Related papers: Narrow sieves for parameterized paths and packings
The problem of finding multiple simple shortest paths in a weighted directed graph $G=(V,E)$ has many applications, and is considerably more difficult than the corresponding problem when cycles are allowed in the paths. Even for a single…
Given a graph and a pair of terminals $s$, $t$, the next-to-shortest path problem asks for an $s\!\to \!t$ (simple) path that is shortest among all not shortest $s\!\to \!t$ paths (if one exists). This problem was introduced in 1996, and…
Let U be a universe on n elements, let k be a positive integer, and let F be a family of (implicitly defined) subsets of U. We consider the problems of partitioning U into k sets from F, covering U with k sets from F, and packing k…
The $k$-colouring reconfiguration problem asks whether, for a given graph $G$, two proper $k$-colourings $\alpha$ and $\beta$ of $G$, and a positive integer $\ell$, there exists a sequence of at most $\ell+1$ proper $k$-colourings of $G$…
For many random Constraint Satisfaction Problems, by now, we have asymptotically tight estimates of the largest constraint density for which they have solutions. At the same time, all known polynomial-time algorithms for many of these…
In an undirected graph, a proper (k,i)-coloring is an assignment of a set of k colors to each vertex such that any two adjacent vertices have at most i common colors. The (k,i)-coloring problem is to compute the minimum number of colors…
In the $\ell$-Coloring Problem, we are given a graph on $n$ nodes, and tasked with determining if its vertices can be properly colored using $\ell$ colors. In this paper we study below-guarantee graph coloring, which tests whether an…
We introduce and study a novel generalization of the classical Knapsack Problem (KP), called the Colored Knapsack Problem (CKP). In this problem, the items are partitioned into classes of colors and the packed items need to be ordered such…
In graph theory, the longest path problem is the problem of finding a simple path of maximum length in a given graph. For some small classes of graphs, the problem can be solved in polynomial time [2, 4], but it remains NP-hard on general…
We study a variant of the Erd\H{o}s Matching Problem in random hypergraphs. Let $\mathcal{K}_p(n,k)$ denote the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices where each possible edge is included with probability $p$. We…
We study a broad class of graph partitioning problems, where each problem is specified by a graph $G=(V,E)$, and parameters $k$ and $p$. We seek a subset $U\subseteq V$ of size $k$, such that $\alpha_1m_1 + \alpha_2m_2$ is at most (or at…
We introduce a general approach for solving partition problems where the goal is to represent a given set as a union (either disjoint or not) of subsets satisfying certain properties. Many NP-hard problems can be naturally stated as such…
Given an edge-weighted undirected graph and a list of k source-sink pairs of vertices, the well-known minimum multicut problem consists in selecting a minimum-weight set of edges whose removal leaves no path between every source and its…
We present two new combinatorial tools for the design of parameterized algorithms. The first is a simple linear time randomized algorithm that given as input a $d$-degenerate graph $G$ and an integer $k$, outputs an independent set $Y$,…
In this paper we resolve the complexity of the isomorphism problem on all but finitely many of the graph classes characterized by two forbidden induced subgraphs. To this end we develop new techniques applicable for the structural and…
In 1982 Papadimitriou and Yannakakis introduced the Exact Matching problem, in which given a red and blue edge-colored graph $G$ and an integer $k$ one has to decide whether there exists a perfect matching in $G$ with exactly $k$ red edges.…
The $k$-cut problem asks, given a connected graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, to find a minimum-weight set of edges whose removal splits $G$ into $k$ connected components. We give the first polynomial-time algorithm with approximation…
We design an $O(n^3)$ algorithm to find a minimum weighted coloring of a ($P_5, \bar{P}_5$)-free graph. Furthermore, the same technique can be used to solve the same problem for several classes of graphs, defined by forbidden induced…
The design of a good algorithm to solve NP-hard combinatorial approximation problems requires specific domain knowledge about the problems and often needs a trial-and-error problem solving approach. Graph coloring is one of the essential…
We present several sparsification lower and upper bounds for classic problems in graph theory and logic. For the problems 4-Coloring, (Directed) Hamiltonian Cycle, and (Connected) Dominating Set, we prove that there is no polynomial-time…