efficiently on every class $\mathscr{C}$ of structures satisfying certain conditions. The most prominent logics studied in the field are (counting) monadic second-order logic (C)MSO, and first-order logic FO and its extensions. The complexity of CMSO model checking in general and of FO model checking on monotone graph classes is very well understood. In recent years there has been a rapid and exciting development of new algorithmic meta theorems. On the one hand there has been major progress for FO model checking on hereditary graph classes. This progress was driven by the development of a combinatorial structure theory for the logically defined monadically stable and monadically dependent graph classes, as well as by the advent of the new width measure twinwidth. On the other hand, new algorithmic meta theorems for new logics with expressive power between FO and CMSO offer a new unifying view on methods like the irrelevant vertex technique and recursive understanding. In this paper we overview the recent advances in algorithmic meta theorems and provide rough sketches for the methods to prove them.

In the solution discovery variant of a vertex (edge) subset problem $\Pi$ on graphs, we are given an initial configuration of tokens on the vertices (edges) of an input graph $G$ together with a budget $b$. The question is whether we can transform this configuration into a feasible solution of $\Pi$ on $G$ with at most $b$ modification steps. We consider the token sliding variant of the solution discovery framework, where each modification step consists of sliding a token to an adjacent vertex (edge). The framework of solution discovery was recently introduced by Fellows et al. [Fellows et al., ECAI 2023] and for many solution discovery problems the classical as well as the parameterized complexity has been established. In this work, we study the kernelization complexity of the solution discovery variants of Vertex Cover, Independent Set, Dominating Set, Shortest Path, Matching, and Vertex Cut with respect to the parameters number of tokens $k$, discovery budget $b$, as well as structural parameters such as pathwidth.

Various variants of Parikh automata on infinite words have recently been introduced in the literature. However, with some exceptions only their non-deterministic versions have been considered. In this paper we study the deterministic versions of all variants of Parikh automata on infinite words that have not yet been studied. We compare the expressiveness of the deterministic models and investigate their closure properties and decision problems with applications to model checking. The model of deterministic limit Parikh automata turns out to be most interesting, as it is the only deterministic Parikh model generalizing the $\omega$-regular languages, the only deterministic Parikh model closed under the Boolean operations and the only deterministic Parikh model for which all common decision problems are decidable.

In the recently introduced framework of solution discovery via reconfiguration [Fellows et al., ECAI 2023], we are given an initial configuration of $k$ tokens on a graph and the question is whether we can transform this configuration into a feasible solution (for some problem) via a bounded number $b$ of small modification steps. In this work, we study solution discovery variants of polynomial-time solvable problems, namely Spanning Tree Discovery, Shortest Path Discovery, Matching Discovery, and Vertex/Edge Cut Discovery in the unrestricted token addition/removal model, the token jumping model, and the token sliding model. In the unrestricted token addition/removal model, we show that all four discovery variants remain in P. For the toking jumping model we also prove containment in P, except for Vertex/Edge Cut Discovery, for which we prove NP-completeness. Finally, in the token sliding model, almost all considered problems become NP-complete, the exception being Spanning Tree Discovery, which remains polynomial-time solvable. We then study the parameterized complexity of the NP-complete problems and provide a full classification of tractability with respect to the parameters solution size (number of tokens) $k$ and transformation budget (number of steps) $b$. Along the way, we observe strong connections between the solution discovery variants of our base problems and their (weighted) rainbow variants as well as their red-blue variants with cardinality constraints.

We study reduction rules for Directed Feedback Vertex Set (DFVS) on instances without long cycles. A DFVS instance without cycles longer than $d$ naturally corresponds to an instance of $d$-Hitting Set, however, enumerating all cycles in an $n$-vertex graph and then kernelizing the resulting $d$-Hitting Set instance can be too costly, as already enumerating all cycles can take time $\Omega(n^d)$. We show how to compute a kernel with at most $2^dk^d$ vertices and at most $d^{3d}k^d$ induced cycles of length at most $d$ (which however, cannot be enumerated efficiently), where $k$ is the size of a minimum directed feedback vertex set. We then study classes of graphs whose underlying undirected graphs have bounded expansion or are nowhere dense; these are very general classes of sparse graphs, containing e.g. classes excluding a minor or a topological minor. We prove that for such classes without induced cycles of length greater than $d$ we can compute a kernel with $O_d(k)$ and $O_{d,\epsilon}(k^{1+\epsilon})$ vertices for any $\epsilon>0$, respectively, in time $O_d(n^{O(1)})$ and $O_{d,\epsilon}(n^{O(1)})$, respectively. The most restricted classes we consider are strongly connected planar graphs without any (induced or non-induced) long cycles. We show that these have bounded treewidth and hence DFVS on planar graphs without cycles of length greater than $d$ can be solved in time $2^{O(d)}\cdot n^{O(1)}$. We finally present a new data reduction rule for general DFVS and prove that the rule together with a few standard rules subsumes all the rules applied by Bergougnoux et al. to obtain a polynomial kernel for DFVS[FVS], i.e., DFVS parameterized by the feedback vertex set number of the underlying (undirected) graph. We conclude by studying the LP-based approximation of DFVS.

