An Introduction to Intersection Graphs

In this chapter, a very important class of graphs called intersection graph is introduced. Based on the geometrical representation, many different types of intersection graphs can be defined with interesting properties. Some of them—interval graphs, circular-arc graphs, permutation graphs, trapezoid graphs, chordal graphs, line graphs, disk graphs, string graphs—are presented here. A brief introduction of each of these intersection graphs along with some basic properties and algorithmic status are investigated.