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