An algebraic approach to the reconstruction of uniform hypergraphs from their degree sequence

Abstract

The reconstruction of a (hyper)graph starting from its degree sequence is one of the most relevant among the inverse problems investigated in the field of graph theory. In case of graphs, a feasible solution can be quickly reached, while in case of hypergraphs Deza et al. (2018) proved that the problem is NP-hard even in the simple case of 3-uniform ones. This result opened a new research line consisting in the detection of instances for which a solution can be computed in polynomial time. In this work we deal with 3-uniform hypergraphs, and we study them from a different perspective, exploiting a connection of these objects with partially ordered sets. More precisely, we introduce a simple partially ordered set, whose ideals are in bijection with a subclass of 3-uniform hypergraphs. We completely characterize their degree sequences in case of principal ideals (here a simple fast reconstruction strategy follows), and we furthermore carry on a complete analysis of those degree sequences related to the ideals with two generators. We also consider unique hypergraphs in $D^{ext}$, i.e., those hypergraphs that do not share their degree sequence with other non-isomorphic ones. We show that uniqueness holds in case of hypergraphs associated to principal ideals, and we provide some examples of hypergraphs in $D^{ext}$ where this property is lost.