On the Visibility Polynomial of Graphs

Abstract: Let G(V,E) be a simple graph and let X subset of V. Two vertices u and v are said to be X-visible if there exists a shortest u,v-path P such that V(P) intersection X is a subset of {u, v}. A set X is called a mutual-visibility set of G if every pair of vertices in X are X-visible. The visibility polynomial of a graph G is defined as nu (G)=sum_{i >= 0} r_i x^i, where r_i denotes the number of mutual-visibility sets in G of cardinality i. In the present paper, the visibility polynomial is studied for some well-known classes of graphs. In particular, the instance at which the number of maximal mutual-visibility sets is equal for cycle graphs is identified. The visibility polynomial of the join of two graphs is studied. The algorithm for computing the visibility polynomial of a graph has been identified to have a time complexity of O(n^3.2^n) making the problem computationally intensive for larger graphs.