Pascal Ochem

We study homomorphism problems of signed graphs. A signed graph is an undirected graph where each edge is given a sign, positive or negative. An important concept for signed graphs is the operation of switching at a vertex, which is to change the sign of each incident edge. A homomorphism of a graph is a vertex-mapping that preserves the adjacencies; in the case of signed graphs, we also preserve the edge-signs. Special homomorphisms of signed graphs, called s-homomorphisms, have been studied. In an s-homomorphism, we allow, before the mapping, to perform any number of switchings on the source signed graph. This concept has been extensively studied, and a full complexity classification (polynomial or NP-complete) for s-homomorphism to a fixed target signed graph has recently been obtained. Such a dichotomy is not known when we restrict the input graph to be planar (not even for non-signed graph homomorphisms). We show that deciding whether a (non-signed) planar graph admits a homomorphism to the square $C_t^2$ of a cycle with $t\ge 6$, or to the circular clique $K_{4t/(2t-1)}$ with $t\ge2$, are NP-complete problems. We use these results to show that deciding whether a planar signed graph admits an s-homomorphism to an unbalanced even cycle is NP-complete. (A cycle is unbalanced if it has an odd number of negative edges). We deduce a complete complexity dichotomy for the planar s-homomorphism problem with any signed cycle as a target. We also study further restrictions involving the maximum degree and the girth of the input signed graph. We prove that planar s-homomorphism problems to signed cycles remain NP-complete even for inputs of maximum degree~$3$ (except for the case of unbalanced $4$-cycles, for which we show this for maximum degree~$4$). We also show that for a given integer $g$, the problem for signed bipartite planar inputs of girth $g$ is either trivial or NP-complete.

The famous K\H{o}nig-Egerv\'ary theorem is equivalent to the statement that the matching number equals the vertex cover number for every induced subgraph of some graph if and only if that graph is bipartite. Inspired by this result, we consider the set ${\cal G}_k$ of all graphs such that, for every induced subgraph, the maximum number of disjoint paths of order $k$ equals the minimum order of a set of vertices intersecting all paths of order $k$. For $k\in \{ 3,4\}$, we give complete structural descriptions of the graphs in ${\cal G}_k$. Furthermore, for odd $k$, we give a complete structural description of the graphs in ${\cal G}_k$ that contain no cycle of order less than $k$. For these graph classes, our results yield efficient recognition algorithms as well as efficient algorithms that determine maximum sets of disjoint paths of order $k$ and minimum sets of vertices intersecting all paths of order $k$.

The repetition threshold is the smallest real number $\alpha$ such that there exists an infinite word over a $k$-letter alphabet that avoids repetition of exponent strictly greater than $\alpha$. This notion can be generalized to graph classes. In this paper, we completely determine the repetition thresholds for caterpillars and caterpillars of maximum degree $3$. Additionally, we present bounds for the repetition thresholds of trees with bounded maximum degrees.

As a natural variant of domination in graphs, Dankelmann et al. [Domination with exponential decay, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 5877-5883] introduce exponential domination, where vertices are considered to have some dominating power that decreases exponentially with the distance, and the dominated vertices have to accumulate a sufficient amount of this power emanating from the dominating vertices. More precisely, if $S$ is a set of vertices of a graph $G$, then $S$ is an exponential dominating set of $G$ if $\sum\limits_{v\in S}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}\geq 1$ for every vertex $u$ in $V(G)\setminus S$, where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the distance between $u\in V(G)\setminus S$ and $v\in S$ in the graph $G-(S\setminus \{ v\})$. The exponential domination number $\gamma_e(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum order of an exponential dominating set of $G$. In the present paper we study exponential domination in subcubic graphs. Our results are as follows: If $G$ is a connected subcubic graph of order $n(G)$, then $$\frac{n(G)}{6\log_2(n(G)+2)+4}\leq \gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{1}{3}(n(G)+2).$$ For every $\epsilon>0$, there is some $g$ such that $\gamma_e(G)\leq \epsilon n(G)$ for every cubic graph $G$ of girth at least $g$. For every $0<\alpha<\frac{2}{3\ln(2)}$, there are infinitely many cubic graphs $G$ with $\gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{3n(G)}{\ln(n(G))^{\alpha}}$. If $T$ is a subcubic tree, then $\gamma_e(T)\geq \frac{1}{6}(n(T)+2).$ For a given subcubic tree, $\gamma_e(T)$ can be determined in polynomial time. The minimum exponential dominating set problem is APX-hard for subcubic graphs.

As a natural variant of domination in graphs, Dankelmann et al. [Domination with exponential decay, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 5877-5883] introduce exponential domination, where vertices are considered to have some dominating power that decreases exponentially with the distance, and the dominated vertices have to accumulate a sufficient amount of this power emanating from the dominating vertices. More precisely, if $S$ is a set of vertices of a graph $G$, then $S$ is an exponential dominating set of $G$ if $\sum\limits_{v\in S}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}\geq 1$ for every vertex $u$ in $V(G)\setminus S$, where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the distance between $u\in V(G)\setminus S$ and $v\in S$ in the graph $G-(S\setminus \{ v\})$. The exponential domination number $\gamma_e(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum order of an exponential dominating set of $G$. Dankelmann et al. show $$\frac{1}{4}({\rm d}+2)\leq \gamma_e(G)\leq \frac{2}{5}(n+2)$$ for a connected graph $G$ of order $n$ and diameter ${\rm d}$. We provide further bounds and in particular strengthen their upper bound. Specifically, for a connected graph $G$ of order $n$, maximum degree $\Delta$ at least $3$, radius ${\rm r}$ at least $1$, we show \begin{eqnarray*} \gamma_e(G) & \geq & \left(\frac{n}{13(\Delta-1)^2}\right)^{\frac{\log_2(\Delta-1)+1}{\log_2^2(\Delta-1)+\log_2(\Delta-1)+1}},\\[3mm] \gamma_e(G) & \leq & 2^{2{\rm r}-2}\mbox{, and }\\[3mm] \gamma_e(G) & \leq & \frac{43}{108}(n+2). \end{eqnarray*}