58 Search Results for "Sharma, Roohani"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73
Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs

Authors: Daniël Paulusma, Johannes Rauch, and Erik Jan van Leeuwen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)

Abstract
The NP-complete problems Colouring and k-Colouring (k ≥ 3) are well studied on H-free graphs, i.e., graphs that do not contain some fixed graph H as an induced subgraph. We research to what extent the known polynomial-time algorithms for H-free graphs can be generalized if we only know some of the edges of the input graph. We do this by considering the classical probe graph model introduced in the early nineties. For a graph H, a partitioned probe H-free graph (G,P,N) consists of a graph G = (V,E), together with a set P ⊆ V of probes and an independent set N = V ⧵ P of non-probes, such that G+F is H-free for some edge set F ⊆ binom(N,2). We show the following: - We fully classify Colouring on partitioned probe H-free graphs and show that the obtained complexity dichotomy differs from the known dichotomy of Colouring for H-free graphs. - We fully classify 3-Colouring on partitioned probe P_t-free graphs: we prove polynomial-time solvability for t ≤ 5 and NP-completeness for t ≥ 6. In contrast, 3-Colouring on P_t-free graphs is known to be polynomial-time solvable for t ≤ 7 and quasi-polynomial-time solvable for t ≥ 8. Our main result is our polynomial-time algorithm for 3-Colouring on partitioned P₅-free graphs. For this result, and also for all our other polynomial-time results, we do not need to know the edge set F; we only need to know its existence. Moreover, the class of probe P₅-free graphs includes not only paths of arbitrary length but even all bipartite graphs and is much richer than the class of P₅-free graphs. The latter is also evidenced by the fact that there exist graph problems, such as Matching Cut, that are known to be polynomial-time solvable for P₅-free graphs but NP-complete for partitioned probe P₅-free graphs. In particular, unlike the class of 3-colourable P₅-free graphs, the class of 3-colourable probe P₅-free graphs has unbounded mim-width. Hence, our polynomial-time result for 3-Colouring for probe P₅-free graphs suggests that there may be another, deeper overarching reason why 3-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable for P₅-free graphs.
Cite as

Daniël Paulusma, Johannes Rauch, and Erik Jan van Leeuwen. Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 73:1-73:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{paulusma_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73,
  author =	{Paulusma, Dani\"{e}l and Rauch, Johannes and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  title =	{{Colouring Probe H-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{73:1--73:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255621},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.73},
  annote =	{Keywords: colouring, probe graph, forbidden induced subgraph, complexity dichotomy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78
Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors

Authors: Roohani Sharma and Michał Włodarczyk

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 364, 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)

Abstract
Let ℱ be a finite family of graphs. In the ℱ-Deletion problem, one is given a graph G and an integer k, and the goal is to find k vertices whose deletion results in a graph with no minor from the family ℱ. This may be regarded as a far-reaching generalization of Vertex Cover and Feedback vertex Set. In their seminal work, Fomin, Lokshtanov, Misra & Saurabh [FOCS 2012] gave a polynomial kernel for this problem when the family ℱ contains a planar graph. As the size of their kernel is g(ℱ) ⋅ k^{f(ℱ)}, a natural follow-up question was whether the dependence on ℱ in the exponent of k can be avoided. The answer turned out to be negative: Giannopoulou, Jansen, Lokshtanov & Saurabh [TALG 2017] proved that this is already inevitable for the special case of the Treewidth-η-Deletion problem. In this work, we show that this non-uniformity can be avoided at the expense of a small loss. First, we present a simple 2-approximate kernelization algorithm for Treewidth-η-Deletion with a kernel size g(η) ⋅ k⁶. Next, we show that the approximation factor can be made arbitrarily close to 1, if we settle for a kernelization protocol with 𝒪(1) calls to an oracle that solves instances of size bounded by a uniform polynomial in k. We extend the above results to general ℱ-Deletion, whenever ℱ contains a planar graph, as long as an oracle for Treewidth-η-Deletion is available for small instances. Notably, all our constants are computable functions of ℱ and our techniques work also when some graphs in ℱ may be disconnected. Our results rely on two novel techniques. First, we transform so-called "near-protrusion decompositions" into true protrusion decompositions by sacrificing a small accuracy loss. Secondly, we show how to optimally compress such a decomposition with respect to general ℱ-Deletion. Using our second technique, we also obtain linear kernels on sparse graph classes when ℱ contains a planar graph, whereas the previously known theorems required all graphs in ℱ to be connected. Specifically, we generalize the kernelization algorithm by Kim, Langer, Paul, Reidl, Rossmanith, Sau & Sikdar [TALG 2015] on graph classes that exclude a topological minor.
Cite as