Several variants of Parikh automata on infinite words were recently introduced by Guha et al. [FSTTCS, 2022]. We show that one of these variants coincides with blind counter machine as introduced by Fernau and Stiebe [Fundamenta Informaticae, 2008]. Fernau and Stiebe showed that every $\omega$-language recognized by a blind counter machine is of the form $\bigcup_iU_iV_i^\omega$ for Parikh recognizable languages $U_i, V_i$, but blind counter machines fall short of characterizing this class of $\omega$-languages. They posed as an open problem to find a suitable automata-based characterization. We introduce several additional variants of Parikh automata on infinite words that yield automata characterizations of classes of $\omega$-language of the form $\bigcup_iU_iV_i^\omega$ for all combinations of languages $U_i, V_i$ being regular or Parikh-recognizable. When both $U_i$ and $V_i$ are regular, this coincides with B\"uchi's classical theorem. We study the effect of $\varepsilon$-transitions in all variants of Parikh automata and show that almost all of them admit $\varepsilon$-elimination. Finally we study the classical decision problems with applications to model checking., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2302.04087, arXiv:2301.08969

The dynamics of real-world applications and systems require efficient methods for improving infeasible solutions or restoring corrupted ones by making modifications to the current state of a system in a restricted way. We propose a new framework of solution discovery via reconfiguration for constructing a feasible solution for a given problem by executing a sequence of small modifications starting from a given state. Our framework integrates and formalizes different aspects of classical local search, reoptimization, and combinatorial reconfiguration. We exemplify our framework on a multitude of fundamental combinatorial problems, namely Vertex Cover, Independent Set, Dominating Set, and Coloring. We study the classical as well as the parameterized complexity of the solution discovery variants of those problems and explore the boundary between tractable and intractable instances.

Disjoint-paths logic, denoted $\mathsf{FO}$+$\mathsf{DP}$, extends first-order logic ($\mathsf{FO}$) with atomic predicates $\mathsf{dp}_k[(x_1,y_1),\ldots,(x_k,y_k)]$, expressing the existence of internally vertex-disjoint paths between $x_i$ and $y_i$, for $1\leq i\leq k$. We prove that for every graph class excluding some fixed graph as a topological minor, the model checking problem for $\mathsf{FO}$+$\mathsf{DP}$ is fixed-parameter tractable. This essentially settles the question of tractable model checking for this logic on subgraph-closed classes, since the problem is hard on subgraph-closed classes not excluding a topological minor (assuming a further mild condition of efficiency of encoding).

B\"uchi's theorem states that $\omega$-regular languages are characterized as languages of the form $\bigcup_i U_i V_i^\omega$, where $U_i$ and $V_i$ are regular languages. Parikh automata are automata on finite words whose transitions are equipped with vectors of positive integers, whose sum can be tested for membership in a given semi-linear set. We give an intuitive automata theoretic characterization of languages of the form $U_i V_i^\omega$, where $U_i$ and $V_i$ are Parikh-recognizable. Furthermore, we show that the class of such languages, where $U_i$ is Parikh-recognizable and $V_i$ is regular is exactly captured by a model proposed by Klaedtke and Ruess [Automata, Languages and Programming, 2003], which again is equivalent to (a small modification of) reachability Parikh automata introduced by Guha et al. [FSTTCS, 2022]. We finish this study by introducing a model that captures exactly such languages for regular $U_i$ and Parikh-recognizable $V_i$.

A class of graphs is structurally nowhere dense if it can be constructed from a nowhere dense class by a first-order transduction. Structurally nowhere dense classes vastly generalize nowhere dense classes and constitute important examples of monadically stable classes. We show that the first-order model checking problem is fixed-parameter tractable on every structurally nowhere dense class of graphs. Our result builds on a recently developed game-theoretic characterization of monadically stable graph classes. As a second key ingredient of independent interest, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for approximating weak neighborhood covers (on general graphs). We combine the two tools into a recursive locality-based model checking algorithm. This algorithm is efficient on every monadically stable graph class admitting flip-closed sparse weak neighborhood covers, where flip-closure is a mild additional assumption. Thereby, establishing efficient first-order model checking on monadically stable classes is reduced to proving the existence of flip-closed sparse weak neighborhood covers on these classes - a purely combinatorial problem. We complete the picture by proving the existence of the desired covers for structurally nowhere dense classes: we show that every structurally nowhere dense class can be sparsified by contracting local sets of vertices, enabling us to lift the existence of covers from sparse classes.

