Algorithmic meta-theorems explain the tractability of large classes of computational problems by linking logical expressibility with structural graph properties. While extensions of first-order logic such as FO+dp admit efficient model checking on graph classes excluding a fixed topological minor, comparable results for richer fragments of CMSO were previously unknown. We further develop the framework of Sau, Stamoulis, and Thilikos [SODA 2025] for fragmenting CMSO via annotated graph parameters, which restrict set quantification to vertex sets satisfying bounded structural conditions. Following this approach, we identify a fragment of CMSO, namely the one defined by allowing quantification only over sets having what we call low monodimensionality, that generalizes several previously-known logics and we show that model checking for this fragment, enhanced with the disjoint-paths predicate, is fixed-parameter tractable on topological-minor-free graph classes. Such classes essentially delimit the tractability for this logic on subgraph-closed classes. As a consequence, our results lift several known algorithmic meta-theorems beyond first-order logic to the topological-minor-free setting.

In property testing, a tester makes queries to (an oracle for) a graph and, on a graph having or being far from having a property P, it decides with high probability whether the graph satisfies P or not. Often, testers are restricted to a constant number of queries. While the graph properties for which there exists such a tester are somewhat well characterized in the dense graph model, it is not the case for sparse graphs. In this area, Czumaj and Sohler (FOCS’19) proved that H-freeness (i.e. the property of excluding the graph H as a subgraph) can be tested with constant queries on planar graphs as well as on graph classes excluding a minor. Using results from the sparsity toolkit, we propose a simpler alternative to the proof of Czumaj and Sohler, for a statement generalized to the broader notion of bounded expansion. That is, we prove that for any class 𝒞 with bounded expansion and any graph H, testing H-freeness can be done with constant query complexity on any graph G in 𝒞, where the constant depends on H and 𝒞, but is independent of G. While classes excluding a minor are prime examples of classes with bounded expansion, so are, for example, cubic graphs, graph classes with bounded maximum degree, or graphs of bounded book thickness. Additionally, random graphs with bounded average degree almost surely have bounded expansion.

Given a graph G and two independent sets of same size, the Independent Set Reconfiguration Problem under token sliding asks whether one can, in a step by step manner, transform the first independent set into the second one. In each step we must preserve the condition of independence. Further, referring to solution vertices as tokens, we are only permitted to slide a token along an edge. Until the recent work of Ito et al. [Ito et al. MFCS 2022] this problem was only considered on undirected graphs. In this work, we study reconfiguration under token sliding focusing on DAGs. We present a complete dichotomy of intractability in regard to the depth of the DAG, by proving that this problem is NP-complete for DAGs of depth 3 and W[1]-hard for depth 4 when parameterized by the number of tokens k, and that these bounds are tight. Further, we prove that it is fixed parameter tractable on DAGs parameterized by the combination of treewidth and k. We show that this result applies to undirected graphs, when the number of times a token can visit a vertex is restricted.

In the Dominated Cluster Deletion problem, we are given an undirected graph G and integers k and d and the question is to decide whether there exists a set of at most k vertices whose removal results in a graph in which each connected component has a dominating set of size at most d. In the Elimination Distance to Dominated Clusters problem, we are again given an undirected graph G and integers k and d and the question is to decide whether we can recursively delete vertices up to depth k such that each remaining connected component has a dominating set of size at most d. Bentert et al. [Bentert et al., MFCS 2024] recently provided an almost complete classification of the parameterized complexity of Dominated Cluster Deletion with respect to the parameters k, d, c, and Δ, where c and Δ are the degeneracy, and the maximum degree of the input graph, respectively. In particular, they provided a non-uniform algorithm with running time f(k,d)⋅ n^{𝒪(d)}. They left as an open problem whether the problem is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the parameter k + d + c. We provide a uniform algorithm running in time f(k,d)⋅ n^{𝒪(d)} for both Dominated Cluster Deletion and Elimination Distance to Dominated Clusters. We furthermore show that both problems are FPT when parameterized by k+d+𝓁, where 𝓁 is the semi-ladder index of the input graph, a parameter that is upper bounded and may be much smaller than the degeneracy c, positively answering the open question of Bentert et al. We further complete the picture by providing an almost full classification for the parameterized complexity and kernelization complexity of Elimination Distance to Dominated Clusters. The one difficult base case that remains open is whether Treedepth (the case d = 0) is NP-hard on graphs of bounded maximum degree.

