A circular-arc graph is the intersection graph of arcs of a circle. It is a well-studied graph model with numerous natural applications. A certifying algorithm is an algorithm that outputs a certificate, along with its answer (be it positive or negat
ive), where the certificate can be used to easily justify the given answer. While the recognition of circular-arc graphs has been known to be polynomial since the 1980s, no polynomial-time certifying recognition algorithm is known to date, despite such algorithms being found for many subclasses of circular-arc graphs. This is largely due to the fact that a forbidden structure characterization of circular-arc graphs is not known, even though the problem has been intensely studied since the seminal work of Klee in the 1960s. In this contribution, we settle this problem. We present the first forbidden structure characterization of circular-arc graphs. Our obstruction has the form of mutually avoiding walks in the graph. It naturally extends a similar obstruction that characterizes interval graphs. As a consequence, we give the first polynomial-time certifying algorithm for the recognition of circular-arc graphs.
A strong edge colouring of a graph is an assignment of colours to the edges of the graph such that for every colour, the set of edges that are given that colour form an induced matching in the graph. The strong chromatic index of a graph $G$, denoted
by $chi_s(G)$, is the minimum number of colours needed in any strong edge colouring of $G$. A graph is said to be emph{chordless} if there is no cycle in the graph that has a chord. Faudree, Gyarfas, Schelp and Tuza~[The Strong Chromatic Index of Graphs, Ars Combin., 29B (1990), pp.~205--211] considered a particular subclass of chordless graphs, namely the class of graphs in which all the cycle lengths are multiples of four, and asked whether the strong chromatic index of these graphs can be bounded by a linear function of the maximum degree. Chang and Narayanan~[Strong Chromatic Index of 2-degenerate Graphs, J. Graph Theory, 73(2) (2013), pp.~119--126] answered this question in the affirmative by proving that if $G$ is a chordless graph with maximum degree $Delta$, then $chi_s(G) leq 8Delta -6$. We improve this result by showing that for every chordless graph $G$ with maximum degree $Delta$, $chi_s(G)leq 3Delta$. This bound is tight up to to an additive constant.
Multiple interval graphs are variants of interval graphs where instead of a single interval, each vertex is assigned a set of intervals on the real line. We study the complexity of the MAXIMUM CLIQUE problem in several classes of multiple interval gr
aphs. The MAXIMUM CLIQUE problem, or the problem of finding the size of the maximum clique, is known to be NP-complete for $t$-interval graphs when $tgeq 3$ and polynomial-time solvable when $t=1$. The problem is also known to be NP-complete in $t$-track graphs when $tgeq 4$ and polynomial-time solvable when $tleq 2$. We show that MAXIMUM CLIQUE is already NP-complete for unit 2-interval graphs and unit 3-track graphs. Further, we show that the problem is APX-complete for 2-interval graphs, 3-track graphs, unit 3-interval graphs and unit 4-track graphs. We also introduce two new classes of graphs called $t$-circular interval graphs and $t$-circular track graphs and study the complexity of the MAXIMUM CLIQUE problem in them. On the positive side, we present a polynomial time $t$-approximation algorithm for WEIGHTED MAXIMUM CLIQUE on $t$-interval graphs, improving earlier work with approximation ratio $4t$.