Roohani Sharma and Michał Włodarczyk. Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 78:1-78:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{sharma_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78,
  author =	{Sharma, Roohani and W{\l}odarczyk, Micha{\l}},
  title =	{{Protrusion Decompositions Revisited: Uniform Lossy Kernels for Reducing Treewidth and Linear Kernels for Hitting Disconnected Minors}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{78:1--78:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-412-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{364},
  editor =	{Mahajan, Meena and Manea, Florin and McIver, Annabelle and Thắng, Nguy\~{ê}n Kim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255674},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.78},
  annote =	{Keywords: kernelization, graph minors, treewidth, uniform kernels, minor hitting}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.17
Treedepth Inapproximability and Exponential ETH Lower Bound

Authors: Édouard Bonnet, Daniel Neuen, and Marek Sokołowski

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)

Abstract
Treedepth is a central parameter to algorithmic graph theory. The current state-of-the-art in computing and approximating treedepth consists of a 2^{O(k²)} n-time exact algorithm and a polynomial-time O(OPT log^{3/2} OPT)-approximation algorithm, where the former algorithm returns an elimination forest of height k (witnessing that treedepth is at most k) for the n-vertex input graph G, or correctly reports that G has treedepth larger than k, and OPT is the actual value of the treedepth. On the complexity side, exactly computing treedepth is NP-complete, but the known reductions do not rule out a polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS), and under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) only exclude a running time of 2^o(√n) for exact algorithms. We show that 1.0003-approximating Treedepth is NP-hard, and that exactly computing the treedepth of an n-vertex graph requires time 2^Ω(n), unless the ETH fails. We further derive that there exist absolute constants δ, c > 0 such that any (1+δ)-approximation algorithm requires time 2^Ω(n/log^c n). We do so via a simple direct reduction from Satisfiability to Treedepth, inspired by a reduction recently designed for Treewidth [STOC '25].
Cite as

Édouard Bonnet, Daniel Neuen, and Marek Sokołowski. Treedepth Inapproximability and Exponential ETH Lower Bound. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 17:1-17:10, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bonnet_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.17,
  author =	{Bonnet, \'{E}douard and Neuen, Daniel and Soko{\l}owski, Marek},
  title =	{{Treedepth Inapproximability and Exponential ETH Lower Bound}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:10},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251494},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: treedepth, lower bounds, approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.9
An ETH-Tight FPT Algorithm for Rejection-Proof Set Packing with Applications to Kidney Exchange

Authors: Bart M. P. Jansen, Jeroen S. K. Lamme, and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 358, 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)

Abstract
We study the parameterized complexity of a recently introduced multi-agent variant of the Kidney Exchange problem. Given a directed graph G and integers d and k, the standard problem asks whether G contains a packing of vertex-disjoint cycles, each of length ≤ d, covering at least k vertices in total. In the multi-agent setting we consider, the vertex set is partitioned over several agents who reject a cycle packing as solution if it can be modified into an alternative packing that covers more of their own vertices. A cycle packing is called rejection-proof if no agent rejects it and the problem asks whether such a packing exists that covers at least k vertices. We exploit the sunflower lemma on a set packing formulation of the problem to give a kernel for this Σ₂^P-complete problem that is polynomial in k for all constant values of d. We also provide a 2^𝒪(k log k) + n^𝒪(1) algorithm based on it and show that this FPT algorithm is asymptotically optimal under the ETH. Further, we generalize the problem by including an additional positive integer c in the input that naturally captures how much agents can modify a given cycle packing to reject it. For every constant c, the resulting problem simplifies from being Σ₂^P-complete to NP-complete. The super-exponential lower bound already holds for c = 2, though. We present an ad-hoc single-exponential algorithm for c = 1. These results reveal an interesting discrepancy between the classical and parameterized complexity of the problem and give a good view of what makes it hard.
Cite as

