Computing metric hulls in graphs
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We prove that, given a closure function the smallest preimage of a closed set can be calculated in polynomial time in the number of closed sets. This confirms a conjecture of Albenque and Knauer and implies that there is a polynomial time algorithm to compute the convex hull-number of a graph, when all its convex subgraphs are given as input. We then show that computing if the smallest preimage of a closed set is logarithmic in the size of the ground set is LOGSNP-complete if only the ground set is given. A special instance of this problem is computing the dimension of a poset given its linear extension graph, that was conjectured to be in P. The intent to show that the latter problem is LOGSNP-complete leads to several interesting questions and to the definition of the isometric hull, i.e., a smallest isometric subgraph containing a given set of vertices S. While for |S|=2 an isometric hull is just a shortest path, we show that computing the isometric hull of a set of vertices is NP-complete even if |S|=3. Finally, we consider the problem of computing the isometric hull-number of a graph and show that computing it is Σ^P_2 complete.
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