On Computing Optimal Temporal Branchings and Spanning Subgraphs

We extend the concept of out/in-branchings spanning the vertices of a digraph to temporal graphs, which are digraphs where arcs are available only at prescribed times. While the literature has focused on minimum weight/earliest arrival time Temporal Out-Branchings (tob), we solve the problem for other optimization criteria (travel duration, departure time, number of transfers, total waiting time, traveling time). For some criteria we provide a log linear algorithm for computing such branchings, while for others we prove that deciding the existence of a spanning tob is NP-complete. The same results hold for optimal temporal in-branchings. We also investigate the related problem of computing a spanning temporal subgraph with the minimum number of arcs and optimizing a chosen criterion; this problem turns out to be always NP-hard. The hardness results are quite surprising, as computing optimal paths between nodes is always polynomial-time.