Classes of Graphs with $e$-Positive Chromatic Symmetric Function

In the mid-1990s, Stanley and Stembridge conjectured that the chromatic symmetric functions of claw-free co-comparability (also called incomparability) graphs were $e$-positive. The quest for the proof of this conjecture has led to an examination of other, related graph classes. In 2013 Guay-Paquet proved that if unit interval graphs are $e$-positive, that implies claw-free incomparability graphs are as well. Inspired by this approach, we consider a related case and prove that unit interval graphs whose complement is also a unit interval graph are $e$-positive. We introduce the concept of strongly $e$-positive to denote a graph whose induced subgraphs are all $e$-positive, and conjecture that a graph is strongly $e$-positive if and only if it is (claw, net)-free.

A Structural Characterization for Certifying Robinsonian Matrices

A symmetric matrix is Robinsonian if its rows and columns can be simultaneously reordered in such a way that entries are monotone nondecreasing in rows and columns when moving toward the diagonal. The adjacency matrix of a graph is Robinsonian precisely when the graph is a unit interval graph, so that Robinsonian matrices form a matrix analogue of the class of unit interval graphs. Here we provide a structural characterization for Robinsonian matrices in terms of forbidden substructures, extending the notion of asteroidal triples to weighted graphs. This implies the known characterization of unit interval graphs and leads to an efficient algorithm for certifying that a matrix is not Robinsonian.

A four-sweep LBFS recognition algorithm for interval graphs

Graph Theory International audience In their 2009 paper, Corneil et al. design a linear time interval graph recognition algorithm based on six sweeps of Lexicographic Breadth-First Search (LBFS) and prove its correctness. They believe that their corresponding 5-sweep LBFS interval graph recognition algorithm is also correct. Thanks to the LBFS structure theory established mainly by Corneil et al., we are able to present a 4-sweep LBFS algorithm which determines whether or not the input graph is a unit interval graph or an interval graph. Like the algorithm of Corneil et al., our algorithm does not involve any complicated data structure and can be executed in linear time.

ON THE CLIQUE-WIDTH OF SOME PERFECT GRAPH CLASSES

Graphs of clique–width at most k were introduced by Courcelle, Engelfriet and Rozenberg (1993) as graphs which can be defined by k-expressions based on graph operations which use k vertex labels. In this paper we study the clique–width of perfect graph classes. On one hand, we show that every distance–hereditary graph, has clique–width at most 3, and a 3–expression defining it can be obtained in linear time. On the other hand, we show that the classes of unit interval and permutation graphs are not of bounded clique–width. More precisely, we show that for every [Formula: see text] there is a unit interval graph In and a permutation graph Hn having n2 vertices, each of whose clique–width is at least n. These results allow us to see the border within the hierarchy of perfect graphs between classes whose clique–width is bounded and classes whose clique–width is unbounded. Finally we show that every n×n square grid, [Formula: see text], n ≥ 3, has clique–width exactly n+1.