English

On weighted graph separation problems and flow-augmentation

Data Structures and Algorithms 2024-01-11 v2 Computational Complexity

Abstract

One of the first application of the recently introduced technique of \emph{flow-augmentation} [Kim et al., STOC 2022] is a fixed-parameter algorithm for the weighted version of \textsc{Directed Feedback Vertex Set}, a landmark problem in parameterized complexity. In this note we explore applicability of flow-augmentation to other weighted graph separation problems parameterized by the size of the cutset. We show the following. -- In weighted undirected graphs \textsc{Multicut} is FPT, both in the edge- and vertex-deletion version. -- The weighted version of \textsc{Group Feedback Vertex Set} is FPT, even with an oracle access to group operations. -- The weighted version of \textsc{Directed Subset Feedback Vertex Set} is FPT. Our study reveals \textsc{Directed Symmetric Multicut} as the next important graph separation problem whose parameterized complexity remains unknown, even in the unweighted setting.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2208.14841,
  title  = {On weighted graph separation problems and flow-augmentation},
  author = {Eun Jung Kim and Tomáš Masařík and Marcin Pilipczuk and Roohani Sharma and Magnus Wahlström},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.14841},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

17 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-28T00:28:51.039Z