SebastianSiebertz

Forbidden graph characterizations provide a convenient way of specifying graph classes, which often exhibit a rich combinatorial and algorithmic theory. A prime example in graph theory are classes of bounded tree-width, which are characterized as those classes that exclude some planar graph as a minor. Similarly, in model theory, classes of structures are characterized by …

Transductions are a general formalism for expressing transformations of graphs (and more generally, of relational structures) in logic. We prove that a graph class C can be FO-transduced from a class of bounded-height trees (that is, has bounded shrubdepth) if, and only if, from C one cannot FO-transduce the class of all paths. This establishes …