On the Complexity of Recognizing k+-Real Face Graphs

A nonplanar drawing Γ of a graph G divides the plane into topologically connected regions, called faces (or cells). The boundary of each face is formed by vertices, crossings, and edge segments. Given a positive integer k, we say that Γ is a k+-real face drawing of G if the boundary of each face of Γ contains at least k vertices of G. The study of k+-real face drawings started in a paper by Binucci et al. (WG 2023), where edge density bounds and relationships with other beyond-planar graph classes are proved. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of recognizing k+-real face graphs, i.e., graphs that admit a k+-real face drawing. We study both the general unconstrained scenario and the 2-layer scenario in which the graph is bipartite, the vertices of the two partition sets lie on two distinct horizontal layers, and the edges are straight-line segments. We give NP-completeness results for the unconstrained scenario and efficient recognition algorithms for the 2-layer setting.