28 Search Results for "Morawietz, Nils"


Document
Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics

Authors: Justine Cauvi, Nils Morawietz, and Laurent Viennot

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


Abstract
In this work, we follow the current trend on temporal graph realization, where one is given a property P and the goal is to determine whether there is a temporal graph, that is, a graph where the edge set changes over time, with property P. We consider the problems where the given property P is a prescribed matrix for the duration, length, or earliest arrival time of pairwise temporal paths. This means that we are given a matrix D and ask whether there is a temporal graph such that for any ordered pair of vertices (s,t), D_{s,t} equals the duration (length, or earliest arrival time, respectively) of any temporal path from s to t minimizing that specific temporal path metric. For shortest and earliest arrival temporal paths, we are the first to consider these problems as far as we know. We analyze these problems for many settings such as: strict and non-strict paths, periodic and non-periodic temporal graphs, and limited number of labels per edge (limited number of occurrences per edge over time). In contrast to all other path metrics, we show that for the earliest arrival times, we can achieve polynomial-time algorithms in periodic and non-periodic temporal graphs and for strict and and non-strict paths. However, the problem becomes NP-hard when the matrix does not contain a single integer but a set or range of possible allowed values. As we show, the problem can still be solved efficiently in this scenario, when the number of entries with more than one value is small, that is, we develop an FPT-algorithm for the number of such entries. For the setting of fastest paths, we achieve new hardness results that answers an open question by Klobas, Mertzios, Molter, and Spirakis [Theor. Comput. Sci. '25] about the parameterized complexity of the problem with respect to the vertex cover number and significantly improves over a previous hardness result for the feedback vertex set number. When considering shortest paths, we show that the periodic versions are polynomial-time solvable whereas the non-periodic versions become NP-hard.

Cite as

Justine Cauvi, Nils Morawietz, and Laurent Viennot. Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics. In 43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 364, pp. 24:1-24:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{cauvi_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24,
  author =	{Cauvi, Justine and Morawietz, Nils and Viennot, Laurent},
  title =	{{Foremost, Fastest, Shortest: Temporal Graph Realization Under Various Path Metrics}},
  booktitle =	{43rd International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2026)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:19},
  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.2026.24},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-255139},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2026.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: network design, temporal paths, foremost paths, fastest paths, shortest paths, non-strict paths, periodic temporal graphs}
}
Document
A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima

Authors: Robert Ganian, Hung P. Hoang, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 362, 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)


Abstract
Local search is a fundamental optimization technique that is both widely used in practice and deeply studied in theory, yet its computational complexity remains poorly understood. The traditional frameworks, PLS and the standard algorithm problem, introduced by Johnson, Papadimitriou, and Yannakakis (1988) fail to capture the methodology of local search algorithms: PLS is concerned with finding a local optimum and not with using local search, while the standard algorithm problem restricts each improvement step to follow a fixed pivoting rule. In this work, we introduce a novel formulation of local search which provides a middle ground between these models. In particular, the task is to output not only a local optimum but also a chain of local improvements leading to it. With this framework, we aim to capture the challenge in designing a good pivoting rule. Especially, when combined with the parameterized complexity paradigm, it enables both strong lower bounds and meaningful tractability results. Unlike previous works that combined parameterized complexity with local search, our framework targets the whole task of finding a local optimum and not only a single improvement step. Focusing on two representative meta-problems - Subset Weight Optimization Problem with the c-swap neighborhood and Weighted Circuit with the flip neighborhood - we establish fixed-parameter tractability results related to the number of distinct weights, while ruling out an analogous result when parameterizing by the distance to the nearest optimum via a new type of reduction.

