On the Approximability of Maximum and Minimum Edge Clique Partition Problems

We consider the following clustering problems: given a general undirected graph, partition its vertices into disjoint clusters such that each cluster forms a clique and the number of edges within the clusters is maximized (Max-ECP), or the number of edges between clusters is minimized (Min-ECP). These problems arise naturally in the DNA clone classification. We investigate the hardness of finding such partitions and provide approximation algorithms. Further, we show that greedy strategies yield constant factor approximations for graph classes for which maximum cliques can be found efficiently.