The graph coloring problem is one of the most famous problems in graph theory and has a large range of applications. It consists in coloring the vertices of an undirected graph with a given number of colors such that two adjacent vertices get different colors. This thesis deals with some variations of this basic coloring problem which are related to scheduling and discrete tomography. These problems may also be considered as partitioning problems. In Chapter 1 basic definitions of computational complexity and graph theory are presented. An introduction to graph coloring and discrete tomography is given. In the next chapter we discuss two coloring problems in mixed graphs (i.e., graphs having edges and arcs) arising from scheduling. In the first one (strong mixed graph coloring problem) we have to cope with disjunctive constraints (some pairs of jobs cannot be processed simultaneously) as well as with precedence constraints (some pairs of jobs must be executed in a given order). It is known that this problem is NP-complete in mixed bipartite graphs. In this thesis we strengthen this result by proving that for k = 3 colors the strong mixed graph coloring problem is NP-complete even if the mixed graph is planar bipartite with maximum degree 4 and each vertex incident to at least one arc has maximum degree 2 or if the mixed graph is bipartite and has maximum degree 3. Furthermore we show that the problem is polynomially solvable in partial p-trees, for fixed p, as well as in general graphs with k = 2 colors. We also give upper bounds on the strong mixed chromatic number or even its exact value for some classes of graphs. In the second problem (weak mixed graph coloring problem), we allow jobs linked by precedence constraints to be executed at the same time. We show that for k = 3 colors this problem is NP-complete in mixed planar bipartite graphs of maximum degree 4 as well as in mixed bipartite graphs of maximum degree 3. Again, for partial p-trees, p fixed, and for general graphs with k = 2 colors, we prove that the weak mixed graph coloring problem is polynomially solvable. We consider in Chapter 3 the problem of characterizing in an undirected graph G = (V, E) a minimum set R of edges for which maximum matchings M can be found with specific values of p = |M ∩ R|. We obtain partial results for some classes of graphs and show in particular that for odd cacti with triangles only and for forests one can determine in polynomial time whether there exists a minimum set R for which there are maximum matchings M such that p= |R ∩ M|, for p= 0,1, ..., ν(G). The remaining chapters deal with some coloring (or partitioning) problems related to the basic image reconstruction problem in discrete tomography. In Chapter 4 we consider a generalization of the vertex coloring problem associated with the basic image reconstruction problem. We are given an undirected graph and a family of chains covering its vertices. For each chain the number of occurrences of each color is given. We then want to find a coloring respecting these occurrences. We are interested in both, arbitrary and proper colorings and give complexity results. In particular we show that for arbitrary colorings the problem is NP-complete with two colors even if the graph is a tree of maximum degree 3. We also consider the edge coloring version of both problems. Again we present some complexity results. We consider in Chapter 5 some generalized neighborhoods instead of chains. For each vertex x we are given the number of occurrences of each color in its open neighborhood Nd(x) (resp. closed neighborhood Nd+(x)), representing the set of vertices which are at distance d from x (resp. at distance at most d from x). We are interested in arbitrary colorings as well as proper colorings. We present some complexity results and we show in particular that for d = 1 the problems are polynomially solvable in trees using a dynamic programming approach. For the open neighborhood and d = 2 we obtain a polynomial time algorithm for quatrees (i.e. trees where all internal vertices have degree at least 4). We also examine the bounded version of these problems, i.e., instead of the exact number of occurrences of each color we are given upper bounds on these occurrences. In particular we show that the problem for proper colorings is NP-complete in bipartite graphs of maximum degree 3 with four colors and each color appearing at most once in the neighborhood N(x) of each vertex x. This result implies that the L(1,1)-labelling problem is NP-complete in this class of graphs for four colors. Finally in Chapter 6 we consider the edge partitioning version of the basic image reconstruction problem, i.e., we have to partition the edge set of a complete bipartite graph into k subsets such that for each vertex there must be a given number of edges of each set of the partition incident to this vertex. For k = 3 the complexity status is still open. Here we present a new solvable case for k = 3. Then we examine some variations where the union of two subsets E1, E2 has to satisfy some additional constraints as for example it must form a tree or a collection of disjoint chains. In both cases we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a solution to exist. We also consider the case where we have a complete graph instead of a complete bipartite graph. We show that the edge partitioning problem in a complete graph is at least as difficult as in a complete bipartite graph. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for a solution to exist if E1 ∪ E2 form a tree or if they form a Hamiltonian cycle in the case of a complete graph. Finally we examine for both, complete and complete bipartite graphs, the case where each one of the sets E1 and E2 is structured (two disjoint Hamiltonian chains, two edge disjoint cycles) and present necessary and sufficient conditions.
EPFL2007
