English

Disjoint $X$-paths in bidirected graphs

Combinatorics 2025-02-28 v1

Abstract

Let BB be a bidirected multigraph with signing σ\sigma, let XX be a set of vertices in BB, and let kk be a non-negative integer. For any pair of vertex sets S,TV(B)S,T\subset V(B) satisfying XS=XTX\cap S = X\cap T, we denote by BS,TB_{S,T} the multigraph with the same vertex set as BB and with edge set consisting of those edges ee of BB each of whose endvertices vv satisfies vSTv\notin S\cup T or vSTv\in S\setminus T, σ(v,e)=\sigma(v,e)=- or vTSv\in T\setminus S, σ(v,e)=+\sigma(v,e)=+. We prove that BB admits a set of kk pairwise disjoint XX-paths if and only if for any S,TV(B)S,T\subseteq V(B) with XS=XTX\cap S = X\cap T, the inequality ST+12V(C)(XST)k\left\lvert S\cap T \right\rvert +\sum \lfloor \tfrac{1}{2} \left\lvert V(C)\cap (X\cup S\cup T) \right\rvert \rfloor \geq k holds where the sum is indexed by the components of BS,TB_{S,T}. This result is a generalization of a result of Gallai from undirected graphs to bidirected ones. Furthermore, we will deduce from this a kind of an Erd\H{o}s-P\'osa property for XX-paths in bidirected multigraphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.19835,
  title  = {Disjoint $X$-paths in bidirected graphs},
  author = {Jana K. Nickel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.19835},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:59:45.279Z