Polynomial Kernel for Unbounded Zero Forcing

Determine whether standard Zero Forcing, with unbounded propagation and parameterized by the solution size, admits a polynomial kernel.

Background

The paper proves that every fixed-round k-Forcing problem has a polynomial kernel when parameterized by the solution size, including bounded-round Zero Forcing. It contrasts this positive result with a lower bound for Connected Zero Forcing, which does not admit a polynomial kernel unless coNP is contained in NP/poly. The corresponding kernelization status of ordinary Zero Forcing with unbounded propagation is left unresolved.