7,536 research outputs found
Flows on Signed Graphs
This dissertation focuses on integer flow problems within specific signed graphs. The theory of integer flows, which serves as a dual problem to vertex coloring of planar graphs, was initially introduced by Tutte as a tool related to the Four-Color Theorem. This theory has been extended to signed graphs.
In 1983, Bouchet proposed a conjecture asserting that every flow-admissible signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 6-flow. To narrow dawn the focus, we investigate cubic signed graphs in Chapter 2. We prove that every flow-admissible 3-edge-colorable cubic signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 10-flow. This together with the 4-color theorem implies that every flow-admissible bridgeless planar signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 10-flow. As a byproduct of this research, we also demonstrate that every flow-admissible hamiltonian signed graph can admit a nowhere-zero 8-flow.
In Chapter 3, we delve into triangularly connected signed graphs. Here, A triangle-path in a graph G is defined as a sequence of distinct triangles in G such that for any i, j with , and if . We categorize a connected graph as triangularly connected if it can be demonstrated that for any two nonparallel edges and , there exists a triangle-path such that and . For ordinary graphs, Fan {\it et al.} characterized all triangularly connected graphs that admit nowhere-zero -flows or -flows. Corollaries of this result extended to integer flow in certain families of ordinary graphs, such as locally connected graphs due to Lai and certain types of products of graphs due to Imrich et al. In this dissertation, we extend Fan\u27s result for triangularly connected graphs to signed graphs. We proved that a flow-admissible triangularly connected signed graph admits a nowhere-zero -flow if and only if is not the wheel associated with a specific signature. Moreover, this result is proven to be sharp since we identify infinitely many unbalanced triangularly connected signed graphs that can admit a nowhere-zero 4-flow but not 3-flow.\\
Chapter 4 investigates integer flow problems within -minor free signed graphs. A minor of a graph refers to any graph that can be derived from through a series of vertex and edge deletions and edge contractions. A graph is considered -minor free if is not a minor of . While Bouchet\u27s conjecture is known to be tight for some signed graphs with a flow number of 6. Kompi\v{s}ov\\u27{a} and M\\u27{a}\v{c}ajov\\u27{a} extended those signed graph with a specific signature to a family \M, and they also put forward a conjecture that suggests if a flow-admissible signed graph does not admit a nowhere-zero 5-flow, then it belongs to \M. In this dissertation, we delve into the members in \M that are -minor free, designating this subfamily as . We provide a proof demonstrating that every flow-admissible, -minor free signed graph admits a nowhere-zero 5-flow if and only if it does not belong to the specified family
Contractors for flows
We answer a question raised by Lov\'asz and B. Szegedy [Contractors and
connectors in graph algebras, J. Graph Theory 60:1 (2009)] asking for a
contractor for the graph parameter counting the number of B-flows of a graph,
where B is a subset of a finite Abelian group closed under inverses. We prove
our main result using the duality between flows and tensions and finite Fourier
analysis. We exhibit several examples of contractors for B-flows, which are of
interest in relation to the family of B-flow conjectures formulated by Tutte,
Fulkerson, Jaeger, and others.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figur
Congruence conditions, parcels, and Tutte polynomials of graphs and matroids
Let be a matrix and be the matroid defined by linear dependence on
the set of column vectors of Roughly speaking, a parcel is a subset of
pairs of functions defined on to an Abelian group satisfying a
coboundary condition (that is a flow over relative to ) and a
congruence condition (that the size of the supports of and satisfy some
congruence condition modulo an integer). We prove several theorems of the form:
a linear combination of sizes of parcels, with coefficients roots of unity,
equals an evaluation of the Tutte polynomial of at a point
on the complex hyperbola $(\lambda - 1)(x-1) = |A|.
Is the five-flow conjecture almost false?
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 \Phi_G(Q) has no real roots for Q \in (4,\infty) was recently disproved by
Haggard, Pearce and Royle. These authors conjectured the absence of roots for Q
\in [5,\infty). We study the real roots of \Phi_G(Q) for a family of non-planar
cubic graphs known as generalised Petersen graphs G(m,k). We show that the
modified conjecture on real flow roots is also false, by exhibiting infinitely
many real flow roots Q>5 within the class G(nk,k). In particular, we compute
explicitly the flow polynomial of G(119,7), showing that it has real roots at
Q\approx 5.0000197675 and Q\approx 5.1653424423. We moreover prove that the
graph families G(6n,6) and G(7n,7) possess real flow roots that accumulate at
Q=5 as n\to\infty (in the latter case from above and below); and that
Q_c(7)\approx 5.2352605291 is an accumulation point of real zeros of the flow
polynomials for G(7n,7) as n\to\infty.Comment: 44 pages (LaTeX2e). Includes tex file, three sty files, and a
mathematica script polyG119_7.m. Many improvements from version 3, in
particular Sections 3 and 4 have been mostly re-writen, and Sections 7 and 8
have been eliminated. (This material can now be found in arXiv:1303.5210.)
Final version published in J. Combin. Theory
Flows on the join of two graphs
summary:The join of two graphs and is a graph formed from disjoint copies of and by connecting each vertex of to each vertex of . We determine the flow number of the resulting graph. More precisely, we prove that the join of two graphs admits a nowhere-zero -flow except for a few classes of graphs: a single vertex joined with a graph containing an isolated vertex or an odd circuit tree component, a single edge joined with a graph containing only isolated edges, a single edge plus an isolated vertex joined with a graph containing only isolated vertices, and two isolated vertices joined with exactly one isolated vertex plus some number of isolated edges
Integer flows and Modulo Orientations
Tutte\u27s 3-flow conjecture (1970\u27s) states that every 4-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow. A graph G admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow if and only if G has an orientation such that the out-degree equals the in-degree modulo 3 for every vertex. In the 1980ies Jaeger suggested some related conjectures. The generalized conjecture to modulo k-orientations, called circular flow conjecture, says that, for every odd natural number k, every (2k-2)-edge-connected graph has an orientation such that the out-degree equals the in-degree modulo k for every vertex. And the weaker conjecture he made, known as the weak 3-flow conjecture where he suggests that the constant 4 is replaced by any larger constant.;The weak version of the circular flow conjecture and the weak 3-flow conjecture are verified by Thomassen (JCTB 2012) recently. He proved that, for every odd natural number k, every (2k 2 + k)-edge-connected graph has an orientation such that the out-degree equals the in-degree modulo k for every vertex and for k = 3 the edge-connectivity 8 suffices. Those proofs are refined in this paper to give the same conclusions for 9 k-edge-connected graphs and for 6-edge-connected graphs when k = 3 respectively
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