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We study the flow extension of graphs, i.e., pre-assigning a partial flow on the edges incident to a given vertex and aiming to extend to the entire graph. This is closely related to Tutte's $3$-flow conjecture(1972) that every…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-05-04 Jiaao Li

The Fan-Raspaud Conjecture states that every bridgeless cubic graph has three 1-factors with empty intersection. A weaker one than this conjecture is that every bridgeless cubic graph has two 1-factors and one join with empty intersection.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-01-22 Ligang Jin , Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo , Eckhard Steffen

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

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 $d$-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 2025-10-23 Davide Mattiolo , Giuseppe Mazzuoccolo , Jozef Rajník , Gloria Tabarelli

In 1983, Bouchet conjectured that every flow-admissible signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 6-flow. We verify this conjecture for the class of flow-admissible signed graphs possessing a spanning even Eulerian subgraph, which includes as a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-10 Chao Wen , Qiang Sun , Chao Zhang

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

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

Given a zero-sum function $\beta : V(G) \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}_3$ with $\sum_{v\in V(G)}\beta(v)=0$, an orientation $D$ of $G$ with $d^+_D(v)-d^-_D(v)= \beta(v)$ in $\mathbb{Z}_3$ for every vertex $v\in V(G)$ is called a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-10-17 Miaomiao Han , Hong-Jian Lai , Jiaao Li

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

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

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

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

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 function $f:N\rightarrow N$ is sublinear, if \[\lim_{x\rightarrow +\infty}\frac{f(x)}{x}=0.\] If $A$ is an Abelian group, $G$ is a graph and $\phi$ is an $A$-flow in $G$, then let $N(\phi)$ be the nullity of $\phi$, that is, the set of…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2020-10-08 Vahan Mkrtchyan

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

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

A signed graph is a graph with a positive or negative sign on each edge. Regarding each edge as two half edges, an orientation of a signed graph is an assignment of a direction to each of its half edges such that the two half edges of a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-04-13 Fan Yang , Sanming Zhou

We prove that every regular graph of valency at least four whose automorphism group contains a nilpotent subgroup acting transitively on the vertex set admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-03-28 Junyang Zhang , Sanming Zhou

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