The concept of a cut pool was first suggested by Padberg and Rinaldi
[19], and is based on the observation that in branch and cut,
the valid inequalities (also called cuts since they ``cut off''
part of the current polyhedron) which are generated while processing a
particular node in the search tree are also generally valid and
potentially useful at other nodes. Since generating
these cuts is usually a relatively expensive operation, the cut pool
maintains a list of the ``best'' or ``strongest'' cuts found in the
tree so far for use in processing future subproblems. Hence, the cut
pool functions as an auxiliary cut generator. More explicitly, here
are the functions of the cut pool process:
Functions Performed by the Cut Pool Process