On the minimum bisection of random 3−3-regular graphs

In this paper we give new asymptotically almost sure lower and upper bounds on the bisection width of random $3-$regular graphs. The main contribution is a new lower bound on the bisection width of $0.103295n$, based on a first moment method together with a structural decomposition of the graph, thereby improving a 27 year old result of Kostochka and Melnikov. We also give a complementary upper bound of $0.139822n$, combining known spectral ideas with original combinatorial insights. Developping further this approach, with the help of Monte Carlo simulations, we obtain a non-rigorous upper bound of $0.131366n$.Comment: 48 pages, 20 figure

Linear orderings of random geometric graphs (extended abstract)

In random geometric graphs, vertices are randomly distributed on [0,1]^2 and pairs of vertices are connected by edges whenever they are sufficiently close together. Layout problems seek a linear ordering of the vertices of a graph such that a certain measure is minimized. In this paper, we study several layout problems on random geometric graphs: Bandwidth, Minimum Linear Arrangement, Minimum Cut, Minimum Sum Cut, Vertex Separation and Bisection. We first prove that some of these problems remain \NP-complete even for geometric graphs. Afterwards, we compute lower bounds that hold with high probability on random geometric graphs. Finally, we characterize the probabilistic behavior of the lexicographic ordering for our layout problems on the class of random geometric graphs.Postprint (published version

The Peculiar Phase Structure of Random Graph Bisection

The mincut graph bisection problem involves partitioning the n vertices of a graph into disjoint subsets, each containing exactly n/2 vertices, while minimizing the number of "cut" edges with an endpoint in each subset. When considered over sparse random graphs, the phase structure of the graph bisection problem displays certain familiar properties, but also some surprises. It is known that when the mean degree is below the critical value of 2 log 2, the cutsize is zero with high probability. We study how the minimum cutsize increases with mean degree above this critical threshold, finding a new analytical upper bound that improves considerably upon previous bounds. Combined with recent results on expander graphs, our bound suggests the unusual scenario that random graph bisection is replica symmetric up to and beyond the critical threshold, with a replica symmetry breaking transition possibly taking place above the threshold. An intriguing algorithmic consequence is that although the problem is NP-hard, we can find near-optimal cutsizes (whose ratio to the optimal value approaches 1 asymptotically) in polynomial time for typical instances near the phase transition.Comment: substantially revised section 2, changed figures 3, 4 and 6, made minor stylistic changes and added reference

Recent Advances in Graph Partitioning

We survey recent trends in practical algorithms for balanced graph partitioning together with applications and future research directions