Isomorphism, canonization, and definability for graphs of bounded rank width

We investigate the interplay between the graph isomorphism problem, logical definability, and structural graph theory on a rich family of dense graph classes: graph classes of bounded rank width. We prove that the combinatorial Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm of dimension (3 k + 4) is a complete isomorphism test for the class of all graphs of rank width at most k. A consequence of our result is the first polynomial time canonization algorithm for graphs of bounded rank width. Our second main result addresses an open problem in descriptive complexity theory: we show that fixed-point logic with counting expresses precisely the polynomial time properties of graphs of bounded rank width.

Diameters of random Cayley graphs of finite nilpotent groups

We prove the existence of a limiting distribution for the appropriately rescaled diameters of random undirected Cayley graphs of finite nilpotent groups of bounded rank and nilpotency class, thus extending a result of Shapira and Zuck which dealt with the case of abelian groups. The limiting distribution is defined on a space of unimodular lattices, as in the case of random Cayley graphs of abelian groups. Our result, when specialised to a certain family of unitriangular groups, establishes a very recent conjecture of Hermon and Thomas. We derive this as a consequence of a general inequality, showing that the diameter of a Cayley graph of a nilpotent group is governed by the diameter of its abelianisation.

A Quantified Coalgebraic van Benthem Theorem

The classical van Benthem theorem characterizes modal logic as the bisimulation-invariant fragment of first-order logic; put differently, modal logic is as expressive as full first-order logic on bisimulation-invariant properties. This result has recently been extended to two flavours of quantitative modal logic, viz. fuzzy modal logic and probabilistic modal logic. In both cases, the quantitative van Benthem theorem states that every formula in the respective quantitative variant of first-order logic that is bisimulation-invariant, in the sense of being nonexpansive w.r.t. behavioural distance, can be approximated by quantitative modal formulae of bounded rank. In the present paper, we unify and generalize these results in three directions: We lift them to full coalgebraic generality, thus covering a wide range of system types including, besides fuzzy and probabilistic transition systems as in the existing examples, e.g. also metric transition systems; and we generalize from real-valued to quantale-valued behavioural distances, e.g. nondeterministic behavioural distances on metric transition systems; and we remove the symmetry assumption on behavioural distances, thus covering also quantitative notions of simulation.

Graphs of bounded cliquewidth are polynomially $χ$-bounded

We prove that if $\mathcal{C}$ is a hereditary class of graphs that is polynomially $\chi$-bounded, then the class of graphs that admit decompositions into pieces belonging to $\mathcal{C}$ along cuts of bounded rank is also polynomially $\chi$-bounded. In particular, this implies that for every positive integer $k$, the class of graphs of cliquewidth at most $k$ is polynomially $\chi$-bounded.