Disjoint-paths logic, denoted FO+ DP, extends first-order logic (FO) with atomic predicates dpk[(x1, y1), …, (xk, yk)], expressing the existence of internally vertex-disjoint paths between xi and yi, for 1 ≤ i ≤ k. We prove that for every graph class excluding some fixed graph as a topological minor, the model checking problem for FO+ DP is fixed-parameter tractable. This extends the model checking algorithm of Golovach et al. [SODA 2023] for FO+ DP for minor-closed graph classes. It also essentially settles the question of tractable model checking for this logic on subgraph-closed classes, since the problem is hard on subgraph-closed classes not excluding a topological minor (assuming a further mild condition on efficiency of encoding).

We study the graph parameter elimination distance to bounded degree, which was introduced by Bulian and Dawar in their study of the parameterized complexity of the graph isomorphism problem. We prove that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable on planar graphs, that is, there exists an algorithm that given a planar graph G and integers d, k decides in time f( k, d) · n c for a computable function f and constant c whether the elimination distance of G to the class of degree d graphs is at most k.

First-order logic (FO) can express many algorithmic problems on graphs, such as the independent set and dominating set problem parameterized by solution size. However, FO cannot express the very simple algorithmic question whether two vertices are connected. We enrich FO with connectivity predicates that are tailored to express algorithmic graph problems that are commonly studied in parameterized algorithmics. By adding the atomic predicates connk(x,y,z_1,..., zk) that hold true in a graph if there exists a path between (the valuations of)xandyafter (the valuations of)z1,..., zkhave been deleted, we obtainseparator logicFO + conn. We show that separator logic can express many interesting problems, such as the feedback vertex set problem and elimination distance problems to first-order definable classes. Denote by FO + connkthe fragment of separator logic that is restricted to connectivity predicates with at mostk + 2variables (that is, at mostkdeletions), we show that FO + connk + 1is strictly more expressive than FO + connkfor allk ≥ 0. We then study the limitations of separator logic and prove that it cannot express planarity, and, in particular, not the disjoint paths problem. We obtain the strongerdisjoint-paths logicFO + DP by adding the atomic predicates disjoint-pathsk[(x1, y1),..., (xk, yk) that evaluate to true if there are internally vertex-disjoint paths between (the valuations of)xiandyifor all 1 ≤ i ≤ k. Disjoint-paths logic can express the disjoint paths problem, the problem of (topological) minor containment, the problem of hitting (topological) minors, and many more. Again, we show that the fragments FO + DPkthat use predicates for at mostkdisjoint paths form a strict hierarchy of expressiveness. Finally, we compare the expressive power of the new logics with that of transitive-closure logics and monadic second-order logic.

First-order logic (FO) can express many algorithmic problems on graphs, such as the independent set and dominating set problem parameterized by solution size. On the other hand, FO cannot express the very simple algorithmic question whether two vertices are connected. We enrich FO with connectivity predicates that are tailored to express algorithmic graph properties that are commonly studied in parameterized algorithmics. By adding the atomic predicates conn_k(x,y,z_1,…,z_k) that hold true in a graph if there exists a path between (the valuations of) x and y after (the valuations of) z_1,…,z_k have been deleted, we obtain separator logic FO+conn. We show that separator logic can express many interesting problems such as the feedback vertex set problem and elimination distance problems to first-order definable classes. Denote by FO+conn_k the fragment of separator logic that is restricted to connectivity predicates with at most k+2 variables (that is, at most k deletions). We show that FO+conn_{k+1} is strictly more expressive than FO+conn_k for all k ≥ 0. We then study the limitations of separator logic and prove that it cannot express planarity, and, in particular, not the disjoint paths problem. We obtain the stronger disjoint-paths logic FO+DP by adding the atomic predicates disjoint-paths_k[(x_1,y_1),…,(x_k,y_k)] that evaluate to true if there are internally vertex-disjoint paths between (the valuations of) x_i and y_i for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k. Disjoint-paths logic can express the disjoint paths problem, the problem of (topological) minor containment, the problem of hitting (topological) minors, and many more. Again we show that the fragments FO+DP_k that use predicates for at most k disjoint paths form a strict hierarchy of expressiveness. Finally, we compare the expressive power of the new logics with that of transitive-closure logics and monadic second-order logic.

