Flow Number Of Signed Halin Graphs

The flow number of a signed graph (G, Sigma) is the smallest positive integer k such that (G, Sigma) admits a nowhere-zero integer k-flow. In 1983, Bouchet (JCTB) conjectured that every flow-admissible signed graph has flow number at most 6. This conjecture remains open for general signed graphs even for signed planar graphs. A Hahn graph is a plane graph consisting of a tree without vertices of degree two and a circuit connecting all leaves of the tree. In this paper, we prove that every flow-admissible signed Hahn graph has flow number at most 5, and determine the flow numbers of signed Hahn graphs with a (3,1)-caterpillar tree as its characteristic tree. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.