We derive a new lower bound for the bandwidth of a graph that is based on a
new lower bound for the minimum cut problem. Our new semidefinite programming
relaxation of the minimum cut problem is obtained by strengthening the known
semidefinite programming relaxation for the quadratic assignment problem (or
for the graph partition problem) by fixing two vertices in the graph; one on
each side of the cut. This fixing results in several smaller subproblems that
need to be solved to obtain the new bound. In order to efficiently solve these
subproblems we exploit symmetry in the data; that is, both symmetry in the
min-cut problem and symmetry in the graphs. To obtain upper bounds for the
bandwidth of graphs with symmetry, we develop a heuristic approach based on the
well-known reverse Cuthill-McKee algorithm, and that improves significantly its
performance on the tested graphs. Our approaches result in the best known lower
and upper bounds for the bandwidth of all graphs under consideration, i.e.,
Hamming graphs, 3-dimensional generalized Hamming graphs, Johnson graphs, and
Kneser graphs, with up to 216 vertices
