Graph Separators, with Applications

This text is devoted to techniques for obtaining upper and lower bounds on the sizes of graph separators - upper bounds being obtained via decomposition algorithms. The book surveys the main approaches to obtaining good graph separations, while its main focus is on techniques for deriving lower bounds on the sizes of graph separators. This asymmetry in focus reflects the perception that the work on upper bounds, or algorithms, for graph separation is much better represented in the standard theory literature than is the work on lower bounds, which we perceive as being much more scattered throughout the literature on application areas.