Abstract.
We introduce a new class of valid inequalities for general integer linear programs, called binary clutter (BC) inequalities. They include the \({{\{0, \frac{{1}}{{2}}\}}}\)-cuts of Caprara and Fischetti as a special case and have some interesting connections to binary matroids, binary clutters and Gomory corner polyhedra. We show that the separation problem for BC-cuts is strongly 𝒩𝒫-hard in general, but polynomially solvable in certain special cases. As a by-product we also obtain new conditions under which \({{\{0, \frac{{1}}{{2}}\}}}\)-cuts can be separated in polynomial time. These ideas are then illustrated using the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) as an example. This leads to an interesting link between the TSP and two apparently unrelated problems, the T-join and max-cut problems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Applegate, D., Bixby, R.E., Chvátal, V., Cook, W.: Finding cuts in the TSP (a preliminary report). Technical Report 95–05, DIMACS, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Aardal, K., Weismantel, R.: Polyhedral combinatorics. In: M. Dell'Amico, F. Maffioli, S. Martello (eds.) Annotated Bibliographies in Combinatorial Optimization. pp. 31–44. New York, Wiley
Barahona, F.: The max-cut problem in graphs not contractible to K 5. Oper. Res. Lett. 2, 107–111 (1983)
Barahona, F., Grötschel, M.: On the cycle polytope of a binary matroid. J. Comb. Th. (B). 40, 40–62 (1986)
Caprara, A., Fischetti, M.: 0, ½-Chvátal-Gomory cuts. Math. Program. 74, 221–235 (1996)
Caprara, A., Fischetti, M., Letchford, A.N.: On the separation of maximally violated mod-k cuts. Math. Program. 87, 37–56 (2000)
Caprara, A., Letchford, A.N.: On the separation of split cuts and related inequalities. Math. Program. 94, 279–294 (2003)
Chen, D.S., Zionts, S.: Comparison of some algorithms for solving the group theoretic programming problem. Oper. Res. 24, 1120–1128 (1976)
Chvátal, V.: Edmonds polytopes and a hierarchy of combinatorial problems. Discr. Math. 4, 305–337 (1973)
Chvátal, V., Cook, W., Hartmann, M.: On cutting-plane proofs in combinatorial optimization. Lin. Alg. Appl. 114(115), 455–499 (1989)
Cornuéjols, G., Guenin, B.: Ideal binary clutters, connectivity, and a conjecture of Seymour. SIAM J. Discr. Math. 15, 329–352 (2002)
Cornuéjols, G., Li, Y.: Elementary closures for integer programs. Oper. Res. Letts 28, 1–8 (2001)
Edmonds, J., Johnson, E.L.: Matching, Euler tours and the Chinese postman. Math. Program. 5, 88–124 (1973)
Gastou, G., Johnson, E.L.: Binary group and chinese postman polyhedra. Math. Program. 34, 1–33 (1986)
Gomory, R.E.: On the relation between integer and non-integer solutions to linear programs. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 53, 260–265 (1965)
Gomory, R.E.: Some polyhedra related to combinatorial problems. Lin. Alg. Appl. 2, 451–558 (1969)
Grötschel, M., Pulleyblank, W.R.: Weakly bipartite graphs. Oper. Res. Lett. 1, 23–27 (1981)
Grötschel, M., Lovász, L., Schrijver, A.J.: Geometric Algorithms and Combinatorial Optimization. Wiley: New York, 1988
Grötschel, M., Padberg, M.W.: On the symmetric travelling salesman problem I: inequalities. Math. Program. 16, 265–280 (1979)
Grötschel, M., Truemper, K.: Decomposition and optimization over cycles in binary matroids. J. Comb. Th. (B) 46, 306–337 (1989)
Guenin, B.: A characterization of weakly bipartite graphs. J. Comb. Th. (B) 83, 112–168 (2001)
Letchford, A.N.: Separating a superclass of comb inequalities in planar graphs. Math. Oper. Res. 25, 443–454 (2000)
Letchford, A.N., Lodi, A.: Polynomial-time separation of simple comb inequalities. In: W.J. Cook, A.S. Schulz (Eds.), Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization 9. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2337, Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg, 2002, pp. 96–111
Naddef, D.: Polyhedral theory and branch-and-cut algorithms for the symmetric TSP. In: G. Gutin, A. Punnen (eds.), The Traveling Salesman Problem and its Variations. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002
Nemhauser, G.L., Wolsey, L.A.: Integer and Combinatorial Optimization. Wiley: New York, 1988
Oxley, J.G.: Matroid Theory. Oxford Science Publications: Oxford, 1992
Padberg, M.W., Grötschel, M.: Polyhedral computations. In: E.L. Lawler, J.K. Lenstra, A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan, D.B. Schmoys (Eds.) The Traveling Salesman Problem. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1985
Padberg, M.W., Rao, M.R.: Odd minimum cut-sets and b-matchings. Math. Oper. Res. 7, 67–80 (1982)
Seymour, P.D.: The matroids with the max-flow min-cut property. J. Comb. Th. (B) 23, 189–222 (1977)
Seymour, P.D.: Decomposition of regular matroids. J. Comb. Th. (B) 28, 305–359 (1980)
Seymour, P.D.: Matroids and multicommodity flows. Eur. J. Comb. 2, 257–290 (1981)
Truemper, K.: Max-flow min-cut matroids: polynomial testing and polynomial algorithms for maximum flow and shortest routes. Math. Oper. Res. 12, 72–96 (1987)
Truemper, K.: A decomposition theory for matroids. IV: Decomposition of graphs. J. Comb. Th. (B) 45, 259–292 (1988)
Truemper, K.: Matroid Decomposition. Academic Press: San Diego, 1992
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Mathematics Subject Classification: 90C10
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Letchford, A. Binary clutter inequalities for integer programs. Math. Program., Ser. B 98, 201–221 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-003-0402-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-003-0402-x