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Given a graphGand an integerk, theInterval Vertex Deletion (IVD)problem asks whether there exists a subsetS⊆V(G) of size at mostksuch thatG-Sis an interval graph. This problem is known to beNP-complete (according to Yannakakis at STOC 1978). Originally in 2012, Cao and Marx showed thatIVDis fixed parameter tractable: they exhibited an algorithm with running time 10^kn^O(1). The existence of a polynomial kernel forIVDremained a well-known open problem in parameterized complexity. In this article, we settle this problem in the affirmative. 

Abstract A class of graphs admits the Erdős–Pósa property if for any graph , either has vertex‐disjoint “copies” of the graphs in , or there is a set of vertices that intersects all copies of the graphs in . For any graph class , it is natural to ask whether the family of obstructions to has the Erdős–Pósa property. In this paper, we prove that the family of obstructions to interval graphs—namely, the family of chordless cycles and asteroidal witnesses (AWs)—admits the Erdős–Pósa property. In turn, this yields an algorithm to decide whether a given graph has vertex‐disjoint AWs and chordless cycles, or there exists a set of vertices in that hits all AWs and chordless cycles. 

In the Min k-Cut problem, the input is a graph G and an integer k. The task is to find a partition of the vertex set of G into k parts, while minimizing the number of edges that go between different parts of the partition. The problem is NP-complete, and admits a simple 3ⁿ⋅n^𝒪(1) time dynamic programming algorithm, which can be improved to a 2ⁿ⋅n^𝒪(1) time algorithm using the fast subset convolution framework by Björklund et al. [STOC'07]. In this paper we give an algorithm for Min k-Cut with running time 𝒪((2-ε)ⁿ), for ε > 10^{-50}. This is the first algorithm for Min k-Cut with running time 𝒪(cⁿ) for c < 2. 

In the Minimum Bisection problem input is a graph G and the goal is to partition the vertex set into two parts A and B, such that ||A|-|B|| ≤ 1 and the number k of edges between A and B is minimized. The problem is known to be NP-hard, and assuming the Unique Games Conjecture even NP-hard to approximate within a constant factor [Khot and Vishnoi, J.ACM'15]. On the other hand, a 𝒪(log n)-approximation algorithm [Räcke, STOC'08] and a parameterized algorithm [Cygan et al., ACM Transactions on Algorithms'20] running in time k^𝒪(k) n^𝒪(1) is known. The Minimum Bisection problem can be viewed as a clustering problem where edges represent similarity and the task is to partition the vertices into two equally sized clusters while minimizing the number of pairs of similar objects that end up in different clusters. Motivated by a number of egregious examples of unfair bias in AI systems, many fundamental clustering problems have been revisited and re-formulated to incorporate fairness constraints. In this paper we initiate the study of the Minimum Bisection problem with fairness constraints. Here the input is a graph G, positive integers c and k, a function χ:V(G) → {1, …, c} that assigns a color χ(v) to each vertex v in G, and c integers r_1,r_2,⋯,r_c. The goal is to partition the vertex set of G into two almost-equal sized parts A and B with at most k edges between them, such that for each color i ∈ {1, …, c}, A has exactly r_i vertices of color i. Each color class corresponds to a group which we require the partition (A, B) to treat fairly, and the constraints that A has exactly r_i vertices of color i can be used to encode that no group is over- or under-represented in either of the two clusters. We first show that introducing fairness constraints appears to make the Minimum Bisection problem qualitatively harder. Specifically we show that unless FPT=W[1] the problem admits no f(c)n^𝒪(1) time algorithm even when k = 0. On the other hand, our main technical contribution shows that is that this hardness result is simply a consequence of the very strict requirement that each color class i has exactly r_i vertices in A. In particular we give an f(k,c,ε)n^𝒪(1) time algorithm that finds a balanced partition (A, B) with at most k edges between them, such that for each color i ∈ [c], there are at most (1±ε)r_i vertices of color i in A. Our approximation algorithm is best viewed as a proof of concept that the technique introduced by [Lampis, ICALP'18] for obtaining FPT-approximation algorithms for problems of bounded tree-width or clique-width can be efficiently exploited even on graphs of unbounded width. The key insight is that the technique of Lampis is applicable on tree decompositions with unbreakable bags (as introduced in [Cygan et al., SIAM Journal on Computing'14]). An important ingredient of our approximation scheme is a combinatorial result that may be of independent interest, namely that for every k, every graph G admits a tree decomposition with adhesions of size at most 𝒪(k), unbreakable bags, and logarithmic depth. 

