Simple and Improved Parameterized Algorithms for Multiterminal Cuts

Abstract

Given a graph G=(V,E) with n vertices and m edges, and a subset T of k vertices called terminals, the Edge (respectively, Vertex) Multiterminal Cut problem is to find a set of at most l edges (non-terminal vertices), whose removal from G separates each terminal from all the others. These two problems are NP-hard for k≥3 but well-known to be polynomial-time solvable for k=2 by the flow technique. In this paper, based on a notion farthest minimum isolating cut, we design several simple and improved algorithms for Multiterminal Cut. We show that Edge Multiterminal Cut can be solved in O(2 l kT(n,m)) time and Vertex Multiterminal Cut can be solved in O(k l T(n,m)) time, where T(n,m)=O(min (n 2/3,m 1/2)m) is the running time of finding a minimum (s,t) cut in an unweighted graph. Furthermore, the running time bounds of our algorithms can be further reduced for small values of k: Edge 3-Terminal Cut can be solved in O(1.415 l T(n,m)) time, and Vertex {3,4,5,6}-Terminal Cuts can be solved in O(2.059 l T(n,m)), O(2.772 l T(n,m)), O(3.349 l T(n,m)) and O(3.857 l T(n,m)) time respectively. Our results on Multiterminal Cut can also be used to obtain faster algorithms for Multicut: $O((\min(\sqrt{2k},l)+1)^{2k}2^{l}T(n,m))$-time algorithm for Edge Multicut and O((2k) k+l/2 T(n,m))-time algorithm for Vertex Multicut.