An Improved Parameterized Algorithm for a Generalized Matching Problem

Jianxin Wang, Dan Ning, Qilong Feng, Jianer Chen

Abstract: We study the parameterized complexity of a generalized matching problem, the P 2-packing problem. The problem is NP-hard and has been studied by a number of researchers. In this paper, we provide further study of the structures of the P 2-packing problem, and propose a new kernelization algorithm that produces a kernel of size 7k for the problem, improving the previous best kernel size 15k. The new kernelization leads to an improved algorithm for the problem with running time O *(24.142 k), improving the previous best algorithm of time O *(25.301 k).