Cite as

Robert Ganian, Hung P. Hoang, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz. A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima. In 17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 362, pp. 66:1-66:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{ganian_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66,
  author =	{Ganian, Robert and Hoang, Hung P. and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{A Parameterized-Complexity Framework for Finding Local Optima}},
  booktitle =	{17th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2026)},
  pages =	{66:1--66:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-410-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{362},
  editor =	{Saraf, Shubhangi},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-253532},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2026.66},
  annote =	{Keywords: Local Search, Parameterized Complexity, PLS}
}
Document
Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set

Authors: Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer

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


Abstract
A temporal graph is a finite sequence of graphs, called snapshots, over the same vertex set. Many temporal graph problems turn out to be much more difficult than their static counterparts. One such problem is Timeline Vertex Cover (also known as MinTimeline_∞), a temporal analogue to the classical Vertex Cover problem. In this problem, one is given a temporal graph 𝒢 and two integers k and 𝓁, and the goal is to cover each edge of each snapshot by selecting for each vertex at most k activity intervals of length at most 𝓁 each. Here, an edge uv in the ith snapshot is covered, if an activity interval of u or v is active at time i. In this work, we continue the algorithmic study of Timeline Vertex Cover and introduce the Timeline Dominating Set problem where we want to dominate all vertices in each snapshot by the selected activity intervals. We analyze both problems from a classical and parameterized point of view and also consider partial problem versions, where the goal is to cover (dominate) at least t edges (vertices) of the snapshots. With respect to the parameterized complexity, we consider the temporal graph parameters vertex-interval-membership-width (vimw) and interval-membership-width (imw). We show that all considered problems admit FPT-algorithms when parameterized by vimw+k+𝓁. This provides a smaller parameter combination than the ones used for previously known FPT-algorithms for Timeline Vertex Cover. Surprisingly, for imw+k+𝓁, Timeline Dominating Set turns out to be easier than Timeline Vertex Cover, by also admitting an FPT-algorithm, whereas the vertex cover version is NP-hard even if imw+k+𝓁 is constant. We also consider parameterization by combinations of n, the vertex set size, with k or 𝓁 and parameterization by t. Here, we show for example that both partial problems are fixed-parameter tractable for t which significantly improves and generalizes a previous result for a special case of Partial Timeline Vertex Cover with k = 1.

Cite as

Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer. Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set. In 20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 358, pp. 12:1-12:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{herrmann_et_al:LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.12,
  author =	{Herrmann, Anton and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils and Sommer, Frank},
  title =	{{Timeline Problems in Temporal Graphs: Vertex Cover vs. Dominating Set}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation (IPEC 2025)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:18},
  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.2025.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251446},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.IPEC.2025.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: NP-hard problem, FPT-algorithm, interval-membership-width, Color coding}
}
Document
Realization of Temporally Connected Graphs Based on Degree Sequences

Authors: Arnaud Casteigts, Michelle Döring, and Nils Morawietz

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


Abstract
Given an undirected graph G, the problem of deciding whether G admits a simple and proper time-labeling that makes it temporally connected is known to be NP-hard (Göbel et al., 1991). In this article, we relax this problem and ask whether a given degree sequence can be realized as a temporally connected graph. Our main results are a complete characterization of the feasible cases, and a recognition algorithm that runs in 𝒪(n) time for graphical degree sequences (realized as simple temporal graphs) and in 𝒪(n+m) time for multigraphical degree sequences (realized as non-simple temporal graphs, where the number of time labels on an edge corresponds to the multiplicity of the edge in the multigraph). In fact, these algorithms can be made constructive at essentially no cost. Namely, we give a constructive 𝒪(n+m) time algorithm that outputs, for a given (multi)graphical degree sequence 𝐝, a temporally connected graph whose underlying (multi)graph is a realization of 𝐝, if one exists.

