arXiv subjects

Steven Chaplick

Publications and source records attributed to Steven Chaplick.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Beyond Outerplanarity

We study straight-line drawings of graphs where the vertices are placed in convex position in the plane, i.e., \emph{convex drawings}. We consider two families of graph classes with convex drawings: \emph{outer $k$-planar} graphs, where each edge is crossed by at most $k$ other edges; and \emph{outer $k$-quasi-planar} graphs, where no $k$ edges can mutually cross. We show that the outer $k$-planar graphs are $\lfloor3.5\sqrt{k}\rfloor$-degenerate, and consequently that every outer $k$-planar graph can be colored with $\lfloor3.5\sqrt{k}\rfloor + 1$ colors. We further show that every outer $k$-planar graph has a balanced vertex separator of size at most $2k+3$. For each fixed $k$, these small balanced separators allow us to test outer $k$-planarity in quasi-polynomial time, e.g., this implies that none of these recognition problems is NP-hard unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails. We also show that the class of outer 3-quasi-planar graphs and the class of planar graphs are incomparable. Finally, we restrict outer $k$-planar and outer $k$-quasi-planar drawings to \emph{full} drawings (where no crossing appears on the boundary of the outer face) and to \emph{closed} drawings (where the vertex sequence on the boundary of the outer face is a Hamiltonian cycle in the graph). For each $k$, we express \emph{closed outer $k$-planarity} and \emph{closed outer $k$-quasi-planarity} in extended monadic second-order logic. Since every outer $k$-planar graph has treewidth $O(k)$, Courcelle's theorem implies that closed outer $k$-planarity is linear-time testable. We leverage this result to further show that full outer $k$-planarity can also be tested in linear time.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2026

Split-or-decompose: Improved FPT branching algorithms for maximum agreement forests

Phylogenetic trees are leaf-labelled trees used to model the evolution of species. In practice it is not uncommon to obtain two topologically distinct trees for the same set of species, and this motivates the use of distance measures to quantify dissimilarity. A well-known measure is the maximum agreement forest (MAF): a minimum-size partition of the leaf labels which splits both trees into the same set of disjoint, leaf-labelled subtrees (up to isomorphism after suppressing degree-2 vertices). Computing such a MAF is NP-hard and so considerable effort has been invested in finding FPT algorithms, parameterised by $k$, the number of components of a MAF. The state of the art has been unchanged since 2015, with running times of $O^*(3^k)$ for unrooted trees and $O^*(2.3431^k)$ for rooted trees. In this work we present improved algorithms for both the unrooted and rooted cases, with runtimes $O^*(2.846^k)$ and $O^*(2.3391^k)$ respectively. The key to our improvement is a novel branching strategy in which we show that any overlapping components obtained on the way to a MAF can be `split' by a branching rule with favourable branching factor, and then the problem can be decomposed into disjoint subproblems to be solved separately. We expect that this technique may be more widely applicable to other problems in algorithmic phylogenetics.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2025

A Note on the Complexity of Defensive Domination

In a graph G, a k-attack A is any set of at most k vertices and l-defense D is a set of at most l vertices. We say that defense D counters attack A if each a in A can be matched to a distinct defender d in D with a equal to d or a adjacent to d in G. In the defensive domination problem, we are interested in deciding, for a graph G and positive integers k and l given on input, if there exists an l-defense that counters every possible k-attack on G. Defensive domination is a natural resource allocation problem and can be used to model network robustness and security, disaster response strategies, and redundancy designs. The defensive domination problem is naturally in the complexity class $Σ^P_2$. The problem was known to be NP-hard in general, and polynomial-time algorithms were found for some restricted graph classes. In this note we prove that the defensive domination problem is $Σ^P_2$-complete. We also introduce a natural variant of the defensive domination problem in which the defense is allowed to be a multiset of vertices. This variant is also $Σ^P_2$-complete, but we show that it admits a polynomial-time algorithm in the class of interval graphs. A similar result was known for the original setting in the class of proper interval graphs.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2024

