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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

We show that the cop number of every generalized Petersen graph is at most 4. The strategy is to play a modified game of cops and robbers on an infinite cyclic covering space where the objective is to capture the robber or force the robber…

We consider a patrolling game on a graph recently introduced by Alpern et al. (2011) where the Patroller wins if he is at the attacked node while the attack is taking place. This paper studies the periodic patrolling game in the case that…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-05-31 Steve Alpern , Thomas Lidbetter , Katerina Papadaki

We adapt the Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s path argument to prove that $t-2$ cops can capture a robber, in at most $t-1$ moves, in the game of cops and robbers played in a graph that does not contain the $t$-vertex path as an induced subgraph.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-03-06 Vaidy Sivaraman

A cop tries to capture a robber in a topological space $X$ being unable to see him. For which spaces $X$ does the cop have a strategy which allows him to capture the robber independently of his efforts to escape? In other words, when is…

General Topology · Mathematics 2022-10-24 Jonathan A. Barmak

In the Localization game played on graphs, a set of cops uses distance probes to identify the location of an invisible robber. We present an extension of the game and its main parameter, the localization number, to directed graphs. We…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-08-17 Anthony Bonato , Ryan Cushman , Trent G. Marbach , Brittany Pittman

The game of cops and robbers is a well-known game played on graphs. In this paper we consider the straight-ahead orientations of 4-regular quadrangulations of the torus and the Klein bottle and we prove that their cop number is bounded by a…

We study the computational complexity of a perfect-information two-player game proposed by Aigner and Fromme. The game takes place on an undirected graph where n simultaneously moving cops attempt to capture a single robber, all moving at…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2012-12-19 Marcello Mamino

We propose a definition of generalized Cops and Robbers games where there are two players, the Pursuer and the Evader, who each move via prescribed rules. If the Pursuer can ensure that the game enters into a fixed set of final positions,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-04-20 Anthony Bonato , Gary MacGillivray

This paper describes a 720-vertex connected planar graph G such that cop1(G), denoting the minimum number of cops needed to catch the robber in the 1-cop-move game on G, is at least 4 and at most 7. Furthermore, G has a connected subgraph H…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-12-17 Wei Quan Lim

This paper is a contribution to the classical cops and robber problem on a graph, directed to two-dimensional grids and toroidal grids. These studies are generally aimed at determining the minimum number of cops needed to capture the robber…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2019-01-24 Fabrizio Luccio , Linda Pagli

We consider the localization game played on graphs in which a cop tries to determine the exact location of an invisible robber by exploiting distance probes. The corresponding graph parameter $\zeta(G)$ for a given graph $G$ is called the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-09-07 Andrzej Dudek , Sean English , Alan Frieze , Calum MacRury , Pawel Pralat

We study the localization game on dense random graphs. In this game, a {\em cop} $x$ tries to locate a {\em robber} $y$ by asking for the graph distance of $y$ from every vertex in a sequence of sets $W_1,W_2,\ldots,W_\ell$. We prove high…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-05-16 Andrzej Dudek , Alan Frieze , Wesley Pegden

In the game of cops and robber, the cops try to capture a robber moving on the vertices of the graph. The minimum number of cops required to win on a given graph $G$ is called the cop number of $G$. The biggest open conjecture in this area…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-09-25 Pawel Pralat , Nicholas Wormald

We present two efficient algorithms that compute the optimal strategy for cop in the game of Cop v.s. Gambler where the gambler's strategy is not optimal but known to the cop. The first algorithm is analogous to Bellman-Ford algorithm for…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-01-11 Shen-Fu Tsai

A relational characterization of cop-win graphs was provided by Nowakowski and Winkler in their seminal paper on the game of Cops and Robbers. As a by-product of that characterization, each cop-win graph is assigned a unique ordinal, which…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-05-16 Anthony Bonato , Przemysław Gordinowicz , Gena Hahn

Inspired by Lelek's idea from [Disjoint mappings and the span of spaces, Fund. Math. 55 (1964), 199 -- 214], we introduce the novel notion of the span of graphs. Using this, we solve the problem of determining the \emph{maximal safety…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-06-22 Iztok Banič , Andrej Taranenko

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

We introduce and study the Generalized Cops and Robbers game (GCR), an N-player pursuit game in graphs. The two-player version is essentially equivalent to the classic Cops and Robbers (CR) game. The three-player version can be understood…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2018-07-24 Athanasios Kehagias

In the game of cops and robber, the cops try to capture a robber moving on the vertices of the graph. The minimum number of cops required to win on a given graph $G$ is called the cop number of $G$. The biggest open conjecture in this area…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-12-12 Pawel Pralat , Nick Wormald