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Graphs Identified by Logics with Counting

Published: 22 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

We classify graphs and, more generally, finite relational structures that are identified by \(C^2\), that is, two-variable first-order logic with counting. Using this classification, we show that it can be decided in almost linear time whether a structure is identified by \(C^2\). Our classification implies that for every graph identified by this logic, all vertex-colored versions of it are also identified. A similar statement is true for finite relational structures.
We provide constructions that solve the inversion problem for finite relational structures in linear time. By a result due to Otto, this problem has been known to be polynomial-time solvable. For graphs, we conclude that every \(C^2\)-equivalence class contains a representative whose orbits are exactly the classes of the \(C^2\)-partition of its vertex set and which has a single automorphism witnessing this fact.
We show that such statements are not true for general \(k\) by providing examples of graphs of order linear in \(k\) which are identified by \(C^3\), but for which the orbit partition is strictly finer than the \(C^k\)-partition. We also construct identified graphs which have vertex-colored versions that are not identified by \(C^k\).

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computational Logic
ACM Transactions on Computational Logic  Volume 23, Issue 1
January 2022
237 pages
ISSN:1529-3785
EISSN:1557-945X
DOI:10.1145/3487995
  • Editor:
  • Anuj Dawar
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 22 October 2021
Accepted: 01 August 2020
Revised: 01 March 2020
Received: 01 April 2019
Published in TOCL Volume 23, Issue 1

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Author Tags

  1. Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm
  2. color refinement
  3. inversion
  4. first-order logic
  5. counting quantifiers
  6. CFI graphs

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  • German Research Foundation DFG Koselleck

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