Approximate Max-Flow Min-Multicut Theorem for Graphs of Bounded Treewidth

Abstract

We prove an approximate max-multiflow min-multicut theorem for bounded treewidth graphs. In particular, we show the following: Given a treewidth-$r$ graph, there exists a (fractional) multicommodity flow of value $f$, and a multicut of capacity $c$ such that $f\le c\le \mathcal{O}(\ln (r+1))\cdot f$. It is well known that the multiflow-multicut gap on an $r$-vertex (constant degree) expander graph can be $\Omega (\ln r)$, and hence our result is tight up to constant factors. Our proof is constructive, and we also obtain a polynomial time $\mathcal{O}(\ln (r+1))$-approximation algorithm for the minimum multicut problem on treewidth-$r$ graphs. Our algorithm proceeds by rounding the optimal fractional solution to the natural linear programming relaxation of the multicut problem. We introduce novel modifications to the well-known region growing algorithm to facilitate the rounding while guaranteeing at most a logarithmic factor loss in the treewidth.