Branch and Bound

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Overview

Branch and bound solves hard optimization and verification problems by splitting them into subproblems, using lower and upper bounds to discard regions that cannot improve the best known solution. Work spans mixed-integer programming, neural-network verification, geometric estimation, routing, and robust regression, with stronger relaxations and problem-specific bounds helping reduce search. Another major direction learns branching and node-selection policies, while parallel CPU–GPU search and hybrid exact–heuristic methods target larger instances. The central tension is to make search faster and more scalable without weakening the guarantees that distinguish exact methods.

Latest papers

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28 papers4 papers in the last four weeks, up 33% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Evo-B&B: Behavior-Aware LLM-Guided Joint Evolution of Branching and Node Selection Policies for MILP

    Oct 16, 2026Jiayu Chen, Chentong Chen, Yuhan Liu +3Branch and BoundMixed-Integer Linear Programming

    School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China · School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

  2. Sequence-Structured Decision Learning for Branch-and-Bound in Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

    Oct 10, 2026Tengfei Liu, Jinrun Liu, Bai Yan +2Branch and BoundMixed-Integer Linear Programming

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China · School of Computer Science and Technology, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, China

  3. BiFE: Search-Efficient Discovery of CPU-Only Branching Policies via LLM-based Bi-Fidelity Evolution

    Sep 29, 2026Ce Zhang, Bin Zhang, Zhiwei Xu +5Multi-Fidelity OptimizationAutomated Algorithm Discovery

    Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences · School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences · Shandong University

  4. Verifying Neural Networks with Reinforcement Learning

    Sep 28, 2026Hai Duong, Thanh Le, ThanhVu NguyenNeural Network VerificationBranch and Bound

    Department of Computer Science George Mason University Fairfax, VA, USA · Unaffiliated Yokosuka, Japan

  5. A Moving-Horizon Approximate Branch-and-Reduce Method for Deep Classification Trees

    Sep 18, 2026Chenxuanyin Zou, Jiayang Ren, Qiangqiang Mao +3Decision Tree LearningBranch and Bound

    Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering University of British Columbia · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of British Columbia · Department of Computer Science University of British Columbia

  6. Closing the Loop: Branch-and-Bound for Scalable Verification of Nonlinear Neural Feedback Systems

    Sep 14, 2026I. Samuel Akinwande, Mykel J. Kochenderfer, Clark BarrettNeural Network VerificationBranch and Bound

    Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305, USA · Department of Computer Science, Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

  7. Sparsity Regularized and Robust Mean Variance Portfolio Selection Under Ellipsoidal Uncertainty

    Sep 10, 2026Deniz Akkaya, Emre Can Yayla, Buse Şen +1Branch and BoundPortfolio Optimization

    Department of Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Türkiye · Risk Analytics and Optimization Chair, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

  8. Unified Branch-and-Bound Search for the Steiner Traveling Salesman Problem on Graphs of Convex Sets

    Aug 21, 2026Jingtao Tang, Hang MaTraveling Salesperson ProblemBranch and Bound

    School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada

  9. Computing Actual Causes for Neural Network Predictions under Structured Causal Inputs

    Aug 4, 2026Jannick Strobel, Muqsit Azeem, Stefan LeueBranch and BoundActual Causality

    University of Konstanz

  10. Optimizing Minimax Regret in Uncertain MDPs with Small Sets of Policies

    Aug 3, 2026Sterre Lutz, Daniël Vos, Matthijs T. J. Spaan +1Markov Decision ProcessesBranch and Bound

    Delft University of Technology

  11. Learning Lookahead Lemmas for Neural Network Verification

    Jul 31, 2026Liam Davis, Haoze WuNeural Network VerificationReLU Neural Networks

    Amherst College

  12. Mining Verdict Boundaries for Neural Network Verification

    Jul 31, 2026Jiawei Ren, Guanqin Zhang, Zhenya Zhang +1Neural Network VerificationBranch and Bound

    University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia · Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan · National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan

  13. Lookahead Branching for Neural Network Verification

    Jul 19, 2026Liam Davis, Duo Zhou, Huan Zhang +3Neural Network VerificationBranch and Bound

    Amherst College · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · Hebrew University of Jerusalem +1