Bart M. P. Jansen, Jeroen S. K. Lamme, and Ruben F. A. Verhaegh. An ETH-Tight FPT Algorithm for Rejection-Proof Set Packing with Applications to Kidney Exchange. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 9:1-9:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{jansen_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.9,
  author =	{Jansen, Bart M. P. and Lamme, Jeroen S. K. and Verhaegh, Ruben F. A.},
  title =	{{An ETH-Tight FPT Algorithm for Rejection-Proof Set Packing with Applications to Kidney Exchange}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-407-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{358},
  editor =	{Agrawal, Akanksha and van Leeuwen, Erik Jan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251414},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, Multi-agent kidney exchange, Kernelization, Set packing}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.43
A Finer View of the Parameterized Landscape of Labeled Graph Contractions

Authors: Yashaswini Mathur and Prafullkumar Tale

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract
We study the Labeled Contractibility problem, where the input consists of two vertex-labeled graphs G and H, and the goal is to determine whether H can be obtained from G via a sequence of edge contractions. Lafond and Marchand [WADS 2025] initiated the parameterized complexity study of this problem, showing it to be W[1]-hard when parameterized by the number k of allowed contractions. They also proved that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the tree-width tw of G, via an application of Courcelle’s theorem resulting in a non-constructive algorithm. In this work, we present a constructive fixed-parameter algorithm for Labeled Contractibility with running time 2^{𝒪(tw²)} ⋅ |V(G)|^{𝒪(1)}. We also prove that unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis ({ETH}) fails, it does not admit an algorithm running in time 2^{o(tw²)} ⋅ |V(G)|^{𝒪(1)}. This result adds Labeled Contractibility to a small list of problems that admit such a lower bound and matching algorithm. We further strengthen existing hardness results by showing that the problem remains NP-complete even when both input graphs have bounded maximum degree. We also investigate parameterizations by (k + δ(G)) where δ(G) denotes the degeneracy of G, and rule out the existence of subexponential-time algorithms. This answers question raised in Lafond and Marchand [WADS 2025]. We additionally provide an improved FPT algorithm with better dependence on (k + δ(G)) than previously known. Finally, we analyze a brute-force algorithm for Labeled Contractibility with running time |V(H)|^{𝒪(|V(G)|)}, and show that this running time is optimal under {ETH}.
Cite as

Yashaswini Mathur and Prafullkumar Tale. A Finer View of the Parameterized Landscape of Labeled Graph Contractions. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 43:1-43:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{mathur_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.43,
  author =	{Mathur, Yashaswini and Tale, Prafullkumar},
  title =	{{A Finer View of the Parameterized Landscape of Labeled Graph Contractions}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{43:1--43:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.43},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251237},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.43},
  annote =	{Keywords: Labeled Contraction, ETH Lower-bound, Treewidth, NP-hard}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.39
Improved Approximation for Pathwidth One Vertex Deletion and Parameterized Complexity of Its Variants

Authors: Satyabrata Jana, Soumen Mandal, Ashutosh Rai, and Saket Saurabh

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract
The pathwidth of a graph is a measure of how path-like the graph is. The Pathwidth One Vertex Deletion (POVD) problem asks whether, given an undirected graph G and an integer k, one can delete at most k vertices from G so that the remaining graph has pathwidth at most one. This is a natural variation of the classical Feedback vertex Set (FVS) problem, where the deletion of at most k vertices results in a graph of treewidth at most one. In this work, we investigate POVD in the realm of approximation algorithms. We first design a 3-approximation algorithm for POVD running in polynomial time. Then, using this constant factor approximation algorithm, we obtain a randomized parameterized approximation algorithm for POVD running in time 𝒪^*((h_β)^k), that improves the fastest existing running times for approximation ratios in the range (1.76147,3). Here the constant h_β depends on the approximation factor β alone and has value 2^{(3-β)}, which lies in the range (1,2.3596), when β ∈ (1.76147,3). Taking inspiration from two extensively studied problems, namely Connected FVS and Independent FVS, we investigate two variations of the POVD problem from the perspective of parameterized algorithms. These variations are the connected variant, called Connected pathwidth One Vertex Deletion (CPOVD) and the independent variant, called Independent Pathwidth One Vertex Deletion (IPOVD). While in CPOVD the subgraph G[S] induced by the vertices to be deleted needs to be connected, in IPOVD it needs to be independent. Specifically, we show the following results. - CPOVD can be solved in {𝒪}^*(14^k) time and admits no polynomial kernel unless NP ⊆ {co-NP/poly}. - IPOVD can be solved in {𝒪}^*(7^k) time, and admits a kernel of size 𝒪(k³).
Cite as

