The maximization of submodular functions : old and new proofs for the correctness of the dichotomy algorithm

Abstract

The first purpose of this paper is to make an old (Russian) theoretical results about the structure of local and global maxima of submodular functions, Cherenin’s excluding rules and his Dichotomy Algorithm more accessible for Western community. The second purpose of this paper is to present our main result which can be stated as follows. For any pair of embedded subsets, the difference of their function values is a lower bound for the difference between the unknown(!) optimal values of the corresponding partition defined by these subsets. A simple justification of Cherenin’s rules, the Dichotomy Algorithmand its generalization with the new branching rules from our main result are presented. The usefulness of our new branching rules is illustrated by means of a numerical example.