A Parameterized Perspective on Uniquely Restricted Matchings

TL;DR

This paper investigates the parameterized complexity of finding uniquely restricted matchings in graphs, providing fixed-parameter tractable algorithms for specific graph classes and establishing kernelization hardness results.

Contribution

It introduces FPT algorithms for uniquely restricted matching on line graphs and graphs with bounded treewidth, and proves kernelization hardness related to vertex cover.

Findings

FPT algorithm for line graphs when parameterized by solution size

FPT algorithm when parameterized by treewidth

No polynomial kernel with respect to vertex cover number plus matching size unless NP ⊆ coNP/poly

Abstract

Given a graph G, a matching is a subset of edges of G that do not share an endpoint. A matching M is uniquely restricted if the subgraph induced by the endpoints of the edges of M has exactly one perfect matching. Given a graph G and a positive integer \ell, Uniquely Restricted Matching asks whether G has a uniquely restricted matching of size at least \ell. In this paper, we study the parameterized complexity of Uniquely Restricted Matching under various parameters. Specifically, we show that Uniquely Restricted Matching admits a fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithm on line graphs when parameterized by the solution size. We also establish that the problem is FPT when parameterized by the treewidth of the input graph. Furthermore, we show that Uniquely Restricted Matching does not admit a polynomial kernel with respect to the vertex cover number plus the size of the matching unless NP \subseteq coNP/poly.