Computational approaches for zero forcing and related problems

Abstract

In this paper, we propose computational approaches for the zero forcing problem, the connected zero forcing problem, and the problem of forcing a graph within a specified number of timesteps. Our approaches are based on a combination of integer programming models and combinatorial algorithms, and include formulations for zero forcing as a dynamic process, and as a set-covering problem. We explore several solution strategies for these models, test them on various types of graphs, and show that they are competitive with the state-of-the-art algorithm for zero forcing. Our proposed algorithms for connected zero forcing and for controlling the number of zero forcing timesteps are the first general-purpose computational methods for these problems, and are superior to brute force computation.