Monotone Arc Diagrams with few Biarcs

We show that every planar graph has a monotone topological 2-page book embedding where at most (4n-10)/5 (of potentially 3n-6) edges cross the spine, and every edge crosses the spine at most once; such an edge is called a biarc. We can also guarantee that all edges that cross the spine cross it in the same direction (e.g., from bottom to top). For planar 3-trees we can further improve the bound to (3n-9)/4, and for so-called Kleetopes we obtain a bound of at most (n-8)/3 edges that cross the spine. The bound for Kleetopes is tight, even if the drawing is not required to be monotone. A Kleetope is a plane triangulation that is derived from another plane triangulation T by inserting a new vertex v_f into each face f of T and then connecting v_f to the three vertices of f.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2024

Approximation Ratio of the Min-Degree Greedy Algorithm for Maximum Independent Set on Interval and Chordal Graphs

In this article we prove that the minimum-degree greedy algorithm, with adversarial tie-breaking, is a $(2/3)$-approximation for the Maximum Independent Set problem on interval graphs. We show that this is tight, even on unit interval graphs of maximum degree 3. We show that on chordal graphs, the greedy algorithm is a $(1/2)$-approximation and that this is again tight. These results contrast with the known (tight) approximation ratio of $\frac{3}{Δ+2}$ of the greedy algorithm for general graphs of maximum degree $Δ$.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2024

The Complexity of Drawing Graphs on Few Lines and Few Planes

It is well known that any graph admits a crossing-free straight-line drawing in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and that any planar graph admits the same even in $\mathbb{R}^2$. For a graph $G$ and $d \in \{2,3\}$, let $ρ^1_d(G)$ denote the smallest number of lines in $\mathbb{R}^d$ whose union contains a crossing-free straight-line drawing of $G$. For $d=2$, $G$ must be planar. Similarly, let $ρ^2_3(G)$ denote the smallest number of planes in $\mathbb{R}^3$ whose union contains a crossing-free straight-line drawing of $G$. We investigate the complexity of computing these three parameters and obtain the following hardness and algorithmic results. - For $d\in\{2,3\}$, we prove that deciding whether $ρ^1_d(G)\le k$ for a given graph $G$ and integer $k$ is ${\exists\mathbb{R}}$-complete. - Since $\mathrm{NP}\subseteq{\exists\mathbb{R}}$, deciding $ρ^1_d(G)\le k$ is NP-hard for $d\in\{2,3\}$. On the positive side, we show that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to $k$. - Since ${\exists\mathbb{R}}\subseteq\mathrm{PSPACE}$, both $ρ^1_2(G)$ and $ρ^1_3(G)$ are computable in polynomial space. On the negative side, we show that drawings that are optimal with respect to $ρ^1_2$ or $ρ^1_3$ sometimes require irrational coordinates. - We prove that deciding whether $ρ^2_3(G)\le k$ is NP-hard for any fixed $k \ge 2$. Hence, the problem is not fixed-parameter tractable with respect to $k$ unless $\mathrm{P}=\mathrm{NP}$.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2024

Snakes and Ladders: a Treewidth Story

Let $G$ be an undirected graph. We say that $G$ contains a ladder of length $k$ if the $2 \times (k+1)$ grid graph is an induced subgraph of $G$ that is only connected to the rest of $G$ via its four cornerpoints. We prove that if all the ladders contained in $G$ are reduced to length 4, the treewidth remains unchanged (and that this bound is tight). Our result indicates that, when computing the treewidth of a graph, long ladders can simply be reduced, and that minimal forbidden minors for bounded treewidth graphs cannot contain long ladders. Our result also settles an open problem from algorithmic phylogenetics: the common chain reduction rule, used to simplify the comparison of two evolutionary trees, is treewidth-preserving in the display graph of the two trees.

