The Subset Feedback Vertex Set problem (SFVS) is to delete k vertices from a given graph such that in the remaining graph, any vertex in a subset T of vertices (called a terminal set) is not in a cycle. The famous Feedback Vertex Set problem is the special case of SFVS with T being the whole set of vertices. In this paper, we study exact algorithms for SFVS in Split Graphs (SFVS-S) and SFVS in Chordal Graphs (SFVS-C). SFVS-S generalizes the minimum vertex cover problem and the prize-collecting version of the maximum independent set problem in hypergraphs (PCMIS), and SFVS-C further generalizes SFVS-S. Both SFVS-S and SFVS-C are implicit 3-Hitting Set problems. However, it is not easy to solve them faster than 3-Hitting Set. In 2019, Philip, Rajan, Saurabh, and Tale (Algorithmica 2019) proved that SFVS-C can be solved in 𝒪^*(2^k) time, slightly improving the best result 𝒪^*(2.0755^k) for 3-Hitting Set. In this paper, we break the "2^k-barrier" for SFVS-S and SFVS-C by introducing an 𝒪^*(1.8192^k)-time algorithm. This achievement also indicates that PCMIS can be solved in 𝒪^*(1.8192ⁿ) time, marking the first exact algorithm for PCMIS that outperforms the trivial 𝒪^*(2ⁿ) threshold. Our algorithm uses reduction and branching rules based on the Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition and a divide-and-conquer method.
@InProceedings{bai_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2024.15, author = {Bai, Tian and Xiao, Mingyu}, title = {{Breaking the Barrier 2^k for Subset Feedback Vertex Set in Chordal Graphs}}, booktitle = {49th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2024)}, pages = {15:1--15:18}, series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)}, ISBN = {978-3-95977-335-5}, ISSN = {1868-8969}, year = {2024}, volume = {306}, editor = {Kr\'{a}lovi\v{c}, Rastislav and Ku\v{c}era, Anton{\'\i}n}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2024.15}, URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-205711}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2024.15}, annote = {Keywords: Subset Feedback Vertex Set, Prize-Collecting Maximum Independent Set, Parameterized Algorithms, Split Graphs, Chordal Graphs, Dulmage-Mendelsohn Decomposition} }
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