  14. Dynamical Vehicle Orienteering Problem for Multi-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

    Jul 15, 2026František Nekovář, Matej Novosad, Martin Saska +1Trajectory OptimizationBranch and Bound

    Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University, Technicka 2, 166 27, Prague, Czech Republic

  15. Dual-Informed Vertical Expansion for Multi-Objective Node Selection in Anytime Conflict-Based Search

    Jun 30, 2026Willem van Osselaer, Jiarui Li, Meshal Alharbi +1Branch and BoundTree Search

    Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

  16. Exact and Deterministic Patch Descriptor Retrieval via Hierarchical Normalization

    Jun 25, 2026Koichi SatoBranch and BoundExact Nearest Neighbor Search

  17. Variable Bound Tightening for Nash Equilibrium Computation in Multiplayer Imperfect-Information Games

    Jun 24, 2026Sam GanzfriedNash EquilibriumBranch and Bound

    Ganzfried Research, Cornell University

  18. Multi-Agent Goal Recognition with Team- and Goal-Conditioned Reinforcement Learning and Factorized Branch-and-Bound

    Jun 24, 2026Thiago Thomas, Gabriel de Oliveira Ramos, Felipe MeneguzziBranch and BoundMulti-Agent Systems

    Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) · Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos) · University of Aberdeen

  19. Cost-Optimal Decision Diagrams for Stochastic Boolean Function Evaluation

    Jun 23, 2026Xia Zong, Tuomo Lehtonen, Jussi RintanenBranch and BoundCost-Aware Inference

    Department of Computer Science, Aalto University

  20. Bidirectional Search for Longest Paths: Case for Front-to-Front Heuristics

    Jun 4, 2026Tzur Shubi, Ariel Felner, Solomon Eyal Shimony +1Branch and BoundTree Search

    Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

  21. From Sequential Nodes to GPU Batches: Parallel Branch and Bound for Optimal kk-Sparse GLMs

    May 21, 2026Jiachang Liu, Andrea LodiBranch and BoundGPU Kernel Optimization

    ∗Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA · †School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA · ‡Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Cornell Tech and Technion–IIT, New York, USA

  22. LLM4Branch: Large Language Model for Discovering Efficient Branching Policies of Integer Programs

    May 11, 2026Zhinan Hou, Xingchen Li, Yankai Zhang +2Branch and BoundMixed-Integer Linear Programming

    Department of Automation, BNRist, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

  23. Solving Max-Cut to Global Optimality via Feasibility-Preserving Graph Neural Networks

    May 8, 2026Hao Chen, Chendi Qian, Christopher Morris +2Max-CutSemidefinite Programming

    1Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University · Faculty of Computer Science, RWTH Aachen University · 3Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Cornell Tech

  24. Computation of Least Trimmed Squares: A Branch-and-Bound framework with Hyperplane Arrangement Enhancements

    Apr 13, 2026Xiang Meng, Andrés Gómez, Rahul MazumderRobust RegressionRobust Statistics

    MIT Operations Research Center · USC Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering · MIT Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center

  25. Speeding Up Mixed-Integer Programming Solvers with Sparse Learning for Branching

    Mar 31, 2026Selin Bayramoğlu, George L Nemhauser, Nikolaos V SahinidisLearning to OptimizeBranch and Bound

    H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology · School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

  26. DC-Reg: Globally Optimal Point Cloud Registration via Tight Bounding with Difference of Convex Programming

    Mar 26, 2026Wei Lian, Fei Ma, Hang Pan +2Point Cloud RegistrationNonconvex Optimization

    Department of Computer Science, Changzhi University, Changzhi, Shanxi, China, 046011 · School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

  27. Global Truncated Loss Minimization for Robust and Threshold-Resilient Geometric Estimation

    Mar 16, 2026Tianyu Huang, Liangzu Peng, Xinyue Zhang +5Robust Loss FunctionsBranch and Bound

    Hong Kong Centre For Logistics Robotics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. · Center for Innovation in Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS), University of Pennsylvania. · Mobile Perception Lab of the School of Information and Technology, ShanghaiTech University. +1

  28. Advances in Global Solvers for 3D Vision

    Feb 16, 2026Zhenjun Zhao, Heng Yang, Bangyan Liao +7Convex RelaxationGlobal Optimization

    University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. · Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. · Westlake University, Hangzhou, China. +3