math.CO↗

arXiv2024

Bounding and computing obstacle numbers of graphs

An obstacle representation of a graph $G$ consists of a set of pairwise disjoint simply-connected closed regions and a one-to-one mapping of the vertices of $G$ to points such that two vertices are adjacent in $G$ if and only if the line segment connecting the two corresponding points does not intersect any obstacle. The obstacle number of a graph is the smallest number of obstacles in an obstacle representation of the graph in the plane such that all obstacles are simple polygons. It is known that the obstacle number of each $n$-vertex graph is $O(n \log n)$ [Balko, Cibulka, and Valtr, 2018] and that there are $n$-vertex graphs whose obstacle number is $Ω(n/(\log\log n)^2)$ [Dujmović and Morin, 2015]. We improve this lower bound to $Ω(n/\log\log n)$ for simple polygons and to $Ω(n)$ for convex polygons. To obtain these stronger bounds, we improve known estimates on the number of $n$-vertex graphs with bounded obstacle number, solving a conjecture by Dujmović and Morin. We also show that if the drawing of some $n$-vertex graph is given as part of the input, then for some drawings $Ω(n^2)$ obstacles are required to turn them into an obstacle representation of the graph. Our bounds are asymptotically tight in several instances. We complement these combinatorial bounds by two complexity results. First, we show that computing the obstacle number of a graph $G$ is fixed-parameter tractable in the vertex cover number of $G$. Second, we show that, given a graph $G$ and a simple polygon $P$, it is NP-hard to decide whether $G$ admits an obstacle representation using $P$ as the only obstacle.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2023

Planar Drawings with Few Slopes of Halin Graphs and Nested Pseudotrees

The $\textit{planar slope number}$ $psn(G)$ of a planar graph $G$ is the minimum number of edge slopes in a planar straight-line drawing of $G$. It is known that $psn(G) \in O(c^Δ)$ for every planar graph $G$ of maximum degree $Δ$. This upper bound has been improved to $O(Δ^5)$ if $G$ has treewidth three, and to $O(Δ)$ if $G$ has treewidth two. In this paper we prove $psn(G) \leq \max\{4,Δ\}$ when $G$ is a Halin graph, and thus has treewidth three. Furthermore, we present the first polynomial upper bound on the planar slope number for a family of graphs having treewidth four. Namely we show that $O(Δ^2)$ slopes suffice for nested pseudotrees.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2023

Relaxed Agreement Forests

There are multiple factors which can cause the phylogenetic inference process to produce two or more conflicting hypotheses of the evolutionary history of a set X of biological entities. That is: phylogenetic trees with the same set of leaf labels X but with distinct topologies. This leads naturally to the goal of quantifying the difference between two such trees T_1 and T_2. Here we introduce the problem of computing a 'maximum relaxed agreement forest' (MRAF) and use this as a proxy for the dissimilarity of T_1 and T_2, which in this article we assume to be unrooted binary phylogenetic trees. MRAF asks for a partition of the leaf labels X into a minimum number of blocks S_1, S_2, ... S_k such that for each i, the subtrees induced in T_1 and T_2 by S_i are isomorphic up to suppression of degree-2 nodes and taking the labels X into account. Unlike the earlier introduced maximum agreement forest (MAF) model, the subtrees induced by the S_i are allowed to overlap. We prove that it is NP-hard to compute MRAF, by reducing from the problem of partitioning a permutation into a minimum number of monotonic subsequences (PIMS). Furthermore, we show that MRAF has a polynomial time O(log n)-approximation algorithm where n=|X| and permits exact algorithms with single-exponential running time. When at least one of the two input trees has a caterpillar topology, we prove that testing whether a MRAF has size at most k can be answered in polynomial time when k is fixed. We also note that on two caterpillars the approximability of MRAF is related to that of PIMS. Finally, we establish a number of bounds on MRAF, compare its behaviour to MAF both in theory and in an experimental setting and discuss a number of open problems.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2022

