A Unified Polynomial-Time Algorithm for Feedback Vertex Set on Graphs of Bounded Mim-Width

We give a first polynomial-time algorithm for (Weighted) Feedback Vertex Set on graphs of bounded maximum induced matching width (mim-width). Explicitly, given a branch decomposition of mim-width w, we give an nO(w)-time algorithm that solves Feedback Vertex Set. This provides a unified algorithm for many well-known classes, such as Interval graphs and Permutation graphs, and furthermore, it gives the first polynomial-time algorithms for other classes of bounded mim-width, such as Circular Permutation, Circular k-Trapezoid and Dilworth-k graphs for fixed k. In all these classes the decomposition is computable in polynomial time, as shown by Belmonte and Vatshelle [Theor. Comput. Sci. 2013]. We show that powers of graphs of tree-width w + 1 and powers of graphs of clique-width w have mim-width at most w. These results extensively provide new classes of bounded mim-width. The first result implies that, surprisingly, Leaf Power graphs which are of importance in the field of phylogenetic studies have mim-width at most 1. Given a tree-decomposition of width w + 1 or a clique-width w-expression of a graph G, one can for any value of k find a mim-width decomposition of its k-power in polynomial time, and apply our algorithm to solve Feedback Vertex Set on the k-power in time nO(w). In contrast to Feedback Vertex Set, we show that Hamiltonian Cycle is NP-complete even on graphs of linear mim-width 1, which further hints at the expressive power of the mim-width parameter.