List Homomorphisms and Circular Arc Graphs

List homomorphisms generalize list colourings in the following way: Given graphs G; H , and lists L(v) V (H); v 2 V (G), a list homomorphism of G to H with respect to the lists L is a mapping f : V (G) ! V (H) such that uv 2 E (G) implies f (u)f(v) 2 E (H), and f (v) 2 L(v) for all v 2 V (G). The list homomorphism problem for a xed graph H asks whether or not an input graph G together with lists L(v) V (H), v 2 V (G), admits a list homomorphism with respect to L. The list homomorphism problem was introduced by Feder and Hell, who proved that for reeexive graphs H (that is, for graphs H in which every vertex has a loop), the problem is polynomial time solvable if H is an interval graph, and is NP-complete otherwise. Here we consider graphs H without loops, and nd that the problem is closely related to circular arc graphs. We show that the list homomorphism problem is polynomial time solvable if the complement of H is a circular arc graph of clique covering number two, and is NP-complete otherwise. For the purposes of the proof we give a new characterization of circular arc graphs of clique covering number two, by the absence of a structure analogous to Gallai's asteroids. Both results point to a surprising similarity between interval graphs and the complements of circular arc graphs of clique covering number two.