English
Related papers

Related papers: A short proof of Seymour's 6-flow theorem

200 papers

We introduce and study a multivariate function that counts nowhere-zero flows on a graph G, in which each edge of G has an individual capacity. We prove that the associated counting function is a piecewise-defined polynomial in these…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-05-10 Matthias Beck , Alyssa Cuyjet , Gordon Rojas Kirby , Molly Stubblefield , Michael Young

We initiate the study of nowhere-zero flow reconfiguration. The natural question is whether any two nowhere-zero $k$-flows of a given graph $G$ are connected by a sequence of nowhere-zero $k$-flows of $G$, such that any two consecutive…

We study $2$-dimensional unit vector flows on graphs, that is, nowhere-zero flows that assign to each oriented edge a unit vector in $\mathbb R^{3}$. We give a new geometric characterization of $\mathbb S^{2}$-flows on cubic graphs. We also…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-02-26 Hussein Houdrouge , Bobby Miraftab , Pat Morin

In this paper we study the flow-property of graphs containing a spanning triangle-tree. Our main results provide a structure characterization of graphs with a spanning triangle-tree admitting a nowhere-zero $3$-flow. All these graphs…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-10-14 Jiaao Li , Xueliang Li , Meiling Wang

A $k$-weak bisection of a cubic graph $G$ is a partition of the vertex-set of $G$ into two parts $V_1$ and $V_2$ of equal size, such that each connected component of the subgraph of $G$ induced by $V_i$ ($i=1,2$) is a tree of at most $k-2$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-09-15 Louis Esperet , Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo , Michael Tarsi

X. Hou, H.-J. Lai, P. Li and C.-Q. Zhang [J. Graph Theory 69 (2012) 464-470] showed that for a simple graph $G$ with $|V(G)|\ge 44$, if $\min\{\delta(G),\delta(G^c)\}\ge 4$, then either $G$ or its complementary graph $G^c$ has a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-03-15 Jiaao Li , Xueliang Li , Meiling Wang

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

A connected graph G is 3-flow-critical if G does not have a nowhere-zero 3-flow, but every proper contraction of G does. We prove that every n-vertex 3-flow-critical graph other than K_2 and K_4 has at least 5n/3 edges. This bound is tight…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-04-02 Zdeněk Dvořák , Sergey Norin

A $d$-dimensional nowhere-zero $r$-flow on a graph $G$, an $(r,d)$-NZF from now on, is a flow where the value on each edge is an element of $\mathbb{R}^d$ whose (Euclidean) norm lies in the interval $[1,r-1]$. Such a notion is a natural…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-04-28 Davide Mattiolo , Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo , Jozef Rajník , Gloria Tabarelli

Let $\Gamma$ be a multigraph with for each vertex a cyclic order of the edges incident with it. For $n \geq 3$, let $D_{2n}$ be the dihedral group of order $2n$. Define $\mathbb{D} := \{(\begin{smallmatrix} 1 & a \\ 0 & 1 \end{smallmatrix})…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-12-04 Bart Litjens

Let $\Gamma$ be a graph, $A$ an abelian group, $\mathcal{D}$ a given orientation of $\Gamma$ and $R$ a unital subring of the endomorphism ring of $A$. It is shown that the set of all maps $\varphi$ from $E(\Gamma)$ to $A$ such that…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-11-16 Jun-Yang Zhang , Na Lu

A bridgeless graph $G$ is called $3$-flow-critical if it does not admit a nowhere-zero $3$-flow, but $G/e$ has for any $e\in E(G)$. Tutte's $3$-flow conjecture can be equivalently stated as that every $3$-flow-critical graph contains a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-03-23 Jiaao Li , Yulai Ma , Yongtang Shi , Weifan Wang , Yezhou Wu

We prove that every 2k-edge-connected graph with countably many edge-ends admits a k-arc-connected orientation, extending the previous result by Assem, Koloschin and Pitz that also assumed the hypothesis of the graph being locally finite.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-09 Leandro Aurichi , Paulo Magalhães Júnior , Guilherme Eduardo Pinto

In this article we introduce the flow polynomial of a digraph and use it to study nowhere-zero flows from a commutative algebraic perspective. Using Hilbert's Nullstellensatz, we establish a relation between nowhere-zero flows and dual…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Shmuel Onn

A triangle-path in a graph $G$ is a sequence of distinct triangles $T_1,T_2,\ldots,T_m$ in $G$ such that for any $i, j$ with $1\leq i < j \leq m$, $|E(T_i)\cap E(T_{i+1})|=1$ and $E(T_i)\cap E(T_j)=\emptyset$ if $j > i+1$. A connected graph…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-10-23 Liangchen Li , Chong Li , Rong Luo , 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

For an abelian group $\Gamma$, a graph $G$ is said to be $\Gamma$-flow-critical if $G$ does not admit a nowhere-zero $\Gamma$-flow, but for each edge $e\in E(G)$, the contraction $G/e$ has a nowhere-zero $\Gamma$-flow. A bound on the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-12-06 Zdeněk Dvořák , Bojan Mohar

In 1983, Bouchet conjectured that every flow-admissible signed graph admits a nowhere-zero $6$-flow. In this paper, we prove that Bouchet's conjecture holds for all signed ladders, circular and M\"obius ladders. In fact, all signed ladders,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-03 Leila Parsaei-Majd

In 1972 Tutte famously conjectured that every 4-edge-connected graph has a nowhere zero 3-flow; this is known to be equivalent to every 5-regular, 4-edge-connected graph having an edge orientation in which every in-degree is either 1 or 4.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-04-18 Michelle Delcourt , Reaz Huq , Pawel Pralat

The classical Okamura-Seymour theorem states that for an edge-capacitated, multi-commodity flow instance in which all terminals lie on a single face of a planar graph, there exists a feasible concurrent flow if and only if the cut…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-06-18 James R. Lee , Manor Mendel , Mohammad Moharrami