English

Constant Approximating k-Clique is W[1]-hard

Computational Complexity 2021-02-10 v1

Abstract

For every graph GG, let ω(G)\omega(G) be the largest size of complete subgraph in GG. This paper presents a simple algorithm which, on input a graph GG, a positive integer kk and a small constant ϵ>0\epsilon>0, outputs a graph GG' and an integer kk' in 2Θ(k5)GO(1)2^{\Theta(k^5)}\cdot |G|^{O(1)}-time such that (1) k2Θ(k5)k'\le 2^{\Theta(k^5)}, (2) if ω(G)k\omega(G)\ge k, then ω(G)k\omega(G')\ge k', (3) if ω(G)<k\omega(G)<k, then ω(G)<(1ϵ)k\omega(G')< (1-\epsilon)k'. This implies that no f(k)GO(1)f(k)\cdot |G|^{O(1)}-time algorithm can distinguish between the cases ω(G)k\omega(G)\ge k and ω(G)<k/c\omega(G)<k/c for any constant c1c\ge 1 and computable function ff, unless FPT=W[1]FPT= W[1].

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.04769,
  title  = {Constant Approximating k-Clique is W[1]-hard},
  author = {Bingkai Lin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.04769},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T22:58:35.975Z