Certifying Algorithms for Recognizing Interval Graphs and Permutation Graphs

Abstract

A certifying algorithm for a problem is an algorithm that provides a certificate with each answer that it produces. The certificate is a piece of evidence that proves that the answer has not been compromised by a bug in the implementation. We give linear-time certifying algorithms for recognition of interval graphs and permutation graphs, and for a few other related problems. Previous algorithms fail to provide supporting evidence when they claim that the input graph is not a member of the class. We show that our certificates of nonmembership can be authenticated in O(|V|) time.