Approximating Minimum Dominating Set on String Graphs

In this paper, we give approximation algorithms for the \textsc{Minimum Dominating Set (MDS)} problem on \emph{string} graphs and its subclasses. A \emph{path} is a simple curve made up of alternating horizontal and vertical line segments. A \emph{$k$-bend path} is a path made up of at most $k + 1$ line segments. An \textsc{L}-path is a $1$-bend path having the shape `\textsc{L}'. A \emph{vertically-stabbed-\textsc{L} graph} is an intersection graph of \textsc{L}-paths intersecting a common vertical line. We give a polynomial time $8$-approximation algorithm for \textsc{MDS} problem on vertically-stabbed-\textsc{L} graphs whose APX-hardness was shown by Bandyapadhyay et al. (\textsc{MFCS}, 2018). To prove the above result, we needed to study the \emph{Stabbing segments with rays} (\textsc{SSR}) problem introduced by Katz et al. (\textsc{Comput. Geom. 2005}). In the \textsc{SSR} problem, the input is a set of (disjoint) leftward-directed rays, and a set of (disjoint) vertical segments. The objective is to select a minimum number of rays that intersect all vertical segments. We give a $O((n+m)\log (n+m))$-time $2$-approximation algorithm for the \textsc{SSR} problem where $n$ and $m$ are the number of rays and segments in the input. A \emph{unit $k$-bend path} is a $k$-bend path whose segments are of unit length. A graph is a \emph{unit $B_k$-VPG graph} if it is an intersection graph of unit $k$-bend paths. Any string graph is a unit-$B_k$-VPG graph for some finite $k$. Using our result on \textsc{SSR}-problem, we give a polynomial time $O(k^4)$-approximation algorithm for \textsc{MDS} problem on unit $B_k$-VPG graphs for $k\geq 0$.