IBS/KAIST Joint Discrete Math Seminar
IBS Discrete Mathematics Group
In this talk, we will focus on the question of when the set covering polyhedron is integral. We say that the family $\mathcal{C}$ is a clutter if every subset in $\mathcal{C}$ is inclusion-wise minimal. As taking out non-minimal subsets preserves integrality, we may assume that $\mathcal{C}$ is a clutter. We call $\mathcal{C}$ ideal if the set covering polyhedron of it is integral. To understand when a clutter is ideal, the notion of clutter minors is important in that $\mathcal{C}$ is ideal if and only if so is every minor of it. We will study two fundamental classes of non-ideal clutters, namely, deltas and the blockers of extended odd holes. We will characterize when a clutter contains either a delta or the blocker of an extended odd hole as a minor.
This talk is based on joint works with Ahmad Abdi and G\’erard Cornu\’ejols.