Vertex Exponential Algorithms for Connected f-Factors

Abstract

Given a graph G and a function f:V(G) -> [V(G)], an f-factor is a subgraph H of G such that deg_H(v)=f(v) for every vertex v in V(G); we say that H is a connected f-factor if, in addition, the subgraph H is connected. Tutte (1954) showed that one can check whether a given graph has a specified f-factor in polynomial time. However, detecting a connected f-factor is NP-complete, even when f is a constant function - a foremost example is the problem of checking whether a graph has a Hamiltonian cycle; here f is a function which maps every vertex to 2. The current best algorithm for this latter problem is due to Björklund (FOCS 2010), and runs in randomized O^*(1.657^n) time (the O^*() notation hides polynomial factors). This was the first superpolynomial improvement, in nearly fifty years, over the previous best algorithm of Bellman, Held and Karp (1962) which checks for a Hamiltonian cycle in deterministic O(2^n*n^2) time.
 
In this paper we present the first vertex-exponential algorithms for the more general problem of finding a connected f-factor. Our first result is a randomized algorithm which, given a graph G on n vertices and a function f:V(G) -> [n], checks whether G has a connected f-factor in O^*(2^n) time. We then extend our result to the case when f is a mapping from V(G) to {0,1} and the degree of every vertex v in the subgraph H is required to be f(v)(mod 2). This generalizes the problem of checking whether a graph has an Eulerian subgraph; this is a connected subgraph whose degrees are all even (f(v) equiv 0). Furthermore, we show that the min-cost editing and edge-weighted versions of these problems can  be solved in randomized O^*(2^n) time as long as the costs/weights are bounded polynomially in n.