A class of graphs $\mathscr{C}$ is monadically stable if for any unary expansion $\widehat{\mathscr{C}}$ of $\mathscr{C}$, one cannot interpret, in first-order logic, arbitrarily long linear orders in graphs from $\widehat{\mathscr{C}}$. It is known that nowhere dense graph classes are monadically stable; these encompass most of the studied concepts of sparsity in graphs, including graph classes that exclude a fixed topological minor. On the other hand, monadic stability is a property expressed in purely model-theoretic terms and hence it is also suited for capturing structure in dense graphs. For several years, it has been suspected that one can create a structure theory for monadically stable graph classes that mirrors the theory of nowhere dense graph classes in the dense setting. In this work we provide a step in this direction by giving a characterization of monadic stability through the Flipper game: a game on a graph played by Flipper, who in each round can complement the edge relation between any pair of vertex subsets, and Connector, who in each round localizes the game to a ball of bounded radius. This is an analog of the Splitter game, which characterizes nowhere dense classes of graphs (Grohe, Kreutzer, and Siebertz, J.ACM'17). We give two different proofs of our main result. The first proof uses tools from model theory, and it exposes an additional property of monadically stable graph classes that is close in spirit to definability of types. Also, as a byproduct, we give an alternative proof of the recent result of Braunfeld and Laskowski (arXiv 2209.05120) that monadic stability for graph classes coincides with existential monadic stability. The second proof relies on the recently introduced notion of flip-wideness (Dreier, M\"ahlmann, Siebertz, and Toru\'nczyk, arXiv 2206.13765) and provides an efficient algorithm to compute Flipper's moves in a winning strategy.

Parikh automata on finite words were first introduced by Klaedtke and Rue{\ss} [Automata, Languages and Programming, 2003]. In this paper, we introduce several variants of Parikh automata on infinite words and study their expressiveness. We show that one of our new models is equivalent to synchronous blind counter machines introduced by Fernau and Stiebe [Fundamenta Informaticae, 2008]. All our models admit {\epsilon}-elimination, which to the best of our knowledge is an open question for blind counter automata. We then study the classical decision problems of the new automata models.

The notions of bounded-size and quasibounded-size decompositions with bounded treedepth base classes are central to the structural theory of graph sparsity introduced by two of the authors years ago, and provide a characterization of both classes with bounded expansions and nowhere dense classes. Strong connections of this theory with model theory led to considering first-order transductions, which are logically defined graph transformations, and to initiate a comparative study of combinatorial and model theoretical properties of graph classes, with an emphasis on the model theoretical notions of dependence (or NIP) and stability. In this paper, we first prove that every hereditary class with quasibounded-size decompositions with dependent (resp.\ stable) base classes is itself dependent (resp.\ stable). This result is obtained in a more general study of ``decomposition horizons'', which are class properties compatible with quasibounded-size decompositions. We deduce that hereditary classes with quasibounded-size decompositions with bounded shrubdepth base classes are stable. In the second part of the paper, we prove the converse. Thus, we characterize stable hereditary classes of graphs as those hereditary classes that admit quasibounded-size decompositions with bounded shrubdepth base classes. This result is obtained by proving that every hereditary stable class of graphs admits almost nowhere dense quasi-bush representations, thus answering positively a conjecture of Dreier et al. These results have several consequences. For example, we show that every graph $G$ in a stable, hereditary class of graphs $\mathscr C$ has a clique or a stable set of size $\Omega_{\mathscr C,\epsilon}(|G|^{1/2-\epsilon})$, for every $\epsilon>0$, which is tight in the sense that it cannot be improved to $\Omega_{\mathscr C}(|G|^{1/2})$.

We study various aspects of the first-order transduction quasi-order on graph classes, which provides a way of measuring the relative complexity of graph classes based on whether one can encode the other using a formula of first-order (FO) logic. In contrast with the conjectured simplicity of the transduction quasi-order for monadic second-order logic, the FO-transduction quasi-order is very complex, and many standard properties from structural graph theory and model theory naturally appear in it. We prove a local normal form for transductions among other general results and constructions, which we illustrate via several examples and via the characterizations of the transductions of some simple classes. We then turn to various aspects of the quasi-order, including the (non-)existence of minimum and maximum classes for certain properties, the strictness of the pathwidth hierarchy, the fact that the quasi-order is not a lattice, and the role of weakly sparse classes in the quasi-order.