Morphing Rectangular Duals

A rectangular dual of a plane graph $G$ is a contact representations of $G$ by interior-disjoint axis-aligned rectangles such that (i) no four rectangles share a point and (ii) the union of all rectangles is a rectangle. A rectangular dual gives rise to a regular edge labeling (REL), which captures the orientations of the rectangle contacts. We study the problem of morphing between two rectangular duals of the same plane graph. If we require that, at any time throughout the morph, there is a rectangular dual, then a morph exists only if the two rectangular duals realize the same REL. Therefore, we allow intermediate contact representations of non-rectangular polygons of constant complexity. Given an $n$-vertex plane graph, we show how to compute in $O(n^3)$ time a piecewise linear morph that consists of $O(n^2)$ linear morphing steps.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2022

Testing Upward Planarity of Partial $2$-Trees

We present an $O(n^2)$-time algorithm to test whether an $n$-vertex directed partial $2$-tree is upward planar. This result improves upon the previously best known algorithm, which runs in $O(n^4)$ time.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2022

On Upward-Planar L-Drawings of Graphs

In an upward-planar L-drawing of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) each edge $e$ is represented as a polyline composed of a vertical segment with its lowest endpoint at the tail of $e$ and of a horizontal segment ending at the head of $e$. Distinct edges may overlap, but not cross. Recently, upward-planar L-drawings have been studied for $st$-graphs, i.e., planar DAGs with a single source $s$ and a single sink $t$ containing an edge directed from $s$ to $t$. It is known that a plane $st$-graph, i.e., an embedded $st$-graph in which the edge $(s,t)$ is incident to the outer face, admits an upward-planar L-drawing if and only if it admits a bitonic $st$-ordering, which can be tested in linear time. We study upward-planar L-drawings of DAGs that are not necessarily $st$-graphs. On the combinatorial side, we show that a plane DAG admits an upward-planar L-drawing if and only if it is a subgraph of a plane $st$-graph admitting a bitonic $st$-ordering. This allows us to show that not every tree with a fixed bimodal embedding admits an upward-planar L-drawing. Moreover, we prove that any acyclic cactus with a single source (or a single sink) admits an upward-planar L-drawing, which respects a given outerplanar embedding if there are no transitive edges. On the algorithmic side, we consider DAGs with a single source (or a single sink). We give linear-time testing algorithms for these DAGs in two cases: (i) when the drawing must respect a prescribed embedding and (ii) when no restriction is given on the embedding, but it is biconnected and series-parallel.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2022

Parameterized Algorithms for Upward Planarity

We obtain new parameterized algorithms for the classical problem of determining whether a directed acyclic graph admits an upward planar drawing. Our results include a new fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by the number of sources, an XP-algorithm parameterized by treewidth, and a fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by treedepth. All three algorithms are obtained using a novel framework for the problem that combines SPQR tree-decompositions with parameterized techniques. Our approach unifies and pushes beyond previous tractability results for the problem on series-parallel digraphs, single-source digraphs and outerplanar digraphs.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2021

Extending Partial Representations of Rectangular Duals with Given Contact Orientations

A rectangular dual of a graph $G$ is a contact representation of $G$ by axis-aligned rectangles such that (i)~no four rectangles share a point and (ii)~the union of all rectangles is a rectangle. The partial representation extension problem for rectangular duals asks whether a given partial rectangular dual can be extended to a rectangular dual, that is, whether there exists a rectangular dual where some vertices are represented by prescribed rectangles. Combinatorially, a rectangular dual can be described by a regular edge labeling (REL), which determines the orientations of the rectangle contacts. We describe two approaches to solve the partial representation extension problem for rectangular duals with given REL. On the one hand, we characterise the RELs that admit an extension, which leads to a linear-time testing algorithm. In the affirmative, we can construct an extension in linear time. This partial representation extension problem can also be formulated as a linear program (LP). We use this LP to solve the simultaneous representation problem for the case of rectangular duals when each input graph is given together with a REL.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2021

