Skip to main content

The Complexity of Graph Contractions

  • Conference paper
Graph-Theoretic Concepts in Computer Science (WG 2003)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2880))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 705 Accesses

Abstract

For a fixed pattern graph H, let H-CONTRACTIBILITY denote the problem of deciding whether a given input graph is contractible to H. We continue a line of research that was started in 1987 by Brouwer & Veldman, and we determine the computational complexity of H-CONTRACTIBILITY for certain classes of pattern graphs. In particular, we pin-point the complexity for all graphs H with five vertices.

Interestingly, in all cases that are known to be polynomially solvable, the pattern graph H has a dominating vertex, whereas in all cases that are known to be NP-complete, the pattern graph H does not have a dominating vertex.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brouwer, A.E., Veldman, H.J.: Contractibility and NP-completeness. Journal of Graph Theory 11, 71–79 (1987)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Garey, M.R., Johnson, D.S.: Computers and Intractability. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York (1979)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Robertson, N., Seymour, P.D.: Graph minors. XIII. The disjoint paths problem. Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B 63, 65–110 (1995)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Watanabe, T., Ae, T., Nakamura, A.: On the NP-hardness of edge deletion and edge-contraction problems. Discrete Applied Mathematics 6, 63–78 (1981)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Levin, A., Paulusma, D., Woeginger, G.J. (2003). The Complexity of Graph Contractions. In: Bodlaender, H.L. (eds) Graph-Theoretic Concepts in Computer Science. WG 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2880. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39890-5_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39890-5_28

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-20452-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39890-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics