Treewidth Parameterized by Feedback Vertex Number

We provide the first algorithm for computing an optimal tree decomposition for a given graph G that runs in single exponential time in the feedback vertex number of G, that is, in time 2^O(fvn(G⁾⁾ · n^O(1), where fvn(G) is the feedback vertex number of G and n is the number of vertices of G. On a classification level, this improves the previously known results by Chapelle et al. [Discrete Applied Mathematics’17] and Fomin et al. [Algorithmica’18], who independently showed that an optimal tree decomposition can be computed in single exponential time in the vertex cover number of G. One of the biggest open problems in the area of parameterized complexity is whether we can compute an optimal tree decomposition in single exponential time in the treewidth of the input graph. The currently best known algorithm by Korhonen and Lokshtanov [STOC’23] runs in 2^O(tw(G⁾²⁾ · n⁴ time, where tw(G) is the treewidth of G. Our algorithm improves upon this result on graphs G where fvn(G) ∈ o(tw(G)²). On a different note, since fvn(G) is an upper bound on tw(G), our algorithm can also be seen either as an important step towards a positive resolution of the above-mentioned open problem, or, if its answer is negative, then a mark of the tractability border of single exponential time algorithms for the computation of treewidth.