Partial characterizations of 1-perfectly orientable graphs

Abstract: We study the class of 1-perfectly orientable graphs, that is, graphs having an orientation in which every out-neighborhood induces a tournament. 1-perfectly orientable graphs form a common generalization of chordal graphs and circular arc graphs. Even though they can be recognized in polynomial time, little is known about their structure. In this paper, we develop several results on 1-perfectly orientable graphs. In particular, we: (i) give a characterization of 1-perfectly orientable graphs in terms of edge clique covers, (ii) identify several graph transformations preserving the class of 1-perfectly orientable graphs, (iii) exhibit an infinite family of minimal forbidden induced minors for the class of 1-perfectly orientable graphs, and (iv) characterize the class of 1-perfectly orientable graphs within the classes of cographs and of cobipartite graphs. The class of 1-perfectly orientable co-bipartite graphs coincides with the class of co-bipartite circular arc graphs.