Abstract

We consider graph compression in terms of graph families. In particular, we show that graphs of bounded genus can be compressed to O(n) bits, where n is the number of vertices. We identify a property based on separators that makes O(n)-bit compression possible for some graphs of bounded arboricity. 1 Introduction Graph representation as a data compression problem Lossless data compression is a process of representing a body of data by another body of data of smaller size from which the original data can be completely reconstructed. In the past thirty years a great deal of work has been done on the theory and practice of text compression (e.g., printed text or program source code) and of digitized data (e.g., voice or images). In fact, data compression has become a well-established subject in computer science, information theory, and communication theory. In contrast, very little has been done on compressing graphs. Since graphs are encountered everywhere and are often of very la...

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