A simple linear-time algorithm for generating auxiliary 3-edge-connected subgraphs

A linear-time algorithm for generating auxiliary subgraphs for the 3-edge-connected components of a connected multigraph is presented. The algorithm uses an innovative graph contraction operation and makes only one pass over the graph. By contrast, the previously best-known algorithms make multiple passes over the graph to decompose it into its 2-edge-connected components or 2-vertex-connected components, then its 3-edge-connected components or 3-vertex-connected components, and then construct a cactus representation for the 2-cuts to generate the auxiliary subgraphs for the 3-edge-connected components.