Multicritera Cuts and Size-Constrained $k$-cuts in Hypergraphs

Abstract: 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 $O(r2<sup>{tr}n<sup>{3t-1})$. 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 (Math Programming, 2015). 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 $O(r2<sup>{r}n<sup>{t+2})$, where $r$ is the rank of the hypergraph, and the number of node-budgeted $b$-multiobjective min-cuts for a fixed budget-vector $b$ is $O(n<sup>2)$. 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. Our technique also shows that the number of optimal solutions is polynomial. All of our results build on the random contraction approach of Karger (SODA, 1993). 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.