A Cactus Theorem for End Cuts

Dinits–Karzanov–Lomonosov showed that it is possible to encode all minimal edge cuts of a graph by a tree-like structure called a cactus. We show here that minimal edge cuts separating ends of the graph rather than vertices can be "encoded" also by a cactus. As a corollary, we obtain a new proof of Stallings' ends theorem. We apply our methods to finite graphs as well and we show that several types of cuts can be encoded by cacti.

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