Chordal graphs are characterized as the intersection graphs of subtrees in a tree and such a representation is known as the tree model. Restricting the characterization results in well-known subclasses of chordal graphs such as interval graphs or split graphs. A typical example of a problem that does not behave computationally the same in all subclasses of chordal graphs is the Subset Feedback Vertex Set (SFVS) problem: given a vertex-weighted graph G=(V,E)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$G=(V,E)$$\\end{document} and a set S⊆V\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S\\subseteq V$$\\end{document}, we seek for a vertex set of minimum weight that intersects all cycles containing a vertex of S. SFVS is known to be polynomial-time solvable on interval graphs, whereas SFVS remains np-complete on split graphs and, consequently, on chordal graphs. Towards a better understanding of the complexity of SFVS on subclasses of chordal graphs, we exploit structural properties of a tree model in order to cope with the hardness of SFVS. Here we consider the leafage, which measures the minimum number of leaves in a tree model. We show that SFVS can be solved in polynomial time for every chordal graph with bounded leafage. In particular, given a chordal graph on n vertices with leafage ℓ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\ell $$\\end{document}, we provide an algorithm for solving SFVS with running time nO(ℓ)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$n^{O(\\ell )}$$\\end{document}, thus improving upon nO(ℓ2)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$n^{O(\\ell ^2)}$$\\end{document}, which is the running time of an approach that utilizes the previously known algorithm for graphs with bounded mim-width. We complement our result by showing that SFVS is w[1]-hard parameterized by ℓ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\ell $$\\end{document}. Pushing further our positive result, it is natural to also consider the vertex leafage, which measures the minimum upper bound on the number of leaves of every subtree in a tree model. However, we show that it is unlikely to obtain a similar result, as we prove that SFVS remains np-complete on undirected path graphs, i.e., chordal graphs having vertex leafage at most two. Lastly, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for solving SFVS on rooted path graphs, a proper subclass of undirected path graphs and graphs with mim-width one, which is faster than the approach of constructing a graph decomposition of mim-width one and applying the previously known algorithm for graphs with bounded mim-width.
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