Optimal local certification on graphs of bounded pathwidth

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Main Authors: Baterisna, Dan Alden, Chang, Yi-Jun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Baterisna, Dan Alden
Chang, Yi-Jun
author_facet Baterisna, Dan Alden
Chang, Yi-Jun
contents We present proof labeling schemes for graphs with bounded pathwidth that can decide any graph property expressible in monadic second-order (MSO) logic using $O(\log n)$-bit vertex labels. Examples of such properties include planarity, Hamiltonicity, $k$-colorability, $H$-minor-freeness, admitting a perfect matching, and having a vertex cover of a given size. Our proof labeling schemes improve upon a recent result by Fraigniaud, Montealegre, Rapaport, and Todinca (Algorithmica 2024), which achieved the same result for graphs of bounded treewidth but required $O(\log^2 n)$-bit labels. Our improved label size $O(\log n)$ is optimal, as it is well-known that any proof labeling scheme that accepts paths and rejects cycles requires labels of size $Ω(\log n)$. Our result implies that graphs with pathwidth at most $k$ can be certified using $O(\log n)$-bit labels for any fixed constant $k$. Applying the Excluding Forest Theorem of Robertson and Seymour, we deduce that the class of $F$-minor-free graphs can be certified with $O(\log n)$-bit labels for any fixed forest $F$, thereby providing an affirmative answer to an open question posed by Bousquet, Feuilloley, and Pierron (Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 2024).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_00676
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal local certification on graphs of bounded pathwidth
Baterisna, Dan Alden
Chang, Yi-Jun
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Data Structures and Algorithms
We present proof labeling schemes for graphs with bounded pathwidth that can decide any graph property expressible in monadic second-order (MSO) logic using $O(\log n)$-bit vertex labels. Examples of such properties include planarity, Hamiltonicity, $k$-colorability, $H$-minor-freeness, admitting a perfect matching, and having a vertex cover of a given size. Our proof labeling schemes improve upon a recent result by Fraigniaud, Montealegre, Rapaport, and Todinca (Algorithmica 2024), which achieved the same result for graphs of bounded treewidth but required $O(\log^2 n)$-bit labels. Our improved label size $O(\log n)$ is optimal, as it is well-known that any proof labeling scheme that accepts paths and rejects cycles requires labels of size $Ω(\log n)$. Our result implies that graphs with pathwidth at most $k$ can be certified using $O(\log n)$-bit labels for any fixed constant $k$. Applying the Excluding Forest Theorem of Robertson and Seymour, we deduce that the class of $F$-minor-free graphs can be certified with $O(\log n)$-bit labels for any fixed forest $F$, thereby providing an affirmative answer to an open question posed by Bousquet, Feuilloley, and Pierron (Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 2024).
title Optimal local certification on graphs of bounded pathwidth
topic Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.00676