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Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games

DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.4

Induced Disjoint Paths Without an Induced Minor

Authors: Pierre Aboulker, Édouard Bonnet, Timothé Picavet, and Nicolas Trotignon

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 334, 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)

Abstract

We exhibit a new obstacle to the nascent algorithmic theory for classes excluding an induced minor. We indeed show that on the class of string graphs - which avoids the 1-subdivision of, say, K₅ as an induced minor - Induced 2-Disjoint Paths is NP-complete. So, while k-Disjoint Paths, for a fixed k, is polynomial-time solvable in general graphs, the absence of a graph as an induced minor does not make its induced variant tractable, even for k = 2. This answers a question of Korhonen and Lokshtanov [SODA '24], and complements a polynomial-time algorithm for Induced k-Disjoint Paths in classes of bounded genus by Kobayashi and Kawarabayashi [SODA '09]. In addition to being string graphs, our produced hard instances are subgraphs of a constant power of bounded-degree planar graphs, hence have bounded twin-width and bounded maximum degree. We also leverage our new result to show that there is a fixed subcubic graph H such that deciding if an input graph contains H as an induced subdivision is NP-complete. Until now, all the graphs H for which such a statement was known had a vertex of degree at least 4. This answers a question by Chudnovsky, Seymour, and Trotignon [JCTB '13], and by Le [JGT '19]. Finally we resolve another question of Korhonen and Lokshtanov by exhibiting a subcubic graph H without two adjacent degree-3 vertices and such that deciding if an input n-vertex graph contains H as an induced minor is NP-complete, and unless the Exponential-Time Hypothesis fails, requires time 2^{Ω(√ n)}. This complements an algorithm running in subexponential time 2^{Õ(n^{2/3})} by these authors [SODA '24] under the same technical condition.

Cite as

Pierre Aboulker, Édouard Bonnet, Timothé Picavet, and Nicolas Trotignon. Induced Disjoint Paths Without an Induced Minor. In 52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 334, pp. 4:1-4:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{aboulker_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.4,
  author =	{Aboulker, Pierre and Bonnet, \'{E}douard and Picavet, Timoth\'{e} and Trotignon, Nicolas},
  title =	{{Induced Disjoint Paths Without an Induced Minor}},
  booktitle =	{52nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2025)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-372-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{334},
  editor =	{Censor-Hillel, Keren and Grandoni, Fabrizio and Ouaknine, Jo\"{e}l and Puppis, Gabriele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-233813},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2025.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Induced Disjoint Paths, string graphs, induced subdivisions, induced minors}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.58

Grundy Coloring & Friends, Half-Graphs, Bicliques

Authors: Pierre Aboulker, Édouard Bonnet, Eun Jung Kim, and Florian Sikora

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 154, 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)

Abstract

The first-fit coloring is a heuristic that assigns to each vertex, arriving in a specified order σ, the smallest available color. The problem Grundy Coloring asks how many colors are needed for the most adversarial vertex ordering σ, i.e., the maximum number of colors that the first-fit coloring requires over all possible vertex orderings. Since its inception by Grundy in 1939, Grundy Coloring has been examined for its structural and algorithmic aspects. A brute-force f(k)n^{2^{k-1}}-time algorithm for Grundy Coloring on general graphs is not difficult to obtain, where k is the number of colors required by the most adversarial vertex ordering. It was asked several times whether the dependency on k in the exponent of n can be avoided or reduced, and its answer seemed elusive until now. We prove that Grundy Coloring is W[1]-hard and the brute-force algorithm is essentially optimal under the Exponential Time Hypothesis, thus settling this question by the negative. The key ingredient in our W[1]-hardness proof is to use so-called half-graphs as a building block to transmit a color from one vertex to another. Leveraging the half-graphs, we also prove that b-Chromatic Core is W[1]-hard, whose parameterized complexity was posed as an open question by Panolan et al. [JCSS '17]. A natural follow-up question is, how the parameterized complexity changes in the absence of (large) half-graphs. We establish fixed-parameter tractability on K_{t,t}-free graphs for b-Chromatic Core and Partial Grundy Coloring, making a step toward answering this question. The key combinatorial lemma underlying the tractability result might be of independent interest.

Cite as

Pierre Aboulker, Édouard Bonnet, Eun Jung Kim, and Florian Sikora. Grundy Coloring & Friends, Half-Graphs, Bicliques. In 37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 154, pp. 58:1-58:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{aboulker_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2020.58,
  author =	{Aboulker, Pierre and Bonnet, \'{E}douard and Kim, Eun Jung and Sikora, Florian},
  title =	{{Grundy Coloring \& Friends, Half-Graphs, Bicliques}},
  booktitle =	{37th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2020)},
  pages =	{58:1--58:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-140-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{154},
  editor =	{Paul, Christophe and Bl\"{a}ser, Markus},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.58},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-119190},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2020.58},
  annote =	{Keywords: Grundy coloring, parameterized complexity, ETH lower bounds, K\underline\{t,t\}-free graphs, half-graphs}
}

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Documents authored by Aboulker, Pierre

Induced Disjoint Paths Without an Induced Minor

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Grundy Coloring & Friends, Half-Graphs, Bicliques

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