How efficiently can we find an unknown graph using shortest path queries between its vertices? This is a natural theoretical question from the standpoint of recovery of hidden information. This question is related to discovering the topology of Internet networks, which is a crucial step for building accurate network models and designing efficient algorithms for Internet applications.

In this talk, I will introduce the problems of graph reconstruction and verification via oracles. I will investigate randomized algorithms based on a Voronoi cell decomposition. I will also analyze greedy algorithms, and prove that they are near-optimal.

The talk is based on joint work with Claire Mathieu and Sampath Kannan.

Joint work with Derek Corneil, Jérémie Dusart and Ekkehard Kh\“oler

A cocomparability graph is a graph whose complement admits a transitive orientation. An interval graph is the intersection graph of a family of intervals on the real line. In this paper we investigate the relationships between interval and cocomparability graphs. I will first present some recent algorithms we obtained on cocomparability graphs. They show that for some problems, the algorithm used on interval graphs can also be used with small modifications on cocomparability graphs. Many of these algorithms are based on graph searches that preserve cocomparability orderings.

Then I will propose a characterization of cocomparability graphs via a lattice structure on the set of their maximal cliques. Using this characterization we can prove that every maximal interval subgraph of a cocomparability graph $G$ is also a maximal chordal subgraph of $G$.

This characterization also has interesting algorithmic consequences and we show that a new graph search, namely Local Maximal Neighborhood Search (LocalMNS) leads to an $O(n+mlogn)$ time algorithm to find a maximal interval subgraph of a cocomparability graph. Similarly I propose a linear time algorithm to compute all simplicial vertices in a cocomparability graph. In both cases we improve on the current state of knowledge.

Je présenterai un algorithme autostabilisant pour réseaux overlay construisant le graphe d'une métrique donnée par oracle. L'algorithme fonctionne sous les daemons synchrones et asynchrones. Sous daemon synchrone le temps de convergence est linéaire. Dans tout les cas, la complexité en messages et celle en mémoire sont aussi faibles que possible. Cette construction peut être utilisée pour construire pour de la construction d'un graphe arbitraire.

The notion of rank of divisor on graph was introduced by Baker and Norine in 2007 in showing the link with the similar notion on Riemann surface. Moreover, the authors have developed a theorem for divisors on graph analogue to the classical Riemann-Roch theorem. Since then, many works have studied for computing the rank of divisors on graph. A very important is the new theorem on the NP-hardness complexity of the Problem of computing the rank of divisor on general graph. The proof of this result was based on the proof of the NP-hardness of the Problem of finding the minimum recurrent configurations of Chip Firing Game on directed graphs (by Perrot and Pham). In this talk, we will present some (linear) algorithms for computing the rank of divisors on some classes of graphs.

A Research-Mantra is something “cosmic” one believes holds in the area of research at hand. It is then a “pillar of fire” in front that leads the way. The Mantra is to be followed as long as it is not refuted by facts.
In this talk I'll present some Mantras I followed during the years starting with one that says that Distributed-Computing Theory (DCT) is the Mathematical Study of Interleaving. Consequently, DCT researchers should have Mathematical sensibilities rather than Engineering ones. Thus, DCT should poses the beauty of Mathematics, and should not be be “hacked” as an Engineering Domain. In particular any paper that points to “anomalies” or “paradoxes” does not point to faults in the domain but to faults in the thinking of the authors. I'll show some Mantras I use and where they led, and I'll end up with the ramification of recent Mantra that holds that deterministic state-machines capture interleaving as well as message-passing interleaving.

We study the fundamental problem of counting, which consists in computing the size of a system. The considered model are population protocols, which is the model of finite state, anonymous and asynchronous mobile devices (agents) communicating in pairs (according to a fairness condition). We significantly improve the previous results known for counting in this model, in terms of (exact) space complexity. Specifically, we give the first space optimal protocols solving the problem for two classical types of fairness, global and weak. Both protocols require no initialization of the counted agents. The protocol designed for global fairness, surprisingly, uses only one bit of memory (two states) per counted agent. The protocol, functioning under weak fairness, requires the necessary log P bits (P states, per counted agent) to be able to count up to P agents. Interestingly, this protocol exploits the intriguing Gros sequence of natural numbers, which is also used in the solutions to the Chinese Rings and the Hanoi Towers puzzles.

We give a proof of Enomoto's conjecture for graphs of sufficiently large order. Enomoto's conjecture states that: if G is a graph of order n with minimum degree at least n/2+ 1, then for any pair x,y of vertices of G, there is a Hamiltonian cycle C of G such that the distance between x and y in C is n/2.

The main tools of our proof are Regularity Lemma of Szemeredi and Blow-up Lemma of Koml os et al..

This is a joint work with Weihua He and Hao Li.

