Kings and Kernels in Semicomplete Compositions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the existence and properties of kings and kernels in semicomplete composition digraphs, providing characterizations, complexity results, and bounds for various types of kings and kernels.

Contribution

It offers new characterizations of k-kings in semicomplete compositions, analyzes the complexity of the k-Kernel problem, and explores bounds on the number of 4-kings.

Findings

Characterized digraph compositions with a k-king.

Proved NP-completeness of the k-Kernel problem for certain k.

Established bounds on the minimum number of 4-kings.

Abstract

Let $k$ be an integer with $k\geq 2$. A $k$-king in a digraph $D$ is a vertex which can reach every other vertex by a directed path of length at most $k$ and a non-king is a vertex which is not a 3-king. A subset $K$ is $k$-independent if for every pair of vertices $x,y \in K$, we have $d_D(x, y), d_D(y, x)\geq k$; it is $\ell$-absorbent if for every $x\in V(D)\setminus K$ there exists $y\in K$ such that $d_D(x, y)\leq \ell$. A $k$-kernel of $D$ is a $k$-independent and $(k-1)$-absorbent subset of $V(D)$. A kernel is a 2-kernel. A set $K\subseteq V(D)$ is a quasi-kernel of $D$ if it is independent, and for every vertex $x\in V(D)\setminus K$, there exists $y\in K$ such that $d_D(x, y)\leq 2$. The problem {\sc $k$-Kernel} is determining whether a given digraph has a $k$-kernel. Let $Q=T[H_1, \dots, H_t]$ be the composition of $T$ and $H_i$ ($1\leq i\leq t, t\ge 2$), where $T$ is a digraph with $t$ vertices, and $H_1, \dots, H_t$ are pairwise disjoint digraphs. The composition $Q=T[H_1, \dots, H_t]$ is a semicomplete composition if $T$ is semicomplete. In this paper, we study kings and kernels in semicomplete compositions. For the topic of kings, we characterize digraph compositions with a $k$-king and digraph compositions all of whose vertices are $k$-kings, respectively. We also discuss the existence of 3-kings, and study the minimum number of 4-kings in a strong semicomplete composition. For the topic of kernels, we first study the existence of a pair of disjoint quasi-kernels in semicomplete compositions. We then deduce that the problem {\sc $k$-Kernel} restricted to strong semicomplete compositions is NP-complete when $k\in \{2,3\}$, and is polynomial-time solvable when $k\geq 4$. We also prove that when $k$ is divisible by 2 or 3, the problem {\sc $k$-Kernel} restricted to non-strong semicomplete compositions is NP-complete.