We introduce a new data structure for answering connectivity queries in undirected graphs subject to batched vertex failures. Precisely, given any graph G and integer parameter k, we can in fixed-parameter time construct a data structure that can later be used to answer queries of the form: "are vertices s and t connected via a path that avoids vertices u₁,…, u_k?" in time 2^𝒪(k). In the terminology of the literature on data structures, this gives the first deterministic data structure for connectivity under vertex failures where for every fixed number of failures, all operations can be performed in constant time. With the aim to understand the power and the limitations of our new techniques, we prove an algorithmic meta theorem for the recently introduced separator logic, which extends first-order logic with atoms for connectivity under vertex failures. We prove that the model-checking problem for separator logic is fixed-parameter tractable on every class of graphs that exclude a fixed topological minor. We also show a weak converse. This implies that from the point of view of parameterized complexity, under standard complexity theoretical assumptions, the frontier of tractability of separator logic is almost exactly delimited by classes excluding a fixed topological minor. The backbone of our proof relies on a decomposition theorem of Cygan, Lokshtanov, Pilipczuk, Pilipczuk, and Saurabh [SICOMP '19], which provides a tree decomposition of a given graph into bags that are unbreakable. Crucially, unbreakability allows to reduce separator logic to plain first-order logic within each bag individually. Guided by this observation, we design our model-checking algorithm using dynamic programming over the tree decomposition, where the transition at each bag amounts to running a suitable model-checking subprocedure for plain first-order logic. This approach is robust enough to provide also an extension to efficient enumeration of answers to a query expressed in separator logic.

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We consider the evaluation of first-order queries over classes of databases that are nowhere dense . The notion of nowhere dense classes was introduced by Nešetřil and Ossona de Mendez as a formalization of classes of “sparse” graphs and generalizes many well-known classes of graphs, such as classes of bounded degree, bounded tree-width, or bounded expansion. It has recently been shown by Grohe, Kreutzer, and Siebertz that over nowhere dense classes of databases, first-order sentences can be evaluated in pseudo-linear time (pseudo-linear time means that for all \( \epsilon \) there exists an algorithm working in time \( O(n^{1+\epsilon }) \) , where \( n \) is the size of the database). For first-order queries of higher arities, we show that over any nowhere dense class of databases, the set of their solutions can be enumerated with constant delay after a pseudo-linear time preprocessing. In the same context, we also show that after a pseudo-linear time preprocessing we can, on input of a tuple, test in constant time whether it is a solution to the query.

A strong backdoor in a formula $ϕ$ of propositional logic to a tractable class $\mathcal{C}$ of formulas is a set $B$ of variables of $ϕ$ such that every assignment of the variables in $B$ results in a formula from $\mathcal{C}$. Strong backdoors of small size or with a good structure, e.g. with small backdoor treewidth, lead to efficient solutions for the propositional satisfiability problem SAT. In this paper we propose the new notion of recursive backdoors, which is inspired by the observation that in order to solve SAT we can independently recurse into the components that are created by partial assignments of variables. The quality of a recursive backdoor is measured by its recursive backdoor depth. Similar to the concept of backdoor treewidth, recursive backdoors of bounded depth include backdoors of unbounded size that have a certain treelike structure. However, the two concepts are incomparable and our results yield new tractability results for SAT.

We study the graph parameter elimination distance to bounded degree, which was introduced by Bulian and Dawar in their study of the parameterized complexity of the graph isomorphism problem. We prove that the problem is fixed-parameter tractable on planar graphs, that is, there exists an algorithm that given a planar graph G and integers d and k decides in time f(k,d)⋅ n^c for a computable function f and constant c whether the elimination distance of G to the class of degree d graphs is at most k.

We consider the evaluation of first-order queries over classes of databases that are nowhere dense. The notion of nowhere dense classes was introduced by Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez as a formalization of classes of "sparse" graphs and generalizes many well-known classes of graphs, such as classes of bound­ed degree, bounded tree-width, or bounded expansion. It has recently been shown by Grohe, Kreutzer, and Siebertz that over nowhere dense classes of databases, first-order sentences can be evaluated in pseudo-linear time (pseudo-linear time means that for all ε there exists an algorithm working in time O(n1+ε), where n is the size of the database). For first-order queries of higher arities, we show that over any nowhere dense class of databases, the set of their solutions can be enumerated with constant delay after a pseudo-linear time preprocessing. In the same context, we also show that after a pseudo-linear time preprocessing we can, on input of a tuple, test in constant time whether it is a solution to the query.

We consider the evaluation of first-order queries over classes of databases with local bounded expansion. This class was introduced by Nesetril and Ossona de Mendez and generalizes many well known classes of databases, such as bounded degree, bounded tree width or bounded expansion. It is known that over classes of databases with local bounded expansion, first-order sentences can be evaluated in pseudo-linear time (pseudo-linear time means that for all \epsilon there exists an algorithm working in time O(n^{1+\epsilon})). Here, we investigate other scenarios, where queries are not sentences. We show that first-order queries can be enumerated with constant delay after a pseudo-linear preprocessing over any class of databases having locally bounded expansion. We also show that, in this context, counting the number of solutions can be done in pseudo-linear time.