Hypertree Explained

In the mathematical field of graph theory, a hypergraph is called a hypertree if it admits a host graph such that is a tree. In other words, is a hypertree if there exists a tree such that every hyperedge of is the set of vertices of a connected subtree of . Hypertrees have also been called arboreal hypergraphs or tree hypergraphs.

Every tree is itself a hypertree: itself can be used as the host graph, and every edge of is a subtree of this host graph. Therefore, hypertrees may be seen as a generalization of the notion of a tree for hypergraphs. They include the connected Berge-acyclic hypergraphs, which have also been used as a (different) generalization of trees for hypergraphs.

Properties

Every hypertree has the Helly property (2-Helly property): if a subset of its hyperedges has the property that every two hyperedges in have a nonempty intersection, then itself has a nonempty intersection (a vertex that belongs to all hyperedges in).

By results of Duchet, Flament and Slater^[1] hypertrees may be equivalently characterized in the following ways.

• A hypergraph is a hypertree if and only if it has the Helly property and its line graph is a chordal graph.
• A hypergraph is a hypertree if and only if its dual hypergraph is conformal and the 2-section graph of is chordal.
• A hypergraph is a hypertree if and only if its dual hypergraph is alpha-acyclic in the sense of Fagin.

It is possible to recognize hypertrees (as duals of alpha-acyclic hypergraphs) in linear time.The exact cover problem (finding a set of non-overlapping hyperedges that covers all the vertices) is solvable in polynomial time for hypertrees but remains NP-complete for alpha-acyclic hypergraphs.

See also

• Dually chordal graph, a graph whose maximal cliques form a hypertree

References

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Notes and References

1. See, e.g., ;