A Linear Algorithm for Computing of a Minimum Weight Maximal Induced Matching in an Edge-Weighted Tree

An induced matching M of a graph G is a set of pairwise non-adjacent edges such that their end-vertices induce a 1-regular subgraph. An induced matching M is maximal if no other induced matching contains M. The Minimum Induced Matching problem asks for a minimum maximal induced matching in a given graph. The problem is known to be NP-complete. Here we show that, if G is a tree then this problem can be solved in linear time.