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This paper provides a polynomial-time algorithm for solving parity games that runs in $\mathcal{O}(n^{2}\cdot(n + m))$ time-ending a search that has taken decades. Unlike previous attractor-based algorithms, the presented algorithm only…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-11-07 Rick van der Heijden

We consider the problem of finding the smallest graph that contains two input trees each with at most $n$ vertices preserving their distances. In other words, we look for an isometric-universal graph with the minimum number of vertices for…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-06-17 Edgar Baucher , François Dross , Cyril Gavoille

We study the localization number of incidence graphs of designs. In the localization game played on a graph, the cops attempt to determine the location of an invisible robber via distance probes. The localization number of a graph $G$,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-05-27 Anthony Bonato , Melissa A. Huggan , Trent Marbach

In this paper we will be introducing a type of game which as far as this author is aware has never been studied before. These are games where there are two players, one who is trying to get one of his pieces, called a King to a predefined…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-09-07 Fraser Stewart

Cops and robbers is a game between two players, where one tries to catch the other by moving along the edges of a graph. It is well known that on a finite graph the cop has a winning strategy if and only if the graph is constructible and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-03-31 Florian Lehner

Cops and Robbers is a pursuit evasion game played on a graph, first introduced independently by Quilliot \cite{quilliot1978jeux} and Nowakowski and Winkler \cite{NOWAKOWSKI1983235} over four decades ago. A main interest in recent the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-19 Meagan Mann , Christian Muise , Erin Meger

We first devise a branching algorithm that computes a minimum independent dominating set on any graph with running time O*(2^0.424n) and polynomial space. This improves the O*(2^0.441n) result by (S. Gaspers and M. Liedloff, A…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-05-13 Nicolas Bourgeois , Bruno Escoffier , Vangelis Th. Paschos

We consider a class of zero-sum search games in which a Hider hides one or more target among a set of $n$ boxes. The boxes may require differing amount of time to search, and detection may be imperfect, so that there is a certain…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-05-12 Thomas Lidbetter

Consider the following one-player game played on an initially empty graph with $n$ vertices. At each stage a randomly selected new edge is added and the player must immediately color the edge with one of $r$ available colors. Her objective…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-03-25 Andreas Noever

An online Ramsey game is a game between Builder and Painter, alternating in turns. They are given a graph $H$ and a graph $G$ of an infinite set of independent vertices. In each round Builder draws an edge and Painter colors it either red…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-01-14 Václav Blažej , Pavel Dvořák , Tomáš Valla

A cat and mouse play a pursuit and evasion game on a connected graph $G$ with $n$ vertices. The mouse moves to vertices $m_1,m_2,\dots$ of $G$ where $m_i$ is in the closed neighbourhood of $m_{i-1}$ for $i\geq2$. The cat tests vertices…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-05-14 Hannah Guggiari , Alexander Roberts , Alex Scott

We consider the largest number of minimal separators a graph on n vertices can have at most. We give a new proof that this number is in $O( ((1+\sqrt{5})/2)^n n )$. We prove that this number is in $\omega( 1.4521^n )$, improving on the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-04-03 Serge Gaspers , Simon Mackenzie

The burning number of a graph $G$ is the smallest positive integer $k$ such that the vertex set of $G$ can be covered with balls of radii $0, 1, \dots, k-1$. A well-known conjecture by Bonato, Janssen and Roshabin states that any connected…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-03-27 Anders Martinsson

In the distributed triangle detection problem, we have an $n$-vertex network $G=(V,E)$ with one player for each vertex of the graph who sees the edges incident on the vertex. The players communicate in synchronous rounds using the edges of…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-08-14 Sepehr Assadi , Janani Sundaresan

Adversarial search of a network for an immobile Hider (or target) was introduced and solved for rooted trees by Gal (1979). In this zero-sum game, a Hider picks a point to hide on the tree and a Searcher picks a unit speed trajectory…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2024-09-12 Steve Alpern , Thomas Lidbetter

We consider a variant of the Cops and Robbers game where the robber can move t edges at a time, and show that in this variant, the cop number of a d-regular graph with girth larger than 2t+2 is Omega(d^t). By the known upper bounds on the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2011-06-03 Abbas Mehrabian

In the domination game studied here, Dominator and Staller alternately choose a vertex of a graph $G$ and take it into a set $D$. The number of vertices dominated by the set $D$ must increase in each single turn and the game ends when $D$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-04-08 Csilla Bujtás

The paper presents an algorithm for minimum vertex cover problem, which is an NP-Complete problem. The algorithm computes a minimum vertex cover of each input simple graph. Tested by the attached MATLAB programs, Stage 1 of the algorithm is…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2016-10-30 Gang Hu

In an Avoider-Enforcer game, we are given a hypergraph. Avoider and Enforcer alternate in claiming an unclaimed vertex, until all the vertices of the hypergraph are claimed. Enforcer wins if Avoider claims all vertices of an edge; Avoider…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2022-11-21 Tillmann Miltzow , Miloš Stojaković

We study a game of pursuit and evasion introduced by Seager in 2012, in which a cop searches the robber from outside the graph, using distance queries. A graph on which the cop wins is called locatable. In her original paper, Seager asked…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-02-13 Richard A. B. Johnson , Sebastian Koch