A near-linear time minimum Steiner cut algorithm for planar graphs

Abstract: We consider the Minimum Steiner Cut problem on undirected planar graphs with non-negative edge weights. This problem involves finding the minimum cut of the graph that separates a specified subset $X$ of vertices (terminals) into two parts. This problem is of theoretical interest because it generalizes two classical optimization problems, Minimum $s$-$t$ Cut and Minimum Cut, and of practical importance because of its application to computing a lower bound for Steiner (Subset) TSP. Our algorithm has running time $O(n\log{n}\log{k})$ where $k$ is the number of terminals.