English

The Lov\'asz-Cherkassky theorem in countable graphs

Combinatorics 2021-12-14 v2

Abstract

Lov\'asz and Cherkassky discovered in the 1970s independently that if G G is a finite graph with a given set T T of terminal vertices such that G G is inner Eulerian, then the maximal number of edge-disjoint paths connecting distinct vertices in T T is tTλ(t,Tt) \sum_{t\in T}\lambda(t, T-t) where λ\lambda is the local edge-connectivity function. The optimality of a system of edge-disjoint T T -paths in the Lov\'asz-Cherkassky theorem is witnessed by the existence of certain cuts by Menger's theorem. The infinite generalisation of Menger's theorem by Aharoni and Berger (earlier known as the Erd\H{o}s-Menger Conjecture) together with the characterization of infinite Eulerian graphs due to Nash-Williams makes it possible to generalise the theorem for infinite graphs in a structural way. The aim of this paper is to formulate this generalisation and prove it for countable graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.04203,
  title  = {The Lov\'asz-Cherkassky theorem in countable graphs},
  author = {Attila Joó},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.04203},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T22:56:22.418Z