The Lovász–Plummer conjecture (proved 2011) and Sheehan's conjecture
The Lovász–Plummer conjecture (proved 2011) and Sheehan's conjecture
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Problem statement
sheehan_conjecture
Sheehan's conjecture (1977).
Every -regular graph with a Hamiltonian cycle has a second Hamiltonian cycle (one with a different edge set). Sheehan's conjecture would settle the last open case of the question, raised by Smith's theorem for cubic graphs, of which regular Hamiltonian graphs have a second Hamiltonian cycle: Thomassen [Th98] proved it for all -regular graphs with .
Lean 4
Formal statement
Lean 4/-
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-/
import FormalConjecturesUtil
/-!
# The Lovász–Plummer conjecture (proved 2011) and Sheehan's conjecture
*References:*
* [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petersen%27s_theorem#Related_conjectures)
* [LP86] Lovász, L. and Plummer, M. D. (1986). *Matching Theory.* North-Holland.
* [EKKKN11] Esperet, L., Kardoš, F., King, A. D., Král', D. and Norine, S. (2011).
"Exponentially many perfect matchings in cubic graphs." *Adv. Math.* 227, pp. 1646--1664.
[arXiv:1012.2878](https://arxiv.org/abs/1012.2878)
* [Sh77] Sheehan, J. (1977). "The multiplicity of Hamiltonian circuits in a graph." In *Recent
Advances in Graph Theory*, Academia, Prague, pp. 477--480.
* [Th98] Thomassen, C. (1998). "Independent dominating sets and a second Hamiltonian cycle in
regular graphs." *J. Combin. Theory Ser. B* 72, pp. 104--109.
-/
open SimpleGraph
namespace LovaszPlummerConjecture
variable {V : Type*}
/-- The number of perfect matchings of `G`. -/
noncomputable def perfectMatchingCount (G : SimpleGraph V) : ℕ :=
{M : G.Subgraph | M.IsPerfectMatching}.ncard
/--
**The Lovász–Plummer conjecture (1970s), proved by Esperet, Kardoš, King, Král' and Norine
(2011).**
Every bridgeless cubic graph on $n$ vertices has exponentially many perfect matchings: there is
a constant $c > 0$ such that the number of perfect matchings is at least $2^{cn}$.
[EKKKN11] prove this with $2^{n/3656}$.
-/
@[category research solved, AMS 5]
theorem lovasz_plummer_conjecture :
∃ c : ℝ, 0 < c ∧ ∀ {V : Type} [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V]
(G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
(∀ v, G.degree v = 3) → G.IsBridgeless →
(2 : ℝ) ^ (c * Fintype.card V) ≤ perfectMatchingCount G := by
sorry
/--
**The explicit bound of Esperet–Kardoš–King–Král'–Norine (2011).**
Every bridgeless cubic graph on $n$ vertices has at least $2^{n/3656}$ perfect matchings.
*Reference:* [EKKKN11].
-/
@[category research solved, AMS 5]
theorem lovasz_plummer_conjecture.variants.explicit
{V : Type} [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj]
(hcubic : ∀ v, G.degree v = 3) (hbridgeless : G.IsBridgeless) :
(2 : ℝ) ^ ((Fintype.card V : ℝ) / 3656) ≤ perfectMatchingCount G := by
sorry
/-- A **Hamiltonian cycle** of `G`: a cycle passing through every vertex. -/
def IsHamiltonianCycle (G : SimpleGraph V) {v : V} (c : G.Walk v v) : Prop :=
c.IsCycle ∧ ∀ w, w ∈ c.support
/--
**Sheehan's conjecture (1977).**
Every $4$-regular graph with a Hamiltonian cycle has a second Hamiltonian cycle (one with a
different edge set). Sheehan's conjecture would settle the last open case of the question,
raised by Smith's theorem for cubic graphs, of which regular Hamiltonian graphs have a second
Hamiltonian cycle: Thomassen [Th98] proved it for all $r$-regular graphs with $r \ge 300$.
-/
@[category research open, AMS 5]
theorem sheehan_conjecture :
∀ {V : Type} [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
(∀ v, G.degree v = 4) →
∀ (v : V) (c : G.Walk v v), IsHamiltonianCycle G c →
∃ (w : V) (c' : G.Walk w w), IsHamiltonianCycle G c' ∧
c'.edges.toFinset ≠ c.edges.toFinset := by
sorry
/--
**Thomassen (1998): regular graphs of large degree.**
Every $r$-regular Hamiltonian graph with $r \ge 300$ has a second Hamiltonian cycle.
*Reference:* [Th98].
-/
@[category research solved, AMS 5]
theorem sheehan_conjecture.variants.thomassen
{V : Type} [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj]
(r : ℕ) (hr : 300 ≤ r) (hreg : ∀ v, G.degree v = r)
(v : V) (c : G.Walk v v) (hc : IsHamiltonianCycle G c) :
∃ (w : V) (c' : G.Walk w w), IsHamiltonianCycle G c' ∧
c'.edges.toFinset ≠ c.edges.toFinset := by
sorry
end LovaszPlummerConjecture
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Source snapshot inspected on 10 September 2026. Subsequent research status and the accuracy of source formalizations have not been independently certified.
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