Abstract: In recent years several classical results in extremal graph theory have been improved in a uniform way and their proofs have been simplified and streamlined. These results include a new Erdős-Stone-Bollobas theorem, several stability theorems, several saturation results and bounds for the number of graphs with large forbidden subgraphs. Another recent trend is the expansion of spectral extremal graph theory, in which extremal properties of graphs are studied by means of eigenvalues of various matrices. One particular achievement in this area is the casting of the central results above in spectral terms, often with additional enhancement. In addition, new, specific spectral results were found that have no conventional analogs. All of the above material is scattered throughout various journals, and since it may be of some interest, the purpose of this survey is to present the best of these results in a uniform, structured setting, together with some discussions of the underpinning ideas. Introduction The purpose of this survey is to give a systematic account of two recent lines of research in extremal graph theory. The first one, developed in [14],[15],[16],[63, 68], improves a number of classical results grouped around the theorem of Turan. The main progress is along the following three guidelines: replacing fixed parameters by variable ones; giving explicit conditions for the validity of the statements; developing and using tools of general scope.

Abstract: In this paper, motivated by network inference and tomography applications, we study the problem of compressive sensing for sparse signal vectors over graphs. In particular, we are interested in recovering sparse vectors representing the properties of the edges from a graph. Unlike existing compressive sensing results, the collective additive measurements we are allowed to take must follow connected paths over the underlying graph. For a sufficiently connected graph with n nodes, it is shown that, using O(k log(n)) path measurements, we are able to recover any k-sparse link vector (with no more than k nonzero elements), even though the measurements have to follow the graph path constraints. We mainly show that the computationally efficient l 1 minimization can provide theoretical guarantees for inferring such k-sparse vectors with O(k log(n)) path measurements from the graph.

Abstract: Laplacian embedding provides a low-dimensional representation for the nodes of a graph where the edge weights denote pair-wise similarity among the node objects. It is commonly assumed that the Laplacian embedding results preserve the local topology of the original data on the low-dimensional projected subspaces, i.e., for any pair of graph nodes with large similarity, they should be embedded closely in the embedded space. However, in this paper, we will show that the Laplacian embedding often cannot preserve local topology well as we expected. To enhance the local topology preserving property in graph embedding, we propose a novel Cauchy graph embedding which preserves the similarity relationships of the original data in the embedded space via a new objective. Consequentially the machine learning tasks (such as k Nearest Neighbor type classifications) can be easily conducted on the embedded data with better performance. The experimental results on both synthetic and real world benchmark data sets demonstrate the usefulness of this new type of embedding.

Abstract: The classical matrix-tree theorem relates the determinant of the combinatorial Laplacian on a graph to the number of spanning trees. We generalize this result to Laplacians on one- and two-dimensional vector bundles, giving a combinatorial interpretation of their determinants in terms of so-called cycle rooted spanning forests (CRSFs). We construct natural measures on CRSFs for which the edges form a determinantal process. This theory gives a natural generalization of the spanning tree process adapted to graphs embedded on surfaces. We give a number of other applications, for example, we compute the probability that a loop-erased random walk on a planar graph between two vertices on the outer boundary passes left of two given faces. This probability cannot be computed using the standard Laplacian alone.

Abstract: We prove that any graph excluding a fixed minor can have its edges partitioned into a desired number k of color classes such that contracting the edges in any one color class results in a graph of treewidth linear in k. This result is a natural finale to research in contraction decomposition, generalizing previous such decompositions for planar and bounded-genus graphs, and solving the main open problem in this area (posed at SODA 2007). Our decomposition can be computed in polynomial time, resulting in a general framework for approximation algorithms, particularly PTASs (with k ∼ 1/e), and fixed-parameter algorithms, for problems closed under contractions in graphs excluding a fixed minor. For example, our approximation framework gives the first PTAS for TSP in weighted H-minor-free graphs, solving a decade-old open problem of Grohe; and gives another fixed-parameter algorithm for k-cut in H-minor-free graphs, which was an open problem of Downey et al. even for planar graphs.To obtain our contraction decompositions, we develop new graph structure theory to realize virtual edges in the clique-sum decomposition by actual paths in the graph, enabling the use of the powerful Robertson--Seymour Graph Minor decomposition theorem in the context of edge contractions (without edge deletions). This requires careful construction of paths to avoid blowup in the number of required paths beyond 3. Along the way, we strengthen and simplify contraction decompositions for bounded-genus graphs, so that the partition is determined by a simple radial ball growth independent of handles, starting from a set of vertices instead of just one, as long as this set is tight in a certain sense. We show that this tightness property holds for a constant number of approximately shortest paths in the surface, introducing several new concepts such as dives and rainbows.

