In graph theory and computer science, the graph sandwich problem is a problem of finding a graph that belongs to a particular family of graphs and is "sandwiched" between two other graphs, one of which must be a subgraph and the other of which must be a supergraph of the desired graph.
Graph sandwich problems generalize the problem of testing whether a given graph belongs to a family of graphs, and have attracted attention because of their applications and as a natural generalization of recognition problems. [1]
More precisely, given a vertex set V, a mandatory edge set E1, and a larger edge set E2, a graph G = (V, E) is called a sandwich graph for the pair G1 = (V, E1), G2 = (V, E2) if E1 ⊆ E ⊆ E2. The graph sandwich problem for property Π is defined as follows: [2] [3]
The recognition problem for a class of graphs (those satisfying a property Π) is equivalent to the particular graph sandwich problem where E1 = E2, that is, the optional edge set is empty.
The graph sandwich problem is NP-complete when Π is the property of being a chordal graph, comparability graph, permutation graph, chordal bipartite graph, or chain graph. [2] [4] It can be solved in polynomial time for split graphs, [2] [5] threshold graphs, [2] [5] and graphs in which every five vertices contain at most one four-vertex induced path. [6] The complexity status has also been settled for the H-free graph sandwich problems for each of the four-vertex graphs H. [7]
In graph theory, two graphs and are homeomorphic if there is a graph isomorphism from some subdivision of to some subdivision of . If the edges of a graph are thought of as lines drawn from one vertex to another, then two graphs are homeomorphic to each other in the graph-theoretic sense precisely if they are homeomorphic in the topological sense.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, an edge-transitive graph is a graph G such that, given any two edges e1 and e2 of G, there is an automorphism of G that maps e1 to e2.
In graph theory, a perfect graph is a graph in which the chromatic number equals the size of the maximum clique, both in the graph itself and in every induced subgraph. In all graphs, the chromatic number is greater than or equal to the size of the maximum clique, but they can be far apart. A graph is perfect when these numbers are equal, and remain equal after the deletion of arbitrary subsets of vertices.
In graph theory, the perfect graph theorem of László Lovász states that an undirected graph is perfect if and only if its complement graph is also perfect. This result had been conjectured by Berge, and it is sometimes called the weak perfect graph theorem to distinguish it from the strong perfect graph theorem characterizing perfect graphs by their forbidden induced subgraphs.
In the mathematical area of graph theory, a chordal graph is one in which all cycles of four or more vertices have a chord, which is an edge that is not part of the cycle but connects two vertices of the cycle. Equivalently, every induced cycle in the graph should have exactly three vertices. The chordal graphs may also be characterized as the graphs that have perfect elimination orderings, as the graphs in which each minimal separator is a clique, and as the intersection graphs of subtrees of a tree. They are sometimes also called rigid circuit graphs or triangulated graphs: a chordal completion of a graph is typically called a triangulation of that graph.
In graph theory, a cograph, or complement-reducible graph, or P4-free graph, is a graph that can be generated from the single-vertex graph K1 by complementation and disjoint union. That is, the family of cographs is the smallest class of graphs that includes K1 and is closed under complementation and disjoint union.
In graph theory, the Grundy number or Grundy chromatic number of an undirected graph is the maximum number of colors that can be used by a greedy coloring strategy that considers the vertices of the graph in sequence and assigns each vertex its first available color, using a vertex ordering chosen to use as many colors as possible. Grundy numbers are named after P. M. Grundy, who studied an analogous concept for directed graphs in 1939. The undirected version was introduced by Christen & Selkow (1979).
In complexity theory and graph theory, induced subgraph isomorphism is an NP-complete decision problem that involves finding a given graph as an induced subgraph of a larger graph.
In graph theory, a comparability graph is an undirected graph that connects pairs of elements that are comparable to each other in a partial order. Comparability graphs have also been called transitively orientable graphs, partially orderable graphs, containment graphs, and divisor graphs. An incomparability graph is an undirected graph that connects pairs of elements that are not comparable to each other in a partial order.
In graph theory, an intersection graph is a graph that represents the pattern of intersections of a family of sets. Any graph can be represented as an intersection graph, but some important special classes of graphs can be defined by the types of sets that are used to form an intersection representation of them.
In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, a split graph is a graph in which the vertices can be partitioned into a clique and an independent set. Split graphs were first studied by Földes and Hammer, and independently introduced by Tyshkevich and Chernyak, where they called these graphs "polar graphs".
In graph theory, an area of mathematics, a claw-free graph is a graph that does not have a claw as an induced subgraph.
In graph theory, a branch of discrete mathematics, a distance-hereditary graph is a graph in which the distances in any connected induced subgraph are the same as they are in the original graph. Thus, any induced subgraph inherits the distances of the larger graph.
In graph theory, a trivially perfect graph is a graph with the property that in each of its induced subgraphs the size of the maximum independent set equals the number of maximal cliques. Trivially perfect graphs were first studied by but were named by Golumbic (1978); Golumbic writes that "the name was chosen since it is trivial to show that such a graph is perfect." Trivially perfect graphs are also known as comparability graphs of trees, arborescent comparability graphs, and quasi-threshold graphs.
In graph theory, a perfectly orderable graph is a graph whose vertices can be ordered in such a way that a greedy coloring algorithm with that ordering optimally colors every induced subgraph of the given graph. Perfectly orderable graphs form a special case of the perfect graphs, and they include the chordal graphs, comparability graphs, and distance-hereditary graphs. However, testing whether a graph is perfectly orderable is NP-complete.
In the mathematical area of graph theory, an undirected graph G is strongly chordal if it is a chordal graph and every cycle of even length in G has an odd chord, i.e., an edge that connects two vertices that are an odd distance (>1) apart from each other in the cycle.
In graph theory, a well-covered graph is an undirected graph in which the minimal vertex covers all have the same size. Here, a vertex cover is a set of vertices that touches all edges, and it is minimal if removing any vertex from it would leave some edge uncovered. Equivalently, well-covered graphs are the graphs in which all maximal independent sets have equal size. Well-covered graphs were defined and first studied by Michael D. Plummer in 1970.
In graph theory, a skew partition of a graph is a partition of its vertices into two subsets, such that the induced subgraph formed by one of the two subsets is disconnected and the induced subgraph formed by the other subset is the complement of a disconnected graph. Skew partitions play an important role in the theory of perfect graphs.
In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, an indifference graph is an undirected graph constructed by assigning a real number to each vertex and connecting two vertices by an edge when their numbers are within one unit of each other. Indifference graphs are also the intersection graphs of sets of unit intervals, or of properly nested intervals. Based on these two types of interval representations, these graphs are also called unit interval graphs or proper interval graphs; they form a subclass of the interval graphs.
In the mathematical area of graph theory, a chordal bipartite graph is a bipartite graph B = (X,Y,E) in which every cycle of length at least 6 in B has a chord, i.e., an edge that connects two vertices that are a distance > 1 apart from each other in the cycle. A better name would be weakly chordal and bipartite since chordal bipartite graphs are in general not chordal as the induced cycle of length 4 shows.