3-Edge-Coloring Conjecture

Importance: High ✭✭✭
Subject: Graph Theory
Recomm. for undergrads: yes
Prize: no
Posted by: arthur
on: April 28th, 2020
Conjecture   Suppose $ G $ with $ |V(G)|>2 $ is a connected cubic graph admitting a $ 3 $-edge coloring. Then there is an edge $ e \in E(G) $ such that the cubic graph homeomorphic to $ G-e $ has a $ 3 $-edge coloring.

Reformulation via 4-flows:

Conjecture   Suppose $ G $ is a cubic graph with a nowhere-zero $ 4 $-flow, then there is an edge $ e \in E(G) $ such that $ G-e $ has a nowhere-zero $ 4 $-flow.

Bibliography



* indicates original appearance(s) of problem.

Context

Is this conjecture missing some greater context? It seems obviously false on its own

question

wouldn't removing any edge from a cubic graph make the graph not cubic?

A counterexample?

What would be the cubic graph homeomorphic to K4-e? I think I can show there does not exist a cubic graph homeomorphic to K4-e. If so, this would seem to contradict the conjecture's claim.

Is there yet any progress on this problem?

Hello, I would like to know whether anybody made any progress on this. I tried to google and found nothing. Also, why is there nothing in Bibliography of this problem? Is there any paper involving or proposing it? Thanks in advance

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