Abstract

We show how to find a minimum loop cutset in a Bayesian network with high probability. Finding such a loop cutset is the first step in Pearl's method of conditioning for inference. Our random algorithm for finding a loop cutset, called RepeatedWGuessI, outputs a minimum loop cutset, after O(c \Delta 6 k kn) steps, with probability at least 1 \Gamma (1 \Gamma 1 6 k ) c6 k , where c ? 1 is a constant specified by the user, k is the size of a minimum weight loop cutset, and n is the number of vertices. We also show empirically that a variant of this algorithm, called WRA, often finds a loop cutset that is closer to the minimum loop cutset than the ones found by the best deterministic algorithms known. 1

Citations