Abstract: We give an O(n log3 n) algorithm that, given an n-node directed planar graph with arc capacities, a set of source nodes, and a set of sink nodes, finds a maximum flow from the sources to the sinks. Previously, the fastest algorithms known for this problem were those for general graphs.

Abstract: We study a general class of problems called F-Deletion problems. In an F-Deletion problem, we are asked whether a subset of at most k vertices can be deleted from a graph G such that the resulting graph does not contain as a minor any graph from the family F of forbidden minors. We obtain a number of algorithmic results on the F-Deletion problem when F contains a planar graph. We give - a linear vertex kernel on graphs excluding t-claw K_(1,t), the star with t leaves, as an induced subgraph, where t is a fixed integer. - an approximation algorithm achieving an approximation ratio of O(log^(3/2) OPT), where $OPT$ is the size of an optimal solution on general undirected graphs. Finally, we obtain polynomial kernels for the case when F only contains graph theta_c as a minor for a fixed integer c. The graph theta_c consists of two vertices connected by $c$ parallel edges. Even though this may appear to be a very restricted class of problems it already encompasses well-studied problems such as Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set and Diamond Hitting Set. The generic kernelization algorithm is based on a non-trivial application of protrusion techniques, previously used only for problems on topological graph classes.

Abstract: We consider the minimum $k$-way cut problem for unweighted undirected graphs with a size bound $s$ on the number of cut edges allowed. Thus we seek to remove as few edges as possible so as to split a graph into $k$ components, or report that this requires cutting more than $s$ edges. We show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) with the standard parameterization in terms of the solution size $s$. More precisely, for $s=O(1)$, we present a quadratic time algorithm. Moreover, we present a much easier linear time algorithm for planar graphs and bounded genus graphs. Our tractability result stands in contrast to known W[1] hardness of related problems. Without the size bound, Downey et al.~[2003] proved that the minimum $k$-way cut problem is W[1] hard with parameter $k$, and this is even for simple unweighted graphs. Downey et al.~asked about the status for planar graphs. We get linear time with fixed parameter $k$ for simple planar graphs since the minimum $k$-way cut of a planar graph is of size at most $6k$. More generally, we get FPT with parameter $k$ for any graph class with bounded average degree. A simple reduction shows that vertex cuts are at least as hard as edge cuts, so the minimum $k$-way vertex cut is also W[1] hard with parameter $k$. Marx [2004] proved that finding a minimum $k$-way vertex cut of size $s$ is also W[1] hard with parameter $s$. Marx asked about the FPT status with edge cuts, which we prove tractable here. We are not aware of any other cut problem where the vertex version is W[1] hard but the edge version is FPT, e.g., Marx [2004] proved that the $k$-terminal cut problem is FPT parameterized by the cut size, both for edge and vertex cuts.

Abstract: We give an O(n log^3 n) algorithm that, given an n-node directed planar graph with arc capacities, a set of source nodes, and a set of sink nodes, finds a maximum flow from the sources to the sinks. Previously, the fastest algorithms known for this problem were those for general graphs.

Abstract: A graph drawn in the plane is called k-quasi-planar if it does not contain k pairwise crossing edges. It has been conjectured for a long time that for every fixed k, the maximum number of edges of a k-quasi-planar graph with n vertices is O(n). The best known upper bound is n(\log n)^{O(\log k)}. In the present note, we improve this bound to (n\log n)2^{\alpha^{c_k}(n)} in the special case where the graph is drawn in such a way that every pair of edges meet at most once. Here \alpha(n) denotes the (extremely slowly growing) inverse of the Ackermann function. We also make further progress on the conjecture for k-quasi-planar graphs in which every edge is drawn as an x-monotone curve. Extending some ideas of Valtr, we prove that the maximum number of edges of such graphs is at most 2^{ck^6}n\log n.