Query Minimization under Stochastic Uncertainty

We study problems with stochastic uncertainty information on intervals for which the precise value can be queried by paying a cost. The goal is to devise an adaptive decision tree to find a correct solution to the problem in consideration while minimizing the expected total query cost. We show that, for the sorting problem, such a decision tree can be found in polynomial time. For the problem of finding the data item with minimum value, we have some evidence for hardness. This contradicts intuition, since the minimum problem is easier both in the online setting with adversarial inputs and in the offline verification setting. However, the stochastic assumption can be leveraged to beat both deterministic and randomized approximation lower bounds for the online setting.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2021

Edge-Minimum Saturated k-Planar Drawings

For a class $\mathcal{D}$ of drawings of loopless (multi-)graphs in the plane, a drawing $D \in \mathcal{D}$ is \emph{saturated} when the addition of any edge to $D$ results in $D' \notin \mathcal{D}$ - this is analogous to saturated graphs in a graph class as introduced by Turán (1941) and Erdős, Hajnal, and Moon (1964). We focus on $k$-planar drawings, that is, graphs drawn in the plane where each edge is crossed at most $k$ times, and the classes $\mathcal{D}$ of all $k$-planar drawings obeying a number of restrictions, such as having no crossing incident edges, no pair of edges crossing more than once, or no edge crossing itself. While saturated $k$-planar drawings are the focus of several prior works, tight bounds on how sparse these can be are not well understood. We establish a generic framework to determine the minimum number of edges among all $n$-vertex saturated $k$-planar drawings in many natural classes. For example, when incident crossings, multicrossings and selfcrossings are all allowed, the sparsest $n$-vertex saturated $k$-planar drawings have $\frac{2}{k - (k \bmod 2)} (n-1)$ edges for any $k \geq 4$, while if all that is forbidden, the sparsest such drawings have $\frac{2(k+1)}{k(k-1)}(n-1)$ edges for any $k \geq 6$.

cs.CG↗

arXiv2021

On $H$-Topological Intersection Graphs

Biró et al. (1992) introduced $H$-graphs, intersection graphs of connected subgraphs of a subdivision of a graph $H$. They are related to many classes of geometric intersection graphs, e.g., interval graphs, circular-arc graphs, split graphs, and chordal graphs. We negatively answer the 25-year-old question of Biró et al. which asks if $H$-graphs can be recognized in polynomial time, for a fixed graph $H$. We prove that it is NP-complete if $H$ contains the diamond graph as a minor. We provide a polynomial-time algorithm recognizing $T$-graphs, for each fixed tree $T$. When $T$ is a star $S_d$ of degree $d$, we have an $O(n^{3.5})$-time algorithm. We give FPT- and XP-time algorithms solving the minimum dominating set problem on $S_d$-graphs and $H$-graphs parametrized by $d$ and the size of $H$, respectively. The algorithm for $H$-graphs adapts to an XP-time algorithm for the independent set and the independent dominating set problems on $H$-graphs. If $H$ contains the double-triangle as a minor, we prove that $H$-graphs are GI-complete and that the clique problem is APX-hard. The clique problem can be solved in polynomial time if $H$ is a cactus graph. When a graph $G$ has a Helly $H$-representation, the clique problem can be solved in polynomial time. We show that both the $k$-clique and the list $k$-coloring problems are solvable in FPT-time on $H$-graphs (parameterized by $k$ and the treewidth of $H$). In fact, these results apply to classes of graphs with treewidth bounded by a function of the clique number. We observe that $H$-graphs have at most $n^{O(\|H\|)}$ minimal separators which allows us to apply the meta-algorithmic framework of Fomin et al. (2015) to show that for each fixed $t$, finding a maximum induced subgraph of treewidth $t$ can be done in polynomial time. When $H$ is a cactus, we improve the bound to $O(\|H\|n^2)$.

cs.DM↗