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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.13

On Maximum 2-Clubs

Authors: Joanne Dumont, Michael Lampis, Mathieu Liedloff, Anthony Perez, and Ioan Todinca

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

Abstract

We consider the Maximum 2-Club problem where one is given as input an undirected graph G = (V,E) and seeks a subset of vertices S of maximum size such that any pair of vertices in S is connected by a path of length at most 2 in the graph induced by S. This problem is a natural relaxation of the famous Maximum Clique problem where any pair of vertices must be connected by an edge. Maximum 2-Club has been well-studied and is known to be NP-complete even on split graphs. It can be solved exactly in O^*(1.62ⁿ) time, where n denotes the number of vertices of the input graph, while being polynomial-time solvable on several graph classes. Parameterized algorithms for structural parameters have also been considered, leading in particular to an algorithm with a double-exponential dependence in the parameter treewidth. Such an algorithm is actually the best one known for the larger parameter vertex cover size up to a constant in the exponent. We provide new results in both directions. We first prove that the double-exponential dependence for parameter vertex cover size is unavoidable under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH). This answers a question left open by Hartung, Komusiewicz, Nichterlein and Suchỳ [Hartung et al., 2015]. Our result also implies that the problem cannot be solved in time sub-exponential in n even for split graphs. We then provide an exact algorithm for the problem restricted to chordal graphs, running in O^*(1.1996ⁿ) time, by reducing Maximum 2-Club on this class to Maximum Independent Set on arbitrary graphs with the same number of vertices. The same reduction shows that we can enumerate all maximum (and inclusion-wise maximal) 2-clubs of a chordal graph in O^*(3^{n/3}) = O^*(1.4423ⁿ) time. We conclude by providing a construction of split graphs with Ω(3^{n/3}/poly(n)) maximum2-clubs, for some polynomial poly showing that the bound for enumeration is essentially tight.

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Joanne Dumont, Michael Lampis, Mathieu Liedloff, Anthony Perez, and Ioan Todinca. On Maximum 2-Clubs. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 13:1-13:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{dumont_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.13,
  author =	{Dumont, Joanne and Lampis, Michael and Liedloff, Mathieu and Perez, Anthony and Todinca, Ioan},
  title =	{{On Maximum 2-Clubs}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:14},
  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.2025.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251454},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: 2-clubs, chordal graphs, SETH, parameterized algorithms}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.1

Enumerating Minimal Connected Dominating Sets

Authors: Faisal N. Abu-Khzam, Henning Fernau, Benjamin Gras, Mathieu Liedloff, and Kevin Mann

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 244, 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)

Abstract

The question to enumerate all (inclusion-wise) minimal connected dominating sets in a graph of order n in time significantly less than 2ⁿ is an open question that was asked in many places. We answer this question affirmatively, by providing an enumeration algorithm that runs in time 𝒪(1.9896ⁿ), using polynomial space only. The key to this result is the consideration of this enumeration problem on 2-degenerate graphs, which is proven to be possible in time 𝒪(1.9767ⁿ). Apart from solving this old open question, we also show new lower bound results. More precisely, we construct a family of graphs of order n with Ω(1.4890ⁿ) many minimal connected dominating sets, while previous examples achieved Ω(1.4422ⁿ). Our example happens to yield 4-degenerate graphs. Additionally, we give lower bounds for the previously not considered classes of 2-degenerate and of 3-degenerate graphs, which are Ω(1.3195ⁿ) and Ω(1.4723ⁿ), respectively. We also address essential questions concerning output-sensitive enumeration. Namely, we give reasons why our algorithm cannot be turned into an enumeration algorithm that guarantees polynomial delay without much efforts. More precisely, we prove that it is NP-complete to decide, given a graph G and a vertex set U, if there exists a minimal connected dominating set D with U ⊆ D, even if G is known to be 2-degenerate. Our reduction also shows that even any subexponential delay is not easy to achieve for enumerating minimal connected dominating sets. Another reduction shows that no FPT-algorithms can be expected for this extension problem concerning minimal connected dominating sets, parameterized by |U|. This also adds one more problem to the still rather few natural parameterized problems that are complete for the class W[3]. We also relate our enumeration problem to the famous open Hitting Set Transversal problem, which can be phrased in our context as the question to enumerate all minimal dominating sets of a graph with polynomial delay by showing that a polynomial-delay enumeration algorithm for minimal connected dominating sets implies an affirmative algorithmic solution to the Hitting Set Transversal problem.

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Faisal N. Abu-Khzam, Henning Fernau, Benjamin Gras, Mathieu Liedloff, and Kevin Mann. Enumerating Minimal Connected Dominating Sets. In 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 244, pp. 1:1-1:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{abukhzam_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2022.1,
  author =	{Abu-Khzam, Faisal N. and Fernau, Henning and Gras, Benjamin and Liedloff, Mathieu and Mann, Kevin},
  title =	{{Enumerating Minimal Connected Dominating Sets}},
  booktitle =	{30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-247-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{244},
  editor =	{Chechik, Shiri and Navarro, Gonzalo and Rotenberg, Eva 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.2022.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-169390},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: enumeration problems, connected domination, degenerate graphs}
}

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On Maximum 2-Clubs

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Enumerating Minimal Connected Dominating Sets

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