Pseudo Unique Sink Orientations

Abstract

A unique sink orientation (USO) is an orientation of the $n$-dimensional cube graph ($n$-cube) such that every face (subcube) has a unique sink. The number of unique sink orientations is $n^{\Theta(2^n)}$. If a cube orientation is not a USO, it contains a pseudo unique sink orientation (PUSO): an orientation of some subcube such that every proper face of it has a unique sink, but the subcube itself hasn't. In this paper, we characterize and count PUSOs of the $n$-cube. We show that PUSOs have a much more rigid structure than USOs and that their number is between $2^{\Omega(2^{n-\log n})}$ and $2^{O(2^n)}$ which is negligible compared to the number of USOs. As tools, we introduce and characterize two new classes of USOs: border USOs (USOs that appear as facets of PUSOs), and odd USOs which are dual to border USOs but easier to understand.