We show that the dominating set problem admits a constant factor approximation in a constant number of rounds in the LOCAL model of distributed computing on graph classes with bounded expansion. This generalizes a result of Czygrinow et al. for graphs with excluded topological minors to very general classes of uniformly sparse graphs. We demonstrate how our general algorithm can be modified and fine-tuned to compute an ($11+\epsilon$)-approximation (for any $\epsilon>0)$ of a minimum dominating set on planar graphs. This improves on the previously best known approximation factor of 52 on planar graphs, which was achieved by an elegant and simple algorithm of Lenzen et al., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2111.14506, arXiv:2012.02701

Nowhere dense classes of graphs are classes of sparse graphs with rich structural and algorithmic properties, however, they fail to capture even simple classes of dense graphs. Monadically stable classes, originating from model theory, generalize nowhere dense classes and close them under transductions, i.e. transformations defined by colorings and simple first-order interpretations. In this work we aim to extend some combinatorial and algorithmic properties of nowhere dense classes to monadically stable classes of finite graphs. We prove the following results. - In monadically stable classes the Ramsey numbers $R(s,t)$ are bounded from above by $\mathcal{O}(t^{s-1-\delta})$ for some $\delta>0$, improving the bound $R(s,t)\in \mathcal{O}(t^{s-1}/(\log t)^{s-1})$ known for general graphs and the bounds known for $k$-stable graphs when $s\leq k$. - For every monadically stable class $\mathcal{C}$ and every integer $r$, there exists $\delta > 0$ such that every graph $G \in \mathcal{C}$ that contains an $r$-subdivision of the biclique $K_{t,t}$ as a subgraph also contains $K_{t^\delta,t^\delta}$ as a subgraph. This generalizes earlier results for nowhere dense graph classes. - We obtain a stronger regularity lemma for monadically stable classes of graphs. - Finally, we show that we can compute polynomial kernels for the independent set and dominating set problems in powers of nowhere dense classes. Formerly, only fixed-parameter tractable algorithms were known for these problems on powers of nowhere dense classes.

An indiscernible sequence $(\bar a_i)_{1\leq i\leq n}$ in a structure is an ordered sequence of tuples of elements which is very homogeneous in the sense that any two finite subsequences of the same length satisfy the same first-order formulas. We provide new characterizations of monadically stable and monadically NIP classes of structures in terms of indiscernible sequences by showing that they impose a strong structure on their neighborhoods. In particular, we show that every formula~$\phi(x,\bar y)$, where $x$ is a single free variable, has alternation rank at most $2$ over every sufficiently long indiscernible sequence in a monadically NIP class. We provide a second new characterization of monadically stable classes of graphs in terms of a new notion called flip-wideness. Flip-wideness generalizes the notion of uniform quasi-wideness, which characterizes nowhere dense classes and had a key impact on the combinatorial and algorithmic treatment of nowhere dense classes. All our proofs are constructive and yield efficient algorithms.

In the Token Sliding problem we are given a graph $G$ and two independent sets $I_s$ and $I_t$ in $G$ of size $k \geq 1$. The goal is to decide whether there exists a sequence $\langle I_1, I_2, \ldots, I_\ell \rangle$ of independent sets such that for all $i \in \{1,\ldots, \ell\}$ the set $I_i$ is an independent set of size $k$, $I_1 = I_s$, $I_\ell = I_t$ and $I_i \triangle I_{i + 1} = \{u, v\} \in E(G)$. Intuitively, we view each independent set as a collection of tokens placed on the vertices of the graph. Then, the problem asks whether there exists a sequence of independent sets that transforms $I_s$ into $I_t$ where at each step we are allowed to slide one token from a vertex to a neighboring vertex. In this paper, we focus on the parameterized complexity of Token Sliding parameterized by $k$. As shown by Bartier et al., the problem is W[1]-hard on graphs of girth four or less, and the authors posed the question of whether there exists a constant $p \geq 5$ such that the problem becomes fixed-parameter tractable on graphs of girth at least $p$. We answer their question positively and prove that the problem is indeed fixed-parameter tractable on graphs of girth five or more, which establishes a full classification of the tractability of Token Sliding parameterized by the number of tokens based on the girth of the input graph.

A graph vertex-subset problem defines which subsets of the vertices of an input graph are feasible solutions. We view a feasible solution as a set of tokens placed on the vertices of the graph. A reconfiguration variant of a vertex-subset problem asks, given two feasible solutions of size $k$, whether it is possible to transform one into the other by a sequence of token slides (along edges of the graph) or token jumps (between arbitrary vertices of the graph) such that each intermediate set remains a feasible solution of size $k$. Many algorithmic questions present themselves in the form of reconfiguration problems: Given the description of an initial system state and the description of a target state, is it possible to transform the system from its initial state into the target one while preserving certain properties of the system in the process? Such questions have received a substantial amount of attention under the so-called combinatorial reconfiguration framework. We consider reconfiguration variants of three fundamental underlying graph vertex-subset problems, namely Independent Set, Dominating Set, and Connected Dominating Set. We survey both older and more recent work on the parameterized complexity of all three problems when parameterized by the number of tokens $k$. The emphasis will be on positive results and the most common techniques for the design of fixed-parameter tractable algorithms.

