A Parameterized Measure-and-Conquer Analysis for Finding a k-Leaf Spanning Tree in an Undirected Graph

Abstract : The problem of finding a spanning tree in an undirected graph with a maximum number of leaves is known to be NP-hard. We present an algorithm which finds a spanning tree with at least k leaves in time O*(3.4575k) which improves the currently best algorithm. The estimation of the running time is done by using a non-standard measure. The present paper is one of the still few examples that employ the Measure & Conquer paradigm of algorithm analysis in the area of Parameterized Algorithmics.