Abstract A k -queue layout is a special type of a linear layout, in which the linear order avoids $$(k+1)$$ ( k + 1 ) -rainbows, that is, $$k+1$$ k + 1 independent edges that pairwise form a nested pair. The optimization goal is to determine the queue number of a graph, which is defined as the minimum value of k for which a k -queue layout is feasible. Recently, Dujmović et al. [J. ACM, 67(4), 22:1–38, 2020] showed that the queue number of planar graphs is at most 49, thus settling in the positive a long-standing conjecture by Heath, Leighton and Rosenberg. To achieve this breakthrough result, their approach involves three different techniques: (1) an algorithm to obtain 2-queue layouts of outerplanar graphs, (2) an algorithm to obtain 5-queue layouts of planar 3-trees, and (3) a decomposition of a planar graph into so-called tripods. In this work, we push further each of these techniques to obtain the first non-trivial improvement of the upper bound on the queue number of planar graphs from 49 to $$42 $$ 42 .

The page-number of a directed acyclic graph (a DAG, for short) is the minimum k for which the DAG has a topological order and a k-coloring of its edges such that no two edges of the same color cross, i.e., have alternating endpoints along the topological order. In 1999, Heath and Pemmaraju conjectured that the recognition of DAGs with page-number 2 is NP-complete and proved that recognizing DAGs with page-number 6 is NP-complete (Heath and Pemmaraju (1999) [15]). Binucci et al. recently strengthened this result by proving that recognizing DAGs with page-number k is NP-complete, for every k≥3 (Binucci et al. (2019) [6]). In this paper, we finally resolve Heath and Pemmaraju's conjecture in the affirmative. In particular, our NP-completeness result holds even for st-planar graphs and planar posets.

We obtain new parameterized algorithms for the classical problem of determining whether a directed acyclic graph admits an upward planar drawing. Our results include a new fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by the number of sources, an XP-algorithm parameterized by treewidth, and a fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by treedepth. All three algorithms are obtained using a novel framework for the problem that combines SPQR tree-decompositions with parameterized techniques. Our approach unifies and pushes beyond previous tractability results for the problem on series-parallel digraphs, single-source digraphs and outerplanar digraphs.

An embedding of a graph in a book, called book embedding, consists of a linear ordering of its vertices along the spine of the book and an assignment of its edges to the pages of the book, so that no two edges on the same page cross. The book thickness of a graph is the minimum number of pages over all its book embeddings. For planar graphs, a fundamental result is due to Yannakakis, who proposed an algorithm to compute embeddings of planar graphs in books with four pages. Our main contribution is a technique that generalizes this result to a much wider family of nonplanar graphs, which is characterized by a biconnected skeleton of crossing-free edges whose faces have bounded degree. Notably, this family includes all 1-planar and all optimal 2-planar graphs as subgraphs. We prove that this family of graphs has bounded book thickness, and as a corollary, we obtain the first constant upper bound for the book thickness of optimal 2-planar graphs.

In a fan-planar drawing of a graph an edge can cross only edges with a common end-vertex. In this paper, we study fan-planar drawings that use h (horizontal) layers and are proper, i.e., edges connect adjacent layers. We show that if the embedding of the graph is fixed, then testing the existence of such drawings is fixed-parameter tractable in h, via a reduction to a similar result for planar graphs by Dujmović et al. If the embedding is not fixed, then we give partial results for h = 2: It was already known how to test the existence of fan-planar proper 2-layer drawings for 2-connected graphs, and we show here how to test this for trees. Along the way, we exhibit other interesting results for graphs with a fan-planar proper h-layer drawing; in particular we bound their pathwidth and show that they have a bar-1-visibility representation.

A queue layout of a graph consists of a linear order of its vertices and a partition of its edges into queues, so that no two independent edges of the same queue are nested. The queue number of a graph is the minimum number of queues required by any of its queue layouts. A long-standing conjecture by Heath, Leighton and Rosenberg states that the queue number of planar graphs is bounded.This conjecture has been partially settled in the positive for several sub- families of planar graphs (most of which have bounded treewidth).

A queue layout of a graph consists of a linear order of its vertices and a partition of its edges into queues, so that no two independent edges of the same queue are nested. The queue number of a graph is the minimum number of queues required by any of its queue layouts. A long-standing conjecture by Heath, Leighton and Rosenberg [ SIAM J. Discrete Math., 5 (1992), pp. 398--412] states that the queue number of planar graphs is bounded. This conjecture has been partially settled in the positive for several subfamilies of planar graphs (most of which have bounded treewidth). In this paper, we make a further important step towards settling this conjecture. We prove that planar graphs of bounded degree (which may have unbounded treewidth) have bounded queue number. A notable implication of this result is that every planar graph of bounded degree admits a three-dimensional straight-line grid drawing in linear volume. Further implications are that every planar graph of bounded degree has bounded track number, and that every $k$-planar graph (i.e., every graph that can be drawn in the plane with at most $k$ crossings per edge) of bounded degree has bounded queue number.

A graph is k-planar if it can be drawn in the plane such that no edge is crossed more than k times. While for k=1, optimal 1-planar graphs, i.e., those with n vertices and exactly 4n-8 edges, have been completely characterized, this has not been the case for k > 1. For k=2,3 and 4, upper bounds on the edge density have been developed for the case of simple graphs by Pach and Tóth, Pach et al. and Ackerman, which have been used to improve the well-known "Crossing Lemma". Recently, we proved that these bounds also apply to non-simple 2- and 3-planar graphs without homotopic parallel edges and self-loops. In this paper, we completely characterize optimal 2- and 3-planar graphs, i.e., those that achieve the aforementioned upper bounds. We prove that they have a remarkably simple regular structure, although they might be non-simple. The new characterization allows us to develop notable insights concerning new inclusion relationships with other graph classes.

Back in the eighties, Heath showed that every 3-planar graph is subhamiltonian and asked whether this result can be extended to a class of graphs of degree greater than three. In this paper we affirmatively answer this question for the class of 4-planar graphs. Our contribution consists of two algorithms: The first one is limited to triconnected graphs, but runs in linear time and uses existing methods for computing hamiltonian cycles in planar graphs. The second one, which solves the general case of the problem, is a quadratic-time algorithm based on the book embedding viewpoint of the problem.