A Branch-and-Cut Algorithm based on Semidefinite Programming for the Minimum k-Partition Problem

Abstract

The minimum k-partition (MkP) problem is a well-known optimization problem encountered in various applications most notably in telecommunication and physics. Formulated in the early 1990s by Chopra and Rao, the MkP problem is the problem of partitioning the set of vertices of a graph into k disjoint subsets so as to minimize the total weight of the edges joining vertices in different partitions.

In this thesis, we design and implement a branch-and-cut algorithm based on semidefinite programming (SBC) for the MkP problem. We describe and study the properties of two relaxations of the MkP problem, the linear programming and the semidefinite programming relaxations. We then derive a new strengthened relaxation based on semidefinite programming. This new relaxation provides tighter bounds compared to the other two discussed relaxations but suffers in term of computational time. We further devise an iterative clustering heuristic (ICH), a novel heuristic that finds feasible solution to the MkP problem and we compare it to the hyperplane rounding techniques of Goemans and Williamson and Frieze and Jerrum for k=2 and for k=3 respectively. Our computational results support the conclusion that ICH provides a better feasible solution for the MkP. Furthermore, unlike the hyperplane rounding, ICH remains very effective in the presence of negative edge weights. Next we describe in detail the design and implementation of a branch-and-cut algorithm based on semidefinite programming (SBC) to find optimal solution for the MkP problem. The ICH heuristic is used in our SBC algorithm to provide feasible solutions at each node of the branch-and-cut tree. Finally, we present computational results for the SBC algorithm on several classes of test instances with k=3, 5, and 7. Complete graphs with up to 60 vertices and sparse graphs with up to 100 vertices arising from a physics application were considered.