Related papers: Mind the Independence Gap
The graph theoretic concept of maximal independent set arises in several practical problems in computer science as well as in game theory. A maximal independent set is defined by the set of occupied nodes that satisfy some packing and…
An independent set in a graph is a set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices, and alpha(G) is the size of a maximum independent set in the graph G. A matching is a set of non-incident edges, while mu(G) is the cardinality of a maximum matching.…
We present two new contributions to the study of the independence polynomial $Z_G(z)$ of a finite simple graph $G = (V,E)$. First, we provide an improved lower bound for the zero-free region of $Z_G(z)$ for the important class of claw-free…
A graph $G$ is well-covered if all its maximal stable sets have the same size, denoted by alpha(G) (M. D. Plummer, 1970). If for any $k$ the $k$-th coefficient of a polynomial I(G;x) is equal to the number of stable sets of cardinality $k$…
We present an algorithm that takes as input a graph $G$ with weights on the vertices, and computes a maximum weight independent set $S$ of $G$. If the input graph $G$ excludes a path $P_k$ on $k$ vertices as an induced subgraph, the…
We consider the number of independent sets in hypergraphs, which allows us to define the independence density of countable hypergraphs. Hypergraph independence densities include a broad family of densities over graphs and relational…
The independence equivalence class of a graph $G$ is the set of graphs that have the same independence polynomial as $G$. A graph whose independence equivalence class contains only itself, up to isomorphism, is independence unique. Beaton,…
We leverage an algorithm of Deming [R.W. Deming, Independence numbers of graphs -- an extension of the Koenig-Egervary theorem, Discrete Math., 27(1979), no. 1, 23--33; MR534950] to decompose a matchable graph into subgraphs with a precise…
We consider the algorithmic problem of finding large \textit{balanced} independent sets in sparse random bipartite graphs, and more generally the problem of finding independent sets with specified proportions of vertices on each side of the…
The goal of this paper is to accurately describe the maximal zero-free region of the independence polynomial for graphs of bounded degree, for large degree bounds. In previous work with de Boer, Guerini and Regts it was demonstrated that…
The hard-core model can be used to understand the numbers of independent sets in graphs in extremal graph theory. The occupancy fraction, defined as the logarithmic derivative of the independence polynomial of a graph, is a key quantity in…
In this paper, we develop efficient exact and approximate algorithms for computing a maximum independent set in random graphs. In a random graph $G$, each pair of vertices are joined by an edge with a probability $p$, where $p$ is a…
For a graph $G$, its $k$-th power $G^k$ is constructed by placing an edge between two vertices if they are within distance $k$ of each other. The $k$-independence number $\alpha_k(G)$ is defined as the independence number of $G^k$. By using…
Dallard, Milani\v{c}, and \v{S}torgel [arXiv '22] ask if for every class excluding a fixed planar graph $H$ as an induced minor, Maximum Independent Set can be solved in polynomial time, and show that this is indeed the case when $H$ is any…
The $k$-independence number of a graph $G$ is the maximum size of a set of vertices at pairwise distance greater than $k$. In this paper, for each positive integer $k$, we prove sharp upper bounds for the $k$-independence number in an…
Clique-width is an important graph parameter due to its algorithmic and structural properties. A graph class is hereditary if it can be characterized by a (not necessarily finite) set ${\cal H}$ of forbidden induced subgraphs. We initiate a…
The main focus of this thesis is a generalization of covering arrays, covering arrays on graphs. Two vectors v,w in Z_k^n are qualitatively independent if for all ordered pairs (a,b) in Z_k x Z_k there is a position i in the vectors where…
Let $G$ be an undirected graph. An edge of $G$ dominates itself and all edges adjacent to it. A subset $E'$ of edges of $G$ is an edge dominating set of $G$, if every edge of the graph is dominated by some edge of $E'$. We say that $E'$ is…
The independence polynomial $i(G,x)$ of a graph $G$ is the generating function of the numbers of independent sets of each size. A graph of order $n$ is very well-covered if every maximal independent set has size $n/2$. Levit and Mandrescu…
The classic theorem of Gallai and Milgram (1960) generalizes several fundamental results in Graph Theory, such as Dilworth's theorem on posets and K\H{o}nig's theorem on matchings in bipartite graphs. The theorem asserts that for every…