Efficient Domination for Some Subclasses of $P_6$-Free Graphs in Polynomial Time

Let $G$ be a finite undirected graph. A vertex {\em dominates} itself and all its neighbors in $G$. A vertex set $D$ is an {\em efficient dominating set} (\emph{e.d.}\ for short) of $G$ if every vertex of $G$ is dominated by exactly one vertex of $D$. The \emph{Efficient Domination} (ED) problem, which asks for the existence of an e.d.\ in $G$, is known to be \NP-complete even for very restricted graph classes such as $P_7$-free chordal graphs. The ED problem on a graph $G$ can be reduced to the Maximum Weight Independent Set (MWIS) problem on the square of $G$. The complexity of the ED problem is an open question for $P_6$-free graphs and was open even for the subclass of $P_6$-free chordal graphs. In this paper, we show that squares of $P_6$-free chordal graphs that have an e.d. are chordal; this even holds for the larger class of ($P_6$, house, hole, domino)-free graphs. This implies that ED/WeightedED is solvable in polynomial time for ($P_6$, house, hole, domino)-free graphs; in particular, for $P_6$-free chordal graphs. Moreover, based on our result that squares of $P_6$-free graphs that have an e.d. are hole-free and some properties concerning odd antiholes, we show that squares of ($P_6$, house)-free graphs (($P_6$, bull)-free graphs, respectively) that have an e.d. are perfect. This implies that ED/WeightedED is solvable in polynomial time for ($P_6$, house)-free graphs and for ($P_6$, bull)-free graphs (the time bound for ($P_6$, house, hole, domino)-free graphs is better than that for ($P_6$, house)-free graphs). The complexity of the ED problem for $P_6$-free graphs remains an open question.

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