Faster algorithms for finding a minimum K-way cut in a weighted graph

• Published in: 1997 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems Vol. 2; pp. 1009 - 1012 vol.2
• Main Authors: Kamidoi, Y., Wakabayashi, S., Yoshida, N.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: IEEE 22.11.2002
• Subjects: Approximation algorithms; Cities and towns; Costs; Graph theory; Monte Carlo methods; Polynomials
• ISBN: 9780780335837; 078033583X
• DOI: 10.1109/ISCAS.1997.621902

This paper presents algorithms for computing a minimum 3-way cut and a minimum 4-way cut of an undirected weighted graph G. Let G=(V,E) be an undirected graph with n vertices, m edges and positive edge weights. Goldschmidt et al. presented an algorithm for the minimum /spl kappa/-way cut problem with fixed /spl kappa/, that requires O(n/sup 4/) and O(n/sup 9/) maximum flow computations, respectively, to compute a minimum 3-way cut and a minimum 4-way cut of G. In this paper, we first show some properties on minimum 3-way cuts and minimum 4-way cuts, which indicate a recursive structure of the minimum X-way cut problem when /spl kappa/=3 and 4. Then, based on those properties, we give divide-and-conquer algorithms for computing a minimum 3-way cut and a minimum 4-way cut of G, which require O(n/sup 3/) and O(n/sup 4/) maximum flow computations, respectively. This means that the proposed algorithms are the fastest ones ever known.