Computing exact minimum cuts without knowing the graph


Abstract in English

We give query-efficient algorithms for the global min-cut and the s-t cut problem in unweighted, undirected graphs. Our oracle model is inspired by the submodular function minimization problem: on query $S subset V$, the oracle returns the size of the cut between $S$ and $V setminus S$. We provide algorithms computing an exact minimum $s$-$t$ cut in $G$ with $tilde{O}(n^{5/3})$ queries, and computing an exact global minimum cut of $G$ with only $tilde{O}(n)$ queries (while learning the graph requires $tilde{Theta}(n^2)$ queries).

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