The clique problem on inductive $k$-independent graphs

Abstract: A graph is inductive $k$-independent if there exists and ordering of its vertices $v_{1},...,v_{n}$ such that $\alpha(G[N(v_{i})\cap V_{i}])\leq k$ where $N(v_{i})$ is the neighborhood of $v_{i}$, $V_{i}={v_{i},...,v_{n}}$ and $\alpha$ is the independence number. In this article, by answering to a question of [Y.Ye, A.Borodin, Elimination graphs, ACM Trans. Algorithms 8 (2) (2012) 14:1-14:23], we design a polynomial time approximation algorithm with ratio {$\overline{\Delta} \slash log(log(\overline{ \Delta}) \slash k)$ for the maximum clique and also show that the decision version of this problem is fixed parameter tractable for this particular family of graphs with complexity $O(1.2127<sup>{(p+k-1)<sup>{k}}n)$. Then we study a subclass of inductive $k$-independent graphs, namely $k$-degenerate graphs. A graph is $k$-degenerate if there exists an ordering of its vertices $v_{1},...,v_{n}$ such that $|N(v_{i})\cap V_{i}|\leq k$. Our contribution is an algorithm computing a maximum clique for this class of graphs in time $O(1.2127<sup>{k}(n-k+1))$, thus improving previous best results. We also prove some structural properties for inductive $k$-independent graphs.