We study the problem #IndSub(Phi) of counting all induced subgraphs of size k in a graph G that satisfy the property Phi. This problem was introduced by Jerrum and Meeks and shown to be #W[1]-hard when parameterized by k for some families of properties Phi including, among others, connectivity [JCSS 15] and even- or oddness of the number of edges [Combinatorica 17]. Very recently [IPEC 18], two of the authors introduced a novel technique for the complexity analysis of #IndSub(Phi), inspired by the "topological approach to evasiveness" of Kahn, Saks and Sturtevant [FOCS 83] and the framework of graph motif parameters due to Curticapean, Dell and Marx [STOC 17], allowing them to prove hardness of a wide range of properties Phi. In this work, we refine this technique for graph properties that are non-trivial on edge-transitive graphs with a prime power number of edges. In particular, we fully classify the case of monotone bipartite graph properties: It is shown that, given any graph property Phi that is closed under the removal of vertices and edges, and that is non-trivial for bipartite graphs, the problem #IndSub(Phi) is #W[1]-hard and cannot be solved in time f(k)* n^{o(k)} for any computable function f, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. This holds true even if the input graph is restricted to be bipartite and counting is done modulo a fixed prime. A similar result is shown for properties that are closed under the removal of edges only.
@InProceedings{dorfler_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.26, author = {D\"{o}rfler, Julian and Roth, Marc and Schmitt, Johannes and Wellnitz, Philip}, title = {{Counting Induced Subgraphs: An Algebraic Approach to #W\lbrack1\rbrack-hardness}}, booktitle = {44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)}, pages = {26:1--26:14}, series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)}, ISBN = {978-3-95977-117-7}, ISSN = {1868-8969}, year = {2019}, volume = {138}, editor = {Rossmanith, Peter and Heggernes, Pinar and Katoen, Joost-Pieter}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.26}, URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-109703}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.26}, annote = {Keywords: counting complexity, edge-transitive graphs, graph homomorphisms, induced subgraphs, parameterized complexity} }
Feedback for Dagstuhl Publishing