Transductions are a general formalism for expressing transformations of graphs (and more generally, of relational structures) in logic. We prove that a graph class $\mathscr{C}$ can be $\mathsf{FO}$-transduced from a class of bounded-height trees (that is, has bounded shrubdepth) if, and only if, from $\mathscr{C}$ one cannot $\mathsf{FO}$-transduce the class of all paths. This establishes one of the three remaining open questions posed by Blumensath and Courcelle about the $\mathsf{MSO}$-transduction quasi-order, even in the stronger form that concerns $\mathsf{FO}$-transductions instead of $\mathsf{MSO}$-transductions. The backbone of our proof is a graph-theoretic statement that says the following: If a graph $G$ excludes a path, the bipartite complement of a path, and a half-graph as semi-induced subgraphs, then the vertex set of $G$ can be partitioned into a bounded number of parts so that every part induces a cograph of bounded height, and every pair of parts semi-induce a bi-cograph of bounded height. This statement may be of independent interest; for instance, it implies that the graphs in question form a class that is linearly $\chi$-bounded.

We show how to compute a 20-approximation of a minimum dominating set in a planar graph in a constant number of rounds in the LOCAL model of distributed computing. This improves on the previously best known approximation factor of 52, which was achieved by an elegant and simple algorithm of Lenzen et al. Our algorithm combines ideas from the algorithm of Lenzen et al. with recent work of Czygrinow et al. and Kublenz et al. to reduce to the case of bounded degree graphs, where we can simulate a distributed version of the classical greedy algorithm., Comment: 17 pages

We introduce a new data structure for answering connectivity queries in undirected graphs subject to batched vertex failures. Precisely, given any graph G and integer k, we can in fixed-parameter time construct a data structure that can later be used to answer queries of the form: ``are vertices s and t connected via a path that avoids vertices $u_1,..., u_k$?'' in time $2^{2^{O(k)}}$. In the terminology of the literature on data structures, this gives the first deterministic data structure for connectivity under vertex failures where for every fixed number of failures, all operations can be performed in constant time. With the aim to understand the power and the limitations of our new techniques, we prove an algorithmic meta theorem for the recently introduced separator logic, which extends first-order logic with atoms for connectivity under vertex failures. We prove that the model-checking problem for separator logic is fixed-parameter tractable on every class of graphs that exclude a fixed topological minor. We also show a weak converse. This implies that from the point of view of parameterized complexity, under standard complexity assumptions, the frontier of tractability of separator logic is almost exactly delimited by classes excluding a fixed topological minor. The backbone of our proof relies on a decomposition theorem of Cygan et al. [SICOMP '19], which provides a tree decomposition of a given graph into bags that are unbreakable. Crucially, unbreakability allows to reduce separator logic to plain first-order logic within each bag individually. We design our model-checking algorithm using dynamic programming over the tree decomposition, where the transition at each bag amounts to running a suitable model-checking subprocedure for plain first-order logic. This approach is robust enough to provide also efficient enumeration of queries expressed in separator logic.

First-order logic (FO) can express many algorithmic problems on graphs, such as the independent set and dominating set problem, parameterized by solution size. On the other hand, FO cannot express the very simple algorithmic question of whether two vertices are connected. We enrich FO with connectivity predicates that are tailored to express algorithmic graph properties that are commonly studied in parameterized algorithmics. By adding the atomic predicates $conn_k (x, y, z_1 ,\ldots, z_k)$ that hold true in a graph if there exists a path between (the valuations of) $x$ and $y$ after (the valuations of) $z_1,\ldots,z_k$ have been deleted, we obtain separator logic $FO + conn$. We show that separator logic can express many interesting problems such as the feedback vertex set problem and elimination distance problems to first-order definable classes. We then study the limitations of separator logic and prove that it cannot express planarity, and, in particular, not the disjoint paths problem. We obtain the stronger disjoint-paths logic $FO + DP$ by adding the atomic predicates $disjoint-paths_k [(x_1, y_1 ),\ldots , (x_k , y_k )]$ that evaluate to true if there are internally vertex disjoint paths between (the valuations of) $x_i$ and $y_i$ for all $1 \le i \le k$. Disjoint-paths logic can express the disjoint paths problem, the problem of (topological) minor containment, the problem of hitting (topological) minors, and many more. Finally, we compare the expressive power of the new logics with that of transitive closure logics and monadic second-order logic., Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures

