Cycle‐Continuous Mappings—Order Structure

Abstract

AbstractGiven two graphs, a mapping between their edge‐sets is cycle‐continuous, if the preimage of every cycle is a cycle. The motivation for this definition is Jaeger's conjecture that for every bridgeless graph there is a cycle‐continuous mapping to the Petersen graph, which, if solved positively, would imply several other important conjectures (e.g., the Cycle double cover conjecture). Answering a question of DeVos, Nešetřil, and Raspaud, we prove that there exists an infinite set of graphs with no cycle‐continuous mapping between them. Further extending this result, we show that every countable poset can be represented by graphs and the existence of cycle‐continuous mappings between them.