Parameterized complexity of finding regular induced subgraphs

The r-Regular Induced Subgraph problem asks, given a graph G and a non-negative integer k, whether G contains an r-regular induced subgraph of size at least k, that is, an induced subgraph in which every vertex has degree exactly r. In this paper we examine its parameterization k-Size r-Regular Induced Subgraph with k as parameter and prove that it is W[1]-hard. We also examine the parameterized complexity of the dual parameterized problem, namely, the k-Almost r-Regular Graph problem, which asks for a given graph G and a non-negative integer k whether G can be made r-regular by deleting at most k vertices. For this problem, we prove the existence of a problem kernel of size O(kr(r + k)(2)). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.