Exact and approximation algorithms for covering timeline in temporal graphs

We consider a variant of vertex cover on temporal graphs that has been recently defined for summarization of timeline activities in temporal graphs. The problem has been proved to be NP-hard, even for several restrictions of the time domain and vertex degree. We present novel algorithmic contributio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of operations research Vol. 351; no. 1; pp. 609 - 628
Main Authors: Dondi, Riccardo, Popa, Alexandru
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2025
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Algorithms
Apexes
Approximation
Business and Management
Combinatorics
Graph theory
Graphs
Linear programming
Operations Research/Decision Theory
Original Research
Theory of Computation
Timeline cover
Temporal graph
FPT algorithm
NP-hard problem
Approximation algorithm
ISSN:0254-5330, 1572-9338
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We consider a variant of vertex cover on temporal graphs that has been recently defined for summarization of timeline activities in temporal graphs. The problem has been proved to be NP-hard, even for several restrictions of the time domain and vertex degree. We present novel algorithmic contributions for the problem and we give an approximation algorithm of factor O ( T log n ) , on a temporal graph of T timestamps and n vertices. We focus then on the NP-hard restriction of the problem, where at most one temporal edge is defined in each timestamp. For this restriction we present a 4 ( T - 1 ) approximation algorithm and a parameterized algorithm (a reduction to kernel) for parameter the cost, called span, of the solution.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0254-5330
1572-9338
DOI:10.1007/s10479-024-05993-8