  An instance of the Connected Maximum Cut problem consists of an undirected
graph G = (V, E) and the goal is to find a subset of vertices S $\subseteq$ V
that maximizes the number of edges in the cut \delta(S) such that the induced
graph G[S] is connected. We present the first non-trivial \Omega(1/log n)
approximation algorithm for the connected maximum cut problem in general graphs
using novel techniques. We then extend our algorithm to an edge weighted case
and obtain a poly-logarithmic approximation algorithm. Interestingly, in stark
contrast to the classical max-cut problem, we show that the connected maximum
cut problem remains NP-hard even on unweighted, planar graphs. On the positive
side, we obtain a polynomial time approximation scheme for the connected
maximum cut problem on planar graphs and more generally on graphs with bounded
genus.
