On the Complexity of Signed Roman Domination

TL;DR

This paper investigates the computational complexity of the signed Roman domination problem, proving NP-completeness on split graphs, W[2]-hardness by weight, and W[1]-hardness by feedback vertex set, while also providing fixed-parameter tractable algorithms.

Contribution

It extends the complexity analysis of the signed Roman domination problem to split graphs and various parameterizations, offering new hardness results and fixed-parameter algorithms.

Findings

NP-complete on split graphs

W[2]-hard parameterized by weight

W[1]-hard parameterized by feedback vertex set

Abstract

Given a graph $G = (V, E)$, a signed Roman dominating function is a function $f: V \rightarrow \{-1, 1, 2\}$ such that for every vertex $u \in V$: $\sum_{v \in N[u]} f(v) \geq 1$ and for every vertex $u \in V$ with $f(u) = -1$, there exists a vertex $v \in N(u)$ with $f(v) = 2$. The weight of a signed Roman dominating function $f$ is $\sum_{u \in V} f(u)$. The objective of \srd{} (SRD) problem is to compute a signed Roman dominating function with minimum weight. The problem is known to be NP-complete even when restricted to bipartite graphs and planar graphs. In this paper, we advance the complexity study by showing that the problem remains NP-complete on split graphs. In the realm of parameterized complexity, we prove that the problem is W[2]-hard parameterized by weight, even on bipartite graphs. We further show that the problem is W[1]-hard parameterized by feedback vertex set number (and hence also when parameterized by treewidth or clique-width). On the positive side, we present an FPT algorithm parameterized by neighbourhood diversity (and by vertex cover number). Finally, we complement this result by proving that the problem does not admit a polynomial kernel parameterized by vertex cover number unless coNP $\subseteq$ NP/poly.