Counting over Unbreakable Decompositions: A Single-Exponential Parameterized Algorithm for Minimum Bisection

The Minimum Bisection problem asks whether an n-vertex graph can be split into two halves with at most k edges between them. We give a single exponential time algorithm for minimum bisection, running in time 2O(k)nO(1). This improves the previous bound of 2O(klog k)nO(1) due to Cygan, Komosa, Lokshtanov, Pilipczuk, Pilipczuk, Saurabh, and Wahlström (TALG 2021). Our algorithm counts solutions instead of only finding if one exists. We show that our dynamic program can be implemented on top of an unbreakable decomposition using algebraic techniques. Along the way, we compute in time 2O(k)nO(1) a tree decomposition with adhesions of size at most $2k$ whose bags are $(3k,k)$-edge-unbreakable inside their own subtrees.