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Main Authors: Ito, Takehiro, Kakimura, Naonori, Kamiyama, Naoyuki, Kobayashi, Yusuke, Okamoto, Yoshio
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15080
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author Ito, Takehiro
Kakimura, Naonori
Kamiyama, Naoyuki
Kobayashi, Yusuke
Okamoto, Yoshio
author_facet Ito, Takehiro
Kakimura, Naonori
Kamiyama, Naoyuki
Kobayashi, Yusuke
Okamoto, Yoshio
contents The minimum sum coloring problem with bundles was introduced by Darbouy and Friggstad (SWAT 2024) as a common generalization of the minimum coloring problem and the minimum sum coloring problem. During their presentation, the following open problem was raised: whether the minimum sum coloring problem with bundles could be solved in polynomial time for trees. We answer their question in the negative by proving that the minimum sum coloring problem with bundles is NP-hard even for paths. We complement this hardness by providing algorithms of the following types. First, we provide a fixed-parameter algorithm for trees when the number of bundles is a parameter; this can be extended to graphs of bounded treewidth. Second, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for trees when bundles form a partition of the vertex set and the difference between the number of vertices and the number of bundles is constant. Third, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for trees when bundles form a partition of the vertex set and each bundle induces a connected subgraph. We further show that for bipartite graphs, the problem with weights is NP-hard even when the number of bundles is at least three, but is polynomial-time solvable when the number of bundles is at most two. The threshold shifts to three versus four for the problem without weights.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_15080
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Minimum Sum Coloring with Bundles in Trees and Bipartite Graphs
Ito, Takehiro
Kakimura, Naonori
Kamiyama, Naoyuki
Kobayashi, Yusuke
Okamoto, Yoshio
Data Structures and Algorithms
The minimum sum coloring problem with bundles was introduced by Darbouy and Friggstad (SWAT 2024) as a common generalization of the minimum coloring problem and the minimum sum coloring problem. During their presentation, the following open problem was raised: whether the minimum sum coloring problem with bundles could be solved in polynomial time for trees. We answer their question in the negative by proving that the minimum sum coloring problem with bundles is NP-hard even for paths. We complement this hardness by providing algorithms of the following types. First, we provide a fixed-parameter algorithm for trees when the number of bundles is a parameter; this can be extended to graphs of bounded treewidth. Second, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for trees when bundles form a partition of the vertex set and the difference between the number of vertices and the number of bundles is constant. Third, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for trees when bundles form a partition of the vertex set and each bundle induces a connected subgraph. We further show that for bipartite graphs, the problem with weights is NP-hard even when the number of bundles is at least three, but is polynomial-time solvable when the number of bundles is at most two. The threshold shifts to three versus four for the problem without weights.
title Minimum Sum Coloring with Bundles in Trees and Bipartite Graphs
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15080