Title
Chromatic, Flow and Reliability Polynomials: The Complexity of their Coefficients
Abstract
We study the complexity of computing the coefficients of three classical polynomials, namely the chromatic, flow and reliability polynomials of a graph. Each of these is a specialization of the Tutte polynomial Σtijxiyj. It is shown that, unless NP = RP, many of the relevant coefficients do not even have good randomized approximation schemes. We consider the quasi-order induced by approximation reducibility and highlight the pivotal position of the coefficient t10 = t01, otherwise known as the beta invariant.Our nonapproximability results are obtained by showing that various decision problems based on the coefficients are NP-hard. A study of such predicates shows a significant difference between the case of graphs, where, by Robertson–Seymour theory, they are computable in polynomial time, and the case of matrices over finite fields, where they are shown to be NP-hard.
Year
DOI
Venue
2002
10.1017/S0963548302005175
Combinatorics, Probability & Computing
Keywords
Field
DocType
reliability polynomial,reliability polynomials,finite field,classical polynomial,good randomized approximation scheme,tutte polynomial,polynomial time,coefficient t10,seymour theory,beta invariant,approximation reducibility
Discrete mathematics,Decision problem,Finite field,Combinatorics,Polynomial,Tutte polynomial,Matrix (mathematics),Time complexity,Chromatic polynomial,Mathematics,Difference polynomials
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
11
4
0963-5483
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
11
0.85
15
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
James Oxley119424.39
Dominic Welsh2110.85