A study on continuous max-flow and min-cut approaches

We propose and study novel max-flow models in the continuous setting, which directly map the discrete graph-based max-flow problem to its continuous optimization formulation. We show such a continuous max-flow model leads to an equivalent min-cut problem in a natural way, as the corresponding dual model. In this regard, we revisit basic conceptions used in discrete max-flow / min-cut models and give their new explanations from a variational perspective. We also propose corresponding continuous max-flow and min-cut models constrained by priori supervised information and apply them to interactive image segmentation/labeling problems. We prove that the proposed continuous max-flow and min-cut models, with or without supervised constraints, give rise to a series of global binary solutions λ∗(x) ∊ {0,1}, which globally solves the original nonconvex image partitioning problems. In addition, we propose novel and reliable multiplier-based max-flow algorithms. Their convergence is guaranteed by classical optimization theories. Experiments on image segmentation, unsupervised and supervised, validate the effectiveness of the discussed continuous max-flow and min-cut models and suggested max-flow based algorithms.