Minimal comparability completions of arbitrary graphs

A transitive orientation of an undirected graph is an assignment of directions to its edges so that these directed edges represent a transitive relation between the vertices of the graph. Not every graph has a transitive orientation, but every graph can be turned into a graph that has a transitive orientation, by adding edges. We study the problem of adding an inclusion minimal set of edges to an arbitrary graph so that the resulting graph is transitively orientable. We show that this problem can be solved in polynomial time, and we give a surprisingly simple algorithm for it. We use a vertex incremental approach in this algorithm, and we also give a more general result that describes graph classes Pi for which Pi completion of arbitrary graphs can be achieved through such a vertex incremental approach. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.