We study the connections between the notions of combinatorial discrepancy and graph degeneracy. In particular, we prove that the maximum discrepancy over all subgraphs $H$ of a graph $G$ of the neighborhood set system of $H$ is sandwiched between $\Omega(\log\mathrm{deg}(G))$ and $\mathcal{O}(\mathrm{deg}(G))$, where $\mathrm{deg}(G)$ denotes the degeneracy of $G$. We extend this result to inequalities relating weak coloring numbers and discrepancy of graph powers and deduce a new characterization of bounded expansion classes. Then, we switch to a model theoretical point of view, introduce pointer structures, and study their relations to graph classes with bounded expansion. We deduce that a monotone class of graphs has bounded expansion if and only if all the set systems definable in this class have bounded hereditary discrepancy. Using known bounds on the VC-density of set systems definable in nowhere dense classes we also give a characterization of nowhere dense classes in terms of discrepancy. As consequences of our results, we obtain a corollary on the discrepancy of neighborhood set systems of edge colored graphs, a polynomial-time algorithm to compute $\varepsilon$-approximations of size $\mathcal{O}(1/\varepsilon)$ for set systems definable in bounded expansion classes, an application to clique coloring, and even the non-existence of a quantifier elimination scheme for nowhere dense classes., Comment: Submitted version

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.

A strong backdoor in a formula $\phi$ of propositional logic to a tractable class $\mathcal{C}$ of formulas is a set $B$ of variables of $\phi$ such that every assignment of the variables in $B$ results in a formula from $\mathcal{C}$. Strong backdoors of small size or with a good structure, e.g. with small backdoor treewidth, lead to efficient solutions for the propositional satisfiability problem SAT. In this paper we propose the new notion of recursive backdoors, which is inspired by the observation that in order to solve SAT we can independently recurse into the components that are created by partial assignments of variables. The quality of a recursive backdoor is measured by its recursive backdoor depth. Similar to the concept of backdoor treewidth, recursive backdoors of bounded depth include backdoors of unbounded size that have a certain treelike structure. However, the two concepts are incomparable and our results yield new tractability results for SAT.

We show that the dominating set problem admits a constant factor approximation in a constant number of rounds in the LOCAL model of distributed computing on graph classes with bounded expansion. This generalizes a result of Czygrinow et al. for graphs with excluded topological minors., Comment: Paper accepted at SIROCCO 2021, implemented reviews, corrected an error in Lemma 1

Logical transductions provide a very useful tool to encode classes of structures inside other classes of structures. In this paper we study first-order (FO) transductions and the quasiorder they induce on infinite classes of finite graphs. Surprisingly, this quasiorder is very complex, though shaped by the locality properties of first-order logic. This contrasts with the conjectured simplicity of the monadic second order (MSO) transduction quasiorder. We first establish a local normal form for FO transductions, which is of independent interest. Then we prove that the quotient partial order is a bounded distributive join-semilattice, and that the subposet of \emph{additive} classes is also a bounded distributive join-semilattice. The FO transduction quasiorder has a great expressive power, and many well studied class properties can be defined using it. We apply these structural properties to prove, among other results, that FO transductions of the class of paths are exactly perturbations of classes with bounded bandwidth, that the local variants of monadic stability and monadic dependence are equivalent to their (standard) non-local versions, and that the classes with pathwidth at most $k$, for $k\geq 1$ form a strict hierarchy in the FO transduction quasiorder.

We study two notions of being well-structured for classes of graphs that are inspired by classic model theory. A class of graphs $C$ is monadically stable if it is impossible to define arbitrarily long linear orders in vertex-colored graphs from $C$ using a fixed first-order formula. Similarly, monadic dependence corresponds to the impossibility of defining all graphs in this way. Examples of monadically stable graph classes are nowhere dense classes, which provide a robust theory of sparsity. Examples of monadically dependent classes are classes of bounded rankwidth (or equivalently, bounded cliquewidth), which can be seen as a dense analog of classes of bounded treewidth. Thus, monadic stability and monadic dependence extend classical structural notions for graphs by viewing them in a wider, model-theoretical context. We explore this emerging theory by proving the following: - A class of graphs $C$ is a first-order transduction of a class with bounded treewidth if and only if $C$ has bounded rankwidth and a stable edge relation (i.e. graphs from $C$ exclude some half-graph as a semi-induced subgraph). - If a class of graphs $C$ is monadically dependent and not monadically stable, then $C$ has in fact an unstable edge relation. As a consequence, we show that classes with bounded rankwidth excluding some half-graph as a semi-induced subgraph are linearly $\chi$-bounded. Our proofs are effective and lead to polynomial time algorithms.