Cite as

Arnaud Casteigts, Michelle Döring, and Nils Morawietz. Realization of Temporally Connected Graphs Based on Degree Sequences. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 17:1-17:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{casteigts_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.17,
  author =	{Casteigts, Arnaud and D\"{o}ring, Michelle and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{Realization of Temporally Connected Graphs Based on Degree Sequences}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{17:1--17:18},
  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.2025.17},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249256},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.17},
  annote =	{Keywords: temporal paths, gossiping, (multi)graphical degree sequences, edge-disjoint spanning trees, linear time algorithms}
}
Document
Simple, Strict, Proper, and Directed: Comparing Reachability in Directed and Undirected Temporal Graphs

Authors: Michelle Döring

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


Abstract
Temporal graphs model networks whose connections are available only at specific points in time. Several definitional subtleties - whether paths must follow strictly increasing time labels (strict vs. non-strict), whether adjacent edges cannot appear simultaneously (proper), and whether edges are forbidden to appear multiple times (simple) - give rise to different temporal graph settings. These distinctions directly impact the definition of temporal reachability, a core concept in temporal graph theory. Casteigts, Corsini, and Sarkar [TCS24] introduced a framework of equivalence notions to compare the expressive power of these settings focusing solely on undirected temporal graphs. In this work, we extend their framework to include the fundamental dimension of directed vs. undirected. Our contribution is three-fold. We (1) complete the undirected hierarchy by resolving the two open questions from [TCS24], (2) fully characterize the hierarchy of the directed settings, and (3) compare the directed and undirected settings, showing that directed temporal graphs are strictly more expressive than undirected temporal graphs in terms of reachability. Our structural results highlight both the limitations and strengths of various temporal graph settings - for example, directed + strict + simple graphs can realize every possible reachability graph, while directed + proper graphs necessarily induce at least one transitive reachability on each directed cycle. We also provide transformation procedures between temporal settings offering practical tools for transferring algorithms and hardness results across models.

Cite as

Michelle Döring. Simple, Strict, Proper, and Directed: Comparing Reachability in Directed and Undirected Temporal Graphs. In 36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 359, pp. 27:1-27:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{doring:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.27,
  author =	{D\"{o}ring, Michelle},
  title =	{{Simple, Strict, Proper, and Directed: Comparing Reachability in Directed and Undirected Temporal Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{36th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:21},
  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.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-249353},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: temporal graphs, directed graphs, temporal reachability, dynamic networks}
}
Document
Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases

Authors: Julia Meusel, Matthias Müller-Hannemann, and Klaus Reinhardt

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 137, 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)


Abstract
We study the complexity of the directed periodic temporal graph realization problem. This work is motivated by the design of periodic schedules in public transport with constraints on the quality of service. Namely, we require that the fastest path between (important) pairs of vertices is upper bounded by a specified maximum duration, encoded in an upper distance matrix D. While previous work has considered the undirected version of the problem, the application in public transport schedule design requires the flexibility to assign different departure times to the two directions of an edge. A problem instance can only be feasible if all values of the distance matrix are at least shortest path distances. However, the task of realizing exact fastest path distances in a periodic temporal graph is often too restrictive. Therefore, we introduce a minimum slack parameter k that describes a lower bound on the maximum allowed waiting time on each path. We concentrate on tree topologies and provide a full characterization of the complexity landscape with respect to the period Δ and the minimum slack parameter k, showing a sharp threshold between NP-complete cases and cases which are always realizable. We also provide hardness results for the special case of period Δ = 2 for general directed and undirected graphs.

Cite as

Julia Meusel, Matthias Müller-Hannemann, and Klaus Reinhardt. Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases. In 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 137, pp. 3:1-3:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{meusel_et_al:OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.3,
  author =	{Meusel, Julia and M\"{u}ller-Hannemann, Matthias and Reinhardt, Klaus},
  title =	{{Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases}},
  booktitle =	{25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:22},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-404-8},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{137},
  editor =	{Sauer, Jonas and Schmidt, Marie},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247594},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Periodic timetabling, service quality, temporal graph, graph realization, complexity}
}
Document
Recognizing and Realizing Temporal Reachability Graphs

