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We consider the pursuit and evasion game on finite, connected, undirected graphs known as cops and robbers. Meyniel conjectured that for every graph on n vertices a rootish number of cops can win the game. We prove that this holds up to a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2008-05-20 Bela Bollobas , Gabor Kun , Imre Leader

Structural decomposition methods have been developed for identifying tractable classes of instances of fundamental problems in databases, such as conjunctive queries and query containment, of the constraint satisfaction problem in…

Databases · Computer Science 2016-07-06 Gianluigi Greco , Francesco Scarcello

Consider a two-person zero-sum search game between a hider and a searcher. The hider hides among $n$ discrete locations, and the searcher successively visits individual locations until finding the hider. Known to both players, a search at…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-05-18 Jake Clarkson , Kyle Y Lin

We present two zero-sum games modeling situations where one player attacks (or hides in) a finite dimensional nonempty compact set, and the other tries to prevent the attack (or find him). The first game, called patrolling game, corresponds…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-07-03 Tristan Garrec

We consider a cops and robber game where the cops are blocking edges of a graph, while the robber occupies its vertices. At each round of the game, the cops choose some set of edges to block and right after the robber is obliged to move to…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2020-09-09 Stratis Limnios , Christophe Paul , Joanny Perret , Dimitrios M. Thilikos

We survey results at the intersection of topological graph theory and the game of Cops and Robbers, focusing on results, conjectures, and open problems for the cop number of a graph embedded on a surface. After a discussion on results for…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-04-24 Anthony Bonato , Bojan Mohar

This paper provides a decomposition technique for the purpose of simplifying the solution of certain zero-sum differential games. The games considered terminate when the state reaches a target, which can be expressed as the union of a…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2014-09-17 Adriano Festa , Richard Vinter

Anomaly detection is a method for discovering unusual and suspicious behavior. In many real-world scenarios, the examined events can be directly linked to the actions of an adversary, such as attacks on computer networks or frauds in…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-04-23 Olga Petrova , Karel Durkota , Galina Alperovich , Karel Horak , Michal Najman , Branislav Bosansky , Viliam Lisy

We introduce a new game played on graphs, ``Agents and Adversary". This game is reminiscent of ``Cops and Robbers" but has some fundamental differences. We classify infinite families of graphs as Agents-win and Adversary-win. We then define…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-03-13 William K. Moses , Amanda Redlich , Frederick Stock

(abstract shortened to meet arxiv's length requirements) We investigate two variants of the classical Cops and robber game in graphs, recently introduced by Lee, Mart\'inez-Pedroza, and Rodr\'iguez-Quinche. The two versions are played in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-02-24 Louis Esperet , Harmender Gahlawat , Ugo Giocanti

We consider the game of Cops and Robber played on the Cartesian product of two trees. Assuming the players play perfectly, it is shown that if there are two cops in the game, then the length of the game (known as the 2-capture time of the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2010-11-02 Abbas Mehrabian

The game of cops and robber is a two-player turn-based game played on a graph where the cops try to capture the robber. The cop number of a graph $G$, denoted by $c(G)$ is the minimum number of cops required to capture the robber. For a…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2025-05-22 Arnab Char , Paras Vinubhai Maniya , Dinabandhu Pradhan

Interdicting a criminal with limited police resources is a challenging task as the criminal changes location over time. The size of the large transportation network further adds to the difficulty of this scenario. To tackle this issue, we…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-08 Sukanya Samanta , Kei Kimura , Makoto Yokoo , Palash Dey

We introduce the bodyguard problem for graphs. This is a variation of Surrounding Cops and Robber but, in this model, a smallest possible group of bodyguards must surround the president and then maintain this protection indefinitely. We…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-08-15 Nancy E. Clarke , Danny Dyer , William Kellough

In the classic cop and robber game, two players--the cop and the robber--take turns moving to a neighboring vertex or staying at their current position. The cop aims to capture the robber, while the robber tries to evade capture. A graph…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-02-17 Tanja Dravec , Vesna Iršič Chenoweth , Andrej Taranenko

Consider a two-person zero-sum search game between a hider and a searcher. The hider hides among $n$ discrete locations, and the searcher successively visits individual locations until finding the hider. Known to both players, a search at…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-03-18 Jake Clarkson , Kyle Y. Lin , Kevin D. Glazebrook

We provide a game theoretic framework for the game of cops and robbers (CR). Within this framework we study certain assumptions which underlie the concepts of optimal strategies and capture time. We also point out a connection of these…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2014-07-08 Athanasios Kehagias , Georgios Konstantinidis

A hole in a graph is an induced cycle of length at least 4. We give a simple winning strategy for t-3 cops to capture a robber in the game of cops and robbers played in a graph that does not contain a hole of length at least t. This…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-01-03 Vaidy Sivaraman

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

In this note, we prove that all cop-win graphs G in the game in which the robber and the cop move at different speeds s and s' with s'<s, are \delta-hyperbolic with \delta=O(s^2). We also show that the dependency between \delta and s is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-12-12 Jérémie Chalopin , Victor Chepoi , Panos Papasoglu , Timothée Pecatte