Dominating induced matchings in graphs containing no long claw

TL;DR

This paper presents a polynomial-time algorithm for finding dominating induced matchings in graphs that do not contain a long claw, extending efficient solutions beyond claw-free graphs.

Contribution

It introduces a reduction of the problem to a matching question and provides a polynomial-time solution for graphs with no long claw.

Findings

Polynomial-time algorithm for graphs with no long claw

Reduction to a matching saturation problem

Extension of efficient algorithms beyond claw-free graphs

Abstract

An induced matching $M$ in a graph $G$ is dominating if every edge not in $M$ shares exactly one vertex with an edge in $M$. The dominating induced matching problem (also known as efficient edge domination) asks whether a graph $G$ contains a dominating induced matching. This problem is generally NP-complete, but polynomial-time solvable for graphs with some special properties. In particular, it is solvable in polynomial time for claw-free graphs. In the present paper, we study this problem for graphs containing no long claw, i.e. no induced subgraph obtained from the claw by subdividing each of its edges exactly once. To solve the problem in this class, we reduce it to the following question: given a graph $G$ and a subset of its vertices, does $G$ contain a matching saturating all vertices of the subset? We show that this question can be answered in polynomial time, thus providing a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the dominating induced matching problem for graphs containing no long claw.