Finding Branch-Decompositions and Rank-Decompositions
Petr Hliněný, Sang‐il Oum · SIAM Journal on Computing · 2008
We present a new algorithm that can output the rank-decomposition of width at most k of a graph if such exists. For that we use an algorithm that, for an input matroid represented over a fixed finite field, outputs its branch-decomposition of width at most k if such exists. This algorithm works also for partitioned matroids. Both of these algorithms are fixed-parameter tractable, that is, they run in time $O(n^3)$ where n is the number of vertices / elements of the input, for each constant value of k and any fixed finite field. The previous best algorithm for construction of a branch-decomposition or a rank-decomposition of optimal width due to Oum and Seymour [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 97 (2007), pp. 385–393] is not fixed-parameter tractable.