Satyabrata Jana, Soumen Mandal, Ashutosh Rai, and Saket Saurabh. Improved Approximation for Pathwidth One Vertex Deletion and Parameterized Complexity of Its Variants. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 39:1-39:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{jana_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.39,
  author =	{Jana, Satyabrata and Mandal, Soumen and Rai, Ashutosh and Saurabh, Saket},
  title =	{{Improved Approximation for Pathwidth One Vertex Deletion and Parameterized Complexity of Its Variants}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{39:1--39:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.39},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251192},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.39},
  annote =	{Keywords: Pathwidth, Parameterized complexity, Approximation, Kernelization}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19
Clustering in Varying Metrics

Authors: Deeparnab Chakrabarty, Jonathan Conroy, and Ankita Sarkar

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 360, 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)

Abstract
We introduce the aggregated clustering problem, where one is given T instances of a center-based clustering task over the same n points, but under different metrics. The goal is to open k centers to minimize an aggregate of the clustering costs - e.g., the average or maximum - where the cost is measured via k-center/median/means objectives. More generally, we minimize a norm Ψ over the T cost values. We show that for T ≥ 3, the problem is inapproximable to any finite factor in polynomial time. For T = 2, we give constant-factor approximations. We also show W[2]-hardness when parameterized by k, but obtain f(k,T)poly(n)-time 3-approximations when parameterized by both k and T. When the metrics have structure, we obtain efficient parameterized approximation schemes (EPAS). If all T metrics have bounded ε-scatter dimension, we achieve a (1+ε)-approximation in f(k,T,ε)poly(n) time. If the metrics are induced by edge weights on a common graph G of bounded treewidth tw, and Ψ is the sum function, we get an EPAS in f(T,ε,tw)poly(n,k) time. Conversely, unless (randomized) ETH is false, any finite factor approximation is impossible if parametrized by only T, even when the treewidth is tw = Ω(polylog n).
Cite as

Deeparnab Chakrabarty, Jonathan Conroy, and Ankita Sarkar. Clustering in Varying Metrics. In 45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 360, pp. 19:1-19:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{chakrabarty_et_al:LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19,
  author =	{Chakrabarty, Deeparnab and Conroy, Jonathan and Sarkar, Ankita},
  title =	{{Clustering in Varying Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{45th IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS 2025)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-406-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{360},
  editor =	{Aiswarya, C. and Mehta, Ruta and Roy, Subhajit},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251007},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FSTTCS.2025.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: Clustering, approximation algorithms, LP rounding, parameterized and exact algorithms, dynamic programming, fixed parameter tractability, hardness of approximation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.53
A Parameterized Study of Secluded Structures in Directed Graphs