Feedback Vertex Set (FVS) is one of the most studied vertex deletion problems in the field of graph algorithms. In the decision version of the problem, given a graph G and an integer k, the question is whether there exists a set S of at most k vertices in G such that G-S is acyclic. It is one of the first few problems which were shown to be NP-complete, and has been extensively studied from the viewpoint of approximation and parameterized algorithms. The best-known polynomial time approximation algorithm for FVS is a 2-factor approximation, while the best known deterministic and randomized FPT algorithms run in time 𝒪^*(3.460^k) and 𝒪^*(2.7^k) respectively. In this paper, we contribute to the newly established area of parameterized approximation, by studying FVS in this paradigm. In particular, we combine the approaches of parameterized and approximation algorithms for the study of FVS, and achieve an approximation guarantee with a factor better than 2 in randomized FPT running time, that improves over the best known parameterized algorithm for FVS. We give three simple randomized (1+ε) approximation algorithms for FVS, running in times 𝒪^*(2^{εk}⋅ 2.7^{(1-ε)k}), 𝒪^*(({(4/(1+ε))^{(1+ε)}}⋅{(ε/3)^ε})^k), and 𝒪^*(4^{(1-ε)k}) respectively for every ε ∈ (0,1). Combining these three algorithms, we obtain a factor (1+ε) approximation algorithm for FVS, which has better running time than the best-known (randomized) FPT algorithm for every ε ∈ (0, 1). This is the first attempt to look at a parameterized approximation of FVS to the best of our knowledge. Our algorithms are very simple, and they rely on some well-known reduction rules used for arriving at FPT algorithms for FVS. 

We re-visit the complexity of polynomial time pre-processing (kernelization) for the d-Hitting Set problem. This is one of the most classic problems in Parameterized Complexity by itself, and, furthermore, it encompasses several other of the most well-studied problems in this field, such as Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set in Tournaments (FVST) and Cluster Vertex Deletion (CVD). In fact, d-Hitting Set encompasses any deletion problem to a hereditary property that can be characterized by a finite set of forbidden induced subgraphs. With respect to bit size, the kernelization complexity of d-Hitting Set is essentially settled: there exists a kernel with 𝒪(k^d) bits (𝒪(k^d) sets and 𝒪(k^{d-1}) elements) and this it tight by the result of Dell and van Melkebeek [STOC 2010, JACM 2014]. Still, the question of whether there exists a kernel for d-Hitting Set with fewer elements has remained one of the most major open problems in Kernelization. In this paper, we first show that if we allow the kernelization to be lossy with a qualitatively better loss than the best possible approximation ratio of polynomial time approximation algorithms, then one can obtain kernels where the number of elements is linear for every fixed d. Further, based on this, we present our main result: we show that there exist approximate Turing kernelizations for d-Hitting Set that even beat the established bit-size lower bounds for exact kernelizations - in fact, we use a constant number of oracle calls, each with "near linear" (𝒪(k^{1+ε})) bit size, that is, almost the best one could hope for. Lastly, for two special cases of implicit 3-Hitting set, namely, FVST and CVD, we obtain the "best of both worlds" type of results - (1+ε)-approximate kernelizations with a linear number of vertices. In terms of size, this substantially improves the exact kernels of Fomin et al. [SODA 2018, TALG 2019], with simpler arguments.