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Related papers: A note on zero-sum 5-flows in regular graphs

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Many basic properties in Tutte's flow theory for unsigned graphs do not have their counterparts for signed graphs. However, signed graphs without long barbells in many ways behave like unsigned graphs from the point view of flows. In this…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-09-02 You Lu , Rong Luo , Michael Schubert , Eckhard Steffen , Cun-Quan Zhang

Tutte's $3$-flow conjecture states that every $4$-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. In this paper, we characterize all graphs with independence number at most $4$ that admit a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. The characterization…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-07-24 Jiaao Li , Rong Luo , Yi Wang

In 1954, Tutte conjectured that every bridgeless graph has a nowhere-zero 5-flow. Let $\omega$ be the minimum number of odd cycles in a 2-factor of a bridgeless cubic graph. Tutte's conjecture is equivalent to its restriction to cubic…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-09-21 Eckhard Steffen

A set $R\subseteq E(G)$ of a graph $G$ is $k$-removable if $G-R$ has a nowhere-zero $k$-flow. We prove that every graph $G$ admitting a nowhere-zero $4$-flow has a $3$-removable subset consisting of at most $\frac{1}{6}|E(G)|$ edges. This…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-04 Davide Mattiolo

This paper concerns a generalization of nowhere-zero modular q-flows from graphs to simplicial complexes of dimension d greater than 1. A modular q-flow of a simplicial complex is an element of the kernel of the d-th boundary map with…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-09-23 Bradley Lewis Burdick

Given a $2$-$(v,k,\lambda)$ design, $\cal{S}=(X,\cal{B})$, a {\it zero-sum $n$-flow} of $\cal{S}$ is a map $f: \cal{B} \longrightarrow \{\pm 1, \ldots ,\pm (n-1)\}$ such that for any point $x\in X$, the sum of $f$ around all the blocks…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-05-13 S. Akbari , A. C. Burgess , P. Danziger , E. Mendelsohn

We prove that a signed graph admits a nowhere-zero $8$-flow provided that it is flow-admissible and the underlying graph admits a nowhere-zero $4$-flow. When combined with the 4-color theorem, this implies that every flow-admissible…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-02-21 Rong Luo , Edita Máčajová , Martin Škoviera , Cun-Quan Zhang

Let $r \geq 2$ be a real number. A complex nowhere-zero $r$-flow on a graph $G$ is an orientation of $G$ together with an assignment $\varphi\colon E(G)\to \mathbb{C}$ such that, for all $e \in E(G)$, the modulus of the complex number…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-03-21 Davide Mattiolo , Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo , Jozef Rajník , Gloria Tabarelli

An (r,alpha)-bounded excess flow ((r,alpha)-flow) in an orientation of a graph G=(V,E) is an assignment of a real "flow value" between 1 and r-1 to every edge. Rather than 0 as in an actual flow, some flow excess, which does not exceed…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-07-12 Michael Tarsi

In 1983, Bouchet proved that every bidirected graph with a nowhere-zero integer-flow has a nowhere-zero 216-flow, and conjectured that 216 could be replaced with 6. This paper shows that for cyclically 5-edge-connected bidirected graphs…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-09-06 Matt DeVos , Kathryn Nurse , Robert Sámal

The number of nowhere zero Z_Q flows on a graph G can be shown to be a polynomial in Q, defining the flow polynomial \Phi_G(Q). According to Tutte's five-flow conjecture, \Phi_G(5) > 0 for any bridgeless G.A conjecture by Welsh that…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-10-07 Jesper L. Jacobsen , Jesus Salas

In 1983, Bouchet proposed a conjecture that every flow-admissible signed graph admits a nowhere-zero $6$-flow. Bouchet himself proved that such signed graphs admit nowhere-zero $216$-flows and Zyka further proved that such signed graphs…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-08-30 Matt DeVos , Jiaao Li , You Lu , Rong Luo , Cun-Quan Zhang , Zhang Zhang

For integers $a\ge 2b>0$, a \emph{circular $a/b$-flow} is a flow that takes values from $\{\pm b, \pm(b+1), \dots, \pm(a-b)\}$. The Planar Circular Flow Conjecture states that every $2k$-edge-connected planar graph admits a circular…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-07-14 Daniel W. Cranston , Jiaao Li

Tutte's 3-flow conjecture asserts that every 4-edge-connected graph has a nowhere-zero 3-flow. In this note we prove that every regular graph of valency at least four admitting a solvable arc-transitive group of automorphisms admits a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-05-27 Xiangwen Li , Sanming Zhou

Tutte's $3$-flow conjecture says that every $4$-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. Kochol (2001) showed that it is enough to prove this conjecture for $5$-edge-connected graphs. Former, Jaeger, Linial, Payan, and Tarsi…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-05-16 Morteza Hasanvand

There are many major open problems in integer flow theory, such as Tutte's 3-flow conjecture that every 4-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow, Jaeger et al.'s conjecture that every 5-edge-connected graph is $Z_3$-connected and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-07-13 Fuyuan Chen , Bo Ning

Bouchet conjectured in 1983 that every flow-admissible signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 6-flow which is equivalent to the restriction to cubic signed graphs. In this paper, we proved that every flow-admissible $3$-edge-colorable cubic…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-11-04 Liangchen Li , Chong Li , Rong Luo , C. -Q Zhang , Hailing Zhang

In 1983, A. Bouchet extended W.T. Tutte's notion of nowhere-zero flows to signed graphs, and conjectured that every flow-admissible signed graph has a nowhere-zero 6-flow. In this paper we prove that every flow-admissible signed graph that…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-23 Matt DeVos , Kathryn Nurse , Robert Šámal

We generalise to signed graphs a classical result of Tutte [Canad. J. Math. 8 (1956), 13--28] stating that every integer flow can be expressed as a sum of characteristic flows of circuits. In our generalisation, the r\^ole of circuits is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-07-22 Edita Macajova , Martin Skoviera

This paper is devoted to a detailed study of nowhere-zero flows on signed eulerian graphs. We generalise the well-known fact about the existence of nowhere-zero $2$-flows in eulerian graphs by proving that every signed eulerian graph that…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-07-04 Edita Máčajová , Martin Škoviera