Sparse spanning $k$-strong oriented subdigraphs in split digraphs

Abstract

Jackson and Thomassen conjectured that every $2k$-strong digraph admits a spanning $k$-strong oriented subdigraph [Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 555 (1989) 402-412]. The conjecture holds for $k=1$ but other than some partial results that have been obtained for general $k$ in some special families of digraphs, including symmetric digraphs, the conjecture remains wide open in general. Even the existence of an integer $K$ such that every $K$-strong digraph has a 2-strong spanning oriented subdigraph is open. As a natural optimization counterpart, the minimum spanning $k$-strong subdigraph (MSSS${}_k$) problem, is to find the minimum number of arcs in a spanning $k$-strong subdigraph of a $k$-strong digraph. This problem is NP-hard already for $k=1$ as it generalizes the hamiltonian cycle problem. In this paper, we address both problems simultaneously for the class of split digraphs, by constructing sparse spanning $k$-strong oriented subdigraphs. Specifically, we prove that every $k$-strong split digraph $D=(V_1,V_2;A)$ with minimum semi-degree {${\delta }^0(D)\ge 26k+15$} contains a spanning $k$-strong oriented subdigraph with no more than $kn+k|V_1|+98k^2+38k+3$ arcs, where $kn+k|V_1|$ is tight and the $k^2$ term is tight up to a constant factor. For the class of $k$-strong tournaments with minimum semi-degree at least $26k+15$ our results improve the bound obtained by Kang in [Combin. Probab. Comput., 27:892-907, 2018].

21pages,3figures