Authors: Thomas Erlebach, Othon Michail, and Nils Morawietz

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


Abstract
A temporal graph 𝒢 = (G,λ) can be represented by an underlying graph G = (V,E) together with a function λ that assigns to each edge e ∈ E the set of time steps during which e is present. The reachability graph of 𝒢 is the directed graph D = (V,A) with (u,v) ∈ A if and only if there is a temporal path from u to v. We study the Reachability Graph Realizability (RGR) problem that asks whether a given directed graph D = (V,A) is the reachability graph of some temporal graph. The question can be asked for undirected or directed temporal graphs, for reachability defined via strict or non-strict temporal paths, and with or without restrictions on λ (simple, proper, or both). Answering an open question posed by Casteigts et al. (TCS 2024), we show that all variants of the problem are NP-complete, except for two variants that become trivial in the directed case. For undirected temporal graphs, we consider the complexity of the problem with respect to the solid graph, that is, the graph containing all edges that could potentially receive a label in any realization. We show that the RGR problem is fixed-parameter tractable for the feedback edge set number of the solid graph. As we show, the latter parameter can presumably not be replaced by smaller parameters like feedback vertex set number or treedepth, since the problem is W[2]-hard for them.

Cite as

Thomas Erlebach, Othon Michail, and Nils Morawietz. Recognizing and Realizing Temporal Reachability Graphs. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 93:1-93:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{erlebach_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.93,
  author =	{Erlebach, Thomas and Michail, Othon and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{Recognizing and Realizing Temporal Reachability Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{93:1--93:18},
  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.2025.93},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245627},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.93},
  annote =	{Keywords: parameterized complexity, temporal graphs, FPT algorithm, feedback edge set, directed graph recognition}
}
Document
Repairing Schedules by Removing Waiting Times: A Parameterized Complexity Analysis

Authors: Niels Grüttemeier and Klaus Heeger

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)


Abstract
We consider the problem of repairing production schedules in a job-shop setting by reducing pre-planned waiting times. Herein, a schedule of all jobs is given. To compensate unforeseen disturbances, this schedule contains waiting times between the execution of two consecutive tasks of a job. Further, we assume that the schedule temporarily overloads some machines, e.g. due to reduced machine capacities because of worker sickness or (partially) broken machines. We study the problem of removing as few waiting times as possible in order to eliminate the machine overloads. After formalizing this problem, we perform an extensive analysis of its parameterized complexity with respect to several natural parameters, resulting in a detailed picture of the problem’s complexity.

Cite as

Niels Grüttemeier and Klaus Heeger. Repairing Schedules by Removing Waiting Times: A Parameterized Complexity Analysis. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 31:1-31:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{gruttemeier_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.31,
  author =	{Gr\"{u}ttemeier, Niels and Heeger, Klaus},
  title =	{{Repairing Schedules by Removing Waiting Times: A Parameterized Complexity Analysis}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{31:1--31:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.31},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242624},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.31},
  annote =	{Keywords: Job shop, parallel machines, reactive scheduling}
}
Document
Fantastic Flips and Where to Find Them: A General Framework for Parameterized Local Search on Partitioning Problems

Authors: Niels Grüttemeier, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 349, 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)


Abstract
Parameterized local search combines classic local search heuristics with the paradigm of parameterized algorithmics. While most local search algorithms aim to improve given solutions by performing one single operation on a given solution, the parameterized approach aims to improve a solution by performing k simultaneous operations. Herein, k is a parameter called search radius for which the value can be chosen by a user. One major goal in the field of parameterized local search is to outline the trade-off between the size of k and the running time of the local search step. In this work, we introduce an abstract framework that generalizes natural parameterized local search approaches for a large class of partitioning problems: Given n items that are partitioned into b bins and a target function that evaluates the quality of the current partition, one asks whether it is possible to improve the solution by removing up to k items from their current bins and reassigning them to other bins. Among others, our framework applies for the local search versions of problems like Cluster Editing, Vector Bin Packing, and Nash Social Welfare. Motivated by a real-world application of the problem Vector Bin Packing, we introduce a parameter called number of types τ ≤ n and show that all problems fitting in our framework can be solved in τ^k ⋅ 2^𝒪(k) ⋅ |I|^𝒪(1) time, where |I| denotes the total input size. In case of Cluster Editing, the parameter τ generalizes the well-known parameter neighborhood diversity of the input graph. We complement these algorithms by showing that for all considered problems, an algorithm significantly improving over our algorithm with running time τ^k ⋅ 2^𝒪(k) ⋅ |I|^𝒪(1) would contradict the Exponential Time Hypothesis. Additionally, we show that even on very restricted instances, all considered problems are W[1]-hard when parameterized by the search radius k alone. In case of the local search version of Vector Bin Packing, we provide an even stronger W[1]-hardness result.

