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Main Author: Mizutani, Ryuhei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.14805
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author Mizutani, Ryuhei
author_facet Mizutani, Ryuhei
contents This paper considers submodular function minimization (SFM) restricted to a family of subsets. We show that SFM over complements of families with certain hierarchical structures can be solved in polynomial-time. This yields a polynomial-time algorithm for SFM over complements of various families, such as intersecting families, crossing families, and the unions of lattices. Moreover, this tractability result partially settles the open question posed by Nägele, Sudakov, and Zenklusen on polynomial-solvability of SFM over the intersection of parity families. Furthermore, our tractability result implies that for a constant positive integer $k$, the $k$-th smallest value of a submodular function can be obtained in polynomial-time.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_14805
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Minimizing Submodular Functions over Hierarchical Families
Mizutani, Ryuhei
Combinatorics
This paper considers submodular function minimization (SFM) restricted to a family of subsets. We show that SFM over complements of families with certain hierarchical structures can be solved in polynomial-time. This yields a polynomial-time algorithm for SFM over complements of various families, such as intersecting families, crossing families, and the unions of lattices. Moreover, this tractability result partially settles the open question posed by Nägele, Sudakov, and Zenklusen on polynomial-solvability of SFM over the intersection of parity families. Furthermore, our tractability result implies that for a constant positive integer $k$, the $k$-th smallest value of a submodular function can be obtained in polynomial-time.
title Minimizing Submodular Functions over Hierarchical Families
topic Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.14805