Computing all s-t bridges and articulation points simplified

06/26/2020
by   Massimo Cairo, et al.
0

Given a directed graph G and a pair of nodes s and t, an s-t bridge of G is an edge whose removal breaks all s-t paths of G. Similarly, an s-t articulation point of G is a node whose removal breaks all s-t paths of G. Computing the sequence of all s-t bridges of G (as well as the s-t articulation points) is a basic graph problem, solvable in linear time using the classical min-cut algorithm. When dealing with cuts of unit size (s-t bridges) this algorithm can be simplified to a single graph traversal from s to t avoiding an arbitrary s-t path, which is interrupted at the s-t bridges. Further, the corresponding proof is also simplified making it independent of the theory of network flows.

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