Authors: Jonas Schmidt, Shaily Verma, and Nadym Mallek

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract
Given an undirected graph G and an integer k, the Secluded Π-Subgraph problem asks you to find a maximum size induced subgraph that satisfies a property Π and has at most k neighbors in the rest of the graph. This problem has been extensively studied; however, there is no prior study of the problem in directed graphs. This question has been mentioned by Jansen et al. [ISAAC'23]. In this paper, we initiate the study of Secluded Subgraph problems in directed graphs by incorporating different notions of neighborhoods: in-neighborhood, out-neighborhood, and their union. Formally, we call these problems {In, Out, Total}-Secluded Π-Subgraph, where given a directed graph G and an integer k, we want to find an induced subgraph satisfying Π of maximum size that has at most k in/out/total-neighbors in the rest of the graph, respectively. We investigate the parameterized complexity of these problems for different properties Π. In particular, we prove the following parameterized results: - We design an FPT algorithm for the Total-Secluded Strongly Connected Subgraph problem when parameterized by k. - We show that the Out-Secluded ℱ-Free Subgraph problem with parameter k is W[1]-hard, where ℱ is a family of directed graphs except any subgraph of a star graph whose edges are directed towards the center. This result also implies that In/Out-Secluded DAG is W[1]-hard, unlike the undirected variants of the two problems, which are FPT. - We design an FPT-algorithm for In/Out/Total-Secluded α-Bounded Subgraph when parameterized by k, where α-bounded graphs are a superclass of tournaments. - For undirected graphs, we improve the best-known FPT algorithm for Secluded Clique by providing a faster FPT algorithm that runs in time 1.6181^k n^𝒪(1).
Cite as

Jonas Schmidt, Shaily Verma, and Nadym Mallek. A Parameterized Study of Secluded Structures in Directed Graphs. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 53:1-53:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{schmidt_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.53,
  author =	{Schmidt, Jonas and Verma, Shaily and Mallek, Nadym},
  title =	{{A Parameterized Study of Secluded Structures in Directed Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{53:1--53:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.53},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249616},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.53},
  annote =	{Keywords: Secluded Subgraph, Parametrized Complexity, Directed Graphs, Strong Connectivity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.48
Quadratic Kernel for Cliques or Trees Vertex Deletion

Authors: Soh Kumabe

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 359, 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)

Abstract
We consider Cliques or Trees Vertex Deletion, which is a hybrid of two fundamental parameterized problems: Cluster Vertex Deletion and Feedback Vertex Set. In this problem, we are given an undirected graph G and an integer k, and asked to find a vertex subset X of size at most k such that each connected component of G-X is either a clique or a tree. Jacob et al. (ISAAC, 2024) provided a kernel of O(k⁵) vertices for this problem, which was recently improved to O(k⁴) by Tsur (IPL, 2025). Our main result is a kernel of O(k²) vertices. This result closes the gap between the kernelization result for Feedback Vertex Set, which corresponds to the case where each connected component of G-X must be a tree. Although both cluster vertex deletion number and feedback vertex set number are well-studied structural parameters, little attention has been given to parameters that generalize both of them. In fact, the lowest common well-known generalization of them is clique-width, which is a highly general parameter. To fill the gap here, we initiate the study of the cliques or trees vertex deletion number as a structural parameter. We prove that Longest Cycle, which is a fundamental problem that does not admit o(n^k)-time algorithm unless ETH fails when k is the clique-width, becomes fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the cliques or trees vertex deletion number.
Cite as

Soh Kumabe. Quadratic Kernel for Cliques or Trees Vertex Deletion. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 48:1-48:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kumabe:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.48,
  author =	{Kumabe, Soh},
  title =	{{Quadratic Kernel for Cliques or Trees Vertex Deletion}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-408-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{359},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Hon, Wing-Kai and Tsai, Meng-Tsung},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249568},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: Fixed-Parameter Tractability, Kernelization, Deletion to Scattered Graph Classes, Cluster Vertex Deletion, Feedback Vertex Set}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.16
Structural Parameterizations of k-Planarity

Authors: Tatsuya Gima, Yasuaki Kobayashi, and Yuto Okada

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 357, 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)

Abstract
The concept of k-planarity is extensively studied in the context of Beyond Planarity. A graph is k-planar if it admits a drawing in the plane in which each edge is crossed at most k times. The local crossing number of a graph is the minimum integer k such that it is k-planar. The problem of determining whether an input graph is 1-planar is known to be NP-complete even for near-planar graphs [Cabello and Mohar, SIAM J. Comput. 2013], that is, the graphs obtained from planar graphs by adding a single edge. Moreover, the local crossing number is hard to approximate within a factor 2 - ε for any ε > 0 [Urschel and Wellens, IPL 2021]. To address this computational intractability, Bannister, Cabello, and Eppstein [JGAA 2018] investigated the parameterized complexity of the case of k = 1, particularly focusing on structural parameterizations on input graphs, such as treedepth, vertex cover number, and feedback edge number. In this paper, we extend their approach by considering the general case k ≥ 1 and give (tight) parameterized upper and lower bound results. In particular, we strengthen the aforementioned lower bound results to subclasses of constant-treewidth graphs: we show that testing 1-planarity is NP-complete even for near-planar graphs with feedback vertex set number at most 3 and pathwidth at most 4, and the local crossing number is hard to approximate within any constant factor for graphs with feedback vertex set number at most 2.
Cite as