Cite as

Niels Grüttemeier, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer. Fantastic Flips and Where to Find Them: A General Framework for Parameterized Local Search on Partitioning Problems. In 19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 349, pp. 32:1-32:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{gruttemeier_et_al:LIPIcs.WADS.2025.32,
  author =	{Gr\"{u}ttemeier, Niels and Morawietz, Nils and Sommer, Frank},
  title =	{{Fantastic Flips and Where to Find Them: A General Framework for Parameterized Local Search on Partitioning Problems}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Symposium on Algorithms and Data Structures (WADS 2025)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-398-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{349},
  editor =	{Morin, Pat and Oh, Eunjin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-242631},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.WADS.2025.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Flip-Neighborhood, Cluster Editing, Vector Bin Packing, Vertex Cover, NP-hard problem, Max c-Cut}
}
Document
Temporal Graph Realization with Bounded Stretch

Authors: George B. Mertzios, Hendrik Molter, Nils Morawietz, and Paul G. Spirakis

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


Abstract
A periodic temporal graph, in its simplest form, is a graph in which every edge appears exactly once in the first Δ time steps, and then it reappears recurrently every Δ time steps, where Δ is a given period length. This model offers a natural abstraction of transportation networks where each transportation link connects two destinations periodically. From a network design perspective, a crucial task is to assign the time-labels on the edges in a way that optimizes some criterion. In this paper we introduce a very natural optimality criterion that captures how the temporal distances of all vertex pairs are "stretched", compared to their physical distances, i.e. their distances in the underlying static (non-temporal) graph. Given a static graph G, the task is to assign to each edge one time-label between 1 and Δ such that, in the resulting periodic temporal graph with period Δ, the duration of the fastest temporal path from any vertex u to any other vertex v is at most α times the distance between u and v in G. Here, the value of α measures how much the shortest paths are allowed to be stretched once we assign the periodic time-labels. Our results span three different directions: First, we provide a series of approximation and NP-hardness results. Second, we provide approximation and fixed-parameter algorithms. Among them, we provide a simple polynomial-time algorithm (the radius-algorithm) which always guarantees an approximation strictly smaller than Δ, and which also computes the optimum stretch in some cases. Third, we consider a parameterized local search extension of the problem where we are given the temporal labeling of the graph, but we are allowed to change the time-labels of at most k edges; for this problem we prove that it is W[2]-hard but admits an XP algorithm with respect to k.

Cite as

George B. Mertzios, Hendrik Molter, Nils Morawietz, and Paul G. Spirakis. Temporal Graph Realization with Bounded Stretch. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 75:1-75:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{mertzios_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.75,
  author =	{Mertzios, George B. and Molter, Hendrik and Morawietz, Nils and Spirakis, Paul G.},
  title =	{{Temporal Graph Realization with Bounded Stretch}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{75:1--75:19},
  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.2025.75},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241829},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.75},
  annote =	{Keywords: Temporal graph, periodic temporal labeling, fastest temporal path, graph realization, temporal connectivity, stretch}
}
Document
Temporal Dominating Set and Temporal Vertex Cover Under the Lense of Degree Restrictions

Authors: Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 330, 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)


