Complexity of most vital nodes for independent set in graphs related to tree structures

Abstract

Given an undirected graph with weights on its vertices, the k most vital nodes independent set problem consists of determining a set of k vertices whose removal results in the greatest decrease in the maximum weight of independent sets. We also consider the complementary problem, minimum node blocker independent set that consists of removing a subset of vertices of minimum size such that the maximum weight of independent sets in the remaining graph is at most a specified value. We show that these problems are NP-hard on bipartite graphs but polynomial-time solvable on unweighted bipartite graphs. Furthermore, these problems are polynomial also on graphs of bounded treewidth and cographs. A result on the non-existence of a ptas is presented, too. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.