Abstract: A (1 + eps)-approximate distance oracle for a graph is a data structure that supports approximate point-to-point shortest-path-distance queries. The most relevant measures for a distance-oracle construction are: space, query time, and preprocessing time. There are strong distance-oracle constructions known for planar graphs (Thorup, JACM'04) and, subsequently, minor-excluded graphs (Abraham and Gavoille, PODC'06). However, these require Omega(eps^{-1} n lg n) space for n-node graphs. We argue that a very low space requirement is essential. Since modern computer architectures involve hierarchical memory (caches, primary memory, secondary memory), a high memory requirement in effect may greatly increase the actual running time. Moreover, we would like data structures that can be deployed on small mobile devices, such as handhelds, which have relatively small primary memory. In this paper, for planar graphs, bounded-genus graphs, and minor-excluded graphs we give distance-oracle constructions that require only O(n) space. The big O hides only a fixed constant, independent of \epsilon and independent of genus or size of an excluded minor. The preprocessing times for our distance oracle are also faster than those for the previously known constructions. For planar graphs, the preprocessing time is O(n lg^2 n). However, our constructions have slower query times. For planar graphs, the query time is O(eps^{-2} lg^2 n). For our linear-space results, we can in fact ensure, for any delta > 0, that the space required is only 1 + delta times the space required just to represent the graph itself.

Abstract: A Lombardi drawing of a graph is one in which vertices are represented as points, edges are represented as circular arcs between their endpoints, and every vertex has perfect angular resolution (equal angles between consecutive edges, as measured by the tangents to the circular arcs at the vertex). We describe two algorithms that create "Lombardi-style" drawings (which we also call near-Lombardi drawings), in which all edges are still circular arcs, but some vertices may not have perfect angular resolution. Both of these algorithms take a force-directed, spring-embedding approach, with one using forces at edge tangents to produce curved edges and the other using dummy vertices on edges for this purpose. As we show, these approaches produce near-Lombardi drawings, with one being slightly better at achieving near-perfect angular resolution and the other being slightly better at balancing edge placements.

Abstract: A proper edge-coloring with the property that every cycle contains edges of at least three distinct colors is called an acyclic edge-coloring. The acyclic chromatic index of a graph G, denoted χa′(G), is the minimum k such that G admits an acyclic edge-coloring with k colors. We conjecture that if G is planar and Δ(G) is large enough, then χa′(G)=Δ(G). We settle this conjecture for planar graphs with girth at least 5. We also show that χa′(G)≤Δ(G)+12 for all planar G, which improves a previous result by Fiedorowicz, Haluszczak, and Narayan [Inform. Process. Lett., 108 (2008), pp. 412–417].

Abstract: At the core of the Robertson-Seymour theory of graph minors lies a powerful decomposition theorem which captures, for any fixed graph H, the common structural features of all the graphs which do not contain H as a minor. Robertson and Seymour used this result to prove Wagner's Conjecture that finite graphs are well-quasi-ordered under the graph minor relation, as well as give a polynomial time algorithm for the disjoint paths problem when the number of the terminals is fixed. The theorem has since found numerous applications, both in graph theory and theoretical computer science. The original proof runs more than 400 pages and the techniques used are highly non-trivial.In this paper, we give a simplified algorithm for finding the decomposition based on a new constructive proof of the decomposition theorem for graphs excluding a fixed minor H. The new proof is both dramatically simpler and shorter, making these results and techniques more accessible. The algorithm runs in time O(n3), as does the original algorithm of Robertson and Seymour. Moreover, our proof gives an explicit bound on the constants in the O notation, whereas the original proof of Robertson and Seymour does not.

Abstract: We derive the full phase diagram for a large family of two-parameter exponential random graph models, each containing a first order transition curve ending in a critical point.

Abstract: Let G be a graph drawn in the plane so that its edges are represented by x-monotone curves, any pair of which cross an even number of times. We show that G can be redrawn in such a way that the x-coordinates of the vertices remain unchanged and the edges become non-crossing straight-line segments.

