Subexponential algorithms in geometric graphs via the subquadratic grid minor property: the role of local radius

TL;DR

This paper explores the complexity of cycle-hitting problems in geometric graphs, establishing limits on subexponential algorithms and providing new algorithms for specific classes of segment intersection graphs.

Contribution

It demonstrates the non-existence of subexponential algorithms in certain geometric graph classes under ETH and offers new algorithms for cycle-hitting problems in contact segment graphs.

Findings

No $2^{o(n)}$ algorithms for Triangle Hitting in 2-DIR graphs under ETH.

No $2^{o(\sqrt{n})}$ algorithms for TH, FVS, OCT in $K_{2,2}$-free contact 2-DIR graphs under ETH.

New subexponential algorithms for FVS and TH in specific contact segment graph classes.

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the existence of subexponential parameterized algorithms of three fundamental cycle-hitting problems in geometric graph classes. The considered problems, \textsc{Triangle Hitting} (TH), \textsc{Feedback Vertex Set} (FVS), and \textsc{Odd Cycle Transversal} (OCT) ask for the existence in a graph $G$ of a set $X$ of at most $k$ vertices such that $G-X$ is, respectively, triangle-free, acyclic, or bipartite. Such subexponential parameterized algorithms are known to exist in planar and even $H$-minor free graphs from bidimensionality theory [Demaine et al., JACM 2005], and there is a recent line of work lifting these results to geometric graph classes consisting of intersection of "fat" objects ([Grigoriev et al., FOCS 2022] and [Lokshtanov et al., SODA 2022]). In this paper we focus on "thin" objects by considering intersection graphs of segments in the plane with $d$ possible slopes ($d$-DIR graphs) and contact graphs of segments in the plane. Assuming the ETH, we rule out the existence of algorithms: - solving TH in time $2^{o(n)}$ in 2-DIR graphs; and - solving TH, FVS, and OCT in time $2^{o(\sqrt{n})}$ in $K_{2,2}$-free contact 2-DIR graphs. These results indicate that additional restrictions are necessary in order to obtain subexponential parameterized algorithms for %these problems. In this direction we provide: - a $2^{O(k^{3/4}\cdot \log k)}n^{O(1)}$-time algorithm for FVS in contact segment graphs; - a $2^{O(\sqrt d\cdot t^2 \log t\cdot k^{2/3}\log k)} n^{O(1)}$-time algorithm for TH in $K_{t,t}$-free $d$-DIR graphs; and - a $2^{O(k^{7/9}\log^{3/2}k)} n^{O(1)}$-time algorithm for TH in contact segment graphs.