English

Flow-augmentation II: Undirected graphs

Data Structures and Algorithms 2023-02-16 v2

Abstract

We present an undirected version of the recently introduced flow-augmentation technique: Given an undirected multigraph GG with distinguished vertices s,tV(G)s,t \in V(G) and an integer kk, one can in randomized kO(1)(V(G)+E(G))k^{O(1)} \cdot (|V(G)| + |E(G)|) time sample a set A(V(G)2)A \subseteq \binom{V(G)}{2} such that the following holds: for every inclusion-wise minimal stst-cut ZZ in GG of cardinality at most kk, ZZ becomes a minimum-cardinality cut between ss and tt in G+AG+A (i.e., in the multigraph GG with all edges of AA added) with probability 2O(klogk)2^{-O(k \log k)}. Compared to the version for directed graphs [STOC 2022], the version presented here has improved success probability (2O(klogk)2^{-O(k \log k)} instead of 2O(k4logk)2^{-O(k^4 \log k)}), linear dependency on the graph size in the running time bound, and an arguably simpler proof. An immediate corollary is that the Bi-objective stst-Cut problem can be solved in randomized FPT time 2O(klogk)(V(G)+E(G))2^{O(k \log k)} (|V(G)|+|E(G)|) on undirected graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.09018,
  title  = {Flow-augmentation II: Undirected graphs},
  author = {Eun Jung Kim and Stefan Kratsch and Marcin Pilipczuk and Magnus Wahlström},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.09018},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

v2. Major update of all three flow-augmentation papers. The partial dichotomy part has been removed from this work, as it is superseded by the full dichotomy of Flow-Augmentation III (arXiv:2207.07422)

R2 v1 2026-06-23T17:11:55.235Z