We study the graph parameter elimination distance to bounded degree, which was introduced by Bulian and Dawar in their study of the parameterized complexity of the graph isomorphism problem. We prove that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable on planar graphs, that is, there exists an algorithm that given a planar graph $G$ and integers $d$ and $k$ decides in time $f(k,d)\cdot n^c$ for a computable function~$f$ and constant $c$ whether the elimination distance of $G$ to the class of degree $d$ graphs is at most $k$., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure

Szemeredi's Regularity Lemma is a very useful tool of extremal combinatorics. Recently, several refinements of this seminal result were obtained for special, more structured classes of graphs. We survey these results in their rich combinatorial context. In particular, we stress the link to the theory of (structural) sparsity, which leads to alternative proofs, refinements and solutions of open problems. It is interesting to note that many of these classes present challenging problems. Nevertheless, from the point of view of regularity lemma type statements, they appear as "gentle" classes.

Classes with bounded rankwidth are MSO-transductions of trees and classes with bounded linear rankwidth are MSO-transductions of paths. These results show a strong link between the properties of these graph classes considered from the point of view of structural graph theory and from the point of view of finite model theory. We take both views on classes with bounded linear rankwidth and prove structural and model theoretic properties of these classes: 1) Graphs with linear rankwidth at most $r$ are linearly \mbox{$\chi$-bounded}. Actually, they have bounded $c$-chromatic number, meaning that they can be colored with $f(r)$ colors, each color inducing a cograph. 2) Based on a Ramsey-like argument, we prove for every proper hereditary family $\mathcal F$ of graphs (like cographs) that there is a class with bounded rankwidth that does not have the property that graphs in it can be colored by a bounded number of colors, each inducing a subgraph in~$\mathcal F$. 3) For a class $\mathcal C$ with bounded linear rankwidth the following conditions are equivalent: a) $\mathcal C$~is~stable, b)~$\mathcal C$~excludes some half-graph as a semi-induced subgraph, c) $\mathcal C$ is a first-order transduction of a class with bounded pathwidth. These results open the perspective to study classes admitting low linear rankwidth covers., Comment: accepted at SODA 2020 conference. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1909.01564

In a reconfiguration version of an optimization problem $\mathcal{Q}$ the input is an instance of $\mathcal{Q}$ and two feasible solutions $S$ and $T$. The objective is to determine whether there exists a step-by-step transformation between $S$ and $T$ such that all intermediate steps also constitute feasible solutions. In this work, we study the parameterized complexity of the \textsc{Connected Dominating Set Reconfiguration} problem (\textsc{CDS-R)}. It was shown in previous work that the \textsc{Dominating Set Reconfiguration} problem (\textsc{DS-R}) parameterized by $k$, the maximum allowed size of a dominating set in a reconfiguration sequence, is fixed-parameter tractable on all graphs that exclude a biclique $K_{d,d}$ as a subgraph, for some constant $d \geq 1$. We show that the additional connectivity constraint makes the problem much harder, namely, that \textsc{CDS-R} is \textsf{W}$[1]$-hard parameterized by $k+\ell$, the maximum allowed size of a dominating set plus the length of the reconfiguration sequence, already on $5$-degenerate graphs. On the positive side, we show that \textsc{CDS-R} parameterized by $k$ is fixed-parameter tractable, and in fact admits a polynomial kernel on planar graphs.

The notion of nowhere dense graph classes was introduced by Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il and Ossona de Mendez and provides a robust concept of uniform sparseness of graph classes. Nowhere dense classes generalize many familiar classes of sparse graphs such as classes that exclude a fixed graph as a minor or topological minor. They admit several seemingly unrelated natural characterizations that lead to strong algorithmic applications. In particular, the model-checking problem for first-order logic is fixed-parameter tractable over these classes. These notes, prepared for a tutorial at Highlights of Logic, Games and Automata 2019, are a brief introduction to the theory of nowhere denseness, driven by algorithmic applications.

Classes with bounded rankwidth are MSO-transductions of trees and classes with bounded linear rankwidth are MSO-transductions of paths -- a result that shows a strong link between the properties of these graph classes considered from the point of view of structural graph theory and from the point of view of finite model theory. We take both views on classes with bounded linear rankwidth and prove structural and model theoretic properties of these classes. The structural results we obtain are the following. 1) The number of unlabeled graphs of order $n$ with linear rank-width at most~$r$ is at most $\bigl[(r/2)!\,2^{\binom{r}{2}}3^{r+2}\bigr]^n$. 2) Graphs with linear rankwidth at most $r$ are linearly $\chi$-bounded. Actually, they have bounded $c$-chromatic number, meaning that they can be colored with $f(r)$ colors, each color inducing a cograph. 3) To the contrary, based on a Ramsey-like argument, we prove for every proper hereditary family $F$ of graphs (like cographs) that there is a class with bounded rankwidth that does not have the property that graphs in it can be colored by a bounded number of colors, each inducing a subgraph in $F$. From the model theoretical side we obtain the following results: 1) A direct short proof that graphs with linear rankwidth at most $r$ are first-order transductions of linear orders. This result could also be derived from Colcombet's theorem on first-order transduction of linear orders and the equivalence of linear rankwidth with linear cliquewidth. 2) For a class $C$ with bounded linear rankwidth the following conditions are equivalent: a) $C$ is stable, b) $C$ excludes some half-graph as a semi-induced subgraph, c) $C$ is a first-order transduction of a class with bounded pathwidth. These results open the perspective to study classes admitting low linear rankwidth covers.

