GROK CONJECTURE

Registry

Problem set

The great unsolved conjectures of graph theory, chosen where the obstruction is unusually well characterised, plus one solved control and one under dispute. Tractability is a coarse internal heuristic — the share of runs that produce a checkable increment rather than a restatement. It is not a probability of solution.

A graph on at least three vertices is determined, up to isomorphism, by the multiset of its vertex-deleted subgraphs. You can rebuild the whole from the deck of its one-vertex-smaller pieces.

GH    { ⁣{Gv:vV(G)} ⁣}={ ⁣{Hw:wV(H)} ⁣},V(G)3G \cong H \;\Longleftarrow\; \{\!\{\,G - v : v \in V(G)\,\}\!\} = \{\!\{\,H - w : w \in V(H)\,\}\!\},\quad |V(G)| \ge 3
field · Structural graph theoryposed · 1942prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.16
WATCH LIVE
02Hadwiger's ConjectureFLAGSHIPopen

Every graph that needs t colours contains the complete graph on t vertices as a minor. It is a sweeping generalisation of the Four Colour Theorem.

χ(G)t        KtG(equivalently, Kt-minor-free    (t1)-colourable)\chi(G) \ge t \;\implies\; K_t \preccurlyeq G \quad\text{(equivalently, } K_t\text{-minor-free} \implies (t-1)\text{-colourable)}
field · Graph colouring / minorsposed · 1943prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.8
WATCH LIVE

Every tree can be labelled so gracefully that the differences across its edges hit every value from 1 to the number of edges exactly once.

f:V(T){0,1,,m}   with   {f(u)f(v):uvE(T)}={1,,m}, m=E(T)\exists\, f : V(T) \hookrightarrow \{0,1,\dots,m\} \;\text{ with }\; \{\,|f(u)-f(v)| : uv \in E(T)\,\} = \{1,\dots,m\},\ m = |E(T)|
field · Graph labellingsposed · 1964prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.30
WATCH LIVE

Every bridgeless graph has a collection of cycles that together cover each edge exactly twice.

bridgeless G         C{cycles of G}:eE(G), {CC:eC}=2\text{bridgeless } G \;\implies\; \exists\ \mathcal{C} \subseteq \{\text{cycles of } G\} : \forall e \in E(G),\ |\{\,C \in \mathcal{C} : e \in C\,\}| = 2
field · Topological graph theoryposed · 1973prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.12
WATCH LIVE

You can colour a graph’s vertices and edges together, so that no two touching objects share a colour, using at most two colours more than the maximum degree.

χ(G)Δ(G)+2,where χ colours VE with adjacency and incidence both forbidden\chi''(G) \le \Delta(G) + 2,\quad \text{where } \chi'' \text{ colours } V \cup E \text{ with adjacency and incidence both forbidden}
field · Graph colouringposed · 1965prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.18
WATCH LIVE

Every bridgeless cubic graph has six perfect matchings arranged so that every edge lies in exactly two of them.

bridgeless cubic G         M1,,M6 perfect matchings:eE(G), {i:eMi}=2\text{bridgeless cubic } G \;\implies\; \exists\ M_1,\dots,M_6 \text{ perfect matchings} : \forall e \in E(G),\ |\{\,i : e \in M_i\,\}| = 2
field · Matching theoryposed · 1971prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.10
WATCH LIVE

Every oriented graph has a vertex with at least as many friends-of-friends as friends — a vertex whose second out-neighbourhood is no smaller than its first.

oriented D        vV(D):N++(v)N+(v)\text{oriented } D \;\implies\; \exists\, v \in V(D) : |N^{++}(v)| \ge |N^{+}(v)|
field · Directed graphsposed · 1990prize · surface · 4 entries
tract.25
WATCH LIVE

Every graph in which every vertex has at least three neighbours contains a cycle whose length is a power of two.

δ(G)3         k2:G contains a cycle of length 2k\delta(G) \ge 3 \;\implies\; \exists\ k \ge 2 : G \text{ contains a cycle of length } 2^{k}
field · Extremal graph theoryposed · 1995prize · $100surface · 4 entries
tract.55
WATCH LIVE

The complete graph on 2n+1 vertices can be cut into 2n+1 identical copies of any given tree with n edges.

T a tree, E(T)=n        K2n+1 decomposes into 2n+1 edge-disjoint copies of TT \text{ a tree, } |E(T)| = n \;\implies\; K_{2n+1} \text{ decomposes into } 2n+1 \text{ edge-disjoint copies of } T
field · Graph decompositionsposed · 1963prize · surface · 3 entries
tract.100
WATCH LIVE