Algorithmic aspects of outer independent Roman domination in graphs

Abstract

Let [Formula: see text] be a connected graph. A function [Formula: see text] is called a Roman dominating function if every vertex [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] is adjacent to a vertex [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text]. If further the set [Formula: see text] is an independent set, then [Formula: see text] is called an outer independent Roman dominating function (OIRDF). Let [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Then [Formula: see text] is called the outer independent Roman domination number of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we prove that the decision problem for [Formula: see text] is NP-complete for chordal graphs. We also show that [Formula: see text] is linear time solvable for threshold graphs and bounded tree width graphs. Moreover, we show that the domination and outer independent Roman domination problems are not equivalent in computational complexity aspects.