English

Split-Twin Extensions Preserving Seymour Vertices

Combinatorics 2026-05-25 v3

Abstract

The Second Neighborhood Conjecture of Seymour asserts that every oriented graph contains a vertex~vv satisfying \Npp(v)\Np(v)|\Npp(v)|\ge|\Np(v)|. We introduce \emph{Pisa graphs} -- strongly connected oriented graphs~DD with Δ(D)=maxvV(D)(\Npp(v)\Np(v))=0\Delta(D)=\max_{v\in V(D)}\bigl(|\Npp(v)|-|\Np(v)|\bigr)=0 -- named after the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as these graphs stand at the precise boundary between satisfying and potentially violating the conjecture. We prove that a Pisa graph containing a vertex of outdegree one must have underlying graph~CnC_n. We verify computationally that every Pisa graph on at most seven vertices has underlying graph isomorphic to either~CnC_n or~KnK_n minus a matching, and conjecture this holds in general. Partial structural results are presented, including a decomposition formula for the sum of all vertex margins, and a connection to blowup constructions for potential counterexamples due to Zelenskyi, Darmosiuk and Nalivayko.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.21563,
  title  = {Split-Twin Extensions Preserving Seymour Vertices},
  author = {Stanisław M. S. Halkiewicz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.21563},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:25:30.488Z