Abstract
We study the Temporal Dominating Set problem, in which one asks whether a temporal graph 𝒢 = (G₁,… , G_T) given as a sequence of snapshot graphs, over the same vertex set V, has a set S of temporal vertices of size at most k such that each vertex v of V is dominated by some w ∈ S in the snapshot that contains w. Additionally, we consider Temporal Partial Dominating Set, where one asks whether at least t (and not necessarily all) vertices of V can be dominated by S and a further generalization in which the solution may only contain a bounded number of temporal vertices from each snapshot. We analyze how the complexity of Temporal (Partial) Dominating Set is influenced by the maximum snapshot degree and the structure of the underlying graph, the graph with vertex set V and whose edge set is the union of all snapshot edge sets. For example, we obtain a complexity dichotomy for the maximum snapshot degree and we show that Temporal Partial Dominating Set is fixed-parameter tractable for tw+Δ, where tw and Δ denote the treewidth and the maximum degree of the underlying graph of 𝒢, respectively. We also show which of our results transfer to the well-studied Temporal Vertex Cover problem. For example, we show that Temporal Vertex Cover is also fixed-parameter tractable for tw+Δ which substantially extends the previously known polynomial-time algorithms for the case that the underlying graph is a path or cycle.

Cite as

Anton Herrmann, Christian Komusiewicz, Nils Morawietz, and Frank Sommer. Temporal Dominating Set and Temporal Vertex Cover Under the Lense of Degree Restrictions. In 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 330, pp. 16:1-16:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{herrmann_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2025.16,
  author =	{Herrmann, Anton and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils and Sommer, Frank},
  title =	{{Temporal Dominating Set and Temporal Vertex Cover Under the Lense of Degree Restrictions}},
  booktitle =	{4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-368-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{330},
  editor =	{Meeks, Kitty and Scheideler, Christian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230695},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: NP-hard problem, FPT-algorithm, Treewidth, Color coding}
}
Document
Brief Announcement
Brief Announcement: Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases

Authors: Julia Meusel, Matthias Müller-Hannemann, and Klaus Reinhardt

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 330, 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)


Abstract
We study the complexity of the directed periodic temporal graph realization problem. This work is motivated by the design of periodic schedules in public transport with constraints on the quality of service. Namely, we require that the fastest path between (important) pairs of vertices is upper bounded by a specified maximum duration, encoded in an upper distance matrix D. While previous work has considered the undirected version of the problem, the application in public transport schedule design requires the flexibility to assign different departure times to the two directions of an edge. A problem instance can only be feasible if all values of the distance matrix are at least shortest path distances. However, the task of realizing exact fastest path distances in a periodic temporal graph is often too restrictive. Therefore, we introduce a minimum slack parameter k that describes a lower bound on the maximum allowed waiting time on each path. We concentrate on tree topologies and provide a full characterization of the complexity landscape with respect to the period Δ and the minimum slack parameter k, showing a sharp threshold between NP-complete cases and cases which are always realizable. We also provide hardness results for the special case of period Δ = 2 for general directed and undirected graphs.

Cite as

Julia Meusel, Matthias Müller-Hannemann, and Klaus Reinhardt. Brief Announcement: Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases. In 4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 330, pp. 21:1-21:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{meusel_et_al:LIPIcs.SAND.2025.21,
  author =	{Meusel, Julia and M\"{u}ller-Hannemann, Matthias and Reinhardt, Klaus},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Directed Temporal Tree Realization for Periodic Public Transport: Easy and Hard Cases}},
  booktitle =	{4th Symposium on Algorithmic Foundations of Dynamic Networks (SAND 2025)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-368-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{330},
  editor =	{Meeks, Kitty and Scheideler, Christian},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230747},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SAND.2025.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Temporal graph, fastest temporal path, graph realization, periodic scheduling}
}
Document
When Can Cluster Deletion with Bounded Weights Be Solved Efficiently?

Authors: Jaroslav Garvardt, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 322, 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)


Abstract
In the NP-hard Weighted Cluster Deletion problem, the input is an undirected graph G = (V,E) and an edge-weight function ω: E → ℕ, and the task is to partition the vertex set V into cliques so that the total weight of edges in the cliques is maximized. Recently, it has been shown that Weighted Cluster Deletion is NP-hard on some graph classes where Cluster Deletion, the special case where every edge has unit weight, can be solved in polynomial time. We study the influence of the value t of the largest edge weight assigned by ω on the problem complexity for such graph classes. Our main results are that Weighted Cluster Deletion is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to t on graph classes whose graphs consist of well-separated clusters that are connected by a sparse periphery. Concrete examples for such classes are split graphs and graphs that are close to cluster graphs. We complement our results by strengthening previous hardness results for Weighted Cluster Deletion. For example, we show that Weighted Cluster Deletion is NP-hard on restricted subclasses of cographs even when every edge has weight 1 or 2.

