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The firefighter problem: a structural analysis

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

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    Abstract

    We consider the complexity of the firefighter problem where a budget of b ≥1 firefighters are available at each time step. This problem is proved to be NP-complete even on trees of degree at most three and b = 1 [S. Finbow, A. King, G. MacGillivray, and R. Rizzi. The firefighter problem for graphs of maximum degree three. Discrete Mathematics, 307(16), 2094–2105, 2007] and on trees of bounded degree b+3 for any fixed b ≥2 [C. Bazgan, M. Chopin, and B. Ries. The firefighter problem with more than one firefighter on trees. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 161(7-8), 899–908, 2013]. In this paper, we provide further insight into the complexity landscape of the problem by showing a complexity dichotomy result with respect to the parameters pathwidth and maximum degree of the input graph. More precisely, we first prove that the problem is NP-complete even on trees of pathwidth at most three for any b ≥1. Then we show that the problem turns out to be fixed parameter-tractable with respect to the combined parameter “pathwidth” and “maximum degree” of the input graph. Finally, we show that the problem remains NP-complete on very dense graphs, namely co-bipartite graphs, but is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the parameter “cluster vertex deletion”.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationParameterized and Exact Computation
    Subtitle of host publication9th International Symposium, IPEC 2014, Wroclaw, Poland, September 10-12, 2014. Revised Selected Papers
    EditorsMareck Cygan, Pinar Heggernes
    PublisherSpringer
    Chapter15
    Pages172-183
    Number of pages12
    ISBN (Electronic)9783319135243
    ISBN (Print)9783319135236
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Dec 2014
    Event9th International Symposium, IPEC 2014 - Wroclaw, Poland
    Duration: 10 Sept 201412 Sept 2014

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
    PublisherSpringer
    Volume8894
    ISSN (Print)0302-9743

    Other

    Other9th International Symposium, IPEC 2014
    Country/TerritoryPoland
    CityWroclaw
    Period10/09/1412/09/14

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