Multicriteria cuts and size-constrained k-cuts in hypergraphs

We address counting and optimization variants of multicriteria global min-cut and size-constrained min-k-cut in hypergraphs. 1. For an r-rank n-vertex hypergraph endowed with t hyperedge-cost functions, we show that the number of multiobjective min-cuts is O(r2^trn³t−¹). In particular, this shows that the number of parametric min-cuts in constant rank hypergraphs for a constant number of criteria is strongly polynomial, thus resolving an open question by Aissi, Mahjoub, McCormick, and Queyranne [1]. In addition, we give randomized algorithms to enumerate all multiobjective min-cuts and all pareto-optimal cuts in strongly polynomial-time. 2. We also address node-budgeted multiobjective min-cuts: For an n-vertex hypergraph endowed with t vertex-weight functions, we show that the number of node-budgeted multiobjective min-cuts is O(r2^rn^t+2), where r is the rank of the hypergraph, and the number of node-budgeted b-multiobjective min-cuts for a fixed budget-vector b ∈ R^t₊ is O(n²). 3. We show that min-k-cut in hypergraphs subject to constant lower bounds on part sizes is solvable in polynomial-time for constant k, thus resolving an open problem posed by Queyranne [11]. Our technique also shows that the number of optimal solutions is polynomial. All of our results build on the random contraction approach of Karger [12]. Our techniques illustrate the versatility of the random contraction approach to address counting and algorithmic problems concerning multiobjective min-cuts and size-constrained k-cuts in hypergraphs.