Maximum Independent Sets in Disk Graphs with Disks in Convex Position

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tkachenko, Anastasiia, Wang, Haitao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Tkachenko, Anastasiia
Wang, Haitao
author_facet Tkachenko, Anastasiia
Wang, Haitao
contents For a set $\mathcal{D}$ of disks in the plane, its disk graph $G(\mathcal{D})$ is the graph with vertex set $\mathcal{D}$, where two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding disks intersect. Given a set $\mathcal{D}$ of $n$ weighted disks, computing a maximum independent set of $G(\mathcal{D})$ is NP-hard. In this paper, we present an $O(n^3\log n)$-time algorithm for this problem in a special setting in which the disks are in convex position, meaning that every disk appears on the convex hull of $\mathcal{D}$. This setting has been studied previously for disks of equal radius, for which an $O(n^{37/11})$-time algorithm was known. Our algorithm also works in the weighted case where disks have weights and the goal is to compute a maximum-weight independent set. As an application of our result, we obtain an $O(n^3\log^2 n)$-time algorithm for the dispersion problem on a set of $n$ disks in convex position: given an integer $k$, compute a subset of $k$ disks that maximizes the minimum pairwise distance among all disks in the subset.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_10828
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Maximum Independent Sets in Disk Graphs with Disks in Convex Position
Tkachenko, Anastasiia
Wang, Haitao
Computational Geometry
Data Structures and Algorithms
For a set $\mathcal{D}$ of disks in the plane, its disk graph $G(\mathcal{D})$ is the graph with vertex set $\mathcal{D}$, where two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding disks intersect. Given a set $\mathcal{D}$ of $n$ weighted disks, computing a maximum independent set of $G(\mathcal{D})$ is NP-hard. In this paper, we present an $O(n^3\log n)$-time algorithm for this problem in a special setting in which the disks are in convex position, meaning that every disk appears on the convex hull of $\mathcal{D}$. This setting has been studied previously for disks of equal radius, for which an $O(n^{37/11})$-time algorithm was known. Our algorithm also works in the weighted case where disks have weights and the goal is to compute a maximum-weight independent set. As an application of our result, we obtain an $O(n^3\log^2 n)$-time algorithm for the dispersion problem on a set of $n$ disks in convex position: given an integer $k$, compute a subset of $k$ disks that maximizes the minimum pairwise distance among all disks in the subset.
title Maximum Independent Sets in Disk Graphs with Disks in Convex Position
topic Computational Geometry
Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.10828