On Computational Aspects of Cores of Ordered Graphs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Čertík, Michal, Feldmann, Andreas Emil, Nešetřil, Jaroslav, Rzążewski, Paweł
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Čertík, Michal
Feldmann, Andreas Emil
Nešetřil, Jaroslav
Rzążewski, Paweł
author_facet Čertík, Michal
Feldmann, Andreas Emil
Nešetřil, Jaroslav
Rzążewski, Paweł
contents An ordered graph is a graph enhanced with a linear order on the vertex set. An ordered graph is a core if it does not have an order-preserving homomorphism to a proper subgraph. We say that $H$ is the core of $G$ if (i) $H$ is a core, (ii) $H$ is a subgraph of $G$, and (iii) $G$ admits an order-preserving homomorphism to $H$. We study complexity aspects of several problems related to the cores of ordered graphs. Interestingly, they exhibit a different behavior than their unordered counterparts. We show that the retraction problem, i.e., deciding whether a given graph admits an ordered-preserving homomorphism to its specific subgraph, can be solved in polynomial time. On the other hand, it is \NP-hard to decide whether a given ordered graph is a core. In fact, we show that it is even \NP-hard to distinguish graphs $G$ whose core is largest possible (i.e., if $G$ is a core) from those, whose core is the smallest possible, i.e., its size is equal to the ordered chromatic number of $G$. The problem is even \wone-hard with respect to the latter parameter.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_23099
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On Computational Aspects of Cores of Ordered Graphs
Čertík, Michal
Feldmann, Andreas Emil
Nešetřil, Jaroslav
Rzążewski, Paweł
Computational Complexity
Discrete Mathematics
Combinatorics
An ordered graph is a graph enhanced with a linear order on the vertex set. An ordered graph is a core if it does not have an order-preserving homomorphism to a proper subgraph. We say that $H$ is the core of $G$ if (i) $H$ is a core, (ii) $H$ is a subgraph of $G$, and (iii) $G$ admits an order-preserving homomorphism to $H$. We study complexity aspects of several problems related to the cores of ordered graphs. Interestingly, they exhibit a different behavior than their unordered counterparts. We show that the retraction problem, i.e., deciding whether a given graph admits an ordered-preserving homomorphism to its specific subgraph, can be solved in polynomial time. On the other hand, it is \NP-hard to decide whether a given ordered graph is a core. In fact, we show that it is even \NP-hard to distinguish graphs $G$ whose core is largest possible (i.e., if $G$ is a core) from those, whose core is the smallest possible, i.e., its size is equal to the ordered chromatic number of $G$. The problem is even \wone-hard with respect to the latter parameter.
title On Computational Aspects of Cores of Ordered Graphs
topic Computational Complexity
Discrete Mathematics
Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23099