Abstract: We consider a the minimum k-way cut problem for unweighted graphs with a size bound s on the number of cut edges allowed. Thus we seek to remove as few edges as possible so as to split a graph into k components, or report that this requires cutting more than s edges. We show that this problem is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) in s. More precisely, for s=O(1), our algorithm runs in quadratic time while we have a different linear time algorithm for planar graphs and bounded genus graphs. Our tractability result stands in contrast to known W[1] hardness of related problems. Without the size bound, Downey et al.[2003] proved that the minimum k-way cut problem is W[1] hard in k even for simple unweighted graphs. Downey et al. asked about the status for planar graphs. Our result implies tractability in k for the planar graphs since the minimum k-way cut of a planar graph is of size at most 6k (more generally, we get tractability in k for any graph class with k-way cuts of size limited by is a function of k, e.g., bounded degree graphs, or simple graphs with an excluded minor). A simple reduction shows that vertex cuts are at least as hard as edge cuts, so the minimum k-way vertex cut is also W[1] hard in terms of k. Marx [2004] proved that finding a minimum k-way vertex cut of size s is also W[1] hard in s. Marx asked about the FPT status with edge cuts, which we prove tractable here. We are not aware of any other cut problem where the vertex version is W[1] hard but the edge version is FPT.

Abstract: The Disjoint-Paths Problem asks, given a graph G and a set of pairs of terminals (s1, t1),..., (sk, tk), whether there is a collection of k pairwise vertex-disjoint paths linking si and ti, for i = 1,..., k. In their f(k) ċ n3 algorithm for this problem, Robertson and Seymour introduced the irrelevant vertex technique according to which in every instance of treewidth greater than g(k) there is an "irrelevant" vertex whose removal creates an equivalent instance of the problem. This fact is based on the celebrated Unique Linkage Theorem, whose - very technical - proof gives a function g(k) that is responsible for an immense parameter dependence in the running time of the algorithm. In this paper we prove this result for planar graphs achieving g(k) = 2O(k). Our bound is radically better than the bounds known for general graphs. Moreover, our proof is new and self-contained, and it strongly exploits the combinatorial properties of planar graphs. We also prove that our result is optimal, in the sense that the function g(k) cannot become better than exponential. Our results suggest that any algorithm for the DISJOINT-PATHS PROBLEM that runs in time better than 22o(k) ċnO(1) will probably require drastically different ideas from those in the irrelevant vertex technique.

Abstract: The dimer model is the study of random dimer covers (perfect matchings) of a graph. A double-dimer configuration on a graph $G$ is a union of two dimer covers of $G$. We introduce quaternion weights in the dimer model and show how they can be used to study the homotopy classes (relative to a fixed set of faces) of loops in the double dimer model on a planar graph. As an application we prove that, in the scaling limit of the "uniform" double-dimer model on ${\mathbb Z}^2$ (or on any other bipartite planar graph conformally approximating $\mathbb C$), the loops are conformally invariant. As other applications we compute the exact distribution of the number of topologically nontrivial loops in the double-dimer model on a cylinder and the expected number of loops surrounding two faces of a planar graph.

Abstract: Research highlights? A modified turbulent particle swarm optimization (MTPSO) model is proposed to solve the planar graph. ? MTPSO combines walking one strategy, assessment strategy and turbulent strategy. ? MTPSO can solve the four-colors problem efficiently and accurately. In this paper, we proposed a modified turbulent particle swarm optimization (named MTPSO) model for solving planar graph coloring problem based on particle swarm optimization. The proposed model is consisting of the walking one strategy, assessment strategy and turbulent strategy. The proposed MTPSO model can solve the planar graph coloring problem using four-colors more efficiently and accurately. Compared to the results shown in Cui et al. (2008), not only the experimental results of the proposed model can get smaller average iterations but can get higher correction coloring rate when the number of nodes is greater than 30.

