Linear-Time Multilevel Graph Partitioning via Edge Sparsification

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gottesbüren, Lars, Maas, Nikolai, Rosch, Dominik, Sanders, Peter, Seemaier, Daniel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Gottesbüren, Lars
Maas, Nikolai
Rosch, Dominik
Sanders, Peter
Seemaier, Daniel
author_facet Gottesbüren, Lars
Maas, Nikolai
Rosch, Dominik
Sanders, Peter
Seemaier, Daniel
contents The current landscape of balanced graph partitioning is divided into high-quality but expensive multilevel algorithms and cheaper approaches with linear running time, such as single-level algorithms and streaming algorithms. We demonstrate how to achieve the best of both worlds with a \emph{linear time multilevel algorithm}. Multilevel algorithms construct a hierarchy of increasingly smaller graphs by repeatedly contracting clusters of nodes. Our approach preserves their distinct advantage, allowing refinement of the partition over multiple levels with increasing detail. At the same time, we use \emph{edge sparsification} to guarantee geometric size reduction between the levels and thus linear running time. We provide a proof of the linear running time as well as additional insights into the behavior of multilevel algorithms, showing that graphs with low modularity are most likely to trigger worst-case running time. We evaluate multiple approaches for edge sparsification and integrate our algorithm into the state-of-the-art multilevel partitioner KaMinPar, maintaining its excellent parallel scalability. As demonstrated in detailed experiments, this results in a $1.49\times$ average speedup (up to $4\times$ for some instances) with only 1\% loss in solution quality. Moreover, our algorithm clearly outperforms state-of-the-art single-level and streaming approaches.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_17615
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Linear-Time Multilevel Graph Partitioning via Edge Sparsification
Gottesbüren, Lars
Maas, Nikolai
Rosch, Dominik
Sanders, Peter
Seemaier, Daniel
Data Structures and Algorithms
The current landscape of balanced graph partitioning is divided into high-quality but expensive multilevel algorithms and cheaper approaches with linear running time, such as single-level algorithms and streaming algorithms. We demonstrate how to achieve the best of both worlds with a \emph{linear time multilevel algorithm}. Multilevel algorithms construct a hierarchy of increasingly smaller graphs by repeatedly contracting clusters of nodes. Our approach preserves their distinct advantage, allowing refinement of the partition over multiple levels with increasing detail. At the same time, we use \emph{edge sparsification} to guarantee geometric size reduction between the levels and thus linear running time. We provide a proof of the linear running time as well as additional insights into the behavior of multilevel algorithms, showing that graphs with low modularity are most likely to trigger worst-case running time. We evaluate multiple approaches for edge sparsification and integrate our algorithm into the state-of-the-art multilevel partitioner KaMinPar, maintaining its excellent parallel scalability. As demonstrated in detailed experiments, this results in a $1.49\times$ average speedup (up to $4\times$ for some instances) with only 1\% loss in solution quality. Moreover, our algorithm clearly outperforms state-of-the-art single-level and streaming approaches.
title Linear-Time Multilevel Graph Partitioning via Edge Sparsification
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.17615