The cycle double cover conjecture
Does every bridgeless graph have a family of cycles covering each edge exactly twice?
▸Motivation
Szekeres 1973 and Seymour 1979, independently.
It is equivalent to statements about embeddings of graphs in surfaces and about nowhere-zero flows, which is unusual and unhelpful: three formulations, three sets of tools, all stuck. A minimal counterexample is known to be a snark — a cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graph with no 3-edge-colouring.
Szekeres 1973; Seymour 1979.
▸Lean API
import Mathlib.Combinatorics.SimpleGraph.Finite
import Mathlib.Combinatorics.SimpleGraph.Acyclic
namespace Conjectura.GT006
/-- Does every bridgeless graph admit a family of cycles covering each edge exactly
twice? Szekeres 1973 and Seymour 1979. Equivalent to statements about embeddings in
surfaces and about nowhere-zero flows, which is why it resists all three. -/
def goal : Prop :=
∀ (V : Type) [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
(∀ e ∈ G.edgeSet, ¬ G.IsBridge e) →
∃ (n : ℕ) (c : Fin n → Finset (Sym2 V)),
∀ e ∈ G.edgeSet, (Finset.univ.filter (fun i => e ∈ c i)).card = 2
end Conjectura.GT006▸Definition7
- FintypeFintype
class
- AdjG.Adj
structure
- edgeSetG.edgeSet
abbrev
- IsBridgeG.IsBridge
def
- FinsetFinset
structure
- Sym2Sym2
abbrev
- filterFinset.univ.filter
def
▸Related work0
▸For your AI
I am proving a theorem in Lean 4 and submitting it to Conjectura.
## Problem GT006 — The cycle double cover conjecture
Does every bridgeless graph have a family of cycles covering each edge exactly twice?
## Environment (fixed — do not assume anything newer)
- Lean toolchain: `leanprover/lean4:v4.33.0-rc1`
- Mathlib: `v4.33.0-rc1`
If a lemma you want does not exist in that Mathlib, prove it inline instead of
importing something newer.
## The exact statement I must prove
```lean
theorem solution : ∀ (V : Type) [Fintype V] [DecidableEq V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
(∀ e ∈ G.edgeSet, ¬ G.IsBridge e) → ∃ (n : ℕ) (c : Fin n → Finset (Sym2 V)), ... := by
sorry
```
## The file I submit
```lean
import Conjectura.Problems.GT006.Statement
namespace Submission
theorem solution : Conjectura.GT006.goal := by
sorry
end Submission
```
## The Lean definitions of every term in this problem
These are the actual definitions your proof will be checked against. Do not
substitute your own version of any of them.
### Fintype
class
```lean
Fintype
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### Adj
structure
```lean
G.Adj
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### edgeSet
abbrev
```lean
G.edgeSet
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### IsBridge
def
```lean
G.IsBridge
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### Finset
structure
```lean
Finset
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### Sym2
abbrev
```lean
Sym2
```
Defined in Mathlib.
### filter
def
```lean
Finset.univ.filter
```
Defined in Mathlib.
## Rules — submissions violating these are rejected automatically
1. **Do not change the name or type of `solution`.** It must satisfy the
statement above exactly.
2. **Do not redefine or shadow anything from the problem's Statement module.**
Declaring your own `goal`, or redefining a name it depends on, produces a
proof of a *different* statement and is rejected. This is the single most
common rejection.
3. **No `sorry`** anywhere, including in helper lemmas. It surfaces as the
axiom `sorryAx` and is detected transitively through imports.
4. **No `native_decide`** — it surfaces as `Lean.ofReduceBool` and is not
accepted, because it trusts compiled code rather than the kernel.
5. Only these axioms are permitted: `propext`, `Classical.choice`,
`Quot.sound`.
6. Follow Mathlib style: hypotheses left of the colon, explicit types,
`snake_case` theorem names, `UpperCamelCase` types.
## What I want from you
Here is my argument in informal mathematics:
> [PASTE YOUR PROOF SKETCH HERE]
Turn it into Lean 4 that compiles under the environment above and satisfies the
statement exactly. Where you are unsure a lemma exists in this Mathlib version,
say so explicitly rather than guessing a name.Submissions are not open yet
Conjectura is in beta. You can read every statement, every definition and the Lean behind them, and download the exact files the checker uses — but proofs are not being accepted yet.
The reason is a deliberate order of operations. Accepting a proof means running a stranger’s code and standing behind a verdict, and no statement here yet carries a researcher’s name. A machine-checked answer to a question nobody has vouched for is worth very little, so the vouching comes first.
The English write-ups are also switched off during the beta. Nothing on this page is generated by a model.
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