An Explicit Formula for Vertex Enumeration in the CUT(n) Polytope via Probabilistic Methods

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Marić, Nevena
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866918098101075968
author Marić, Nevena
author_facet Marić, Nevena
contents We present an explicit closed-form formula for the vertices of the classical cut polytope $\operatorname{CUT}(n)$, defined as the convex hull of cut vectors of the complete graph $K_n$. Our derivation proceeds via a related polytope, denoted $\mathbf{1}$-$\operatorname{CUT}(n)$, whose vertices are obtained by flipping all bits of the $\operatorname{CUT}(n)$ vertices. This polytope arises naturally in a probabilistic context involving agreement probabilities among symmetric Bernoulli random variables which serves as the starting point of this work. Our approach constructs the vertex set recursively via a binary encoding that stems from this probabilistic perspective. We prove that the resulting sequence of encoded integers, when appropriately scaled, exhibits an almost-linear behavior closely approximating the line $y = x - \frac{1}{2}$. This structure motivates the introduction of the alternating cycle function, an integer-valued map whose key property is power-of-two composition invariance. The function serves as the foundation for our closed-form enumeration formula. The result provides a rare instance of explicit vertex characterization for a $0$/$1$-polytope and offers a transparent combinatorial construction independent of enumeration algorithms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_21787
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Explicit Formula for Vertex Enumeration in the CUT(n) Polytope via Probabilistic Methods
Marić, Nevena
Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Optimization and Control
Probability
We present an explicit closed-form formula for the vertices of the classical cut polytope $\operatorname{CUT}(n)$, defined as the convex hull of cut vectors of the complete graph $K_n$. Our derivation proceeds via a related polytope, denoted $\mathbf{1}$-$\operatorname{CUT}(n)$, whose vertices are obtained by flipping all bits of the $\operatorname{CUT}(n)$ vertices. This polytope arises naturally in a probabilistic context involving agreement probabilities among symmetric Bernoulli random variables which serves as the starting point of this work. Our approach constructs the vertex set recursively via a binary encoding that stems from this probabilistic perspective. We prove that the resulting sequence of encoded integers, when appropriately scaled, exhibits an almost-linear behavior closely approximating the line $y = x - \frac{1}{2}$. This structure motivates the introduction of the alternating cycle function, an integer-valued map whose key property is power-of-two composition invariance. The function serves as the foundation for our closed-form enumeration formula. The result provides a rare instance of explicit vertex characterization for a $0$/$1$-polytope and offers a transparent combinatorial construction independent of enumeration algorithms.
title An Explicit Formula for Vertex Enumeration in the CUT(n) Polytope via Probabilistic Methods
topic Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Optimization and Control
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21787