74,841 research outputs found
Generation and Properties of Snarks
For many of the unsolved problems concerning cycles and matchings in graphs
it is known that it is sufficient to prove them for \emph{snarks}, the class of
nontrivial 3-regular graphs which cannot be 3-edge coloured. In the first part
of this paper we present a new algorithm for generating all non-isomorphic
snarks of a given order. Our implementation of the new algorithm is 14 times
faster than previous programs for generating snarks, and 29 times faster for
generating weak snarks. Using this program we have generated all non-isomorphic
snarks on vertices. Previously lists up to vertices have been
published. In the second part of the paper we analyze the sets of generated
snarks with respect to a number of properties and conjectures. We find that
some of the strongest versions of the cycle double cover conjecture hold for
all snarks of these orders, as does Jaeger's Petersen colouring conjecture,
which in turn implies that Fulkerson's conjecture has no small counterexamples.
In contrast to these positive results we also find counterexamples to eight
previously published conjectures concerning cycle coverings and the general
cycle structure of cubic graphs.Comment: Submitted for publication V2: various corrections V3: Figures updated
and typos corrected. This version differs from the published one in that the
Arxiv-version has data about the automorphisms of snarks; Journal of
Combinatorial Theory. Series B. 201
A note on 5-cycle double covers
The strong cycle double cover conjecture states that for every circuit of
a bridgeless cubic graph , there is a cycle double cover of which
contains . We conjecture that there is even a 5-cycle double cover of
which contains , i.e. is a subgraph of one of the five 2-regular
subgraphs of . We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-regular
subgraph to be contained in a 5-cycle double cover of
Some snarks are worse than others
Many conjectures and open problems in graph theory can either be reduced to
cubic graphs or are directly stated for cubic graphs. Furthermore, it is known
that for a lot of problems, a counterexample must be a snark, i.e. a bridgeless
cubic graph which is not 3--edge-colourable. In this paper we deal with the
fact that the family of potential counterexamples to many interesting
conjectures can be narrowed even further to the family of
bridgeless cubic graphs whose edge set cannot be covered with four perfect
matchings. The Cycle Double Cover Conjecture, the Shortest Cycle Cover
Conjecture and the Fan-Raspaud Conjecture are examples of statements for which
is crucial. In this paper, we study parameters which have
the potential to further refine and thus enlarge the set of
cubic graphs for which the mentioned conjectures can be verified. We show that
can be naturally decomposed into subsets with increasing
complexity, thereby producing a natural scale for proving these conjectures.
More precisely, we consider the following parameters and questions: given a
bridgeless cubic graph, (i) how many perfect matchings need to be added, (ii)
how many copies of the same perfect matching need to be added, and (iii) how
many 2--factors need to be added so that the resulting regular graph is Class
I? We present new results for these parameters and we also establish some
strong relations between these problems and some long-standing conjectures.Comment: 27 pages, 16 figure
Line-graphs of cubic graphs are normal
A graph is called normal if its vertex set can be covered by cliques and also
by stable sets, such that every such clique and stable set have non-empty
intersection. This notion is due to Korner, who introduced the class of normal
graphs as an extension of the class of perfect graphs. Normality has also
relevance in information theory. Here we prove, that the line graphs of cubic
graphs are normal.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
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