Counting $4\times 4$ Matrix Partitions of Graphs

Abstract

Given a symmetric matrix $M\in \{0,1,\ast {\}}^{D\times D}$, an $M$-partition of a graph $G$ is a function from $V(G)$ to $D$ such that no edge of $G$ is mapped to a $0$ of $M$ and no non-edge to a $1$. We give a computer-assisted proof that, when $|D|=4$, the problem of counting the $M$-partitions of an input graph is either in FP or is #P-complete. Tractability is proved by reduction to the related problem of counting list $M$-partitions; intractability is shown using a gadget construction and interpolation. We use a computer program to determine which of the two cases holds for all but a small number of matrices, which we resolve manually to establish the dichotomy. We conjecture that the dichotomy also holds for $|D|>4$. More specifically, we conjecture that, for any symmetric matrix $M\in \{0,1,\ast {\}}^{D\times D}$, the complexity of counting $M$-partitions is the same as the related problem of counting list $M$-partitions.