Abstract: In a rectilinear dual of a planar graph vertices are represented by simple rectilinear polygons and edges are represented by side-contact between the corresponding polygons. A rectilinear dual is called a cartogram if the area of each region is equal to a pre-specified weight of the corresponding vertex. The complexity of a cartogram is determined by the maximum number of corners (or sides) required for any polygon. In a series of papers the polygonal complexity of such representations for maximal planar graphs has been reduced from the initial 40 to 34, then to 12 and very recently to the currently best known 10. Here we describe a construction with 8-sided polygons, which is optimal in terms of polygonal complexity as 8-sided polygons are sometimes necessary. Specifically, we show how to compute the combinatorial structure and how to refine the representation into an area-universal rectangular layout in linear time. The exact cartogram can be computed from the area-universal rectangular layout with numerical iteration, or can be approximated with a hill-climbing heuristic. We also describe an alternative construction for Hamiltonian maximal planar graphs, which allows us to directly compute the cartograms in linear time. Moreover, we prove that even for Hamiltonian graphs 8-sided rectilinear polygons are necessary, by constructing a non-trivial lower bound example. The complexity of the cartograms can be reduced to 6 if the Hamiltonian path has the extra property that it is one-legged, as in outer-planar graphs. Thus, we have optimal representations (in terms of both polygonal complexity and running time) for Hamiltonian maximal planar and maximal outer-planar graphs.

Abstract: In this article, we study relations between the local geometry of planar graphs (combinatorial curvature) and global geometric invariants, namely the Cheeger constants and the exponential growth. We also discuss spectral applications.

Abstract: We generalize the notions of flippable and simultaneously flippable edges in a triangulation of a set S of points in the plane into so called pseudo-simultaneously flippable edges. We prove a worst-case tight lower bound for the number of pseudosimultaneously flippable edges in a triangulation in terms of the number of vertices. We use this bound for deriving new upper bounds for the maximal number of crossing-free straight-edge graphs that can be embedded on any fixed set of N points in the plane. We obtain new upper bounds for the number of spanning trees and forests as well. Specifically, let tr(N) denote the maximum number of triangulations on a set of N points in the plane. Then we show (using the known bound tr(N) < 30N) that any N-element point set admits at most 6.9283N ċ tr(N) < 207.85N crossing-free straight-edge graphs, O(4.8795N) ċ tr(N) = O(146.39N) spanning trees, and O(5.4723N) ċ tr(N) = O(164.17N) forests. We also obtain upper bounds for the number of crossing-free straight-edge graphs that have fewer than cN or more than cN edges, for a constant parameter c, in terms of c and N.

Abstract: PrEd [Ber00] is a force-directed algorithm that improves the existing layout of a graph while preserving its edge crossing properties. The algorithm has a number of applications including: improving the layouts of planar graph drawing algorithms, interacting with a graph layout, and drawing Euler-like diagrams. The algorithm ensures that nodes do not cross edges during its execution. However, PrEd can be computationally expensive and overlyrestrictive in terms of node movement. In this paper, we introduce ImPrEd: an improved version of PrEd that overcomes some of its limitations and widens its range of applicability. ImPrEd also adds features such as flexible or crossable edges, allowing for greater control over the output. Flexible edges, in particular, can improve the distribution of graph elements and the angular resolution of the input graph. They can also be used to generate Euler diagrams with smooth boundaries. As flexible edges increase data set size, we experience an execution/drawing quality trade off. However, when flexible edges are not used, ImPrEd proves to be consistently faster than PrEd.

Abstract: A graph G is (1, 0)-colorable if its vertex set can be partitioned into subsets V1 and V0 so that in G[V1] every vertex has degree at most 1, while G[V0] is edgeless. We prove that every graph with maximum average degree at most \(\tfrac{{12}} {5} \) is (1, 0)-colorable. In particular, every planar graph with girth at least 12 is (1, 0)-colorable. On the other hand, we construct graphs with the maximum average degree arbitrarily close (from above) to \(\tfrac{{12}} {5} \) which are not (1, 0)-colorable.

Abstract: A nonplanar graph G is near-planar if it contains an edge e such that G−e is planar. The problem of determining the crossing number of a near-planar graph is exhibited from different combinatorial viewpoints. On the one hand, we develop min-max formulas involving efficiently computable lower and upper bounds. These min-max results are the first of their kind in the study of crossing numbers and improve the approximation factor for the approximation algorithm given by Hliněný and Salazar (Graph Drawing GD’06). On the other hand, we show that it is NP-hard to compute a weighted version of the crossing number for near-planar graphs.