Posimodular Function Optimization

Abstract

Given a posimodular function $f: 2^V \to \mathbb{R}$ on a finite set $V$, we consider the problem of finding a nonempty subset $X$ of $V$ that minimizes $f(X)$. Posimodular functions often arise in combinatorial optimization such as undirected cut functions. In this paper, we show that any algorithm for the problem requires $\Omega(2^{\frac{n}{7.54}})$ oracle calls to $f$, where $n=|V|$. It contrasts to the fact that the submodular function minimization, which is another generalization of cut functions, is polynomially solvable. When the range of a given posimodular function is restricted to be $D=\{0,1,...,d\}$ for some nonnegative integer $d$, we show that $\Omega(2^{\frac{d}{15.08}})$ oracle calls are necessary, while we propose an $O(n^dT_f+n^{2d+1})$-time algorithm for the problem. Here, $T_f$ denotes the time needed to evaluate the function value $f(X)$ for a given $X \subseteq V$. We also consider the problem of maximizing a given posimodular function. We show that $\Omega(2^{n-1})$ oracle calls are necessary for solving the problem, and that the problem has time complexity $\Theta(n^{d-1}T_f) $ when $D=\{0,1,..., d\}$ is the range of $f$ for some constant $d$.