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Title: Counting and Enumerating Optimum Cut Sets for Hypergraph k -Partitioning Problems for Fixed k
We consider the problem of enumerating optimal solutions for two hypergraph k-partitioning problems, namely, Hypergraph-k-Cut and Minmax-Hypergraph-k-Partition. The input in hypergraph k-partitioning problems is a hypergraph [Formula: see text] with positive hyperedge costs along with a fixed positive integer k. The goal is to find a partition of V into k nonempty parts [Formula: see text]—known as a k-partition—so as to minimize an objective of interest. (1) If the objective of interest is the maximum cut value of the parts, then the problem is known as Minmax-Hypergraph-k-Partition. A subset of hyperedges is a minmax-k-cut-set if it is the subset of hyperedges crossing an optimum k-partition for Minmax-Hypergraph-k-Partition. (2) If the objective of interest is the total cost of hyperedges crossing the k-partition, then the problem is known as Hypergraph-k-Cut. A subset of hyperedges is a min-k-cut-set if it is the subset of hyperedges crossing an optimum k-partition for Hypergraph-k-Cut. We give the first polynomial bound on the number of minmax-k-cut-sets and a polynomial-time algorithm to enumerate all of them in hypergraphs for every fixed k. Our technique is strong enough to also enable an [Formula: see text]-time deterministic algorithm to enumerate all min-k-cut-sets in hypergraphs, thus improving on the previously known [Formula: see text]-time deterministic algorithm, in which n is the number of vertices and p is the size of the hypergraph. The correctness analysis of our enumeration approach relies on a structural result that is a strong and unifying generalization of known structural results for Hypergraph-k-Cut and Minmax-Hypergraph-k-Partition. We believe that our structural result is likely to be of independent interest in the theory of hypergraphs (and graphs). Funding: All authors were supported by NSF AF 1814613 and 1907937.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1907937
PAR ID:
10530298
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
INFORMS
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Mathematics of Operations Research
ISSN:
0364-765X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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