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Given two graphs $G$ and $F$ on the same vertex set $V$. Compute a sub set $\tilde{V}\subset V$ which' sub graph of $G$ is of maximum density and does not have any pair that is connected in $F$.

Formally, find

$$ arg\max_{\tilde{V}\subset V}\Bigg\{\frac{\big\vert {E(G)}_{\vert\tilde{V}}\big\vert}{\vert \tilde{V}\vert} \,\,\Bigg\vert\,\, (v, v^{\prime})\notin E(F)\forall v, v^{\prime}\in\tilde{V} \Bigg\} $$.

So, we could compute maximum independent sets of $F$ and compute for each its densest sub graph. This may not yield a desired node set. Looks like we want 'high overlaps' between $G$-density and $F$-independency.

Is there a method to solve this or some ideas on how to combine densest-sub-graph-algorithm and maximum-independence-set-algorithm?

Daniel Schwegler
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1 Answers1

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The problem is NP-hard. (It is at least as hard as maximum independent set, which can be seen by setting $G$ to be the fully connected graph.)

Therefore, a reasonable approach is to use an off-the-shelf ILP solver. Introduce zero-or-one variables $x_{v}$, with the intended meaning that $x_v=1$ means that $v \in \tilde{V}$. Define $y_{u,v} := x_u \land x_v$. Introduce a new (real-valued) unknown $d$ to represent the density. Then you can encode all of the requirements via the following linear inequalities:

  • The density is at least $d$: i.e., $\sum_{u,v} y_{u,v} \ge d \sum_v x_v$.

  • The $y$'s are consistent with the $x$'s: i.e., $y_{u,v} \ge x_u + x_v - 1$, $y_{u,v} \le x_u$, $y_{u,v} \le x_v$.

  • There is no pair that is connected in $F$: i.e., $y_{u,v}=0$ for all $(u,v) \in E(F)$.

Finally, ask the ILP solver to maximize $d$, subject to the above linear inequalities.

Alternatively, you could use a SAT solver together with a pseudo-boolean constraint to represent the constraint on the density, and use binary search over $d$.

D.W.
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