On hypohamiltonian snarks and a theorem of Fiorini

In 2003, Cavicchioli et al. corrected an omission in the statement and proof of Fiorini's theorem from 1983 on hypohamiltonian snarks. However, their version of this theorem contains an unattainable condition for certain cases. We discuss and extend the results of Fiorini and Cavicchioli et al. and present a version of this theorem which is more general in several ways. Using Fiorini's erroneous result, Steffen had shown that hypohamiltonian snarks exist for some orders n >= 10 and each even n >= 92. We rectify Steffen's proof by providing a correct demonstration of a technical lemma on flower snarks, which might be of separate interest. We then strengthen Steffen's theorem to the strongest possible form by determining all orders for which hypohamiltonian snarks exist. This also strengthens a result of Macajova and Skoviera. Finally, we verify a conjecture of Steffen on hypohamiltonian snarks up to 36 vertices

Smallest snarks with oddness 4 and cyclic connectivity 4 have order 44

The family of snarks -- connected bridgeless cubic graphs that cannot be 3-edge-coloured -- is well-known as a potential source of counterexamples to several important and long-standing conjectures in graph theory. These include the cycle double cover conjecture, Tutte's 5-flow conjecture, Fulkerson's conjecture, and several others. One way of approaching these conjectures is through the study of structural properties of snarks and construction of small examples with given properties. In this paper we deal with the problem of determining the smallest order of a nontrivial snark (that is, one which is cyclically 4-edge-connected and has girth at least 5) of oddness at least 4. Using a combination of structural analysis with extensive computations we prove that the smallest order of a snark with oddness at least 4 and cyclic connectivity 4 is 44. Formerly it was known that such a snark must have at least 38 vertices [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 103 (2013), 468--488] and one such snark on 44 vertices was constructed by Lukot'ka et al. [Electron. J. Combin. 22 (2015), #P1.51]. The proof requires determining all cyclically 4-edge-connected snarks on 36 vertices, which extends the previously compiled list of all such snarks up to 34 vertices [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, loc. cit.]. As a by-product, we use this new list to test the validity of several conjectures where snarks can be smallest counterexamples.Comment: 21 page

Nowhere-zero flows and structures in cubic graphs

Wir widerlegen zwei Vermutungen, die im Zusammenhang mit Kreisüberdeckungen von kubischen Graphen stehen. Die erste Vermutung, welche kubische Graphen mit dominierenden Kreisen betrifft, widerlegen wir durch Erweiterung eines Theorems von Gallai über induzierte eulersche Graphen und durch Konstruktion spezieller snarks. Die zweite Vermutung, welche frames betrifft, widerlegen wir durch Betrachtung der Frage nach der Existenz von speziellen spannenden Teilgraphen in 3-fach zusammenhängenden kubischen Graphen. Weiters übersetzen wir Probleme über Flüsse in kubischen Graphen in Knotenfärbungsprobleme von planaren Graphen und erhalten eine neue Charakterisierung von snarks. Schliesslich verbessern und erweitern wir Resultate über Knotenfärbungsprobleme in Quadrangulierungen. Zu Ende stellen wir neue Vermutungen auf, die im Zusammenhang mit Kreisüberdeckungen und Strukturen in kubischen Graphen stehen.We disprove two conjectures which are related to cycle double cover problems. The first conjecture concerns cubic graphs with dominating cycle. We disprove this conjecture by extending a result of Gallai about induced eulerian subgraphs and by constructing special snarks. The second conjecture concerns frames. We show that this conjecture is false by considering the problem whether every 3-connected cubic graph has a spanning subgraph with certain properties. Moreover, we transform flow-problems of cubic graphs into vertex coloring problems of plane graphs. We obtain thereby a new characterization of snarks. Furthermore, we improve and extend results about vertex coloring problems of quadrangulations. Finally we pose new problems and state conjectures which are related to cycle double covers and structures in cubic graphs