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We introduce and study two natural generalizations of the Connected VertexCover (VC) problem: the $p$-Edge-Connected and $p$-Vertex-Connected VC problem (where $p geq 2$ is a fixed integer). Like Connected VC, both new VC problems are FPT, but do not admit a polynomial kernel unless $NP subseteq coNP/poly$, which is highly unlikely. We prove however that both problems admit time efficient polynomial sized approximate kernelization schemes. We obtain an $O(2^{O(pk)}n^{O(1)})$-time algorithm for the $p$-Edge-Connected VC and an $O(2^{O(k^2)}n^{O(1)})$-time algorithm for the $p$-Vertex-Connected VC. Finally, we describe a $2(p+1)$-approximation algorithm for the $p$-Edge-Connected VC. The proofs for the new VC problems require more sophisticated arguments than for Connected VC. In particular, for the approximation algorithm we use Gomory-Hu trees and for the approximate kernels a result on small-size spanning $p$-vertex/edge-connected subgraph of a $p$-vertex/edge-connected graph obtained independently by Nishizeki and Poljak (1994) and Nagamochi and Ibaraki (1992).
The CONNECTED VERTEX COVER problem asks for a vertex cover in a graph that induces a connected subgraph. The problem is known to be fixed-parameter tractable (FPT), and is unlikely to have a polynomial sized kernel (under complexity theoretic assumptions) when parameterized by the solution size. In a recent paper, Lokshtanov et al.[STOC 2017], have shown an $alpha$-approximate kernel for the problem for every $alpha > 1$, in the framework of approximate or lossy kernelization. In this work, we exhibit lossy kernels and FPT algorithms for CONNECTED VERTEX COVER for parameters that are more natural and functions of the input, and in some cases, smaller than the solution size. The parameters we consider are the sizes of a split deletion set, clique deletion set, clique cover, cluster deletion set and chordal deletion set.
After the number of vertices, Vertex Cover is the largest of the classical graph parameters and has more and more frequently been used as a separate parameter in parameterized problems, including problems that are not directly related to the Vertex Cover. Here we consider the TREEWIDTH and PATHWIDTH problems parameterized by k, the size of a minimum vertex cover of the input graph. We show that the PATHWIDTH and TREEWIDTH can be computed in O*(3^k) time. This complements recent polynomial kernel results for TREEWIDTH and PATHWIDTH parameterized by the Vertex Cover.
The Connected Vertex Cover problem, where the goal is to compute a minimum set of vertices in a given graph which forms a vertex cover and induces a connected subgraph, is a fundamental combinatorial problem and has received extensive attention in various subdomains of algorithmics. In the area of kernelization, it is known that this problem is unlikely to have efficient preprocessing algorithms, also known as polynomial kernelizations. However, it has been shown in a recent work of Lokshtanov et al. [STOC 2017] that if one considered an appropriate notion of approximate kernelization, then this problem parameterized by the solution size does admit an approximate polynomial kernelization. In fact, Lokhtanov et al. were able to obtain a polynomial size approximate kernelization scheme (PSAKS) for Connected Vertex Cover parameterized by the solution size. A PSAKS is essentially a preprocessing algorithm whose error can be made arbitrarily close to 0. In this paper we revisit this problem, and consider parameters that are strictly smaller than the size of the solution and obtain the first polynomial size approximate kernelization schemes for the Connected Vertex Cover problem when parameterized by the deletion distance of the input graph to the class of cographs, the class of bounded treewidth graphs, and the class of all chordal graphs.
We present a near-tight analysis of the average query complexity -- `a la Nguyen and Onak [FOCS08] -- of the randomized greedy maximal matching algorithm, improving over the bound of Yoshida, Yamamoto and Ito [STOC09]. For any $n$-vertex graph of average degree $bar{d}$, this leads to the following sublinear-time algorithms for estimating the size of maximum matching and minimum vertex cover, all of which are provably time-optimal up to logarithmic factors: $bullet$ A multiplicative $(2+epsilon)$-approximation in $widetilde{O}(n/epsilon^2)$ time using adjacency list queries. This (nearly) matches an $Omega(n)$ time lower bound for any multiplicative approximation and is, notably, the first $O(1)$-approximation that runs in $o(n^{1.5})$ time. $bullet$ A $(2, epsilon n)$-approximation in $widetilde{O}((bar{d} + 1)/epsilon^2)$ time using adjacency list queries. This (nearly) matches an $Omega(bar{d}+1)$ lower bound of Parnas and Ron [TCS07] which holds for any $(O(1), epsilon n)$-approximation, and improves over the bounds of [Yoshida et al. STOC09; Onak et al. SODA12] and [Kapralov et al. SODA20]: The former two take at least quadratic time in the degree which can be as large as $Omega(n^2)$ and the latter obtains a much larger approximation. $bullet$ A $(2, epsilon n)$-approximation in $widetilde{O}(n/epsilon^3)$ time using adjacency matrix queries. This (nearly) matches an $Omega(n)$ time lower bound in this model and improves over the $widetilde{O}(nsqrt{n})$-time $(2, epsilon n)$-approximate algorithm of [Chen, Kannan, and Khanna ICALP20]. It also turns out that any non-trivial multiplicative approximation in the adjacency matrix model requires $Omega(n^2)$ time, so the additive $epsilon n$ error is necessary too. As immediate corollaries, we get improved sublinear time estimators for (variants of) TSP and an improved AMPC algorithm for maximal matching.
We study the recently introduced Connected Feedback Vertex Set (CFVS) problem from the view-point of parameterized algorithms. CFVS is the connected variant of the classical Feedback Vertex Set problem and is defined as follows: given a graph G=(V,E) and an integer k, decide whether there exists a subset F of V, of size at most k, such that G[V F] is a forest and G[F] is connected. We show that Connected Feedback Vertex Set can be solved in time $O(2^{O(k)}n^{O(1)})$ on general graphs and in time $O(2^{O(sqrt{k}log k)}n^{O(1)})$ on graphs excluding a fixed graph H as a minor. Our result on general undirected graphs uses as subroutine, a parameterized algorithm for Group Steiner Tree, a well studied variant of Steiner Tree. We find the algorithm for Group Steiner Tree of independent interest and believe that it will be useful for obtaining parameterized algorithms for other connectivity problems.