Equivalence between Hypergraph Convexities

Abstract EN

Let G be a connected graph on V.

A subset X of V is all-paths convex (or ap -convex) if X contains each vertex on every path joining two vertices in X and is monophonically convex (or m-convex) if X contains each vertex on every chordless path joining two vertices in X.

First of all, we prove that ap -convexity and m-convexity coincide in G if and only if G is a tree.

Next, in order to generalize this result to a connected hypergraph H, in addition to the hypergraph versions of ap -convexity and m-convexity, we consider canonical convexity (or c-convexity) and simple-path convexity (or sp -convexity) for which it is well known that m-convexity is finer than both c-convexity and sp -convexity and sp -convexity is finer than ap -convexity.

After proving sp -convexity is coarser than c-convexity, we characterize the hypergraphs in which each pair of the four convexities above is equivalent.

As a result, we obtain a convexity-theoretic characterization of Berge-acyclic hypergraphs and of γ-acyclic hypergraphs.