From a zoo to a zoology: Descriptive complexity for graph polynomials

Abstract

We outline a general theory of graph polynomials which covers all the examples we found in the vast literature, in particular, the chromatic polynomial, various generalizations of the Tutte polynomial, matching polynomials, interlace polynomials, and the cover polynomial of digraphs. We introduce the class of (hyper)graph polynomials definable in second order logic, and outline a research program for their classification in terms of definability and complexity considerations, and various notions of reducibilities. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.