Recent empirical and theoretical work has suggested that many real-life complex networks and graphs arising in Internet applications, in biological and social sciences, in chemistry and physics have tree-like structures from a metric point of view. A number of graph parameters trying to capture this phenomenon and to measure these tree-like structures were proposed; most notable ones being the tree-stretch, tree-distortion, tree-length, tree-breadth, Gromov’s hyperbolicity of a graph, and cluster-diameter and cluster-radius in a layering partition of a graph. If such a parameter is bounded by a constant on graphs then many optimization problems can be efficiently solved or approximated for such graphs. We discuss these parameters and recently established relationships between them for unweighted and undirected graphs; it turns out that all these parameters are at most constant or logarithmic factors apart from each other. We give inequalities describing their relationships and discuss consequences for some optimization problems.

We will provide (two) new proof(s) of Seymour's 6-flow theorem (both) using induction.

Nicolas Schabanel, joint work with Cody Geary (Caltech), Pierre-Étienne Meunier (U. Aalto), et Shinnosuke Seki (U. Electro-Communications, Tokyo).

We introduce and study the computational power of Oritatami, a theoretical model to explore greedy molecular folding, by which the molecule begins to fold before waiting the end of its production. This model is inspired by our recent experimental work demonstrating the construction of shapes at the nanoscale by folding an RNA molecule during its transcription from an engineered sequence of synthetic DNA. While predicting the most likely conformation is known to be NP-complete in other models, Oritatami sequences fold optimally in linear time. Although our model uses only a small subset of the mechanisms known to be involved in molecular folding, we show that it is capable of efficient universal computation, implying that any extension of this model will have this property as well.

We introduce general design techniques for programming these molecules. Our main result in this direction is an algorithm in time linear in the sequence length, that finds a rule for folding the sequence deterministically into a prescribed set of shapes depending of its environment. This shows the corresponding problem is fixed-parameter tractable although we proved it is NP-complete in the number of possible environments. This algorithm was used effectively to design several key steps of our constructions.

We present a new efficient combinatorial algorithm for recognizing if a given symmetric matrix is Robinsonian, i.e., if its rows and columns can be simultaneously reordered so that entries are monotone nondecreasing in rows and columns when moving toward the diagonal. As main ingredient we introduce a new algorithm, named Similarity-First-Search (SFS), which extends Lexicographic Breadth-First Search (Lex-BFS) to weighted graphs and which we use in a multisweep algorithm to recognize Robinsonian matrices. Since Robinsonian binary matrices correspond to unit interval graphs, our algorithm can be seen as a generalization to weighted graphs of the 3-sweep Lex-BFS algorithm of Corneil for recognizing unit interval graphs. This new recognition algorithm is extremely simple and, for an n×n nonnegative matrix with m nonzero entries, it terminates in n−1 SFS sweeps, with overall running time O(n^2+nmlogn).

Nous nous intéresserons aux graphes avec conflits (un conflit est une paire d'arêtes ne pouvant pas simultanément faire partie d'un sous-graphe), dans lesquels nous étudierons différents types de problèmes, de nature aussi bien algorithmique que combinatoire, notre ligne directrice étant la notion de connectivité. Nous verrons que plusieurs résultats, simples sans conflit, ne le sont plus lors de l'ajout de conflits. Nous présenterons : des algorithmes exacts (non polynomiaux), des résultats de NP-complétude, et des conditions suffisantes assurant l'existence de certains objets (arbre couvrant, chemin et cycle Hamiltonien) sans conflits.

The real and complex roots of chromatic polynomials, which we call chromatic roots, have been studied since the 1940s yet it is not well understood how structural properties of graphs affect their chromatic roots. In this talk we survey some results and open problems, and present recent work on the following question: For a minor- closed class of graphs, what is the infimum of the non-trivial real chromatic roots of the graphs in that class?

Hadwiger conjectured that every graph with no K_t minor is (t-1)-colorable; in other words, every graph with no K_t minor admits a partition of its vertex set into t-1 independent sets. This conjecture is still widely open and if true, it implies the four color theorem. Gerards and Seymour made a stronger conjecture claiming that every graph with no K_t odd minor is (t-1)- colorable, commonly called the odd Hadwiger's conjecture. We prove variants of Hadwiger's conjecture. First, we prove that every graph with no K_t minor admits a partition of its vertex set into t-1 sets, each inducing a subgraph of bounded maximum degree. Secondly, we prove that every graph with no K_t minor admits a partition of its vertex set into 3(t-1) sets, each inducing a subgraph having no large components.

We also prove variants of the odd Hadwiger's conjecture as follows: Every graph with no odd K_t minor admits a partition of its vertex set into 7t-10 sets, each inducing a subgraph of bounded maximum degree. As a corollary, we prove that every graph with no odd K_t minor admits a partition of its vertex set into 16t-19 sets, each inducing a subgraph with no large components. The last result improves the result of Kawarabayashi, who showed it with 496t sets.

This talk is a combination of three works; first with K. Edwards, D. Kang, J. Kim, and P. Seymour, second with C. Liu, and third with D. Kang.