The vertex leafage of chordal graphs

Every chordal graph $G$ can be represented as the intersection graph of a collection of subtrees of a host tree, a so-called {\em tree model} of $G$. The leafage $\ell(G)$ of a connected chordal graph $G$ is the minimum number of leaves of the host tree of a tree model of $G$. The vertex leafage $\vl(G)$ is the smallest number $k$ such that there exists a tree model of $G$ in which every subtree has at most $k$ leaves. The leafage is a polynomially computable parameter by the result of \cite{esa}. In this contribution, we study the vertex leafage. We prove for every fixed $k\geq 3$ that deciding whether the vertex leafage of a given chordal graph is at most $k$ is NP-complete by proving a stronger result, namely that the problem is NP-complete on split graphs with vertex leafage of at most $k+1$. On the other hand, for chordal graphs of leafage at most $\ell$, we show that the vertex leafage can be calculated in time $n^{O(\ell)}$. Finally, we prove that there exists a tree model that realizes both the leafage and the vertex leafage of $G$. Notably, for every path graph $G$, there exists a path model with $\ell(G)$ leaves in the host tree and it can be computed in $O(n^3)$ time.