Cite as

Jaroslav Garvardt, Christian Komusiewicz, and Nils Morawietz. When Can Cluster Deletion with Bounded Weights Be Solved Efficiently?. In 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 322, pp. 32:1-32:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{garvardt_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.32,
  author =	{Garvardt, Jaroslav and Komusiewicz, Christian and Morawietz, Nils},
  title =	{{When Can Cluster Deletion with Bounded Weights Be Solved Efficiently?}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-354-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{322},
  editor =	{Mestre, Juli\'{a}n and Wirth, Anthony},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-221592},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph clustering, split graphs, cographs, parameterized complexity}
}
Document
Complexity of Local Search for Euclidean Clustering Problems

Authors: Bodo Manthey, Nils Morawietz, Jesse van Rhijn, and Frank Sommer

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 322, 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)


Abstract
We show that the simplest local search heuristics for two natural Euclidean clustering problems are PLS-hard. First, we show that the Hartigan-Wong method, which is essentially the Flip heuristic, for k-Means clustering is PLS-hard, even when k = 2. Second, we show the same result for the Flip heuristic for Max Cut, even when the edge weights are given by the (squared) Euclidean distances between the points in some set 𝒳 ⊆ R^d; a problem which is equivalent to Min Sum 2-Clustering.

Cite as

Bodo Manthey, Nils Morawietz, Jesse van Rhijn, and Frank Sommer. Complexity of Local Search for Euclidean Clustering Problems. In 35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 322, pp. 48:1-48:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{manthey_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.48,
  author =	{Manthey, Bodo and Morawietz, Nils and van Rhijn, Jesse and Sommer, Frank},
  title =	{{Complexity of Local Search for Euclidean Clustering Problems}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2024)},
  pages =	{48:1--48:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-354-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{322},
  editor =	{Mestre, Juli\'{a}n and Wirth, Anthony},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.48},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-221755},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2024.48},
  annote =	{Keywords: Local search, PLS-complete, max cut, k-means, partitioning problem, flip-neighborhood}
}
Document
Distance to Transitivity: New Parameters for Taming Reachability in Temporal Graphs

Authors: Arnaud Casteigts, Nils Morawietz, and Petra Wolf

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 306, 49th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2024)


Abstract
A temporal graph is a graph whose edges only appear at certain points in time. Reachability in these graphs is defined in terms of paths that traverse the edges in chronological order (temporal paths). This form of reachability is neither symmetric nor transitive, the latter having important consequences on the computational complexity of even basic questions, such as computing temporal connected components. In this paper, we introduce several parameters that capture how far a temporal graph 𝒢 is from being transitive, namely, vertex-deletion distance to transitivity and arc-modification distance to transitivity, both being applied to the reachability graph of 𝒢. We illustrate the impact of these parameters on the temporal connected component problem, obtaining several tractability results in terms of fixed-parameter tractability and polynomial kernels. Significantly, these results are obtained without restrictions of the underlying graph, the snapshots, or the lifetime of the input graph. As such, our results isolate the impact of non-transitivity and confirm the key role that it plays in the hardness of temporal graph problems.

Cite as

Arnaud Casteigts, Nils Morawietz, and Petra Wolf. Distance to Transitivity: New Parameters for Taming Reachability in Temporal Graphs. In 49th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 306, pp. 36:1-36:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{casteigts_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2024.36,
  author =	{Casteigts, Arnaud and Morawietz, Nils and Wolf, Petra},
  title =	{{Distance to Transitivity: New Parameters for Taming Reachability in Temporal Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{49th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2024)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:17},
  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.2024.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-205923},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2024.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Temporal graphs, Parameterized complexity, Reachability, Transitivity}
}
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