Parameterized complexity theory offers a framework for a refined analysis of hard algorithmic problems. Instead of expressing the running time of an algorithm as a function of the input size only, running times are expressed with respect to one or more parameters of the input instances. In this work we follow the approach of parameterized complexity to provide a framework of parameterized distributed complexity. The central notion of efficiency in parameterized complexity is fixed-parameter tractability and we define the distributed analogue Distributed-FPT (for Distributed in $\{Local, Congest, Congested-Clique\}$) as the class of problems that can be solved in $f(k)$ communication rounds in the Distributed model of distributed computing, where $k$ is the parameter of the problem instance and $f$ is an arbitrary computable function. To classify hardness we introduce three hierarchies. The Distributed-WEFT-hierarchy is defined analogously to the W-hierarchy in parameterized complexity theory via reductions to the weighted circuit satisfiability problem, but it turns out that this definition does not lead to satisfying frameworks for the Local and Congest models. We then follow a logical approach that leads to a more robust theory. We define the levels of the Distributed-W-hierarchy and the Distributed-A-hierarchy that have first-order model-checking problems as their complete problems via suitable reductions.

We study the model-checking problem for first- and monadic second-order logic on finite relational structures. The problem of verifying whether a formula of these logics is true on a given structure is considered intractable in general, but it does become tractable on interesting classes of structures, such as on classes whose Gaifman graphs have bounded treewidth. In this paper we continue this line of research and study model-checking for first- and monadic second-order logic in the presence of an ordering on the input structure. We do so in two settings: the general ordered case, where the input structures are equipped with a fixed order or successor relation, and the order invariant case, where the formulas may resort to an ordering, but their truth must be independent of the particular choice of order. In the first setting we show very strong intractability results for most interesting classes of structures. In contrast, in the order invariant case we obtain tractability results for order-invariant monadic second-order formulas on the same classes of graphs as in the unordered case. For first-order logic, we obtain tractability of successor-invariant formulas on classes whose Gaifman graphs have bounded expansion. Furthermore, we show that model-checking for order-invariant first-order formulas is tractable on coloured posets of bounded width., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1701.08516

We consider a generic algorithmic paradigm that we call progressive exploration, which can be used to develop simple and efficient parameterized graph algorithms. We identify two model-theoretic properties that lead to efficient progressive algorithms, namely variants of the Helly property and stability. We demonstrate our approach by giving linear-time fixed-parameter algorithms for the distance-r dominating set problem (parameterized by the solution size) in a wide variety of restricted graph classes, such as powers of nowhere dense classes, map graphs, and (for $r=1$) biclique-free graphs. Similarly, for the distance-r independent set problem the technique can be used to give a linear-time fixed-parameter algorithm on any nowhere dense class. Despite the simplicity of the method, in several cases our results extend known boundaries of tractability for the considered problems and improve the best known running times.

The notion of bounded expansion captures uniform sparsity of graph classes and renders various algorithmic problems that are hard in general tractable. In particular, the model-checking problem for first-order logic is fixed-parameter tractable over such graph classes. With the aim of generalizing such results to dense graphs, we introduce classes of graphs with structurally bounded expansion, defined as first-order interpretations of classes of bounded expansion. As a first step towards their algorithmic treatment, we provide their characterization analogous to the characterization of classes of bounded expansion via low treedepth decompositions, replacing treedepth by its dense analogue called shrubdepth.

For a positive integer $r$, a distance-$r$ independent set in an undirected graph $G$ is a set $I\subseteq V(G)$ of vertices pairwise at distance greater than $r$, while a distance-$r$ dominating set is a set $D\subseteq V(G)$ such that every vertex of the graph is within distance at most $r$ from a vertex from $D$. We study the duality between the maximum size of a distance-$2r$ independent set and the minimum size of a distance-$r$ dominating set in nowhere dense graph classes, as well as the kernelization complexity of the distance-$r$ independent set problem on these graph classes. Specifically, we prove that the distance-$r$ independent set problem admits an almost linear kernel on every nowhere dense graph class.