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Related papers: Parameterized Analysis of the Cops and Robber Prob…

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We show that the expected time for a smart "cop" to catch a drunk "robber" on an $n$-vertex graph is at most $n + {\rm o}(n)$. More precisely, let $G$ be a simple, connected, undirected graph with distinguished points $u$ and $v$ among its…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-11-05 Natasha Komarov , Peter Winkler

A kernelization for a parameterized decision problem $\mathcal{Q}$ is a polynomial-time preprocessing algorithm that reduces any parameterized instance $(x,k)$ into an instance $(x',k')$ whose size is bounded by a function of $k$ alone and…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-10-09 Bart M. P. Jansen , Bart van der Steenhoven

We investigate the game of cops and robber, played on a finite graph, between one cop and one robber. If the cop can force a win on a graph, the graph is called cop-win. We describe a procedure we call corner ranking, performed on a graph,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-03-14 David Offner , Kerry Ojakian

We consider the cops and robber game variant consisting of one cop and one robber on time-varying graphs (TVG). The considered TVGs are edge periodic graphs, i.e., for each edge, a binary string $s_e$ determines in which time step the edge…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2021-07-13 Nils Morawietz , Petra Wolf

Graph Burning asks, given a graph $G = (V,E)$ and an integer $k$, whether there exists $(b_{0},\dots,b_{k-1}) \in V^{k}$ such that every vertex in $G$ has distance at most $i$ from some $b_{i}$. This problem is known to be NP-complete even…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-09-29 Yasuaki Kobayashi , Yota Otachi

Tracking of moving objects is crucial to security systems and networks. Given a graph $G$, terminal vertices $s$ and $t$, and an integer $k$, the \textsc{Tracking Paths} problem asks whether there exists at most $k$ vertices, which if…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-08-24 Pratibha Choudhary , Venkatesh Raman

The Connected Vertex Cover problem, where the goal is to compute a minimum set of vertices in a given graph which forms a vertex cover and induces a connected subgraph, is a fundamental combinatorial problem and has received extensive…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-04-30 Diptapriyo Majumdar , M. S. Ramanujan , Saket Saurabh

The lower and the upper irredundance numbers of a graph $G$, denoted $ir(G)$ and $IR(G)$ respectively, are conceptually linked to domination and independence numbers and have numerous relations to other graph parameters. It is a…

Given an ordering of the vertices of a graph, the cost of covering an edge is the smaller number of its two ends. The minimum sum vertex cover problem asks for an ordering that minimizes the total cost of covering all edges. We consider…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-04-16 Yixin Cao , Ling Gai , Jingyi Liu , Jianxin Wang

We consider a variation of cop vs.\ robber on graph in which the robber is not restricted by the graph edges; instead, he picks a time-independent probability distribution on $V(G)$ and moves according to this fixed distribution. The cop…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-08-23 Natasha Komarov , Peter Winkler

Vertex deletion and edge deletion problems play a central role in Parameterized Complexity. Examples include classical problems like Feedback Vertex Set, Odd Cycle Transversal, and Chordal Deletion. Interestingly, the study of edge…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2011-04-20 Pinar Heggernes , Pim van 't Hof , Benjamin Lévêque , Daniel Lokshtanov , Christophe Paul

In this paper we study the hardness of the $k$-Center problem on inputs that model transportation networks. For the problem, a graph $G=(V,E)$ with edge lengths and an integer $k$ are given and a center set $C\subseteq V$ needs to be chosen…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2020-03-03 Andreas Emil Feldmann , Daniel Marx

We consider a variant of Cops and Robbers in which the robber may traverse as many edges as he likes in each turn, with the constraint that he cannot pass through any vertex occupied by a cop. We study this model on several classes of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-05-17 William B. Kinnersley , Nikolas Townsend

Motivated by a biological scenario illustrated in the YouTube video \url{ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_mXDvZQ6dU} where a neutrophil chases a bacteria cell moving in random directions, we present a variant of the cop and robber game on…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-04-02 Pamela Harris , Erik Insko , Alicia Prieto-Langarica , Rade Stoisavljevic , Shaun Sullivan

In the weighted partial vertex cover problem (WPVC), we are given a graph $G=(V,E)$, cost function $c:V\rightarrow N$, profit function $p:E\rightarrow N$, and positive integers $R$ and $L$. The goal is to check whether there is a subset…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-04-30 Vahan Mkrtchyan , Garik Petrosyan , K. Subramani

The deduction game is a variation of the game of cops and robber on graphs in which searchers must capture an invisible evader in at most one move. Searchers know each others' initial locations, but can only communicate if they are on the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-12-24 Andrea Burgess , Danny Dyer , Mozhgan Farahani

We study a variant of the classical cop-robber game played on compact metric graphs, where each edge is assigned a positive length and identified with a real interval of corresponding length. In this setting, both the cop and the robber…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-23 Daniel Berend , Michael D. Boshernitzan

The technique of kernelization consists in extracting, from an instance of a problem, an essentially equivalent instance whose size is bounded in a parameter k. Besides being the basis for efficient param-eterized algorithms, this method…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-02-09 Clément Carbonnel , Emmanuel Hébrard

We study the parameterized complexity of a generalization of the coordinated motion planning problem on graphs, where the goal is to route a specified subset of a given set of $k$ robots to their destinations with the aim of minimizing the…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2026-02-02 Argyrios Deligkas , Eduard Eiben , Robert Ganian , Iyad Kanj , M. S. Ramanujan

With the increasing use of robots in daily life, there is a growing need to provide robust collaboration protocols for robots to tackle more complicated and dynamic problems effectively. This paper presents a novel, factor graph-based…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-10-10 Messiah Abolfazli Esfahani , Ayşe Başar , Sajad Saeedi