Tatsuya Gima, Yasuaki Kobayashi, and Yuto Okada. Structural Parameterizations of k-Planarity. In 33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 357, pp. 16:1-16:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{gima_et_al:LIPIcs.GD.2025.16,
  author =	{Gima, Tatsuya and Kobayashi, Yasuaki and Okada, Yuto},
  title =	{{Structural Parameterizations of k-Planarity}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-403-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{357},
  editor =	{Dujmovi\'{c}, Vida and Montecchiani, Fabrizio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-250021},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GD.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: 1-planar graphs, local crossing number, beyond planarity, parameterized complexity, kernelization}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21
A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems

Authors: Éric Colin de Verdière and Petr Hliněný

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
The basic (and traditional) crossing number problem is to determine the minimum number of crossings in a topological drawing of an input graph in the plane. We develop a unified framework that smoothly captures many generalized crossing number problems, and that yields fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithms for them not only in the plane but also on surfaces. Our framework takes the following form. We fix a surface S, an integer r, and a map κ from the set of topological drawings of graphs in S to ℤ_+ ∪ {∞}, satisfying some natural monotonicity conditions, but essentially describing the allowed drawings and how we want to count the crossings in them. Then deciding whether an input graph G has an allowed drawing D on S with κ(D) ≤ r can be done in time quadratic in the size of G (and exponential in other parameters). More generally, we may take as input an edge-colored graph, and distinguish crossings by the colors of the involved edges; and we may allow to perform a bounded number of edge removals and vertex splits to G before drawing it. The proof is a reduction to the embeddability of a graph on a two-dimensional simplicial complex. This framework implies, in a unified way, quadratic FPT algorithms for many topological crossing number variants established in the graph drawing community. Some of these variants already had previously published FPT algorithms, mostly relying on Courcelle’s metatheorem, but for many of those, we obtain an algorithm with a better runtime. Moreover, our framework extends, at no cost, to these crossing number variants in any fixed surface.
Cite as

Éric Colin de Verdière and Petr Hliněný. A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 21:1-21:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{colindeverdiere_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21,
  author =	{Colin de Verdi\`{e}re, \'{E}ric and Hlin\v{e}n\'{y}, Petr},
  title =	{{A Unified FPT Framework for Crossing Number Problems}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244897},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational geometry, fixed-parameter tractability, graph drawing, graph embedding, crossing number, two-dimensional simplicial complex, surface}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.15
Linear Layouts Revisited: Stacks, Queues, and Exact Algorithms

Authors: Thomas Depian, Simon D. Fink, Robert Ganian, and Vaishali Surianarayanan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
In spite of the extensive study of stack and queue layouts, many fundamental questions remain open concerning the complexity-theoretic frontiers for computing stack and queue layouts. A stack (resp. queue) layout places vertices along a line and assigns edges to pages so that no two edges on the same page are crossing (resp. nested). We provide three new algorithms which together substantially expand our understanding of these problems: 1) A fixed-parameter algorithm for computing minimum-page stack and queue layouts w.r.t. the vertex integrity of an n-vertex graph G. This result is motivated by an open question in the literature and generalizes the previous algorithms parameterizing by the vertex cover number of G. The proof relies on a newly developed Ramsey pruning technique. Vertex integrity intuitively measures the vertex deletion distance to a subgraph with only small connected components. 2) An n^𝒪(q 𝓁) algorithm for computing 𝓁-page stack and queue layouts of page width at most q. This is the first algorithm avoiding a double-exponential dependency on the parameters. The page width of a layout measures the maximum number of edges one needs to cross on any page to reach the outer face. 3) A 2^𝒪(n) algorithm for computing 1-page queue layouts. This improves upon the previously fastest n^𝒪(n) algorithm and can be seen as a counterpart to the recent subexponential algorithm for computing 2-page stack layouts [ICALP'24], but relies on an entirely different technique.
Cite as

