Abstract
In a parameterized problem, every instance I comes with a positive integer k. The problem is said to admit a polynomial kernel if, in polynomial time, one can reduce the size of the instance I to a polynomial in k while preserving the answer. In this work, we give two meta-theorems on kernelization. The first theorem says that all problems expressible in counting monadic second-order logic and satisfying a coverability property admit a polynomial kernel on graphs of bounded genus. Our second result is that all problems that have finite integer index and satisfy a weaker coverability property admit a linear kernel on graphs of bounded genus. These theorems unify and extend all previously known kernelization results for planar graph problems.