Randomized heuristics for the MAX-CUT problem

P. Festa, P.M. Pardalos, M.G.C. Resende and C.C. Ribeiro

Optimization Methods and Software, vol. 7, pp. 1033-1058, 2002

ABSTRACT

Given an undirected graph with edge weights, the MAX-CUT problem consists in finding a partition of the nodes into two subsets, such that the sum of the weights of the edges having endpoints in different subsets is maximized.  It is a well-known NP-hard problem with applications in several fields, including VLSI design and statistical physics.  In this paper, a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP), a variable neighborhood search (VNS), and a path-relinking (PR) intensification heuristic for MAX-CUT are proposed and tested.  New hybrid heuristics that combine GRASP, VNS, and PR are also proposed and tested. Computational results indicate that these randomized heuristics find near-optimal solutions.  On a set of standard test problems, new best known solutions were produced for many of the instances.

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