Thomas Depian, Simon D. Fink, Robert Ganian, and Vaishali Surianarayanan. Linear Layouts Revisited: Stacks, Queues, and Exact Algorithms. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 15:1-15:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{depian_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.15,
  author =	{Depian, Thomas and Fink, Simon D. and Ganian, Robert and Surianarayanan, Vaishali},
  title =	{{Linear Layouts Revisited: Stacks, Queues, and Exact Algorithms}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-244835},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: stack layouts, queue layouts, parameterized algorithms, vertex integrity, Ramsey theory}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40
Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs

Authors: Esther Galby, Paloma T. Lima, Andrea Munaro, and Amir Nikabadi

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
We show that, for every fixed positive integers r and k, Max-Weight List r-Colorable Induced Subgraph admits a polynomial-time algorithm on kP₃-free graphs. This problem is a common generalization of Max-Weight Independent Set, Odd Cycle Transversal and List r-Coloring, among others. Our result has several consequences. First, it implies that, for every fixed r ≥ 5, assuming 𝖯 ≠ NP, Max-Weight List r-Colorable Induced Subgraph is polynomial-time solvable on H-free graphs if and only if H is an induced subgraph of either kP₃ or P₅+kP₁, for some k ≥ 1. Second, it makes considerable progress toward a complexity dichotomy for Odd Cycle Transversal on H-free graphs, allowing to answer a question of Agrawal, Lima, Lokshtanov, Rzążewski, Saurabh, and Sharma [ACM Trans. Algorithms 2025]. Third, it gives a short and self-contained proof of the known result of Chudnovsky, Hajebi, and Spirkl [Combinatorica 2024] that List r-Coloring on kP₃-free graphs is polynomial-time solvable for every fixed r and k. We also consider two natural distance-d generalizations of Max-Weight Independent Set and List r-Coloring and provide polynomial-time algorithms on kP₃-free graphs for every fixed integers r, k, and d ≥ 6.
Cite as

Esther Galby, Paloma T. Lima, Andrea Munaro, and Amir Nikabadi. Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 40:1-40:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{galby_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40,
  author =	{Galby, Esther and Lima, Paloma T. and Munaro, Andrea and Nikabadi, Amir},
  title =	{{Maximum List r-Colorable Induced Subgraphs in kP₃-Free Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245086},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: Hereditary classes, list coloring, odd cycle transversal, independent set}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.88
Parameterized Approximability for Modular Linear Equations

Authors: Konrad K. Dabrowski, Peter Jonsson, Sebastian Ordyniak, George Osipov, and Magnus Wahlström

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
We consider the Min-r-Lin(ℤ_m) problem: given a system S of length-r linear equations modulo m, find Z ⊆ S of minimum cardinality such that S-Z is satisfiable. The problem is NP-hard and UGC-hard to approximate in polynomial time within any constant factor even when r = m = 2. We focus on parameterized approximation with solution size as the parameter. Dabrowski, Jonsson, Ordyniak, Osipov and Wahlström [SODA-2023] showed that Min-r-Lin(ℤ_m) is in FPT if m is prime (i.e. ℤ_m is a field), and it is W[1]-hard if m is not a prime power. We show that Min-r-Lin(ℤ_{pⁿ}) is FPT-approximable within a factor of 2 for every prime p and integer n ≥ 2. This implies that Min-2-Lin(ℤ_m), m ∈ ℤ^+, is FPT-approximable within a factor of 2ω(m) where ω(m) counts the number of distinct prime divisors of m. The high-level idea behind the algorithm is to solve tighter and tighter relaxations of the problem, decreasing the set of possible values for the variables at each step. When working over ℤ_{pⁿ} and viewing the values in base-p, one can roughly think of a relaxation as fixing the number of trailing zeros and the least significant nonzero digits of the values assigned to the variables. To solve the relaxed problem, we construct a certain graph where solutions can be identified with a particular collection of cuts. The relaxation may hide obstructions that will only become visible in the next iteration of the algorithm, which makes it difficult to find optimal solutions. To deal with this, we use a strategy based on shadow removal [Marx & Razgon, STOC-2011] to compute solutions that (1) cost at most twice as much as the optimum and (2) allow us to reduce the set of values for all variables simultaneously. We complement the algorithmic result with two lower bounds, ruling out constant-factor FPT-approximation for Min-3-Lin(R) over any nontrivial ring R and for Min-2-Lin(R) over some finite commutative rings R.
Cite as

