Computing Tree Decompositions with FlowCutter: PACE 2017 Submission

Abstract

We describe the algorithm behind our PACE 2017 submission to the heuristic tree decomposition computation track. It was the only competitor to solve all instances and won a tight second place. The algorithm was originally developed in the context of accelerating shortest path computation on road graphs using multilevel partitions. We illustrate how this seemingly unrelated field fits into tree decomposition and parameterized complexity theory.