Konrad K. Dabrowski, Peter Jonsson, Sebastian Ordyniak, George Osipov, and Magnus Wahlström. Parameterized Approximability for Modular Linear Equations. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 88:1-88:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dabrowski_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.88,
  author =	{Dabrowski, Konrad K. and Jonsson, Peter and Ordyniak, Sebastian and Osipov, George and Wahlstr\"{o}m, Magnus},
  title =	{{Parameterized Approximability for Modular Linear Equations}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{88:1--88:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.88},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245562},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.88},
  annote =	{Keywords: parameterized complexity, approximation algorithms, linear equations}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20
Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components

Authors: Sriram Bhyravarapu, Pritesh Kumar, Madhumita Kundu, Shivesh K. Roy, Sahiba, and Saket Saurabh

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)

Abstract
Motivated by the growing interest in graph clustering and the framework proposed during the Dagstuhl Seminar 23331, we consider a natural specialization of this general approach (as also suggested during the seminar). The seminar introduced a broad perspective on clustering, where the goal is to partition a graph into connected components (or "clusters") that satisfy simple structural integrity constraints - not necessarily limited to cliques. In our work, we focus on the case where each cluster is required to have bounded vertex cover number. Specifically, a connected component C satisfies this condition if there exists a set S ⊆ V(C) with |S| ≤ d such that C - S is an independent set. We study this within the framework of the {Vertex Deletion to d-Vertex Cover Components} ({Vertex Deletion to d-VCC}) problem: given a graph G and an integer k, the task is to determine whether there exists a vertex set S ⊆ V(G) of size at most k such that every connected component of G - S has vertex cover number at most d. We also examine the edge-deletion variant, {Edge Deletion to d-Vertex Cover Components} ({Edge Deletion to d-VCC}), where the goal is to delete at most k edges so that each connected component of the resulting graph has vertex cover number at most d. We obtain following results. 1) {Vertex Deletion to d-VCC} admits a kernel with {𝒪}(d⁶k³) vertices and {𝒪}(d⁹k⁴) edges. 2) {Edge Deletion to d-VCC}, admits a kernel with {𝒪}(d⁴k) vertices and {𝒪}(d⁵k) edges. Both of our kernelization algorithms run in time 𝒪(1.253^d ⋅ (kd)^{𝒪(1)} ⋅ n log n). It is important to note that, unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) fails, the dependence on d cannot be improved to 2^{o(d)}, as the case k = 0 reduces to solving the classical Vertex Cover problem, which is known to require 2^{Ω(d)} time under ETH. A key ingredient in our kernelization algorithms is a structural result about the hereditary graph class 𝒢_d, consisting of graphs in which every connected component has vertex cover number at most d. We show that 𝒢_d admits a finite obstruction set (with respect to the induced subgraph relation) of size 2^{𝒪(d²)}, where each obstruction graph has at most 3d + 2 vertices. This combinatorial result may be of independent interest.
Cite as

Sriram Bhyravarapu, Pritesh Kumar, Madhumita Kundu, Shivesh K. Roy, Sahiba, and Saket Saurabh. Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 20:1-20:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bhyravarapu_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20,
  author =	{Bhyravarapu, Sriram and Kumar, Pritesh and Kundu, Madhumita and Roy, Shivesh K. and Sahiba and Saurabh, Saket},
  title =	{{Kernelization in Almost Linear Time for Clustering into Bounded Vertex Cover Components}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241276},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Parameterized complexity, Polynomial Kernels, Vertex Cover, Finite Forbidden Characterization}
}
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